The story of how the former "breadbasket of black Africa" ​​- Southern Rhodesia, having defeated racism and taken land from the whites, turned into Zimbawa - the world champion in inflation, is known to many. Now, South Africa, a member of the BRICS and a partner of Russia, has also decided to go through the seizure of land from the whites. Given that radicalism is once again popular with both whites and blacks, this story will also end badly.103 A scandalous bill allowing the government to expropriate land from white farmers in favor of blacks was approved by the South African parliament last week. This is a "compulsory buyout", and Pretoria believes that this is "the most important decision since the fall of apartheid", which should "do away with historical injustice." President Jacob Zuma and the leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) specifically stipulate that the process "should not lead to bloodshed", as happened in neighboring Zimbabwe. But it is unlikely to succeed: the situation in South Africa was heating up all over Last year, clashes between white and black youth have already become the daily news background, and internal strife does not stop in the government and the ANC.

Pay and repent

“It was then that they invented concentration camps mass executions, the total destruction of property and the destruction of civilian infrastructure have become a normal practice"

It is time to say this clearly and distinctly: terror is being carried out throughout the country against the white population, especially noticeable, by the way, in rural areas, since in large cities whites have fenced themselves off from the hostile world around them with quarters surrounded by two-meter walls with barbed wire. One after another, there are lawsuits against members of underground or semi-underground "white resistance" organizations. And such an explosive law, hacking into the entire social and economic structure of the country, could be the last straw, and then something terrible could happen. The possibility of expropriating land from whites is provided for by the new constitution of the country, but before there was no procedure for this. "We confirm that the land will be returned to our people," Zuma warned, speaking at a celebration marking another anniversary of the ANC. Just a month before, the president had happily avoided impeachment: the South African Constitutional Court accused Zuma of "disrespect for the constitution," but parliament voted against his removal from power. In particular, Zuma was accused of spending fabulous sums of money on the reconstruction of the Nkadla kraal, his ancestral village in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which the president turned into a personal fashionable residence. Having got rid of the threat of impeachment, Zuma began to purge potential opponents within the ANC, removing from office, for example, the Prime Minister of that very province of KwaZulu-Natal, Senzo Mchunu, who apparently knows too much (formally, this removal was formalized as a decision of the ANC Central Committee, but voiced by the president himself).

Against this background, student unrest has not subsided in the republic for half a year. The situation escalated especially strongly in February, when black students set fire to the building of Northwestern University in Mafikeng, demanding to stop teaching in the Afrikaans language. In Mafikeng, teaching is multilingual, but everyone knows English at a C grade, so teaching was supposed to be translated into Tswana and Zulu - yes, it is very problematic to teach, for example, physics and English literature in these languages, but this would immediately cut off from the education of white Boer students. At the same time, the “justice rebels” destroyed the well-known gallery of works of art and monuments of the “apartheid era”, located on the same campus.
This is now in vogue: here and there, black students deface and break monuments to historical figures - the founders or former curators of universities, starting with the huge statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town. For several days at the University of Stellenbosch, they poured red paint over the statue of Jaap Mare, a long-term sponsor of the university and a famous politician who started out as a simple militia during the Boer War, and at the end of his life demanded that the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologize for the atrocities of that time. And while the black students were pouring the paint, the Boer girl was just as methodically washing off the paint. It all ended in a massacre on campus, and a white girl was literally hunted down by activists of the "struggle for civil rights." More to come. Professors who lectured in Afrikaans began to be expelled from universities, and fights with Boer students became good manners. The climax came during a rugby match (the dominant sport in South Africa) on the field of the University of the Free Orange State in Bloemfontein, when the fight between blacks and whites got completely out of control. The government had to temporarily close three major universities out of harm's way.

In such a situation, President Zuma pushed through the ANC-controlled parliament a law on the confiscation of "white" land. Strictly speaking, this is not exactly a law, but an amendment to the already existing “Law on the restitution of rights to land”, which was adopted back in the 90s and limited the filing of applications to 1998. For 18 years, the topic disappeared, but the adopted amendment extends the period until the summer of 2019. That is, a certain formal heir to the land must come to court and reasonably prove that his ancestors owned some land, and then evil white people came and appropriated the land. In this case, the applicant may waive the right to own land and be satisfied with the monetary compensation that white farmers will be required to pay him.

