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GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA. GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA. Elaine Haglund, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach. GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA. GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA. Elaine Haglund, Ph.D.
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GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA Elaine Haglund, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach
GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA GLIMPSES OF POST APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA Elaine Haglund, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach
LESSONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Elaine Haglund, Ph.D. California State University, Long Beach Video - Mandela
Background Data • About 42-43 million people(90% of whom are ‘people of color’) • Thirteen recognized national parties (both a republic and a monarchy) • Nine provinces, three capitals (Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town) • Eleven Official Languages in four major groupings
Early History “Empty Land” Theory
Early History • Africa is where our species became human. Four million years of human evolution happened there. • About 100,000 years ago, it is believed that a handful of these early ancestors of ours began a journey that took humans to every corner of the globe. • Every country on earth is populated by descendents of those first migrants. Handouts - History
Praise Singer Video - Orator
Cape of Good Hope Table Mountain
Modern South Africa: Diversity • Eleven Official Languages “We are mot different people with separate languages, but one people with different tongues.” (Nelson Mandela)
Economy (1) • Modern industrialized, urban economy but a subsistence economy (low-paid labor) • Minerals: World’s leading supplier of gold, chromium, manganese, vanadium, and platinum • Private sector: highly centralized and dominated by the interrelated DeBeers and Anglo-American corporations
Economy (2) • How do you develop a new financial order without disturbing the old? • How do you create equality on a foundation of blatant inequality? • To what extent can you rely on the good will of the rich to uplift the poor?
Apartheid Apartheid Black Sash Movement Black Sash Movement Video - Babs
“No education before liberation !” Apartheid Codified Racism
Approximately 10,000 blacks were killed by the notorious system of racial domination. The greatest damage was the dehumanization and humiliation of non-whites through ruthless laws and practices by about 12% of the population (whites). Apartheid 1948 and 1990 (1)
When apartheid finally collapsed, the oppressors sought amnesty for their crimes...while the victims sought justice. Apartheid 1948 and 1990 (2)
Nelson Mandela“Shaker of Trees” Robben Island
According to Mandela, "The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed, for he is the prisoner of hatred, robbed of his own humanity." "While the particulars of our histories may have been different, the heart of our struggles, from Selma to Soweto, has been the same." "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
Constitution • Constitution (1996) of South Africa is among the most progressive in the world. • Among the 27 Fundamental Rights is the right not to be discriminated against on any grounds and “in particular on: • race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture or language.”
Gender & the Constitution (1) • There shall be no discrimination on the basis of gender (including inheritance and property rights). But . . . • CAN THE NEW CONSTITUTION AND TRADITIONAL LAW CO-EXIST?
Traditional Law The National Organization of Traditional Leaders (Contralesa): The chiefs were defeated in their struggle to have the gender equality clause eliminated. However, traditional leaders do have special protection under the Constitution. Gender & the Constitution (2)
Gender-Related African Proverbs Changing the laws of a society is one aspect of implementing change, but the most critical aspect is changing the way society views those laws. The hen knows it is morning, but she waits for the cock to crow. The cow never leads the bull. A woman married under custom shall be considered a minor and her husband her guardian.
Restitution - Land Claims • The bureaucracy has lagged in addressing the basic issues of restitution for land claims. • The government, for example, promised to compensate all families and their descendants who lost their property under apartheid. • But of the nearly 70,000 claims, only about 12,000 have been resolved.
Unemployment Due to the 40% jobless rate among black South Africans, there is a 4% levy on businesses to finance worker training. Job creationand training educationare imperative!!!
Amy Biehl Foundation Video - Biehls
Bishop Desmond Tutu Video - Tutu
Reconciliation - OBUNTU • Obuntu is about the essence of being human and the importance of communal harmony. Anger and revenge are corrosive of this harmony. • It is the best form of self-interest to forgive you, because if I do not, my anger that is directed toward dehumanizing you will dehumanize me in the process. • So if I can enhance your humanity, my humanity is enhanced.
Roots of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1) The South African Interim Constitution sought to provide "Transitional Justice." It lay the secure foundation for the people of South Africa to transcend the divisions and strife of the past, which generated: Gross violations of human rights; The transgression of humanitarian principles in violent conflicts; and A legacy of hatred, fear, guilt, and revenge.
Roots of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2) Those violations could then be addressed on the basis that there was a need for: Understanding but not vengeance; Reparation but not retaliation; and "Ubuntu" but not victimization.
Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) • Promotionof National Unity and Reconciliation • Act,1995 • Making known the fate of victims of gross violations by letting them relate their experience • Possible granting of amnesty to the oppressors in exchange for the truth; • Submitting report with recommended reparation measures.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)-1995 • Committee on Human Rights Violations • Committee on Amnesty • Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation The five-volume report cannot do justice to the complexities and nuances behind the decisions, such as resolving the role of the multiple bystanders. Handouts - TRC
Victims of Torture Psychological complexity of reconciliation: Victims who experienced brutality during Apartheid now, at times, feel more alienated—because the most dramatic part of the struggle that bonded people together is now over.
Other ‘Truth Projects’ • 13 Truth Commissions - 1974-1994 • Argentina (cessation of repressive military rule); • Bolivia; Cambodia, Chad (military victory); • Chile (gradual democratization); • East Timor; El Salvador (settlement of civil war); • Germany; Philippines; Rwanda; South Africa (gradual democratization); • Uganda (cessation of repressive military rule); • Uruguay (military victory) • Non-Governmental and United Nations Projects to Document Injustices Benin, Bosnia, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Eritrea, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Possible Sources of Revenue • Return of the Swiss Bank investments made by Apartheid leaders at the end of the regime; • Foreign investment – only if jobs are created; • Forgiveness of Apartheid-established debts by world banks. The ability to attract foreign investment will largely depend on how effectively South Africa can implement its very progressive constitution.
Education • A single national education system, managed by nine provincial systems • Compulsory education for learners between 7 and 15 years old • More than 4 million have had no education; 3.5 million have had some primary education • Public and private primary/secondary schools; higher education (Technikons and universities)
Row Row Row Your Boat Elementary Schools (2) Video - Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Secondary Schools Video - Chorus