DEAR News Of The Area,
THE fall of the Apartheid regime in South Africa was 32 years ago, before the majority of Australians alive today started school.
The struggle to end the racist system of Apartheid (literally meaning separate development) has important lessons to the world today.
My father was born in South Africa and served in the South African Air Force in WWII against the fascist Nazi regime.
Along with the other Allied forces he was a part of the original Antifa (anti-fascist) movement.
After the war he returned to South Africa but within three years, in 1948, the minority white population elected the Nationalist government which introduced the racially discriminatory Apartheid laws.
Non-whites were not allowed to vote.
My father left SA and never returned. The prospect of living under a regime that was not that different to the Nazi regime he had just spent years fighting against was not a bright one.
It is hard to describe just how evil the Apartheid system was.
It was unashamedly racist and the Apartheid laws codified this racism to benefit and entrench the power of wealthy white people. It was hierarchical, with the whites on the top (of course!), then the Indians, followed by the Cape Coloureds (the original nomadic inhabitants), with the black Africans on the bottom.
Divide and rule.
Apartheid dictated who you could marry, where you could live and work, what level of justice the legal system would afford you, and what sort of education you would receive.
People were routinely and systematically abused, humiliated, imprisoned, and assaulted by the police.
People who raised their voices against this discrimination suffered retribution by the State.
The stifling of any peaceful means to effect change inevitably led to violent resistance.
Over time an international peoples movement rose up to support the people of South Africa, and Australia and New Zealand played an important part.
A cornerstone of this movement involved the demands for a trade and cultural boycott of South Africa.
Needless to say governments were opposed to boycotts, saying that they wouldn’t work and would just harm ordinary South Africans.
The demonstrations against the Springbok Rugby team in 1981 marked a turning point for the movement.
Trade and cultural boycotts increased internationally and, together with increasing pressure at home, the SA government finally saw the writing on the wall and chose a negotiated solution rather than descending into a full scale civil war.
Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and full suffrage elections in 1994 resulted in him becoming President.
What this potted history shows is that, internationally, people do care about injustice and are prepared to act.
If governments are reticent to act we can build popular movements calling for justice, and these movements can be successful.
Most notably, sporting and cultural boycotts are effective tools for influencing foreign governments that flagrantly violate the human rights of their own citizens.
Regards,
Peter Sobey,
Valla.
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