Until 1998, about 80 thousand applications were submitted, and the vast majority asked for money, not land. Now about five times more is expected, and the extravagant Zulu king Goodwill Zwelitini is going to plant the biggest bomb under the country. His claim includes not only the historic province of KwaZulu-Natal, but extends beyond it into the Eastern Cape, the Karoo, the Orange Free Republic and Mpumalanga (Nelspruit). The king is ready to show generosity and not expel farmers from their lands - if, of course, he is paid. “Where restitution is not possible, an alternative must be sought in the form of financial compensation,” said his lawyer, Jerome Ngwenya.

Great Grind

South Africa is a country with a harsh climate and salty soils; no more than 15% of the land is suitable for agricultural use. But those 15% were used wisely. Africa is prone to soil erosion, and the Afrikaners have perfected soil conservation as well as farming methods themselves. As a result, South Africa not only fully meets its food needs with a rapidly growing population due to the influx of migrants, but also exports 140 types of fruits to Europe, China and America. All this is kept on traditional Boer family farms, the size of which is sometimes really impressive - it happened historically. The very history of their formation is such that Zuma's "land restitution" can finally undermine the foundations of an already problematic state and unleash an open civil war. People outside of South Africa and Zimbabwe, to put it mildly, have a distorted idea of ​​the history of local land, territorial and interracial relations . Including the Russians, the capable part of which grew up on Soviet propaganda clichés about apartheid, racism and the national liberation movement. The description of the history of a distant and little interesting country boiled down to the following: evil Europeans, based on selfish capitalist considerations, landed on the southern tip of Africa, subjugated the peaceful black peoples by force of arms and took away the land on which peaceful peoples have lived since ancient times and the fruits of which they used.

This is not entirely true. Where the first settlers landed (they were mostly Dutch and French Huguenots, who later formed the Afrikaner nation, that is, the current Cape Provinces and Karoo), no one lived at all. The advance into the interior of the continent took place simultaneously with the colonization of North America, but in much more difficult conditions of the savannah and semi-desert. The Boers left in an organized manner (this was called a “track”), on the famous covered ox-carts, and most importantly, not entirely voluntarily, because they were squeezed out by the British, who gained control over the southern coast of the continent after the Napoleonic wars. And in the desert and the bush lived the Hottentots (they are also Hoi-Khoi and Bushmen) - nomadic tribes of the capoid race, who still have no idea of ​​private property. And they did not have any land that could be cynically taken away and appropriated.

The Afrikaners were distinguished by exceptional Protestant industriousness and no other occupation than Agriculture, did not know until World War II. They were not fluffy at the same time, but they were definitely white - the same as the British. But the English expansion forced them to move deeper and deeper into the continent, and it all ended with the "Great Track" - a mass exodus of the Boers on their damned carts away from the English colonial rule, on the plateau of the Veld, where they first encountered the Bantu-speaking people of the Zulu, who moved them towards. The Zulu at that time experienced something like an ethnic flourishing, which in history is usually called the very accurate word "mfekane" - "grinding". Driven by drought, they moved west and north from their historical range, destroying the clans they came across along the way, including related ones. Capturing the village, the Zulus killed all the men and boys, but many knew about their approach in advance and left. The result was a "domino effect": the territory of modern KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, Zimbabwe was captured by the ruthless Zulu. And the survivors either huddled in the then impenetrable mountains (Lesotho), or fled north and completely ran wild in an unfamiliar climate. Until now, no one has counted how many neighbors the Zulus destroyed during the mfekane, but the number goes to hundreds of thousands, some say about two million. And this is without knowing firearms. Eyewitnesses (mostly Christian missionaries) testified of thousands of petty clans dying of hunger, fleeing from the Zulus all the way to the Great Lakes. There, in the jungle and tropical climate, the former inhabitants of the bush and veld died en masse from colds and malaria.

“Until now, no one has counted how many neighbors the Zulus destroyed during the mfekane, but the number goes into hundreds of thousands, some say about two million.” The Zulus never worked on the land, it was considered a shameful occupation, worthy only of slaves. All Zulu men were trained only in war, and the tribe itself, under the leaders of Chaka, Dingiswayo and Mzilikazi, was one large military camp. And now the Boers come upon him with their wagons, buffaloes, rifles, beards and the Bible. The first thing the Zulus did was to kill and eat the Afrikaner truce. A series of border skirmishes began, as a result of which a more or less understandable border was formed between the Zulu Empire and the two Boer republics - the Transvaal and the Orange Free Republic. Thus, there can be no claims of the type of "seizure of land from poor blacks" against the Boers. For nearly three hundred years, generation after generation of Afrikaners plowed up the almost unsuitable for agriculture bush and veld, planted grapes and fruits, and where there was at least some water, gathered herds of buffalo and ostriches. Then the British caught up with them, everything accumulated had to be abandoned - and go into the unknown. Of course, no one canceled racism, then it was the norm for all Europeans, but for many local tribes it was better to work on a farm with a Boer than to fall under the ax of the Zulu.

