{"id":123821,"date":"2018-10-05T06:47:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T04:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-africas-white-right-the-alt-right-and-the-alternative-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2018-10-05T06:47:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T04:47:44","slug":"south-africas-white-right-the-alt-right-and-the-alternative-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-africas-white-right-the-alt-right-and-the-alternative-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s white right, the Alt-Right and the alternative | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/south-africas-white-right-the-alt-right-and-the-alternative-103544\">South Africa\u2019s white right, the Alt-Right and the alternative<\/a>: <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/237914\/original\/file-20180925-149970-1xkqt59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">South Africa&#39;s far right never had a big support base, even under apartheid.<\/span> <span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">Kim Ludbrook\/EPA<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There has been a global rise in populism, especially of the right wing variety. In South Africa this has  manifested in the increasingly strident Afriforum. This pressure group purports to advance the rights of Afrikaners, the ethnic group most closely identified with the former apartheid regime. <\/p>\n<p>The prime ministers and presidents who ran the country from 1948 until 1994 were all Afrikaners. <\/p>\n<p>Afriforum is usually ignored outside of Afrikaner ranks. But it attracted the ire of South Africans more broadly when two of its leaders, CEO Kallie Kriel and his deputy Ernst Roets, undertook a mission to the US in May this year. Their aim was to convince alt-right figures that white farmers were being targeted for murder. <\/p>\n<figure>             <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"440\" height=\"260\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Afriforum\u2019s Ernst Roets on Fox News.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Roets even secured an interview with Fox News\u2019s Tucker Carlson. The interview on the right wing broadcaster apparently inspired US President Donald Trump to tweet that his administration will investigate the \u201clarge scale killing of (white) farmers\u201d in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Afriforum calls itself a \u201ccivil rights organisation\u201d. Until recently its primary approach was to use the country\u2019s human rights based constitution to launch court cases in defence of white Afrikaans speakers and, at times, of black people amenable to its agenda. <\/p>\n<p>But it has since become the face of white denial about the past, and of defiance of the need for redress in the most unequal country in the world. Afriforum has successfully translated a growing resentment about the loss of Afrikaner control of the state into a political project. <\/p>\n<h2>State capture<\/h2>\n<p>During the last decade of the country\u2019s 24-year-old democracy a form of Schadenfreude has emerged among white rightwingers. State capture, in the shape of massive corruption, and factional infighting in the governing African National Congress (ANC) have harmed state capacity. Multiple political, economic and constitutional crises have in the minds of white rightwingers confirmed their racist narrative that \u201cblack people can\u2019t govern\u201d.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   <em>     <strong>       Read more:       How the law can help change racist minds in South Africa     <\/strong>   <\/em> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>An increase in public expressions and incidents of racism suggests a return to an intransigence that\u2019s unapologetic about continuing white privilege and colonial and apartheid abuses. A more antagonistic Afriforum stepped into this moment rife with political opportunity. <\/p>\n<p>Its politics is a cunning combination of Afrikaner nationalist mobilisation  from the past with contemporary neoliberal elements and alt-right rhetoric from the US, Australia and Europe. Afriforum is part of the Groter Solidariteit-beweging (Greater Solidarity movement) that includes a trade union, a media house and companies selling education and other services. <\/p>\n<p>According to Solidariteit, its movement has 350,000 members \u2013 sizeable in relation to a white population of 4.52 million. Solidariteit and Afriforum are the 21st century versions of the cultural entrepreneurs of the <em>volksbeweging<\/em> (people\u2019s movement) that constructed and advanced the Afrikaner\u2019s identity a century ago. <\/p>\n<p>This movement, which included Soldariteit\u2019s earlier manifestation as the whites-only Mineworkers\u2019 Union (MWU), rose to state power in 1948 on the back of the promise of an expanded form of colonialism named apartheid.