African Apartheid And Its Historical And Theoretical Context

Racism, discrimination and degradation faced by Blacks and other ethnic minorities under the apartheid system was not unlike the segregation and intimidation faced by African-Americans in the Jim Crow south. Jim Crow system of segregation that kept Blacks from fully participating in public and civic activities and relegated African-Americans to substandard conditions at work, school and even in the home. Blacks in South Africa were under the clutches of an overt, national policy of racism and segregation implemented by the country’s highest level of government. Civil and human rights abuses of Blacks in South Africa at the hand of the country’s white minority occurred long before apartheid officially began, but the system’s official start brought strict, sweeping laws such as the rule that all persons in South Africa to be categorized as white, Black, colored and Indian, without exception. Like in the U.S. during Jim Crow, Blacks and whites were not allowed to marry and sexual relations between members of different races was a criminal offense.

Caliendo and Mcllwain (2011) have suggested that the historical claims of white supremacy within nations such as the UK and South Africa, has created racial conflicts and segregation between ethnic communities. Relating back to Weber’s example of the caste system, the “authentically white” (Caliendo and Mcllwain, 2011:22) communities are dominant and control the minority communities. Caliendo and Mcllwain (2011) argue that the “authentically white” have increased wealth and status, which they use to create boundaries and exclude the ethnic groups within the community. An example of this would be the issue of Apartheid in South Africa throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth century. Apartheid can be defined by the New Oxford English Dictionary (1998) as “a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on the grounds of race” (Guelke, 2005:61). Throughout the period Guelke (2005) discussed the fact that the minority white communities within South Africa ruled over the black majority, living “a lifestyle with a standard of living matching the very richest countries in the world” (Guelke, 2001:1-2), whilst the black communities lived in extreme poverty. Linking back to the system of monopolistic social closure, the white population viewed themselves as the elite members of society, and via legislation such as the native policy, used their power to justify the exploitation and segregation of the black South African

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

The Apartheid was initiated as a ploy for Europeans to better control the exploited populations for economic gain, as maintaining tension between the different racial classifications diverted attention from the Europeans as it fed hatred between groups. This assisted in minimizing unity between the exploited to rally against European control as it backhandedly induced “submission” for survival. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws that’d force segregation, classification, educational “requirements”, and economic purposes. The Population Registration Act of 1950 enacted, requiring segregation of Europeans from Afrikaans . Following shortly, the Group Areas Act of 1950 was enacted as a new form of legislation alongside the Population Registration Act. This detailed act separated tribes based on ethnics; consequently, further detailing segregation amongst the natives .

As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. Furthermore, the history of the African civil rights movement validated: “Nationalism has been tested in the people’s struggles . . . and [proved to be] the only antidote against foreign rule and modern imperialism” (Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom 2008, 156) . By comparing and contrasting the American Jim Crow Laws and South African apartheid, we have evidence that both nations’ constitutions led to discrimination, activism, reform and reconciliation.

During the period of Apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 the reactions of the South African citizens towards the legal separation of races varied depending on race, ideals and time period. After gold and diamonds were fud inSouthAfrica both the dutch and British wanted the land to themselves, leading to the Boer War from which the Dutch farmers emerged victorious. Following the Boer War and the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Dutch Boers gained control over the majority of the land in the previously British Cape Colony along with the settlements they had already built, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Blacks in South Africa made up about eighty percent of the population but only lived on ten percent of

It has been known throughout the years the class conflicts between people around the world and how it affects many, but during today's times it is not as bad as the times when racial segregation took place between South Africa’s white minority and non-white majority. Nadine Gordimer, is a born and raised South African novelist whose writings focused on exile and alienation. She wrote many novels and short stories that related to South Africa's unjust political situation between the whites and non-whites in the 1900’s. One of the short stories that she wrote is “Country Lovers” which portrays the life in South Africa during those times and how apartheid, a policy that controlled any type of relation between white and black South African’s endorsing racial segregation and racial discrimination against the blacks, ruled over the country. Class played a big role in this short story because the way the whites and non-whites were treated was very different and their opportunities were not equally shared. I believe the ideology of racism was why the non-white South Africans were treated so poorly. This all makes me aware of where I stand in acceptance by other of my social, economic, or political practices. I come to realize that things like this still happen today.