This short period of peace ended when the British found the diamonds. After that, they were unstoppable. In 1879 they invaded the Zulu Empire and destroyed it within six months. The power of Queen Victoria extended over all of South Africa, except for the Boer republics, but they were also subjugated during the two Boer wars, in which the British demonstrated rare cruelty. It was then that concentration camps were invented, mass executions, the total destruction of property and the destruction of civilian infrastructure became a normal practice. The Boers responded by using the tactic guerrilla war but the forces were not equal.

Mutata explained to the banker that "our land is for blacks only, it is ours forever." Nothing is known about the further fate of the banker. And the man just wanted to improve vegetable growing. ”True, in some regions the British tried to negotiate with the Zulu tribal leaders on a private basis. So, Cecil Rhodes officially bought from Lobengula - the leader of the Ndebele (a tribe that broke away from the Zulus living on the territory of modern Zimbabwe and Zambia) - the right to develop his land. The equivalence of the transaction can be disputed from high moral positions, but the fact that it was legal for both contracting parties is beyond doubt. And in 1884, the leader Dinuzulu, faced with a conspiracy, called on his neighbors, the Boers from the Transvaal, to cope with the rebels, promising for this help about 10,400 square kilometers of land, that is, about a third of the entire Zululand. And after the victory of the Boer mercenaries over the "opposition", oddly enough, he fulfilled his promise by transferring the territory to the Transvaal. And the question arises how this deal is going to be challenged in judicial order current king. "One drill - one bullet"

"Restoring justice" in neighboring South Africa Zimbabwe ended sadly. Whites were practically expelled not only from the earth, but also from the country. Those who did not agree were killed. President Mugabe unofficially allowed the seizure of farm lands not by the right of former ownership (there simply was no such right), but just like that - without any compensation even for livestock and property. Priority was given to veterans of the national liberation struggle, former partisans, who considered the lands a reward for service, but did not know how to cultivate them and manage buffaloes. Hundreds of local goats were released into the pasture. These goats tend to eat anything they see with roots, and after two seasons pastures have turned into a desert. Buffaloes and cows imported from South Africa have died out.

Thus began the famine. In the end, the head of the National Bank asked President Mugabe to allow white farmers to return to improve the situation. Characteristically, it was not the president or even the ministers of the economic bloc who responded to this request, but the head of the security service, Didymus Mutata, who explained to the banker that "our land is only for blacks, it is ours forever, and we will not give it to anyone." Nothing is known about the further fate of the banker. And the man just wanted to improve vegetable growing.

The South African "land restitution" project is certainly not as cannibalistic as in Zimbabwe. But about a million whites already left the country, but up to 10 million migrants arrived, who are much poorer than the locals, regardless of origin. "Apartheid on the contrary" is now a common everyday phenomenon, despite the publicly ostentatious multiculturalism. Rape doesn't make the headlines, it becomes a statistic. White farmers are actively armed. Against this background, the underground activities of secret societies, including the Bruderbond, resumed. Of course, there is a small stratum of liberal intelligentsia that continues to indulge African nationalism and revanchism. But one of her recent mouthpieces is an English-speaking drill and Nobel laureate in literature, John Coetzee - suddenly wrote a poignant story "Disgrace", which describes just the story of the death of a family farm with all the details - squatting, rape, a painful sense of the destruction of a recently prosperous world. At the head of the new white resistance in South Africa were youth leaders, including popular rockers singing in Afrikaans (for example, Bock van Blerk and Steven Hoffmer). The place of the murdered leader of the Boer resistance, Eugene Terblanche, is also taken by the young. By the way, he was killed on his farm - by hired seasonal workers (of course, blacks), but versions of contract killings are actively discussed in the white environment.

At first glance, it might seem that Jacob Zuma pushed through such an explosive law solely in order to divert attention from his person - from corruption scandals, impeachment attempts and economic crisis. But this is purely European logic. Zuma can decide to undermine one of the foundations of his country's economy and unleash a civil war with an unpredictable result for the sake of some "higher goals". He is actually a pagan and an official polygamist. The ancestral spirits may well claim the land back, even if it never belonged to them. And yes, "One drill - one bullet." This slogan was much more popular than the one adopted in Europe "One person - one vote."

