{"id":13153,"date":"2017-06-08T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13153"},"modified":"2017-06-08T07:05:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T14:05:16","slug":"apartheid-warning-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/apartheid-warning-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Apartheid: Warning &amp; Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_13151\" style=\"width: 227px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-country-is-our-country-We-are-not-negotiating..jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13151\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13151\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-country-is-our-country-We-are-not-negotiating.-217x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"217\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-country-is-our-country-We-are-not-negotiating.-217x300.jpg 217w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-country-is-our-country-We-are-not-negotiating.-150x207.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/The-country-is-our-country-We-are-not-negotiating..jpg 236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13151\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>&#8220;The country is our country! We are not negotiating.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>David Welsh\u2019s extensive treatise on South Africa\u2019s experiment with social engineering (aka \u2018apartheid\u2019) 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 <em>East<\/em> Africa and someone who\u2019s read Mandela\u2019s autobiography,<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> most of the details influencing the move into apartheid, as well as the lengthy transition process to democracy, were new.<\/p>\n<p>For this post, I\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>First,<\/strong><\/em> 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:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A division among whites on the \u201crace issue.\u201d 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).<\/li>\n<li>Afrikaners who \u201cdisplayed many of the symptoms of a conquered people: impoverished, defeated, despairing, low in morale, and with a powerfully internalized inferiority complex.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> We see this today in America and Europe, with what\u2019s known as \u201cwhitelash\u201d: \u201cBeyond the white privilege of the &#8220;old boy&#8221; 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.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>A fear amongst Afrikaners of \u201clarge-scale immigration\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> (though in their case, fear of English immigrants, and in the US, of brown and Muslim immigrants)<\/li>\n<li>Secret organizations emerged, that likened themselves to a religion. In South Africa, the AB (Afrikaner Broederbond) considered itself \u201cthe authority above [all aspects of Afrikaner life]\u201d with expectations that members would \u201cact like a \u2018yeast\u2019 in their\u2026 environments.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Afrikaners were fearful of Africans moving to urban areas to compete for jobs, labeling the migrations as \u201cswamping.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a> Likewise, Drumpf promised to \u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a> though in his case, it appears he is referring to politics (though is that what he\u2019s really referring to?)<\/li>\n<li>Much of the Afrikaner nationalistic rhetoric sounds remarkably similar to comments from America\u2019s \u201calt-right\u201d white supremacists.<a href=\"#_ftn8\" name=\"_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Afrikaner nationalistic leaders used both a focus on Afrikaner unity and fear of \u201cperceived threats to their identity and hegemony\u201d to fuel ordinary voters to support their cause.<a href=\"#_ftn9\" name=\"_ftnref9\">[9]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The NP (National Party) sought to curtail voting rights for Coloured men who could currently vote, and prevent all Africans from obtaining that right.<a href=\"#_ftn10\" name=\"_ftnref10\">[10]<\/a> This can be paralleled in our current context with conservatives initiating voter ID laws, which disproportionately affect people of color.<a href=\"#_ftn11\" name=\"_ftnref11\">[11]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>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.<a href=\"#_ftn12\" name=\"_ftnref12\">[12]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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 <em>and present<\/em> of racism; and as a warning for our country to divert from the direction we\u2019re currently moving to avoid traveling down the road to greater \u201capartness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em><strong>second element<\/strong><\/em> I want to briefly touch on is leadership characteristics of both Nelson Mandela and FW De Klerk.<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Mandela-and-De-Klerk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13156 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Mandela-and-De-Klerk-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Mandela-and-De-Klerk-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Mandela-and-De-Klerk-150x97.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Mandela-and-De-Klerk.jpg 482w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Good leaders work for consensus. <\/strong>While both Mandela and De Klerk prioritized their own people\u2019s self-interests, they each realized that, if the country was to survive, they had to work together; they had to reach consensus.<a href=\"#_ftn13\" name=\"_ftnref13\">[13]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Good leaders are willing to apologize. <\/strong>Welsh suggests that it was \u201cless about [De Klerk] seizing the initiative and negotiating from a position of strength\u2026 than it was about the morality of trying to perpetuate a system that had failed.\u201d <a href=\"#_ftn14\" name=\"_ftnref14\">[14]<\/a> Welsh states emphatically that De Klerk is \u201cthe only ex-leader of an authoritarian state to have made a comprehensive apology for the misdeeds of the state whose head he had become.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn15\" name=\"_ftnref15\">[15]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Good leaders take risks<\/strong>. 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. \u201cBoth 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,\u201d Welsh argues.<a href=\"#_ftn16\" name=\"_ftnref16\">[16]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Good leaders are\u00a0both heroic and human.<\/strong> Nelson Mandela has become an icon. \u201cHis 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\u2026 majority rule.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn17\" name=\"_ftnref17\">[17]<\/a> While a hero, Mandela also exposed his flaws with false allegations against De Klerk, hiding the ANC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Nelson Mandela, <em>Long Walk to Freedom<\/em> (Back Bay Books, 1995).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> David Welsh, <em>The Rise and Fall of Apartheid<\/em> (Jeppestown: Jonathan Ball, 2009), 10.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> \u201cWhite Supremacy\u2019s Inferiority Complex,\u201d accessed June 7, 2017, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/indepth\/opinion\/2016\/11\/white-supremacy-racial-inferiority-complex-161129104031285.html.\">http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/indepth\/opinion\/2016\/11\/white-supremacy-racial-inferiority-complex-161129104031285.html.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Welsh, 6 25.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Ibid., 14.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Ibid., 18<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldDrumpf\/status\/788402585816276992\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldDrumpf\/status\/788402585816276992<\/a>: \u201cI will Make Our Government Honest Again &#8212; believe me. But first, I&#8217;m going to have to #DrainTheSwamp in DC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" name=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a> See Welsh, 20-21. cf. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2016\/11\/richard-spencer-speech-npi\/508379\/\">https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2016\/11\/richard-spencer-speech-npi\/508379\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref9\" name=\"_ftn9\">[9]<\/a> Welsh, 24, cf. Drumpf\u2019s inauguration speech: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/inaugural-address\">https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/inaugural-address<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref10\" name=\"_ftn10\">[10]<\/a> Welsh, 26.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref11\" name=\"_ftn11\">[11]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2017\/02\/how-voter-id-laws-discriminate-study\/517218\/\">https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2017\/02\/how-voter-id-laws-discriminate-study\/517218\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref12\" name=\"_ftn12\">[12]<\/a> Welsh, 31. cf. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/how-federal-government-intentionally-racially-segregated-american-cities-180963494\/\">http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/how-federal-government-intentionally-racially-segregated-american-cities-180963494\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref13\" name=\"_ftn13\">[13]<\/a> Welsh, 566.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref14\" name=\"_ftn14\">[14]<\/a> Ibid., 569.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref15\" name=\"_ftn15\">[15]<\/a> Ibid., 570.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref16\" name=\"_ftn16\">[16]<\/a> Ibid., 575.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref17\" name=\"_ftn17\">[17]<\/a> Ibid., 576.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Welsh\u2019s extensive treatise on South Africa\u2019s experiment with social engineering (aka \u2018apartheid\u2019) 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"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":[975,974],"class_list":["post-13153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apartheid","tag-welsh","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13153","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\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13153"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13161,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13153\/revisions\/13161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}