The BBC had a fairly objective review of data a few years back[1] I think at least a few things need to be understood/considered in the context of "farm murder

The BBC had a fairly objective review of data a few years back[1] I think at least a few things need to be understood/considered in the context of "farm murders". There's been a growing movement from the EFF/ANC for "expropriation without compensation" of (primarily white-owned) farm land, so apart from any attacks there's a perception that the farmer's control of the land is illegitimate and must be taken by force.[2] Many of these attacks have also been horrifically violent, involving rape, prolonged torture, murder of children and the elderly, etc.[3][4] 'The white minority took our land. Enough is enough' - Julius Malema, EFF President and Commander-in-Chief Lastly you need to think analogously to other countries - crime tends to be concentrated in poor, dense urban areas. For rural farmers to be murdered at a rate comparable to a dangerous inner city is extremely odd, and if you think the per-capita murder rate is closer to the high end of 150/100k vs. low end of 9/100k, you're talking about a level of ongoing violence seen almost nowhere else on earth. Then separately there has been a recent/ongoing wave of violence against foreigners[5]: A refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo told Human Rights Watch: “I was selling clothes on the street when nine South Africans carrying sjamboks and sticks came. They were beating people, shouting ‘You foreigners, go home! We don’t need you here! You are taking our jobs and money!’ I started to run away, but I was beaten, and my two bags of clothes were taken.” In the US context this is difficult to comprehend since it's "black against black" xenophobia, but there's also the topic of racism against "coloureds" in South Africa. Perhaps one takeaway should be that Americans need to have a less parochial and US-centric understanding of other countries, which often have conflicts that don't smoothly map onto US politics and racial categorizations. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41807642 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41807642 [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49145347 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49145347 [3] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-31/south-african-farm-murders/10013298?nw=0 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-31/south-african-farm-mu... [4] https://www.news.com.au/world/africa/farmer-killings-farmers-tortured-and-killed-in-horrific-south-africa-raids/news-story/1aae3fe47328ada3b6a3d369675877df https://www.news.com.au/world/africa/farmer-killings-farmers... [5] https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/17/south-africa-widespread-xenophobic-violence https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/17/south-africa-widespread-...