Vladimir Ardaev, columnist for RIA Novosti

There is a scandal in the Republic of South Africa - Parliament proposes to expropriate land from farmers. Moreover, neither politicians nor the media hide the fact that we are talking about white farmers - landowners of European origin. If such a campaign really begins, the most economically developed country in Africa may repeat the fate of neighboring Zimbabwe, where such a reform plunged the economy into a severe crisis.

It's time for justice

Black South Africans, who make up 79% of the South African population, own only 1.2% of agricultural land and less than 7% of land in settlements. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, white farmers have given them only 8% of the land.

"The time for persuasion is over - the time for justice has come," Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters Party (BES), said in parliament. He emphasized that this is not about revenge on the white population, but only about preserving the dignity of black citizens.

"We don't want to oppress whites, we just want to right a historical injustice," Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs and Land Reform Msebisi Svatcha told reporters.

"Julius Malema and his associates spread lies when they claim that whites have taken their land from them. Most blacks in South Africa are the same" occupiers " as whites: they came from other regions of Africa, like whites from Europe. And the policy of today's authorities is nothing more than plain black racism," says Callie Creel, CEO AfriForum is a non-governmental non-profit organization that defends the rights of the white minority in South Africa.

According to him, the only indigenous people of the country are the Khoisan, a group of peoples in South Africa, including the Bushmen and Hottentots. Both they and all other citizens of the republic are absolutely equal in rights, regardless of skin color. In addition, in South Africa there is a legal procedure for land restitution, which can be used by those who are able to prove that they illegally lost their allotments, recalls Callie Creel.

Parliamentarians are able to change the country's constitution, but there is also international law. And the 17th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: no one should be deprived of their property without any reason, says lawyer Anna Granova from Pretoria.

"The irony is that in 1948, when the UN adopted this declaration, South Africa was one of the few countries that refused to sign it. Then the South African authorities violated all human rights, including the right to property. And today, democratically elected president and parliament are going to deliberately violate this generally accepted norm of international law," the lawyer says.

"White Farmers in Panic"

Callie Creel believes that the expropriation of land, if it takes place, should be condemned by the world community, just as apartheid was once condemned. According to Anna Granova, it is precisely because of the long-standing universal condemnation of apartheid that one cannot count on the intervention of international organizations now - the actions of the South African authorities will be perceived as eliminating the consequences of racial discrimination.

“As for the reaction within the country, the public split has only intensified. Most black citizens are looking forward to the law, and although amendments to the constitution have not yet been adopted, there have already been cases of forceful seizure of land. White farmers are in a panic, land prices have fallen. Many are preparing for emigration," says Anna Granova.

Farmers can hold protests across the country. However, due to their small numbers (whites make up less than 9% of the population of South Africa) and the lack of serious international support, the chances of success are slim, she said.

It will be like in Zimbabwe

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the expulsion of white farmers from their plots will increase the volume of agricultural production in the country. Callie Creel is convinced of the opposite: in South Africa, where the agricultural sector is the most important part of the economy, land expropriation will result in a massive economic crisis that will affect the entire population, including new landowners. Anna Granova agrees with this forecast.

© Photo from the personal archive of Anna Granova

© Photo from the personal archive of Anna Granova

“The country already has a program for the transfer of land, which implies, in particular, state assistance. So, almost all farms that have changed owners have fallen into disrepair. There is not a word in the proposed bill on state aid. to do further, it doesn’t matter yet, ”says the lawyer.

Both she and Creel refer to the experience of the neighboring state - Zimbabwe. In 2000, in the face of a deteriorating economic situation, the parliament of this country adopted amendments to the constitution - on the gratuitous seizure of land from white farmers. The land became state property, black citizens could rent it for up to 99 years, and the descendants of white colonists - no more than five. In a matter of months, the number of farms decreased by 15 times, agricultural production fell, in 2008 inflation increased astronomically - by 231 million percent. The country found itself under Western sanctions, lost foreign investment and support from international financial organizations.

In November last year, a military coup took place in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe was ousted. Emmerson Mnangawa, who replaced him, first of all equalized all citizens in the land issue - whites were also allowed to rent plots for 99 years. But this has not yet helped to get out of the crisis, unemployment in the country exceeds 80%.

