{"id":13131,"date":"2017-06-07T23:07:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T06:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13131"},"modified":"2017-06-07T23:08:25","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T06:08:25","slug":"the-power-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-power-of-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Power!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems like a simple enough word, apartheid: apartness<\/i>; but the story of Apartheid is one of unbelievable pain and one of unbridled abuse of power. It is a story of a people who became the target of an insidious and legal effort to pretend that they did not exist by enacting draconian segregation laws that for over 40 years precipitated one of the greatest abuses of power in contemporary history. Though it has come to an end in the legal sense, it may take generations to realize a level of reconciliation.\u00a0It is the story of the power of power to lead either to Apartheid or reconciliation.<\/p>\n

I did a quick Amazon search to find the number of books with the topic: South African Apartheid. Amazon list 3880 results. A broader internet search shows thousands more. I was surprised by the number of books available, papers written, and\u00a0analysis given. As an aside, I was even more surprised that through my years of theological education\u2014 most of it in Europe\u2014the subject was rarely addressed.<\/p>\n

In this context, David Welsh is a voice in a choir of voices telling a story, each from their different perspective and all adding another part to the story. Welsh approaches the story in a historically linear manner by highlighting three distinct periods of time with overlapping themes. His approach clearly delineates the overlapping and heightened tension from period to period until the point of critical mass where Apartheid could no longer stand up under the terrible weight of its injustice.<\/p>\n

The first period begins in 1948 and ends in 1959. It was at this time that the National Party (all-white government) regained power and began a concerted effort toward more strict segregation of the nonwhite African population\u2014who were, in fact, the majority. \u00a0For example, in an effort to control, the law forbade interracial marriages between whites and people of other races. It was during this period that the legal foundations for Apartheid were being laid.<\/p>\n

The second period ranges from 1959 to 1966. The stronger efforts toward segregation that began in the prior period appeared to find their expression in the development of geographical borders that further segregated the African population from the all-white population. It was during this time that the system of Dompas (dumb pass) was enacted to prevent Africans from moving from their designated homeland into the urban centers and towns. All Africans who were outside of their designated geographical border were required to carry a Dompas. This was a time when, \u201ctorture, solitary confinement, detention without trial, and deaths in detention became commonplace.\u201d 1<\/p>\n

The third period ranges from 1966-1994. While the efforts of Apartheid continue and even strengthen within the government, the anti-apartheid movement began to gain strength. Very seldom in history is the battle for power peaceful. Regrettably, the fight for equality and democracy in South Africa was no exception. Millions were persecuted, prosecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed. The hundreds of deaths caused by police brutality at Soweto uprising in 1976 was one of the sparks that flamed the eventual decline of apartheid.2 \u00a0The release of Nelson Mandela from prison by President De Klerk placed both Mandela and De Klerk in a position to lead and negotiate the way that would eventually lead to the\u00a0end of Apartheid and the start of a democratic government in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Application:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vastness and complexity of the story of Apartheid cannot be summed up in a few hundred words or even millions of words. The story of Apartheid is not just a story of a group of people who were wrongfully and collectively victimized. It is not just a story of the few visible leaders\u2014as important as their story is. It is a story of the millions of individuals who have been directly and indirectly impacted by Apartheid. 3<\/p>\n

In the context of Christian leadership, one thing that can be learned is that history again attests to the fact that power is still power and its abuses, no matter the legality or the cause, leads to pain and destruction. As Christian leaders we are not immune to power\u2019s siren song, nor are we immune from abusing power. Sadly, history also attests to this fact.<\/p>\n

Henri Nouwen makes an interesting observation about power and the church. He says, \u201cone of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that it\u2019s leaders constantly give in to the temptation of power\u2014political power, military power, economic power, or moral and spiritual power\u2026\u201d If that is the case, then as Christian leaders we should always be on guard. Power is a dangerous and addictive drug. If you don\u2019t believe that, just try to take it away from someone and see what happens! For Christian leaders, it may be that\u00a0the greatest and most fundamental use of power should be toward reconciliation and not control.<\/p>\n

The story of Apartheid is painful and sad. In the midst of all of the facts and complexity of the story, I sense the story that Welsh is trying to tell is one of the wrongful use of power leading to Apartheid, justiposed by the \u00a0just use of power leading to reconciliation. That is the power of power. It is in the latter that Christian leaders should excel.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. David Welsh. The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Reconsiderations in Southern African History)<\/i>. University of Virginia Press, 2010, 73.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid., 101.<\/li>\n
  3. Erica Bouris.\u00a0Complex Political Victims<\/i>. Kumarian Press, 2007, 131.<\/li>\n
  4. Henri J. M. Nouwen.\u00a0In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership<\/i>. The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992, 76.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary: It seems like a simple enough word, apartheid: apartness; but the story of Apartheid is one of unbelievable pain and one of unbridled abuse of power. It is a story of a people who became the target of an insidious and legal effort to pretend that they did not exist by enacting draconian segregation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[974],"class_list":["post-13131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-welsh","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13131"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13142,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13131\/revisions\/13142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}