Sylvana

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist and spent 60+ years in prison as a result. However, his resolutions in 1994 prevented a massive racial genocide that some on both sides are still calling for. I for one am glad that he reigned in the ANC who honestly though they were going to receive word and start indiscriminately killing whites.

A lot of the other members of the ANC both current and past however committed far worse terrorist crimes than the one that landed Mandela in prison, but such is life. Most notoriously is his ex wife who was involved in the brutal practice of "necklacing". The process involves placing a car tire around a persons neck, and then setting it alight. The rubber melts and sticks to the persons skin. It is a pretty horrific way to die.

Now everything in South Africa is not all peaches and roses. The ANC government is a little too much like our neighbors in Zimbabwe which is not a good sign. The current bunch leading the ANC are your typical tinpot dictators. They don't accept anyone disagreeing with them and are noticeably trying to erode the separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary. They are becoming completely corrupted by power and I doubt they will relinquish their control democratically. However that is a problem for a later date.

4/17/2012 6:44:13 AM

Sylvana

As of the 17 of April 2012, they are attempting to introduce a bill that will punish journalists to 15 years in prison for leaking state information, even if the information is of public interest. Additionally they intend to create a media tribunal to punish the media for printing stories they don't like. They openly complain when anyone they don't like receives more media attention they they do on the national state broadcasters which tend to favor them disproportional when election time comes. An example is the afternoon long ANC rally that was televised live, while no other parties received any air time. They are also intending to change the constitution, one of the best in the world, to give themselves the power to continue to plunder the country indiscriminately. The locally know blue light brigades have already caused a number of deaths and injuries as the transport ANC people with reckless abandon. The police are entirely under their control and the officers that tried to arrest an ANC official were subsequently dismissed. Education levels have dropped to such a low that one of the few ANC people with backbone admitted that the apartheid era Bantu education was better. These are all the signs of the ANC becoming that they destroyed with Apartheid. They have just become another oppressive regime.

4/17/2012 6:45:15 AM

Sylvana

Despite all that though, they are still not nearly as bad as the American republicans and government. The judiciary though slow, still protects the people of all colours. Blacks and whites try their best daily to live their lives despite the ever increasing oppression of the ruling party. Despite the racists on both sides, both of which make me ashamed and sick, we still want to live in harmony and peace. The majority of the blacks in South Africa received a raw deal. With their freedom in 1994 they were free to now excel or fail based on merit, however 30 years of institutionalized oppression eroded their economic ability. Most adults were hopelessly uneducated and a lack of schools in predominantly black areas severely stunted the potential of their children. While the field was leveled legally, the problem of poverty remained much like the rest of the world. This economically uneven field is a large part of the current oppression of the black population. Although access to education has improved these last 18 years, the incompetence and corruption of government has lead to education levels dropping to record lows, completely stunting the ability of poverty stricken blacks to uplift themselves. This lack of education throughout the workforce has led to a severe economic problems especially in attempting to compete globally. this all continually perpetuates the cycle of poverty.

4/17/2012 6:45:51 AM

Sylvana

This continual cycle of poverty and economic oppression allows the ruling ANC to manipulate the population in their favor. Through blatant propaganda and lies they maintain a ghost of Apartheid and use it as a threat whenever election time comes round again. With the low levels of literacy most are uniformed about the reality of how the government is oppressing them because the newspapers are too difficult to read for many. Living conditions are so similar for many poor black families to the conditions under apartheid that many incorrect believe that whites and apartheid are still actively oppressing them. A belief that suits an obsolete revolutionary organization currently in power just fine.

There are racists on both sides. The make me sick, however the majority of people just want to live in peace and happiness.

4/17/2012 6:46:27 AM

Skyknight

Somehow, I don't think this is going to make Rizzo feel THAT much better...

Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like the tribalism that infects the rightward of America (the all-important tribe in this case being the ANC). Justice, prosperity, kindness, morality...not regarded as worthwhile if they don't focus entirely on the persistence and invulnerability of the tribe. To humanity's ancient tribalism, the enlightened concepts of equality, science, respect of the Other, etc. must seem like the ultimate heresy. The precepts have yet to realize that humanity is no longer unable to care for those beyond the tribe. The idea of omnibenevolence, ultimately, may just seem self-contradictory to those in tribalism's thrall.

4/18/2012 12:13:38 PM

Anonymous

Brendan Rizzo: You're doing well for a country that's only been around for less than 300 years. I don't think there's ever been a state that's become so prosperous within such a short space of time. Look at how well other young regimes are faring, like the entire Middle East, for example. Australia is doing alright, especially given their climate.

Anyway, despite the whole slavery and segregation business, Britain was a massive imperialist and did some nasty things but most of the time it was cultural snobbery or xenophobia rather than modern racism, though that did creep in later on. People didn't mind foreigners as long as they assimilated, it was an empire after all, and might even prefer an Indian or African to a Frenchman. (These days everyone is scared of Polish and Pakistani immigrants, but Indians and Chinese are well-accepted, the latter two having integrated into society a lot earlier, and Pakistani Muslims tending to scare people with the religion.) Whereas in the Americas there were migrants from all over Europe but not so much other places, so people weren't bothered about the cultural differences within Europe but were more bothered by obviously different foreigners like Africans, and it didn't help that they had to bring in a huge West African slave underclass when the Native and Irish indentured servants died off.

4/19/2012 1:57:13 PM