South Africa: black genocide is coming. So "Zambia" or "Zombia" is a country that got its name from zombies, with the help of which the founding fathers of the southern African states of Zambia and Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) intimidated and killed white farmers. With the indulgence of the liberals, the South African "apartheid" (only "separate existence") was overthrown, instead ... Read, taken from http://vz.ru/world/2016/5/30/813446.html

I looked at the comments there. Some seriously confuse the owners of DeBeers and other industries with whites. They are just as white as the suppliers of much darker brethren to America as slaves. Obama is the compromise figure in their skirmish.

Yes, and one more thing: in the early 1990s, many of our people went from the USSR to South Africa, to work in the police, etc. It’s hard for them in the BRICS member country. Black racism put South Africa on the brink civil war

[Mass protests and riots in South Africa have long become commonplace] May 30, 2016, 22:18
Photo: Themba Hadebe/AP/Tass
Text: Evgeny Krutikov
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Many people know the story of how the former "breadbasket of black Africa" ​​- Southern Rhodesia, having defeated racism and taken land from the whites, turned into Zimbawa - the world champion in inflation, is known to many. Now, by seizing land from the whites, they decided to go to South Africa, a member of the BRICS and a partner of Russia. Given that radicalism is once again popular with both whites and blacks, this story will also end badly.103 A scandalous bill allowing the government to expropriate land from white farmers in favor of blacks was approved by the South African parliament last week. This is a "compulsory buyout", and Pretoria believes that this is "the most important decision since the fall of apartheid", which should "do away with historical injustice." President Jacob Zuma and the leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) specifically stipulate that the process "should not lead to bloodshed", as happened in neighboring Zimbabwe. But it is unlikely to succeed: the situation in South Africa has been heating up over the past year, clashes between white and black youth have already become a daily news background, and internal strife does not stop in the government and the ANC.

Pay and repent

“It was then that concentration camps were invented, mass executions, the total destruction of property and the destruction of civilian infrastructure became a normal practice.” cities, whites fenced themselves off from the hostile world around with quarters surrounded by two-meter walls with barbed wire. One after another, there are lawsuits against members of underground or semi-underground "white resistance" organizations. And such an explosive law, hacking into the entire social and economic structure of the country, could be the last straw, and then something terrible could happen. The possibility of expropriating land from whites is provided for by the new constitution of the country, but before there was no procedure for this. “We confirm that the land will be returned to our people,” Zuma warned, speaking at a celebration marking another anniversary of the ANC. Just a month before, the president had happily avoided impeachment: the South African Constitutional Court accused Zuma of "disrespect for the constitution," but parliament voted against his removal from power. In particular, Zuma was accused of spending fabulous sums of money on the reconstruction of Nkadla kraal, his ancestral village in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which the president turned into a personal fashionable residence. Having got rid of the threat of impeachment, Zuma began to purge potential opponents within the ANC, removing from office, for example, the Prime Minister of that very province of KwaZulu-Natal, Senzo Mchunu, who apparently knows too much (formally, this removal was formalized as a decision of the ANC Central Committee, but voiced by the president himself).

Against this background, student unrest has not subsided in the republic for half a year. The situation escalated especially strongly in February, when black students set fire to the building of Northwestern University in Mafikeng, demanding to stop teaching in the Afrikaans language. In Mafikeng, teaching is multilingual, but everyone knows English at a C grade, so teaching was supposed to be translated into Tswana and Zulu - yes, it is very problematic to teach, for example, physics and English literature in these languages, but this would immediately cut off from the education of white Boer students. At the same time, the “justice rebels” destroyed the well-known gallery of works of art and monuments of the “apartheid era”, located on the same campus.
This is now in vogue: here and there, black students deface and break monuments to historical figures - the founders or former curators of universities, starting with the huge statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town. At the University of Stellenbosch, for several days they poured red paint over the statue of Jaap Mare, a long-term sponsor of the university and a famous politician who started out as a simple militia during the Boer War, and at the end of his life demanded that the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologize for the atrocities of that time. And while the black students were pouring the paint, the Boer girl was just as methodically washing off the paint. It all ended in a massacre on campus, and a white girl was literally hunted down by activists of the “struggle for civil rights.” More to come. Professors who lectured in Afrikaans began to be expelled from universities, and fights with Boer students became good manners. The climax came during a rugby match (the dominant sport in South Africa) on the field of the University of the Free Orange State in Bloemfontein, when the fight between blacks and whites got completely out of control. The government had to temporarily close three major universities out of harm's way.