As usual, Martin’s chapter explains a movement or in this case a protest. In this case it is the drive for divestment of funds in companies that had ties or business in South Africa. Troy’s chapter focuses on Wall Street and the excesses of the 1980s.

Apartheid, a set of laws separating races in South Africa, ended in 1994 after almost 50 years of existing. The laws segregated the powerful whites, “Coloreds”, Indians, and blacks. Though whites were the minority, they owned most land, power, and money and ran the government. The story “Out Of Bounds” by Beverley Naidoo explains what life was like for non-whites in South Africa in the year 2000, six years after apartheid was abolished. An Indian boy named Rohan becomes friends with a black squatter boy named Solani, even though Rohan is higher up on the social scale. Although anti-apartheid laws passed, nothing got better for non-whites in South Africa like Solani and his family. Bias, education, and medical care did not improve for these people.

The Mixed Marriages Act made marriage between the races against the law (Evans, 9). In 1952 a system of “pass laws” required blacks to carry identity papers or pass books so the government could identify and restrict them (Wright, 68). The “pass laws” were designed to separate the population and was the base of the apartheid system (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid had a major effect on the development of South Africa.

The skyscrapers of Johannesburg reach for the heavens, up to 50 stories tall. Crowding the streets is a traffic of South Africans of all races checking their ringing phones and rushing to their office jobs. A picture of starving black children and drought-stricken land better fits our story of South Africa, but that picture is much more harmful than it is true. Often we see South Africa through a lens of Apartheid that delves into the immense anti-black racism that existed during that time period, but it is also crucial to see the country from a post-Apartheid view to better understand today’s citizens and culture. It is equally important to see the conflict between other races and the multitude of reasons the conflagration that was Apartheid continued to burn long after it should have died.

The Afrikaans word apartheid means separateness, and during the period of the apartheid, people were classified and separated into different racial groups where the civil and human rights of non-whites were curtailed (Clark and Worger xxi). Although apartheid started in 1948, the roots of inequality were presented years before as a result of Dutch and British control. Both countries colonized South Africa in order to control South Africa’s lucrative and, generally, untapped mining industry. South African workers, including the skilled and unskilled, were forsaken to work menial jobs and receive low wages (34). The establishment of many unfair laws allowed for the takeover to occur; these laws mark the beginning of apartheid and many more discriminatory regulations that were to come which include, but are not limited to, pass laws, laws that required non-whites to have identification that showed their right to be in certain areas, and the exclusion of the non-white vote (McCuen 17-18).

Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world today. Racial and religious conflicts; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle between the sexes; conflicts between management and labor; and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals all stem, in whole or in part, to oppression. It’s similar to an article in south africa that people have with racial segregation between black and white . Many people need to know that indiviual have their own rights in laws and freedom . Everyone should have an equal rights and better community . A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. The apartheid in South Africa which was in effect from 1948 until 1994 was not only a racist policy which greatly affected the quality of life of minorities in the country for the worse but was a outright crime against humanity. It include with civil right that violence verses non-violence that the government could or

The Afrikaners formed a separate linguistic and cultural identity that included a set of religious beliefs that shaped their worldview. These developments not only separated Afrikaners from native Africans ethnically, but also provided a template from which nationalist beliefs were based. This connection between the cultural identity of Afrikaners and their nationalist ideology is found in the events that occurred shortly after Great Britain annexed South Africa. Afrikaners believed that the British would undermine the culture that had developed among Afrikaners by supporting the mixing of Afrikaner and native cultures. In response to this threat to their ethnic identity, Afrikaners created numerous political parties that advocated both a separate culture and country for Afrikaners. Drawing upon the reformed theology of Afrikaners, political organizations such as the Afrikaner Broederbond claimed that, “…God intended for each nation to develop separately…moreover, God had specifically created the Afrikaner nation as His chosen people to fulfill a divine destiny in southern Africa” (Beck, 2000, p. 111). Using a religious belief from the Afrikaner culture, political parties were able build a nationalism that promoted the segregationist agenda that would later be used for justifying Apartheid. So, Apartheid was not racist institution, it was merely a product of the nationalist belief that the Afrikaner people had the right to develop as a

In this thesis the writer “J.Matisonn” writes about how the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) not only addressed issues of crimes against humanity that also affected the Human rights of people but the other thing the TRC did well if anything according to this article it that it also addressed those people , organizations and even institutions who used media and propaganda in order to not only further the cause of the Apartheid government but to hurt so many families and relatives in the process.