I always get a kick out of recounting the story of the strictly religious Jewish youngster from the UK who a few years back accompanied me on a visit to the Sterkfontein Caves. When we arrived at the site, the first thing he did on leaving the car was to replace his yarmulka with a baseball cap. Naturally mystified, I asked him the reason for this. He, in turn, looked puzzled.
“But don’t you do it as well?” he asked.
It turned out that back in London (or Manchester, I forget which), many Orthodox Jews didn’t feel safe advertising their Jewishness when leaving their homes; in this regard, a baseball cap fulfilled the religious requirement of wearing a head covering without running the risk of being abused, whether physically or verbally.
I told my young companion to remove his disguise. “This is South Africa, bru,” I said, “We don’t worry about things like that here.” It felt really good to say it, especially as I knew it to be the truth.
Do South Africans really understand, let alone take pride in, how much they have accomplished? It is no accident that levels of anti-Semitism in this country, as measured by the number of actual incidents of anti-Jewish behaviour recorded each year, are startlingly lower than those of other countries, even reputable liberal democracies such as Canada, Australia, France and the United Kingdom. Jews feel more comfortable here because, for all the problems we face, we are succeeding in creating a society where diversity is respected and all forms of bigotry abhorred.
Naturally, what we have is far from perfect. Racial tensions and controversies continue to surface, and indeed have been doing so recently with a regularity that is a bit disquieting. On the one hand, there have been manifestations of the old-style anti-black racism, as shown by the University of the Free State hostel scandal. Then there was the now notorious David Bullard Sunday Times column, which was indeed hurtful and insensitive, although whether or not he should have been actually fired by the paper can be debated.
Less grotesque, but also disturbing — more so, perhaps, because it has occurred on an institutional basis — have been several high-profile cases of anti-white racism. The latter includes the racially motivated omission of Andre Nel from the national cricket team’s tour of India and, more indirectly, the exclusion of several white journalists from a Forum of Black Journalists meeting.
With regard to the latter incident, those who lamented the demise of the “rainbow nation”, apart from overreacting in typical South African fashion, were also missing the point. There never has been a “rainbow nation”. Rather, this is an ideal to strive towards, and it will take generations to achieve, if ever.
Racial tensions are always going to be with us. Most South Africans are carrying chips of one kind or another on their shoulders, and are continually prone to regarding “the other” with fear, suspicion and resentment. This needs to be dealt with maturely, rather than the usual recourse to Afropessimism and fatalistic conspiracy theorising. What we can, and surely should, be taking heart from is the genuinely strong national consensus that unfair discrimination has no place in the society we are trying to build and that there exist so many institutions — among them the Human Rights Commission, Equality Court and, of course, a free media — to expose and confront it.
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30 Responses to “A society where discrimination has no place”
If only we could change our skin color by wearing a black, white, or preferably a multi coloured cap.
I reckon we should all be classified as coloured so that we could then have say religious differences as our biggotory points of departure.
This story reminds me of a visit to London in 1979 when apartheid was in full cry. On arriving in city one of the first things we saw was a huge spray-painted message on the embankment which read “Gas a wog” . To a South African surrounded by all the ills of racial discrimination this was really shocking in the much vaunted home of democracy
Whilst I have to agree with SA not being an anti-semitic country, it must be remembered that (South) Africa dies not have a European background/culture of inbred anti-semitism created by the Churches in the first instance and today mostly through Islamic verbal & physical attack on Israel and Jews.
I come from a very Afrikaans background. Both my grandfathers were Osswabrandwag (pro-Nazi) and Broederbond, and my dad was also a Broederbonder.
An interesting fact is that although they were racist towards black people in the sense that they were patronising (but very respectful), they were never anti-Semitic. In fact, they revered and idealised the Jews, maybe because those Afrikaners were deeply religious and still saw the Jews as the chosen people. Which is not to say the anti-Semitism doesn’t exist amongst Afrikaners. I know it does in some far right circles.
I’m glad to say that despite the Bloemfontein racist incident and some very ugly other ones, many Afrikaner young people are tolerant and support our new nation. I wish that would in some way come out more in the media.
I couldn’t agree more. I wrote a piece about Obama a while back and got flooded by people saying that I am anti-Muslim and pro-Israel. I responded in kind (http://angryafrican.net/2008/03/20/my-beef-with-anti-zionism/). My beef is that people are too quickly to put people in little boxes. Especially religious boxes. Maybe we should sit around the table a bit more and just share a braai - no politics. In the end, people are people. We all have flaws. And we should all be proud of being part of this diverse human race.
South Africa has never had religious conflict - like Ireland, Israel, Lebanon and many other parts of the world.Provided we can keep fools like Ronnie Kastrils and Ebrahim Rasool from importing it we should be OK
I am sick of the attacks on David Bullard. His column passed through 3 editorial checks who saw nothing wrong - because there was nothing wrong. Mondli lost his cool because of a few complaints. I have listened with amazement on the radio to erudite persons of stature arguing that all SA needed was to get back their land and their culture. Then others saying Africa would have developed to a modern state on its own. Well you can’t have both can you? Either SA would have retained their culture and tribalism OR they would have developed. All people were originally tribal. The Brits don’t walk around painted blue any more, nor do the Germans live in huts like Asterix and Obolix and hunt boors!
Make up your minds what you are criticising Bullard for !