In such a situation, President Zuma pushed through the ANC-controlled parliament a law on the confiscation of "white" land. Strictly speaking, this is not exactly a law, but an amendment to the already existing “Law on the restitution of rights to land”, which was adopted back in the 90s and limited the filing of applications to 1998. For 18 years, the topic disappeared, but the adopted amendment extends the period until the summer of 2019. That is, a certain formal heir to the land must come to court and reasonably prove that his ancestors owned some land, and then evil white people came and appropriated the land. In this case, the applicant may waive the right to own land and be satisfied with the monetary compensation that white farmers will be required to pay him.

Until 1998, about 80 thousand applications were submitted, and the vast majority asked for money, not land. Now about five times more is expected, and the extravagant Zulu king Goodwill Zwelitini is going to plant the biggest bomb under the country. His claim includes not only the historic province of KwaZulu-Natal, but extends beyond it into the Eastern Cape, Karoo, the Orange Free Republic and Mpumalanga (Nelspruit). The king is ready to show generosity and not expel farmers from their lands - if, of course, he is paid. “Where restitution is not possible, an alternative must be sought in the form of financial compensation,” said his lawyer, Jerome Ngwenya.

Great Grind

South Africa is a country with a harsh climate and salty soils; no more than 15% of the land is suitable for agricultural use. But those 15% were used wisely. Africa is prone to soil erosion, and the Afrikaners have perfected soil conservation as well as farming methods themselves. As a result, South Africa not only fully meets its food needs with a rapidly growing population due to the influx of migrants, but also exports 140 types of fruits to Europe, China and America. All this is kept on traditional Boer family farms, the size of which is sometimes really impressive - it happened historically. The very history of their formation is such that Zuma's "land restitution" can finally undermine the foundations of an already problematic state and unleash an open civil war. People outside of South Africa and Zimbabwe, to put it mildly, have a distorted idea of ​​the history of local land, territorial and interracial relations . Including the Russians, the capable part of which grew up on Soviet propaganda clichés about apartheid, racism and the national liberation movement. The description of the history of a distant and little interesting country boiled down to the following: evil Europeans, based on selfish capitalist considerations, landed on the southern tip of Africa, subjugated the peaceful black peoples by force of arms and took away the land on which peaceful peoples have lived since ancient times and the fruits of which they used.

This is not entirely true. Where the first settlers landed (they were mostly Dutch and French Huguenots, who later formed the Afrikaner nation, that is, the current Cape Provinces and Karoo), no one lived at all. The advance into the interior of the continent took place simultaneously with the colonization of North America, but in much more difficult conditions of the savannah and semi-desert. The Boers left in an organized manner (this was called a “track”), on the famous covered ox-carts, and most importantly, not entirely voluntarily, because they were squeezed out by the British, who gained control over the southern coast of the continent after the Napoleonic wars. And in the desert and the bush lived the Hottentots (they are also Hoi-Khoi and Bushmen) - nomadic tribes of the capoid race, who still have no idea of ​​private property. And they did not have any land that could be cynically taken away and appropriated.

The Afrikaners were distinguished by exceptional Protestant industriousness and did not know any other occupation except agriculture until the Second World War. They were not fluffy at the same time, but they were definitely white - the same as the British. But the English expansion forced them to move deeper and deeper into the continent, and it all ended with the "Great Track" - a mass exodus of the Boers on their damned carts away from the English colonial rule, on the plateau of the Veld, where they first encountered the Bantu-speaking people of the Zulu, who moved them towards. The Zulu at that time experienced something like an ethnic flourishing, which in history is usually called the very accurate word "mfekane" - "grinding". Driven by drought, they moved west and north from their historical range, destroying the clans they came across along the way, including related ones. Capturing the village, the Zulus killed all the men and boys, but many knew about their approach in advance and left. The result was a "domino effect": the territory of modern KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, Zimbabwe was captured by the ruthless Zulu. And the survivors either huddled in the then impenetrable mountains (Lesotho), or fled north and completely ran wild in an unfamiliar climate. Until now, no one has counted how many neighbors the Zulus destroyed during the mfekane, but the number goes to hundreds of thousands, some say about two million. And this is without knowing firearms. Eyewitnesses (mostly Christian missionaries) testified of thousands of petty clans dying of hunger, fleeing from the Zulus all the way to the Great Lakes. There, in the jungle and tropical climate, the former inhabitants of the bush and veld died en masse from colds and malaria.

