Mathia Griffith
While on the dialogue I and other peers have had negative experiences with Uber drivers due to tension between them and meter taxis. I had had incidents between the meter taxis and Uber drivers on two separate occasions and it has made me consider how rivalries and violence stems from a lack of resources in a community. In relation to space I believe that the forcing of black African people into spaces that are poorer with little resources has created this more territorial and violent behaviors in these same spaces.
When trying to get an uber a group of men, who I learned were meter taxi drivers, scared off my uber driver in telling him not to pick me up. Because these men told my uber driver not to pick us up he left us there. I wasn't sure why he left me or what was going on but I ended up having to find someone else to help us get home and protect us from the meter taxi men. The next day while discussing with our guide of Johannesburg, Sibu, he told us that there is a lot of anger in the country toward uber in general, and people do not want it around. Meter taxi drivers are angry because of the competition that has come from uber and they take out their frustrations on uber drivers and the users.
Sibu said that often meter taxi drivers will follow the uber driver and their passenger if they are on meter taxi territory and have even killed uber drivers and passengers out of losing customers. I experienced another uber incident when I called an uber and then when I opened the door the driver sounded nervous and told me to get out and he’ll pick me up down the block because he doesn’t trust the meter taxi men. As I shut the door to let my uber driver backup down the block I noticed two meter taxis back up near me and follow my movements. I had to wait near a bar until I felt that I could run to get the uber down the block and the whole ride I was paranoid and looking behind me. It was evident that meter taxis do have a problem with Uber drivers and that Uber drivers are aware of it. They are even willing to give up costumers because of how afraid they are of the meter taxi drivers.
It is interesting to consider why people feel so strongly that they have to resort to violence. There are already a lack of resources and high competition in order to make a living and when that is threatened often people get violent, and may not see other alternatives. The small amount of space given to black people in South Africa has been used to help people make livings, prior to uber the meter taxis had a good business however now more people are using uber because it is more affordable. The lack of economic opportunities and resources has made the competition more serious in this area. Inherent flaws in a capitalist system can also be interpreted by theses events because competition is the essence of the system. A society driven by competition and profit is the cause of violence. It is even worse when there is a lack of resources to compete over, this is the reason that marginalized groups are the ones most vulnerable to the negative consequences of a capitalist society. Violence is the result of trying to survive and provide for yourself and family, that’s why it makes sense that the most stratified groups would be this territorial. They do not want the competition and with resources already scarce comparatively to the white people in South Africa of a higher socioeconomic status, they need to protect what they seem to have lost control over, their customers.
While overall, this is showing a flaw in capitalism it shows a flaw in how space and resources are allocated. Without spaces of more economic opportunity competition and violence will always be present at larger scales.
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