Apartheid: Warning & Hope
“The country is our country! We are not negotiating.”
David Welsh’s extensive treatise on South Africa’s experiment with social engineering (aka ‘apartheid’) is an excellent introduction for those who are not South African. For those of us visiting South Africa later this year as part of our doctoral research, it is essential reading to understand the South African context. Even for me, as a long-time former resident of East Africa and someone who’s read Mandela’s autobiography,[1] most of the details influencing the move into apartheid, as well as the lengthy transition process to democracy, were new.
For this post, I’d like to focus on two elements of the text: first, the similarities between the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and the current situation in America; second, the leadership characteristics of the key players in the transition out of apartheid, De Klerk and Mandela.
First, I was struck, as I read about the circumstances leading into apartheid, at how similar (though not identical) it is to our current cultural climate in America. Some examples:
- A division among whites on the “race issue.” In South Africa, between the English and the Afrikaners. In America, this may be more between urban and rural (though in the past, probably more north and south).
- Afrikaners who “displayed many of the symptoms of a conquered people: impoverished, defeated, despairing, low in morale, and with a powerfully internalized inferiority complex.”[2] We see this today in America and Europe, with what’s known as “whitelash”: “Beyond the white privilege of the “old boy” network, there is the aspirational privilege of underprivileged whites. Like the patriarchy and the class system, race primarily serves the top dogs, not the lower classes. In fact, racial supremacy has been used since its invention to control the anger and frustration of ordinary and poor whites.”[3]
- A fear amongst Afrikaners of “large-scale immigration”[4] (though in their case, fear of English immigrants, and in the US, of brown and Muslim immigrants)
- Secret organizations emerged, that likened themselves to a religion. In South Africa, the AB (Afrikaner Broederbond) considered itself “the authority above [all aspects of Afrikaner life]” with expectations that members would “act like a ‘yeast’ in their… environments.”[5]
- Afrikaners were fearful of Africans moving to urban areas to compete for jobs, labeling the migrations as “swamping.”[6] Likewise, Drumpf promised to “drain the swamp,”[7] though in his case, it appears he is referring to politics (though is that what he’s really referring to?)
- Much of the Afrikaner nationalistic rhetoric sounds remarkably similar to comments from America’s “alt-right” white supremacists.[8]
- Afrikaner nationalistic leaders used both a focus on Afrikaner unity and fear of “perceived threats to their identity and hegemony” to fuel ordinary voters to support their cause.[9]
- The NP (National Party) sought to curtail voting rights for Coloured men who could currently vote, and prevent all Africans from obtaining that right.[10] This can be paralleled in our current context with conservatives initiating voter ID laws, which disproportionately affect people of color.[11]
- Finally, Africans were prevented from owning property or land in certain areas. Likewise, American government policies were set in place that limited or discouraged black ownership in many places, especially suburbs.[12]
I list these similarities for two reasons: I believe it is important for us as Americans to recognize that we, too, live with a past and present of racism; and as a warning for our country to divert from the direction we’re currently moving to avoid traveling down the road to greater “apartness.”
The second element I want to briefly touch on is leadership characteristics of both Nelson Mandela and FW De Klerk.
Good leaders work for consensus. While both Mandela and De Klerk prioritized their own people’s self-interests, they each realized that, if the country was to survive, they had to work together; they had to reach consensus.[13]
Good leaders are willing to apologize. Welsh suggests that it was “less about [De Klerk] seizing the initiative and negotiating from a position of strength… than it was about the morality of trying to perpetuate a system that had failed.” [14] Welsh states emphatically that De Klerk is “the only ex-leader of an authoritarian state to have made a comprehensive apology for the misdeeds of the state whose head he had become.”[15]
Good leaders take risks. When leaders recognize something needs to change, they are willing to model for their followers what needs to happen, before their supporters have arrived at that belief. “Both Mandela and De Klerk went far out on a limb, well ahead of their followers, to persuade them that negotiation was the only realistic option,” Welsh argues.[16]
Good leaders are both heroic and human. Nelson Mandela has become an icon. “His heroic qualities are legendary: courage in the face of a possible death sentence, unflinching commitment to principle when offered conditional release from prison, generosity of spirit and lack of bitterness are testimony to a remarkable human being. These qualities played a significant role in inducing a majority of whites to accept… majority rule.”[17] While a hero, Mandela also exposed his flaws with false allegations against De Klerk, hiding the ANC’s complicity in violence, and ignoring strategic advice. Yet it was through these two flawed leaders that the country persevered from an authoritarian apartheid state to a multi-party (though still flawed) democracy.
[1] Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (Back Bay Books, 1995).
[2] David Welsh, The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Jeppestown: Jonathan Ball, 2009), 10.
[3] “White Supremacy’s Inferiority Complex,” accessed June 7, 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/white-supremacy-racial-inferiority-complex-161129104031285.html.
[4] Welsh, 6 25.
[5] Ibid., 14.
[6] Ibid., 18
[7] https://twitter.com/realDonaldDrumpf/status/788402585816276992: “I will Make Our Government Honest Again — believe me. But first, I’m going to have to #DrainTheSwamp in DC.”
