‘We have lost our moral compasses’ — understanding the spike in migrant numbers and xenophobia

With an entertaining and creative twist to it, Daily Maverick’s multimedia journalist Tevya Turok Shapiro hosted a webinar alongside filmmaker and director Mohamed Kordofani, and University of Johannesburg Professor and Vice Dean Research in the Faculty of Humanities, Prof Pragna Rugunanan. 

The discussion studied two films — The Old Oak directed by Ken Loach and Goodbye Julia directed by Kordofani — as reference points to the ongoing war in Sudan, the causes and impact of migration and the current level of South Africa’s xenophobic state. The panel highlights a number of socio-political issues depicted in admirable filmmaking.

Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, which focuses on Sudan since 2005, opened the European Film Festival alongside Oscar nominees, Cannes winners and other thought-provoking films, including The Old Oak, during the celebratory 10th edition of the European Film Festival between 12-22 October in  South Africa. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfFPhei9ht0

Personal stories and experiences

Although he refers to Goodbye Julia as a fictional story, Kordofani tells the tale of Sudan’s dire situation through his characters by way of his own lived experiences. Racism and inequality are significantly displayed in the film, provoking the viewer to question their own morals. 

“The film in general is a story about me. I kind of feel naked when I watch the film because it is so much me in every sense and this is why you would find that the perspective of the film is of a northern Arab. I find that I have changed quite a bit since 2005 until 202 and I have changed in so many aspects”.

Goodbye Julia opens at the beginning of Sudan’s independence in 2005 which brought democracy to the Southern people who were oppressed during colonisation. To give context to his story, Kordofani revealed that what everyone reads and sees about the situation in Sudan through the media is only the tip of the iceberg. 

“Sudan’s problem is a very long and complex problem that started way before 200 years ago when the slave trade started in Sudan up until…70 years ago and when the colonisers came they made the problems even worse because they segregated the two communities — North and South — and enforced a close territory law where Northern Arabs were not allowed to go to the South”.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Situation in Sudan ‘spiralling out of control’ after four months of war- UN

Kordofani explained that the segregation deepened even after colonisation and that the only “positive” thing that came out of colonisation was the education of Northern Arabs who now have more privilege and deem themselves superior to the Southern Arabs. 

Migration matters

Xenophobia and persecution