The Penal Politics of Hatred

number of closely related public protests since then. Some of these protests have turned violent. Most have remained peaceful. All, however, have been passionate. Feelings of hurt, fear, anger and indignation have been clearly visible on the faces of the protestors. Like all public dissent, this demonstration of feeling has, in turn, been designed to garner an emotional reaction from spectators, from the general public who have viewed the images on our television screens and in the pages of our newspapers. The anger of these international students has been sparked by concerns that they are being specifically targeted for robberies, assaults and other forms of attack. The perception has been that these incidents are not random and cannot be attrib-uted to the kind of bad luck that comes with living in a modern metropolis. Rather, the ire of these international students has been raised by the belief that there is something more insidious behind the violence experienced by members of their community. The claim that comes across loudly and clearly from these rallies is that it is prejudice and racism that lie behind the attacks or, even more specifically, some