Clueless in South Africa with Mrs. Obama
First lady Michelle Obama is touring this writer's birthplace, South Africa. "[Nelson] Mandela's legacy in the battle for South African democracy," wrote one rapt reporter, who followed the FLOTUS around Johannesburg, "defines much of Obama's visit." It was only natural that "her next stop" would be "the Apartheid Museum, which chronicles the rise and fall of white rule."
Apartheid was a contemptible caste system. Forgotten, however, in the recriminations over apartheid are the facts as they are documented in my just-released book, "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa."
The Museum of Apartheid Mrs. Obama and the first daughters graced with their presence will have emphasized that, "Everything that goes wrong in the new South Africa is a legacy of apartheid."
Is not the violence in the rest of Africa blamed on colonialism?
"It's a legacy that has gone on for almost 40 years," I write (citing an exacerbated Jim Peron, an American expatriate, whose idealism drove him to decamp to post-apartheid South Africa). "Every time something goes wrong (and that happens constantly), the same litany of excuses is recited. 'We inherited this problem from the corrupt apartheid regime.'"
There's one pesky problem with this particular blame game: South Africa's flourishing criminal class consists mainly of youngsters who've come of age and blossomed under black rule.
What else will the proprietors of the thoroughly Americanized Apartheid Museum fail to divulge? As is chronicled in Chapter 5 of "Into the Cannibal's Pot" :
"Had the sainted Mandela ascended to power in the 1960s instead of languishing on Robben Island and in Pollsmoor Prison [Mrs. Obama's destinations in Cape Town], he would have nationalized the South African economy and banned private enterprise. That's what the ANC's Charter called for in 1955. That's what South Africa's black-ruled neighbors to the north did."
Except for Rhodesia before Robert Mugabe, minority-ruled South Africa, with all its problems, offered Africans more than any other country on the Dark Continent. South Africa." Granted, entering African migrants were not "voting with their feet" for apartheid, but they were certainly voting for law and order and a livelihood.
In the "first 23 years of apartheid, between 1948 and 1981, the South African economy grew at a rate of 4.5 percent." Of course, in the famous words attributed to both Disraeli and Mark Twain, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Duly, Marxists put the high-growth rate down to exploitation.
Apartheid In Africa - News
Is not the violence in the rest of Africa blamed on colonialism? "It's a legacy that has gone on for almost 40 years," I write (citing an exacerbated Jim Peron, an American expatriate, whose idealism drove him to decamp to post-apartheid South Africa).
JOHANNESBURG — Kader Asmal, a respected veteran of the struggle against apartheid who then fought to ensure South Africa lived up to its democratic ideals, has died at the age of 76, his family said Thursday. Asmal was admitted to the Constantiaberg
Writers, film-makers and diplomats descended on offices in the City where members of the cultural centre voted through plans to sell the 125-year leasehold on the Covent Garden building, which was a hub in the anti-apartheid struggle.
“If we can continue on this foot, I'd say South Africa will be looked upon as exemplary in the years to come,” he says. But local taxi owner Jomo Sibisi, 54, will not hear of it. “You would have expected these people to mobilise themselves like our
The first lady gave this message in a building famed for its part in the movement that ended apartheid -- South Africa's policy of racial separation. Regina Mundi is the largest Roman Catholic Church in the country. Thirty-five years ago,
Kader Asmal – Sinn Féin tribute to anti-apartheid and human rights ...
CONDOLENCES have been extended by Gerry Adams TD on behalf of Sinn Féin to the family, friends and comrades of South African former government minister Kader Asmal (76), who died at his home in Cape Town on Wednesday. Kader spent almost 30 years in exile in Ireland during the apartheid regime’s rule and led the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement as well being a civil rights activist here. He was a law lecturer at Trinity College Dublin.
When he returned to South Africa after the toppling of apartheid, he became a minister in the ANC Government. His loyalty to the freedom struggle never stifled his critical voice in the cause of civil liberties and good governance.
Gerry Adams said he had heard of Kader’s death “with great sadness”.
On behalf of Sinn Féin I want to extend my sincere condolences to his wife, Louise, his two sons, his grandchildren and also to the ANC and the people of South Africa on whose behalf he worked tirelessly for many years.
I met Kader many times in Ireland and in South Africa when he was first the Minister of Water Affairs and later when he was Education Minister.
He was a loyal and active member of the national executive of the African National Congress and a fearless human rights champion.
Kader devoted his life to ending apartheid and building a new society in South Africa reflective of all its citizens.
He was a founder of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and as a human rights lawyer he fought repression wherever he found it.
D’oibrigh Kader Asmal in Éirinn ar son a phobal i nDeisceart na hAfraice a bhí faoi ionsaí, faoi ghéarleanúint, faoi chiapadh faoin córas apartheid ansin le blianta fada.
Bhí Kader an-gníomhach freisin ins an obair in Éirinn ag am a bhain le géarleanúint i dtuaisceart na hÉireann agus cúrsaí cearta daonna a h-ardú le cibé rialtas a bhí i réim.
I first met Kader here in Ireland where he worked for nearly 30 years. Here too he was a champion for human rights. He was a vigorous opponent of British injustice in the North and his work on British state killings in the North, in which he identified almost 400 victims, was ground-breaking.
His work in the Irish Council for Civil Liberties was instrumental in highlighting the repressive nature of legislation such as the Offences Against the State Act.
Seolaim mo comhbhrón le Louise, a dá mac, garmhic, agus go háirithe chuig an pobal i nDeisceart na h-Afraice atá tar éis é a chailliúint inniu.
The battle to end new apartheid in townships - Independent Online 
The battle to end new apartheid in townships - Gauteng | IOL News | IOL.co.za: via 
The Apartheid City and Beyond: Urbanization and Social Change in South Africa: 
": all people in the world looks @ alkhalifa regime in the same way they were looking @ the in South Africa 
Music, ‘power structure’, and mediation: Black musical performance in urban apartheid South Africa at musicindevelopment.comApartheid In Africa - Bookshelf
Apartheid, a documentary study of modern South Africa
Apartheid South Africa, An Insider's Overview of the Origin and Effects of Separate Development
Apartheid South Africa addresses these and a host of other issues, bringing to light little-known facts concerning historical detail and providing the reader ...Apartheid in South Africa
Examines the historical forces that led to the development of the system of apartheid, what life was like under the system for both blacks and whites, and the ...Domestic service in post-apartheid South Africa, deference and disdain
I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in the interconnections of class, gender and race, as well as in the challenges of social transformation.The End of Apartheid in South Africa
Examines the history of apartheid in South Africa, starting with a summary of the country's history prior to the legislative program, through the repressive ...Check Information Directory
South Africa under apartheid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times. ... Reforms to apartheid in the 1980s failed to quell the mounting opposition, and in 1990 ...
Apartheid South Africa
History of apartheid in South Africa, from 1653 to the present day.
The History of Apartheid in South Africa
South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. ... Strategists in the National Party invented apartheid as a means to ...
Anti-Apartheid Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It organized public meetings in support of the African National ... The Anti-Apartheid Movement was instrumental in initiating in 1965 an academic boycott of South Africa. ...
South Africa under apartheid
Apartheid (meaning separateness in Afrikaans, cognate to English ... Apartheid had its roots in the history of colonisation and settlement of southern Africa, ...