{"id":150861,"date":"2019-11-14T22:47:43","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T20:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-africas-liberals-are-failing-to-wrap-their-heads-around-race-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2019-11-14T22:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T20:47:43","slug":"south-africas-liberals-are-failing-to-wrap-their-heads-around-race-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-africas-liberals-are-failing-to-wrap-their-heads-around-race-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s liberals are failing to wrap their heads around race | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s liberals are failing to wrap their heads around race<\/a>: <\/p>\n

<\/span> Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Africa\u2019s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is reeling from self-inflicted political damage. Its newly elected parliamentary leader John Steenhuisen recently appealed to his colleagues to \u201cstop the political hara-kiri that\u2019s going on in the DA \u2013 pulling out entrails to show everybody\u201d.<\/p>\n

This follows the departure of two more prominent black members, party leader Mmusi Maimane and Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, apart from national chair Athol Trollip, who is white. Other black members the party has shed include Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, forced out last year, and former parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, who left under duress in 2014. <\/p>\n

The recent resignations come in the wake of the election of former party leader Helen Zille to the powerful position of chairperson of the DA\u2019s federal council. <\/p>\n

She and other contenders for the post promised to return the party to a vague \u201cclassical liberalism\u201d. What this would mean in light of the history of the party is left unexplained. It does seem that the dominant bloc in the Democratic Alliance wants to convince some South African voters that a version of liberalism exists which is untouched by history and context. Judging by recent events, they also seem to insist that liberalism has not and cannot be adapted to address the problem of racism. <\/p>\n

This reflects a growing dearth in political imagination in South Africa\u2019s white liberal establishment in recent years.<\/p>\n

Success and new complexities<\/h2>\n

The current malaise was triggered by the Democratic Alliance\u2019s slightly poorer results in the May 2019 national election. It attracted 20.8% compared with 22.2% in 2014. <\/p>\n

At the heart of the party\u2019s problems lies what can be called \u201cwhite denialism\u201d \u2013 the inability to acknowledge the continuing repercussions of race and racism in the country. This has affected its analytical capacity to the point of endangering its electoral fortunes. <\/p>\n

\u201cLosing\u201d more black leaders shows a greater concern with keeping the party as a base for white interests than growing it to a possible future government.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t always like this. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Mmusi Maimane, former leader of the Democratic Alliance.<\/span> EFE-EPA\/Nic Bothma<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Democratic Alliance was one of the political success stories of the democratic era. In its previous manifestation as the Democratic Party, it managed to grow from a mere 1.7% in the first racially inclusive election in 1994 to 12.4% in the 2004 national elections, demolishing the former party of apartheid, the National Party. <\/p>\n

But with success come new dynamics and complexities.<\/p>\n

The boost in growth was among white South Africans, leading to the party routinely being labelled \u201cwhite\u201d, and its relevance in a context of a majority of black voters was questioned. <\/p>\n

Commendably, significant efforts ensued under Zille to recruit black leaders and break the white glass ceiling in the party. In the 2011 local government election, the slogan was<\/p>\n

\n

reconciliation, redress, delivery and diversity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With the promotion of young stars such as Mazibuko and Maimane, and the merger with De Lille\u2019s Independent Democrats in 2010, the Democratic Alliance\u2019s complexion changed. <\/p>\n

But this brought the question of race to the fore.<\/p>\n

Racial liberalism<\/h2>\n

For many people who live the experience of being racialised as \u201cblack\u201d in the world, it is impossible to negate the effects of race \u2013 both negatively, as a system of oppression, and positively, as a source of resistance and identity. As Maimane put it poignantly,<\/p>\n

\n

if you don\u2019t see I\u2019m black, you don\u2019t see me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These views ran head-long into the Democratic Alliance\u2019s historical white denialism, sparking an intense political battle for the party\u2019s soul. Hence, when Steenhuisen talks about the \u201cslavish race-based obsession of the last few years\u201d, he is sniping at black leaders\u2019 attempt to turn the party away from its legacy of race-blindness.<\/p>\n