[8] See Welsh, 20-21. cf. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/
[9] Welsh, 24, cf. Drumpf’s inauguration speech: https://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural-address
[10] Welsh, 26.
[11] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/how-voter-id-laws-discriminate-study/517218/
[12] Welsh, 31. cf. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-federal-government-intentionally-racially-segregated-american-cities-180963494/
[13] Welsh, 566.
[14] Ibid., 569.
[15] Ibid., 570.
[16] Ibid., 575.
[17] Ibid., 576.
About the Author
Katy Drage Lines
In God’s good Kingdom, some minister like trees, long-standing, rooted in a community. They embody words of Wendell Berry, “stay years if you would know the genius of the place.” Others, however, are called to go. Katy is one of those pilgrims. A global nomad, Katy grew up as a fifth generation Colorado native, attended college & seminary and was ordained in Tennessee, married a guy from Pennsylvania, ministered for ten years in Kenya, worked as a children’s pastor in a small church in Kentucky, and served college students in a university library in Orange County, California. She recently moved to the heart of America, Indianapolis, and has joined the Englewood Christian Church community, serving with them as Pastor of Spiritual Formation. She & her husband Kip, have two delightful boys, a college junior and high school junior.9 responses to “Apartheid: Warning & Hope”
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Great points on good leaders. So simple yet practical.
Like you, I was also struck with the similarities of the African culture compared to America’s current and past culture. I’m seeing a theme with the white race regardless of which country they reside in. The social scientist emerged in me and I became curious to the ancestorial traits passed on through the generations in how whites were taught to relate with others often in dominance and by establishing a hierarchical culture. I’ve been pondering this…
Thanks Jennifer. For me, the connection between America’s past and South Africa’s apartheid was explicit, but like you, I felt like perhaps with the Civil Rights Act, Americans felt like it was time to move away from “the race issue” but we actually have many parallels in the rise of nationalism today, which deeply concerns me.
I’m curious about what you discover in your explorations on white hierarchical culture traits.
The leadership lessons are there to be learnt for sure – and de Klerk and Mandela’s leadership was central to the dismantling of apatheid as Welsh outlines.
I am a little more wary of your correlations between South Africa and current-day America. Welsh warns of the dangerous and overstretched comparisons that were historically made between apartheid and Nazi Germany, and some of your comparisons between “Trump’s America” and apartheid South Africa feel overstretched to me?!
I think mostly to serve as a warning for us Americans to pay attention to the current situation. I agree, we have not reached a point of equating American right-wing nationalism with the Afrikaner National Party, but there are enough similarities for us to at least keep our eyes open.
Super interesting post, Katy.
Your analogy was very insightful. Something Jen said in response was also something I have been thinking about since reading Livermore, Oden, and now Welsh.
Ok, I’ll just come out and say it – What is it about being white that makes us think we are so superior?
I hope Jen can find some answers. You lived in Africa for a long time, Katy. Any ideas?
Thanks for the post. The accont of the end of Apartheid in South Africa is a captivating story that drew the attention of the entire world.
As a former resident of Africa, I have a question for you. Why does the world seem to care so much about the prevention of a civil war in South Africa, while seeming to care so little about the recent civil war in D.R. Congo that took over 6 millions lives?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-afric,a-13283212
Good question, Stu. I don’t feel well qualified to answer that. For some reason the conflict in DRC hasn’t gripped the hearts of Americans (even though we have many Congolese refugees in America). Perhaps black on black unrest simply confirms our (white) stereotypes that “that’s just the way it is,” rather than projecting our own guilt on the conflict in S.A. like Welsh suggests.
Thanks for your insight here, Katy. Like you (and Jen) I can see correlations to modern day America. As a history teacher I can trace many of the things happening here now to terrible things that happened previously in other countries. As you mentioned to Geoff, we are not there yet but we are in danger. The biggest danger is that we believe anti-segregation and anti-racism laws protect us from becoming like those other countries, without realizing that laws can (and have been) changed, and deep-seated addiction to the systems of privilege in place make us long for more power and privilege. Flawed as they were, De Klerk and Mandela were the watchers on the wall – they could see what was coming and put themselves at risk to stop it. I hope history tells the story of such leaders here in America.
Katy,
A really great and sobering post. In our culture it is really pretty easy (for me: an upper middle class, straight, married white man) to slip back into a pattern of ‘normal’, because in spite of how seriously I take things happening in our country, there is little change, currently, in my daily life (especially, if I don’t pay attention to the news of the day).
One other thing I want to affirm that you highlight: Good leaders are willing to apologize. I think this is incredibly important. One of the most important lessons, in fact, that I have learned. I was given the advice before I was finished with seminary, that ‘most congregations are willing to forgive pretty much anything, as long as you stand up, own up to it and say you are sorry.’
It took a lot of trial and error on my part, but I have found it to be true.
When you mess up as a leader, the absolute most important thing to is as soon and completely as possible. It is definitely hard and often unpleasant, but it is the only way to survive long-term as a leader and creates and/or reinforces a crucial aspect of organizational culture – honesty and acceptance of failure/mistakes.
If the leader is never wrong – or never admits he/she is wrong, how can anyone else?