South Africa’s Brave New World: The Beloved Country Since The End Of Apartheid, R.W. Johnson (Overlook Press, 2009). The whole world had come to Pretoria to see the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected South African President. It was the greatest assemblage of heads of state since John F. Kennedy’s funeral… But it was the flight of nine SAAF [South African Air Force] Mirages overhead, dipping their wings in salute, which brought tears to many eyes. It said so many things: the acceptance of, indeed, the deference to, Mandela by the white establishment, the acknowledgement that he was fully President, able to command all the levers of power — and, for many black people in the crowd, it meant that for the first time the Mirages’ awesome power and white pilots were on their side, part of the same nation… All the products of that white power, including South Africa’s sophisticated economy and infrastructure, were being handed over intact.
Great read Thx. A whole lot to unpack here. But….How do one say,” close, and yet so far” without offending the “South African” political experts?
No comment regarding SA-politics is really worth it unless it’s rooted in a deep understanding of what shapes the psyche of a people that has their foundations in tribalism and the institutionalized impact and influence of the Sangoma (witchdoctor) coupled with a true distrust for other tribes that’s imbedded in a DNA stemming from 100’s of years of tribal wars and conquests.
Also if there’s nowhere mention that 13 of the 14 tribes that had exclusive cultural areas (call it homelands)pre 94 still has their exclusive homelands intact (yes EXCLUSIVE) except one group and said group has “lost” an estimated +100 000 members in less than 30 years because of “Normal Crime”.
But maybe, someone will also mention that in the post-apartheid South Africa there’s a 100+ laws on te statuary books that DIRECTLY AND BY NAME openly discriminates against one minority group, in what one can call “Economic Genocide” simply because there’s an international ignorance regarding the physical “slow Genocide” of these people!
But…… maybe one day some political commentator will unbiasedly acquire the full picture and then ……
When I was in university, I took a class on the history of South Africa. I remember that the professor (white, Canadian) was very dismissive of the IFP; she basically said the IFP was an organization created and supported by the Apartheid government to divide South Africa's black population.
Her opinion seems very much inline with what you have written here about the entitlement felt by the ANC to the vote of South Africa's black population. I wonder if her opinion of the IFP was influenced more by her time studying in South Africa or by fellow western academics outside of it.
Do you have any insight into the mindset of the average white South African? Are a majority like the liberal you met and think their condition is going to magically get better?
Soon to be United States. Wait another 10 years.
Great read Thx. A whole lot to unpack here. But….How do one say,” close, and yet so far” without offending the “South African” political experts?
No comment regarding SA-politics is really worth it unless it’s rooted in a deep understanding of what shapes the psyche of a people that has their foundations in tribalism and the institutionalized impact and influence of the Sangoma (witchdoctor) coupled with a true distrust for other tribes that’s imbedded in a DNA stemming from 100’s of years of tribal wars and conquests.
Also if there’s nowhere mention that 13 of the 14 tribes that had exclusive cultural areas (call it homelands)pre 94 still has their exclusive homelands intact (yes EXCLUSIVE) except one group and said group has “lost” an estimated +100 000 members in less than 30 years because of “Normal Crime”.
But maybe, someone will also mention that in the post-apartheid South Africa there’s a 100+ laws on te statuary books that DIRECTLY AND BY NAME openly discriminates against one minority group, in what one can call “Economic Genocide” simply because there’s an international ignorance regarding the physical “slow Genocide” of these people!
But…… maybe one day some political commentator will unbiasedly acquire the full picture and then ……
When I was in university, I took a class on the history of South Africa. I remember that the professor (white, Canadian) was very dismissive of the IFP; she basically said the IFP was an organization created and supported by the Apartheid government to divide South Africa's black population.
Her opinion seems very much inline with what you have written here about the entitlement felt by the ANC to the vote of South Africa's black population. I wonder if her opinion of the IFP was influenced more by her time studying in South Africa or by fellow western academics outside of it.
Do you have any insight into the mindset of the average white South African? Are a majority like the liberal you met and think their condition is going to magically get better?