The white liberal establishment, both inside and outside the party, holds on to its race-blindness by distorting the South African idea of \u201cnon-racialism\u201d. Non-racialism is a political concept that hails from the first half of the 20th century, and is included in the country\u2019s democratic constitution. It envisages a society beyond race that would be achieved through anti-racist action.<\/p>\n

As a counter position, the Democratic Alliance has defanged non-racialism by presenting it as \u201ccolour-blindness\u201d. This convenient misrepresentation of non-racialism fits with what Jamaican philosopher Charles W Mills calls \u201cracial liberalism\u201d, the most prominent version of liberalism which has been pivotal to Western political thinking.<\/p>\n

Racial liberalism has historically been characterised by a double standard, which is reflected in its role in the crimes of colonialism. Only some human beings could lay claim to the essential values of the rule of law and equality in the eyes of the colonial state. Hence, white and male privilege was entrenched. <\/p>\n

In the Democratic Alliance\u2019s case, its original predecessor the Progressive Party clung to the 19th century British colonial position of a qualified franchise for black people until the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Liberalism and historical injustice<\/h2>\n

Mills makes the case for a colour-conscious liberalism. Extending this idea to other differences such as gender, this translates into a liberalism that actively acknowledges and advances the correction of historical racial, gender and other injustices. Such an agenda must be driven from the vantage points of those who have been wronged, that is, black people and women.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more: Liberalism in South Africa isn’t only for white people — or black people who want to be white <\/strong> <\/em> <\/p>\n

\n

The Democratic Alliance\u2019s black leaders embarked on the crafting of what could be called an African liberalism in 2013. Its parliamentary caucus, led by Mazibuko, supported affirmative action on the basis of race and gender during the consideration of the Employment Equity Amendment Bill. A black parliamentarian said at the time that \u201cthere is no way that you can solve a problem caused by race without referring to race\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Helen Zille heads the DA\u2019s powerful federal council.<\/span> Efe-EPA\/Nic Bothma<\/span><\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The white liberal establishment was outraged, including the Institute of Race Relations. Former party leader Tony Leon sounded the bugle about an offence against liberal values. The caucus was called to order. A policy conference followed where race was acknowledged as a \u201cproxy for disadvantage\u201d but with no corrective mechanism, apart from \u201cexpanding opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mazibuko resigned under pressure and was replaced by Maimane. But the contestation intensified. Maimane called out Zille when she tweeted positive comments about colonialism. Black Democratic Alliance members\u2019 stances on public incidents involving race caused further upset.<\/p>\n

Lost opportunity<\/h2>\n

The slight decline in Democratic Alliance votes in the 2019 election has been attributed to far-rightwing white supporters shifting their votes to the Freedom Front Plus. Instead of regarding this as an opportunity to confront the party\u2019s racial legacy and advance more inclusive politics, it was used to rid the party of Maimane, at the instigation of the Institute of Race Relations.<\/p>\n

This was another one of those watershed moments, akin to when the apartheid regime passed a law banning inter-racial parties in the 1960s. At the time, the Progressive Party \u2013 the Democratic Alliance\u2019s original permutation \u2013 ejected its black members to become white. Its other option was to disband and reorganise. It chose white politics then, as it does now.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

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

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
\n<\/p>\n

Read more on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Join the fun:<\/strong> Add Your event<\/a> | Submit a Press Release<\/a> | Add your listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s liberals are failing to wrap their heads around race: Shutterstock South Africa\u2019s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is reeling from self-inflicted political damage. Its newly elected parliamentary leader John Steenhuisen recently appealed to his colleagues to \u201cstop the political hara-kiri that\u2019s going on in the DA \u2013 pulling out entrails to […]<\/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":[4635,4670,8890,6067,529,36631,4693,3576,2434,5299],"class_list":{"0":"post-150861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africas","8":"tag-around","9":"tag-conversation","10":"tag-failing","11":"tag-heads","12":"tag-liberals","13":"tag-race","14":"tag-south","15":"tag-their","16":"tag-wrap","17":"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\/150861","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=150861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}