Transformative Power of Civil Society

In the 1930’s it was rare for a black South African to attend college. But Mandela not only attended, he graduated, got a degree from law school, and set up a practice in Johannesburg which he hoped could support his small family. Yet apartheid was always a humiliation to him. When the Afrikaner, or Dutch South African, Nationalists came to power in the 1948 election, the segregation habits of the past three hundred years became law. Hoping for a brighter future, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and became its first Youth Leader.

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.

What we as a community cannot overemphasize is the fact that we cannot barely undo the legacy of a distinctive system such as apartheid overnight. It is our duty to continuously strive towards nationhood, transformation, reconciliation and as South Africans. Nevertheless, nation states are political constructs and thus have to be continuously molded through social engineering. It is hazardous to our democracy for anyone in this community to hold or possess the view that racism is a given. Since time immemorial all the justifications advanced by apologists of this prejudice have been proven untrue. Despite this, some people in our community are still prone to racism and this is the problem which we should address.

In this black man's country, white man's law had broken the tribe, divided the people and corrupted the youth. How could these wounds of hatred be healed, when would the youth realize the immorality of their actions, and when would South Africans achieve unity. Father Vincent said "Fear is a journey, a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an

Civil societies are voluntary social institutions and organizations that are separate from the government and the market where a community of citizens are able to come together and pursue their shared common interest. They are beneficial to the community as well as the broader society as civil societies ultimately promote progressive policies, nurture positive social norms that encourage stability, and advocates accountability and checks against state authority (Edwards 2010). Moreover, civil societies represent a third sphere of association where citizens are able to address the deficiencies that the state and market fail to handle and then have the opportunity to develop their own

The Progressive Era gave a chance for people’s voices to be heard in the form of reform movements. The African

Twenty years into democracy, the high poverty rates of the post-Apartheid government is an indication of the high income inequality and also a clear view that improper policy formulations or planning. The ANC at some point forgot to create policies which could be consider or uplift ordinary citizens instead of benefiting those who are already better off, and to add up, the current situations encountered by the current leadership is an indication that they have not advanced to narrow down the income or economic inequality gap between the rich and the poor. However, let’s give them credit that at least there are few rich black people than before even though there still remain the dominance of white people on the economic platform of getting

I firmly believe that civil disobedience positively impacts a free society. For instance, look at Rosa Parks. While many people believe she sat in the white seating on a bus in protest, in reality she sat in the first row of black seating. When a white man then got onto the bus, and the white section was full, he demanded her seat. Parks refused to give up her seat since she was in the correct seating area. Although she technically broke no laws, some may argue that she had once of the most influential civil disobediences in history.

All humans are disobedient and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Disobedience brings progress to society. Influential leaders, like Martin Luther King Junior, lead us to new beginnings. Disobedience cannot be simply categorized as a bad trait, it's a natural character trait that all of us humans have. Although there are types of disobedience that will be detrimental to us, it’s still a useful and common trait we need to progress in society. It is human nature that we will not stay in the same environment. There is no way around it.

In 1891 Irish Wilde stated “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and trough rebellion”. For centuries disobedience has made effect in the world to revolutionize; it is the key to an advantageous world and opportunities to the people the surrounds us no matter the race, gender or religion. Today’s modern day all sorts of people have been rebellious and have somehow changed the way of seeing the world’s society. According to Barack Obama and Susan Brownell Anthony, who have broken the law to revolutionize the nation disobedience has made an impact on how we visualize the world.

Intersectionality is the clash of many variables such as race, social class and gender into a group that could lead to the inner discrimination and disadvantage. Urban stabilization would be the progress of South Africans take to socially and culturally adjust to the new town life. Incapsulation could occur among the South Africans because they participate in different social groups and only interact within the group. The above community problems could hinder the country development process. Thus, in order to remedy its problem in the future, South African government should provide many open opportunities for the people to choose so they would be gradually capable of adapting to the transition, instead of forcing them, using the social and financial pressure, for

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been many powerful social movements that changed the views of others, including the Boston Tea Party, Civil Right movements of the 1960’s, and most recently Occupy Wall Street. Many people had joined a cause or a movement that they believed in, what they believed what is right for humanity, even if others disapproved. A social movement is defined by a group of people, who came together with the same visions or ideas, and tried to changed society. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a compelling movement, that change lives for the better, and educated people on mental health illnesses. This social movement is a major contributor of helping and encouraging people to have a better

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

I have always thought that Nelson Mandela has been one of the most important people in history. I find it very fascinating that one man could end the Apartheid and that is why I want to find out more about this. South Africa is a country with a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The White Europeans invaded South Africa and started a political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-White inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the White Europeans. I have chosen to investigate how the Apartheid affected people’s lives, and also how and why the Apartheid system rose and fell in South Africa.

South Africa endured one of the worst colonialisation any country could have went through, whereby the Apartheid regime objectively disregarded the economic participation of the black over to those of the white population. However, the new democratic government would thereby be challenged with effectively having to deal with the challenges in which the past government had left behind. Therefore, in effectively trying to deal with the issues, alternative approaches have to be implemented in order to deliver on the challenges of the public. On the contrary, this essay will critically compare and discuss the liberal and free market, as well as the state interventionist approach as alternative solutions in dealing with current issues of social security, the health and school systems. Which would be able to transform current developmental challenges facing South Africa. In summary, the essay will thereby state which approach can transform South Africa in effectively dealing with developmental challenges currently facing South Africa.