Overview

This is a narrative of a therapeutic relationship between the author and Eddie, demonstrating how much one 'career criminal' can be more than and different from the definition given to him from childhood, to the present, by virtually everyone who knows him - a 'loser'. When listened to, his voice reflects the socio-political realities of the past and hints at the primary requirement for a transformed future; not only for his own rehabilitation but for a country racked by a culture of violation - respect. As in many other countries, crime in South Africa is generally viewed as the product of 'madness' or 'badness' - located within designated perpetrators. This myth is promoted and often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by the way it is managed. Through the process of management society, usually entirely unwittingly, shows its hand in facilitating and perpetuating crime - mirroring the very process and thinking behind Eddie's way of dealing with historic disrespect visited upon him. Those of us not found guilty of crime, distance ourselves from those suspected or sentenced as 'criminals' by taking the moral high-ground. In the process of distancing we forget what we have in common. The labels applied to people all too often become the identities we take on and in terms of which we engage with the world. To ensure that we do not become contaminated, or manipulated by 'criminals', we silence them and remove all possibilities for them to teach us more about the scourge they know more about than most but which frightens us all. This is particularly pertinent to a country such as South Africa, a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world.

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9781616673567

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