“Until now, no one has counted how many neighbors the Zulus destroyed during the mfekane, but the number goes into hundreds of thousands, some say about two million.” The Zulus never worked on the land, it was considered a shameful occupation, worthy only of slaves. All Zulu men were trained only in war, and the tribe itself, under the leaders of Chaka, Dingiswayo and Mzilikazi, was one large military camp. And now the Boers come upon him with their wagons, buffaloes, rifles, beards and the Bible. The first thing the Zulus did was to kill and eat the Afrikaner truce. A series of border skirmishes began, as a result of which a more or less understandable border was formed between the Zulu Empire and the two Boer republics - the Transvaal and the Orange Free Republic. Thus, there can be no claims of the type "seizure of land from poor blacks" to the Boers. For nearly three hundred years, generation after generation of Afrikaners plowed up the almost unsuitable for agriculture bush and veld, planted grapes and fruits, and where there was at least some water, gathered herds of buffalo and ostriches. Then the British caught up with them, everything accumulated had to be abandoned - and go into the unknown. Of course, no one canceled racism, then it was the norm for all Europeans, but for many local tribes it was better to work on a farm with a Boer than to fall under the ax of the Zulu.

This short period of peace ended when the British found the diamonds. After that, they were unstoppable. In 1879 they invaded the Zulu Empire and destroyed it within six months. The power of Queen Victoria extended over all of South Africa, except for the Boer republics, but they were also subjugated during the two Boer wars, in which the British demonstrated rare cruelty. It was then that concentration camps were invented, mass executions, the total destruction of property and the destruction of civilian infrastructure became a normal practice. The Boers responded by using guerrilla tactics, but the forces were not equal.

“Mutata explained to the banker that “our land is only for blacks, it is ours forever.” Nothing is known about the further fate of the banker. And the man just wanted to improve vegetable growing. ”True, in some regions the British tried to negotiate with the Zulu tribal leaders on a private basis. So, Cecil Rhodes officially bought from Lobengula - the leader of the Ndebele (a tribe that broke away from the Zulus living on the territory of modern Zimbabwe and Zambia) - the right to develop his land. The equivalence of the transaction can be disputed from high moral positions, but the fact that it was legal for both contracting parties is beyond doubt. And in 1884, the leader Dinuzulu, faced with a conspiracy, called on his neighbors, the Boers from the Transvaal, to cope with the rebels, promising for this help about 10,400 square kilometers of land, that is, about a third of the entire Zululand. And after the victory of the Boer mercenaries over the "opposition", oddly enough, he fulfilled his promise by transferring the territory to the Transvaal. And the question arises how the current king is going to challenge this deal in court. “One drill - one bullet”

"Restoring justice" in neighboring South Africa Zimbabwe ended sadly. Whites were practically expelled not only from the earth, but also from the country. Those who did not agree were killed. President Mugabe unofficially allowed the seizure of farm lands not by the right of former ownership (there simply was no such right), but just like that - without any compensation even for livestock and property. Priority was given to veterans of the national liberation struggle, former partisans, who considered the lands a reward for service, but did not know how to cultivate them and manage buffaloes. Hundreds of local goats were released into the pasture. These goats tend to eat anything they see with roots, and after two seasons pastures have turned into a desert. Buffaloes and cows imported from South Africa have died out.

Thus began the famine. In the end, the head of the National Bank asked President Mugabe to allow white farmers to return to improve the situation. Characteristically, it was not the president or even the ministers of the economic bloc who responded to this request, but the head of the security service, Didymus Mutata, who explained to the banker that “our land is only for blacks, it is ours forever, and we will not give it to anyone.” Nothing is known about the further fate of the banker. And the man just wanted to improve vegetable growing.

The South African "land restitution" project is certainly not as cannibalistic as in Zimbabwe. But about a million whites already left the country, but up to 10 million migrants arrived, who are much poorer than the locals, regardless of origin. "Apartheid on the contrary" is now a common everyday phenomenon, despite the publicly ostentatious multiculturalism. Rape doesn't make the headlines, it becomes a statistic. White farmers are actively armed. Against this background, the underground activities of secret societies, including the Bruderbond, resumed. Of course, there is a small stratum of liberal intelligentsia that continues to indulge African nationalism and revanchism. But one of her recent mouthpieces, the English-speaking Boer and Nobel laureate in literature John Coetzee, suddenly wrote a poignant story "Disgrace", which describes the story of the death of a family farm with all the details - squatting, rape, painful sensation of the destruction of a recently prosperous world. At the head of the new white resistance in South Africa were youth leaders, including popular rockers singing in Afrikaans (for example, Bock van Blerk and Steven Hoffmer). The place of the murdered leader of the Boer resistance, Eugene Terblanche, is also taken by the young. By the way, he was killed on his farm - by hired seasonal workers (of course, blacks), but versions of contract killings are actively discussed in the white environment.

