This is a short
essay I wrote on the Apartheid I wrote a while back. The bibliographic format I used might seem somewhat odd... Where I
cited a work, I enclosed the author's name and the page number in parenthesis. Saw it laying around and
felt the need to node it.
The Apartheid was South Africa's offical policy until the release of Nelson Mendela from prison. Apartheid, the doctrine of a separate development, consisted of racism and segregation. It also reflected the Afrikaners' fear of being taken over by a more populous black race, as well as a better educated and wealthier English community. Thirdly, the fact that racial domination was no longer acceptable in modern society, transformed apartheid into a reformist doctrine that strived constantly for a political, econimic, and social system that supported separate development. Reforms, however, were intended to "modernize racial domination, not eliminate it" (Ottaway 27).
Apartheid was the doctrine of separation, based on racism and segregation. That mentality came with the Afrikaners (then the Dutch) to South Africa. They were Calvinists, and Calvin taught that we are predestined to go to heaven or hell at birth. The Afrikaners thought they were the elect and the blacks and natives were "the children of Ham, the hewers of wood, and the drawers of water" (Sparks 43). The afrikaners differed little from the black tribes, but they did have guns that established a physical superiority and a religion that absolutely set them apart. Under apartheid, South Africa was divided into three groups. These three groups were the whites, the blacks, and the colored. The blacks and colored were subdived further by ethnic, linguistic, and cultural lines.
The apartheid mentality came from the Afrikaners fear of being taken over by either of the black race or the English. This again came from their Calvinistic beliefs. This reflects on the fact that they had a narsistic mentality. They became so focused on themselves, that they couldn't see the harm they were doing to those who they believed not to be among the "elect". This became a national syndrome that drove them to pass the Group Area Act; the Population Registration Act; and the Separate Amenities Act.
Apartheid was a mentality that had been around many years before the National Party backed it up with laws. It was an attempt to codify and justify the unjustifiable. Apartheid policy was being pressured by the U.N. and other nations individually. The United States, the Economic Community, and other nations embargoed South Africa. The noose was tightening and apartheid was approaching its downfall.
Apartheid was generally about legal segregation. It is based on the false premise that one group of people are superior to another group or groups of people. It is a concept of God's plan for His people, twisted around and around, until it became what man wanted God's plan to be, all in order to justify his own behavior. Apartheid had to be dismantled, not only for economic reasons, but also to avoid civil war. The black race was so much more populous than the Afrikaners, that the Afrikaners no longer had the manpower to control them. Without the dismantling of apartheid policy, civil war was eminent.
Bibliography
1. Ottaway, Marina,
South Africa, the Struggle for New Order. Washington, D.C.:The Brookings Institution, 1993.
2. Sparks, Allister.
The Mind of South Africa. New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 1990.
It's not really my best work, but I was 12 or 13 when I wrote it so hey...