<\/p>\n<h2>Class alliance crumbled<\/h2>\n<p>Upward mobility due to apartheid benefits caused the Afrikaner nationalist class alliance to split between the middle class <em>verligtes<\/em> ( \u201cthe progressives\u201d) and the working class <em>verkramptes<\/em> (\u201cthe reactionaries\u201d). <em>Verligte<\/em> reform of apartheid to suit the changing operation of capitalism was detrimental for remaining Afrikaner workers. <\/p>\n<p>It resulted in the formation of the Conservative Party (CP) in 1982. At the referendum 10 years later the <em>verkramptes<\/em> voted against the continuation of talks for the establishment of a non-racist, non-sexist democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Afriforum hails from this political tradition. Not only is its parent organisation the former Mineworkers\u2019 Union, but the same names appear. For example, Kriel was a youth leader of the Freedom Front Plus, a party that continues the CP legacy with four seats in parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Afriforum is a political expression of what I call neo-Afrikaner enclave nationalism. This is a post-apartheid phenomenon that combines an \u201cinward migration\u201d to white spaces (suburbs, institutions, media) with connectedness to global whiteness. In their discourses racism is recast as \u201cculture\u201d, and heteropatriarchy as \u201cfamily values\u201d.  <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s channelled through the consumption of products. Individuals become Afrikaners by being consumers of Afrikaner culture, media products and related services, and spaces.<\/p>\n<p>In a historic irony, democracy has brought together what apartheid rent apart. <em>Verligtes<\/em> and <em>verkramptes<\/em> meet each other under the sign of the market. Afrikaner identity becomes enacted through consumption.<\/p>\n<h2>Enclave nationalists<\/h2>\n<p>The tradition that the enclave nationalists draw on has historically only represented about 30% of white people, judging by the CP\u2019s support and the \u201cno\u201d vote of the 1992 referendum. Solidariteit, Afriforum and their <em>verligte<\/em> media allies are eager to expand their constituencies.<\/p>\n<p>Alt-right rhetorical devices are employed. Prejudice, half-truths and distortions are combined with insults and threats of violence. For example, in a 31-minute late night monologue on YouTube Roets attacked law professor Elmien du Plessis for criticising Afriforum\u2019s US visit.<\/p>\n<p>He concluded by quoting Jewish writer Victor Klemperer, who wrote that if the tables were turned after the Holocaust he,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>would have all the intellectuals strung up, and the professors three feet higher than the rest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s relevant to mention that Du Plessis is a white Afrikaans-speaking woman. As other examples also show, the ranks of patriarchal whiteness are again closing in defiance of racial and gender justice. The policing of the boundaries of the Afrikaner identity has been stepped up.<\/p>\n<p>As happened during apartheid, alternative voices are delegitimised. Afriforum and its allies actively seek to suppress positions that contradict theirs. Gauging the extent of dissidence among Afrikaans-speaking whites is difficult. Many no longer identify as Afrikaners. Many are getting on with their contributions to make South Africa\u2019s democracy work. <\/p>\n<p>Most would be loathe to organise as Afrikaners. But, given responses that show that many among their compatriots and in the outside world see the white right as representative of all white Afrikaans-speakers, the time may have come for those in support of justice and equality to be more vocal in keeping the record straight.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/103544\/count.gif\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"fine-print\"><em><span>Christi van der Westhuizen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><small><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/south-africas-white-right-the-alt-right-and-the-alternative-103544\">The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Join the fun:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/add-your-event\/\">Add Your event<\/a> | <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mypr.co.za\/submit\">Submit a Press Release<\/a> | <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/directory\/\">Add your listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s white right, the Alt-Right and the alternative: South Africa&#39;s far right never had a big support base, even under apartheid. Kim Ludbrook\/EPA There has been a global rise in populism, especially of the right wing variety. In South Africa this has manifested in the increasingly strident Afriforum. This pressure group purports to advance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4635,2221,32610,8890,5100,3576,3141],"class_list":{"0":"post-123821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africas","8":"tag-alternative","9":"tag-altright","10":"tag-conversation","11":"tag-right","12":"tag-south","13":"tag-white","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}