At first glance, it might seem that Jacob Zuma pushed through such an explosive law solely to divert attention from his person - from corruption scandals, impeachment attempts and the economic crisis. But this is purely European logic. Zuma can decide to undermine one of the foundations of his country's economy and unleash a civil war with an unpredictable result for the sake of some "higher goals". He is actually a pagan and an official polygamist. The ancestral spirits may well claim the land back, even if it never belonged to them. And yes, "One drill - one bullet." This slogan was much more popular than the one adopted in Europe "One person - one vote."

Sixteen years ago, power in South Africa shifted from a white minority to a black majority. Since then, the world media has stopped talking about the economic miracle. Republic of South Africa. Instead, information appeared about the genocide of the white population, the rampant violence and terror, the growth in the number of AIDS carriers, which claimed the lives of over 180 thousand people.

Professor Dan Rodt argues that the genocide of the white population is systematic, and the number of black South Africans infected with AIDS is at least 30 percent. This once calm and prosperous country has become today the world leader in the murder and rape of children, robberies and AIDS infections.

Reviewer Sergey Sibiryakov conducted an expert survey on the situation in South Africa.

Is the rampant violence and deadly epidemic evidence that the apartheid regime was better than the current one, or is it precisely the segregationist past that is to blame for what is happening?

Anatoly Wasserman - journalist, political consultant (Odessa-Moscow):

Unfortunately, it is not so much the perpetrators and organizers of violence and terror who perish, but those who are guilty of non-resistance to evil. In much of Africa, it is believed that sexual intercourse with a virgin cures AIDS. This is the main reason for child rape.

Processes similar to those in South Africa are also being observed in many other African countries, including those where the colonialists left a good half century ago. It seems that there is nothing to blame on the segregation past, if the brains are crooked. The apartheid regime - separation (that is, the separate existence of representatives of different races and the legislative differentiation of their rights and opportunities) - has many shortcomings. But against the backdrop of rampant unenlightened democracy, all these shortcomings fade.

Yuri Blikov - screenwriter, film director, psychologist, publicist (Odessa, Ukraine):

That the apartheid regime was better than the current one is evident from the results. Another thing is that the system of racial segregation created the conditions for a significant part of the population to be suspended in its development. The apartheid system could not be abandoned at once, the society had to be prepared for this, not for one year or even a decade.

Alexander Khokhulin- journalist (Lviv, Ukraine):

I don't want to give black and white answers to black and white questions. In a figurative and literal sense. The previous regime was a dead end. The current regime gives hope. Very weak. Shouldn't we see this in Ukraine?

Alexey Baikov-candidate historical sciences, Chief Editor Website "Actual History" (Moscow, Russia):

From the point of view of the state and elementary human rights (the right to life, in the first place) - of course, this is so. Apartheid ensured the maximum possible stability in African conditions, made South Africa an attractive country for immigration and investment, and allowed the economy to develop. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, it also suppressed civil rights (and not only the black population), hindered the development of civil society, and, finally, prevented those blacks who could really benefit their country from leaving the bantustans and becoming full-fledged citizens. There is no single answer. What we see in South Africa today - a consequence of the sudden, abrupt liquidation of apartheid, when blacks were nominally equated with Afrikaners, forgetting that this is not so and that the mentality of "black" and "white" Africans is too different. That blacks are well aware of what "civil liberty" is (in their language it means "permissiveness"), but they are completely unaware of what "civil responsibility" is. And "we will take away our rights from the whites" for them means "we will take away their property, we will squeeze them out of the country, and we will cut out those who do not have time to leave." But they forgot a little about whose efforts and whose work the economy of South Africa was created. Then it will be like in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe, when veterans of the "fight for freedom" will give interviews in the style of a dragon from a joke - "I ate maamu, I ate paaapu - Well, who are you after that? A round orphan."

Sixteen years ago, power in South Africa passed peacefully from the ruling National Party whites to the African National Congress, which expressed the interests of the black majority. The first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, emphasizing the multinational composition of his country, proclaimed the slogan "the people of the rainbow." The apartheid regime was overthrown, and “whites only” signs were removed from benches in parks. But racism has not disappeared. It just took on a different hue. Now racism here is primarily black.

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