Comments on: Chris Louws death and what it may mean

By: Kameraad Mhambi

Kameraad Mhambi — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:55:18 +0000

Hi, Beebop, you ask relevant questions and I will write a post to try and answer them.

By: Beebop

Beebop — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:58:41 +0000

Sorry, I’m on a bit of a roll here.
I say the following fully aware that is it easy for me to say since I am not living in South Africa at the moment. But white South Africans are also so quick to say the country is going to the dogs, it’s already to late, “death as a nation” etc.
How about we try to remember how depressed black South Africans must have felt when their political parties were banner, their leaders jailed, their voices silenced by violence, but they persevered. Or further back, the plight of Afrikaners in concentration camps. At least now people have freedom of speech and assembly.

I’d like to believe it’s too soon to give up. In fact when I was in Johannesburg last July, the people that seemed most optimistic were those who were meaningfully engaged in political action (across race and class lines).

By: Andries Louw

Andries Louw — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:40:45 +0000

Thanks for the reference to my post, Wessel.

By: Beebop

Beebop — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:37:15 +0000

I wonder if part of the answer to this malaise Afrikaners are feeling is to really try to reach out to other marginalized groups.
I’ve been thinking about my where my knee-jerk distaste comes from every time you bring up the “sad plight of Afrikaners”, especially Afrikaner men. I think just growing up amongst the machismo and racism and general closed-mindedness of so many Afrikaners, especially men, makes it quite difficult for me to feel sympathy for their plight now. Imagine how much more difficult that must be for a black South African.

So perhaps it is a matter of language and of how marginalized groups present themselves. Whites, all too often make themselves sound so victimized, almost more than anyone else. There is a very small group of people at the top benefiting from the current regime. Groups at the bottom need to find ways to engage in serious coalition-building across difference instead of doing polls about who would want to live in a volkstaat. Try to create some unity rather than making it sound like they deserve special treatment.

Part of that process is to acknowledge our prejudices and that is a very difficult thing. In fact many whites are still very racist in South Africa and all this concern for the lone sad Afrikaner male in die platteland has to at least take into account that this sad figure might very well be very racist, sexist, homophobic etc.

Anyway, coalition building — that’s my thought for the day.