| |
|
History of apartheid in South Africa
South Africa was colonised by the Dutch and English from the 17th century onwards. As was typically the case in the African colonies, the European settlers dominated the indigenous population through political control and the control of land and wealth. In the years following the victory of the South African National Party in the general election of 1948, a flood of laws were enacted, formally instituting the dominance of white people over other races.
The principal apartheid laws were as follows:
The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761 on 6 November 1962 which condemned South Africa's racist apartheid policies and called for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with South Africa.
In 1964 Nelson Mandela, leader of the ANC, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1974 the government issued the Afrikaans Medium Decree which forced all schools to use the Afrikaans language when teaching blacks mathematics, social sciences, geography and history at the secondary school level. Punt Janson, The Deputy Minister of Bantu Education was quoted as saying
Internationally, South Africa became isolated. Numerous conferences were held and the United Nations resolutions passed condemning South Africa, including the World Conference Against Racism in 1978 and 1983. An immense divestment movement started, pressuring investors to refuse to invest in South African companies or companies that do business with South Africa. South African sports teams were barred from participation in international events, and South African culture and tourism were boycotted.
These international movements, combined with internal troubles, persuaded the South African government that its hard-line policies were untenable, and in 1984 some reforms were introduced. Many of the apartheid laws were repealed, and a new constitution was introduced which gave limited representation to certain non-whites, although not to the black majority. The violence continued throughout the 1980s.
In 1989, F. W. de Klerk succeeded P. W. Botha as president. On 2 February 1990, at the opening of Parliament, he declared that apartheid had failed and that the bans on political parties, including the ANC, were to be lifted. Nelson Mandela was released from prison. De Klerk went on to abolish all the remaining apartheid laws.
On April 15 2003, President Thabo Mbeki announced that the South African government would pay 660 million rand (85 million US dollars) to about 22,000 people who were tortured, detained, or lost family members under apartheid rule. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to investigate abuses from the apartheid era, had recommended the government to pay 3 billion rand in compensation, over the next five years.
Apartheid in international law
South African apartheid was condemned internationally as unjust and racist. In 1973 the General Assembly of the United Nations agreed the text of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. The immediate intention of the Convention was to provide a formal legal framework within which member states could apply sanctions to press the South African government to change its policies. However, the Convention was phrased in general terms, with the express intention of prohibiting any other state from adopting analogous policies. The Convention came into force in 1976.
Article II of the Convention defines apartheid as follows:
''For the purpose of the present Convention, the term "the crime of apartheid", which shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practised in southern Africa, shall apply to the following inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them:
Apartheid in the Arab world
The Kingdom of Jordan forbids Jews from becoming citizens, although peoples of any other group are allowed to do so. (Law No. 6, sect. 3, of April 3, 1954; restated in law no. 7, sect. 2, of April 1, 1963)
Saudi Arabia forbids non-Muslims from practising their religion in public Christians who ask Muslims to convert to Christianity have been persecuted and arrested; Muslims who have converted to Christianity have been executed. Jews are forbidden from practising their faith.
Non-Wahhabi Muslims report apartheid-like discrimination in Saudi Arabia.
One official Israeli position against the allegation of apartheid is that the disputed policies against Palestinians are in place because of security-related reasons, and will be removed when circumstances change. The use of harsh techniques, and even torture, which constitutes a crime against humanity, against Palestinians are supported in order to minimise the risks of terrorist attacks, and crimes against humanity against Israelis.
Several other features of life in Israel are construed by some as showing that Israel does not give full citizen rights to Arabs living within its borders, to a degree that is tantamount to apartheid. They include:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a leading anti-apartheid campaigner in South Africa, stated, in a speech about Israel, "I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us blacks in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about." (speech in Cape Town, April 2002 [1])
Many Israelis, on the other hand, point to the fact that Arab Israelis actually have greater personal and civil freedoms than Arabs living in most Arab countries in the middle east (many of which have authoritarian governments) do. They also say that there is much greater discrimination against Jews in Arab countries than Arabs in Israel. According to the Israel Religious Action Center many Jewish Israelis feel that the ultra-Orthodox have too much control [1].
It is alleged that calling Israeli policy apartheid is merely an excuse for antisemitism. Indeed, Israel's Arab citizens have mostly the same rights, and they make up about a quarter of the population, though Israeli law is greatly concerned with keeping Israel predominantly Jewish. Some say that the accusations of "Israeli apartheid" therefore should only apply to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, since Israel grants some Arabs citizenship rights. It is furthermore alleged that those areas are protected for security reasons.
Apartheid in Fiji
Two military coups in Fiji in 1987 removed from power a government that was led by an ethnic Fijian, but was supported principally by the Indo-Fijian (ethnic Indian) electorate, which then made up approximately half of the population. A new constitution was promulgated in 1990, establishing Fiji as a republic, with the offices of President, Prime Minister, two-thirds of the Senate, and a clear majority of the House of Representatives reserved for ethnic Fijians, despite the fact that ethnic Fijians then comprised less than half the population. Ethnic Fijian ownership of the land (which was worked principally by Indo-Fijians) was also entrenched in the constitution.
World-wide condemnation of the 1990 constitution, and a brain-drain of many Indo-Fijian professionals and businesspeople, caused the Fijian government to revise the constitution in 1997. Amendments deleted most of the discriminatory provisions, and subsequent elections in 1999 brought a new government to power, with Mahendra Chaudhry as the country's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.
Another coup followed in 2000, with George Speight, supported by sympathetic offices in the Army and police force, seizing power, with the aim of ending Indo-Fijian influence in politics. Democracy, and the moderate 1997 constitution, were eventually restored, however. What is clear is that there is an element in Fijian society that has attempted, on a number of occasions, to institutionalize racial discrimination in that country.
See also: History of South Africa, racism, discrimination, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Steve Biko, Jim Crow laws, White Australia policy, Afrikaner Calvinism, Israeli settlements, multiculturalism, segregation, integration, caste, General Government.
External links