Racial segregation in South Africa started in colonial times and was already in force by the British colonial government before South Africa gained independence. This racially based segregation became more oppressive and detailed through the Apartheid laws after the 1948 general election.
What makes South Africa's apartheid era different to segregation and racial hatred that have occurred in other countries, is the systematic way in which the National Party, which came into power in 1948, formalised it through the law. These laws became know as the Apartheid laws - Apartheid in Afrikaans means Separateness.
I was born and grew up in South Africa and the legacy of Apartheid not only still affects South Africa in its struggle towards equality, but affects me when I think of the thousands of people who lost their lives in my lifetime in the struggle for freedom and social and economic justice in South Africa.
I think of Steven Biko …. His loss to the country and what could have been, I cannot put into words. His death was something that affected the consciousness of all, regardless of the race divide the Apartheid government strived for, and actually bound together many of the very people it was trying to divide by this politic.
Thankfully my parents were anti-Apartheid, as they believed in equality, social justice and that South Africa would one day be free of the fascist, racist oppression that Apartheid held over millions of people. The day Nelson Mandela was released was one of the highlights of my life.
I came down to Occupy on the 15th October last year, without any predisposed ideas of really why I was here, except that I felt strongly that things are very wrong in our society and the world today. I’ve read a section of a speech by Dr Martin Luther King that sadly is still relevant today. Social, economic and political injustice still dominates the world we all live in.
Martin Luther King had a righteous anger as a man of God and as a political activist who truly believed in the struggle to fight non-violently for a better world, one that addressed the problematic issues of poverty, prejudice, war, oppression and the lack of fairness and equality in our global society.
He truly sought justice for all and his anger was directed at the iniquities of a system that divides, polarises and oppresses.
We have not since the Depression of the 1930s been in such a desperate spiral of economic crisis, injustices and social degradation of human rights, which has the potential to lead the world into another era of scapegoat ideology, in which the rise of fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and racist nationalism finds a place in the vacuum of logic, reason, equality and justice.
We need to strive to avoid a world that is based on such hatred and prejudice, we need to find a peaceful path that will rally against tyranny, exploitation, and oppression, in which our own governments deny the voices of dissent. People feel disenfranchised. We need to rise up and challenge the nefarious system that brings about prejudice and hatred through division.
We must stand together, united as one against a system that wants to alienate us as communities, destroy our shared values, and in which our governments attempt to control, suppress and at times persecute people who rise up against this failing global system. We need to be united, as one race - the HUMAN race and put aside our differences, but respect and love our diversity as humans.
If we look at Dr King’s belief in the method of non-violent resistance as unsheathed from its scabbard, the entire community, society, and the people CAN become mobilized to confront the adversary of social, economic and political injustice.
Dr King’s greatest legacy for us to learn from is that he recognised that economic injustice facilitates all injustices, all forms of hatred, division, oppression, and social injustice. I have seen first hand the bitter devise racial hatred and prejudice bring, and we need to be vigilant in times of strife and crisis to ensure that racism and fascism do not find a place in our society.
We are living in times impoverished by spirit. Apathy and a sense of powerlessness has pervaded for so long, but NOW is the time to look at ourselves in light of Edmund Burke’s recognition, that all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good people to stand by and do nothing. I don’t want to be a person who stands by and does nothing … do you?
“God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense, in order to shame the wise, and He chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.” 1 Corinthians 1 vs. 27.
And as Dr Martin Luther King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
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