Ummmmm….in your reference to the heinous, grotesque, disgusting UFS, white racist, supremecist prank video, you forgot, in your enthusiasm to label whites as racists and to sanitise black racism in South Africa as being only as benign as laying off a white cricketer; to mention the piecemeal, black racist genocide of whites that occurs every single day in South Africa disguised as crime.
Never in the history of this continent have so many white people been murdered as the innocent, unarmed, non-activist, civlian 35000 whites that have been slaughtered by blacks in the “Rainbow Nation” farce since 1994 to the chants of the supremely black racist “One settler, one boo-lett” and “Kill the Boer, kill the fumma”.
Some would say that it is South Africa’s version of the holocaust…..
Why don’t you tell it like it is….’Bru…?
@David absolutely, and it is on the non-discriminatory thread in our society which we need to build, not only for ourselves but for all of humanity. We are all as @Angry African so rightly says just human beings with all the weaknesses, strengths and potential for both that this contains.
Discrimination in all its negative forms, e.g. racism, sexism, anti-semitism etc, in individuals is not to be condoned in anyway and society needs to act in all sorts of ways to try to heal it.
The State does not help in this endeavour however if it contradicts itself by promulgating racially discriminatory legislation in the form of AA and BEE for example.
The coorection of the consequences of past injustices that such legislation is supposed to effect cannot be a justification for such legislation because negative discrimination of whatever form is spiritually bankrupt. Other non-discriminatory ways can and should be found to correct the results of past negative discrimination. Two evils do not make a right.
Jews have been called the “barometer of history” because they are a minority. Innovative, open, societies tend to be tolerant of minorites AND to flourish, whereas minority-hostile countries tend to be on the backward path.
The acceptance of Jews here is a positive sign, though racism (and intolerance) takes many forms: right now xenophobia is of concern.
David,
You write:
“Jews feel more comfortable here because, for all the problems we face, we are succeeding in creating a society where diversity is respected and all forms of bigotry abhorred.”
I think that the above is debatable. With Durban II looming, many South African Jews will feel extremely uncomfortable. It is evident that another antizionist/antisemitic hate fest is about to be welcomed by the ANC govt and, as a result, many South African Jews will feel alienated and isolated.
the writer is wrong in my opinion as to why there’s less anti-semitism here then in other developed countires. The reason is actually that of demographics. Europe and Canada have been flooded in the last decade with millions of islamic immigrants from north africa and other arab countries. These communities have not really integrated into their host countries, are mostly impoverished compared to the average population. They brought with them also all the old anti-semitic stereotyping and brainwashing from the old country. They basically perpetuate the classic anti-semitism that exists in the arab countires they come from. They also pass it on to the new generation. It is easy for them to bully Jews when they outnumber them 10 to 1. In SA we don’t really have an arab islamic population (thankfully) and thats why anti-semitic incidents here are very limited
Good to see no negative posts so far! I too sometimes misjudge our achievement, usually just before a point where my colleagues from other racial groups surprise me by appreciating me and my impact on their lifes. They are often more judmental of their own race and go the extra mile in reaching out to me and my fellow afrikaans speaking people. So, I’m wondering… all this negative reporting - doesn’t it show a skewed picture of what’s really going on? Isn’t the attitude I described above the attitude of the silent majority? If so, there is tremendous hope for us all.
I must say, it was with some pride that I realized that in this country, we are quite a religiously tolerant bunch.
I live in Durban, and in Sydenham which is predominantly a Muslim
area, we have churches next to mosques and sometimes the service times overlap and it is quite unique to see the Muslims in their Abayas and Christians carrying their bibles in the street chatting and laughing.
In Umhlanga we have both Mosques and Synagogues and never any problems.
I think the reason for the religious tolerance in this country is that no religion has ever been targeted or suffered at the hand of another.
Also, most modern teachings of all three religions are based on peace, love and respect.
So it is easy to be tolerant if your sister was not blown limb from limb by a Muslim fighter wearing a c4 jacket filled with nuts and bolts and detonated in a downtown coffee shop in Jerusalem.
Or just as easy if you did not have to watch your younger brother running for his life only to be turned to mince meat by the track of an Israeli tank.
Finally, I think it is for this reason that there is so much racial tension in South Africa at the moment.
The black South Africans hate us for what happened to them during Apartheid, and now the white South Africans are starting to hate them for what they are doing to our people. (spare me the 1 in 33 bla bla bla).
This is only my perception, how I see it. I do not hate anyone. If they rape, torture and kill mother, sister, grandmother, this will change.
I feel the pain for my brothers and sisters who are being killed for nothing, except being white, just as I felt the pain in the seventies and eighties for the Africans who suffered at the hands of my brethren.
Somewhere along the line it has to stop, or this beautiful country of ours, black, white, Indian and colored, will burn.
You are correct. For a country (can’t call it a nation)with such a diverse range of religions, and many who feel strongly about their faith, there is none of the religious friction you see elsewhere, even within religions like Protestant vs Catholic, sunni vs shite etc.
As far as the Christians, Jews and Muslims go, they all believe in one God, so he Must be the same one. The form and day of worship differs. yet the Bible teaches it is not how you pray, or where you pray, but the fact that you do pray that matters.
You forgot the Hindus, who are a significant minority.
Consulting Engineer on April 27th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
This article David is not strictly kosher….
A few facts.
Reading the post from Ali, (pro nazi parents), and your own writings, please do not try and portray such a bent situation.
The facts are , if you ever did national service, back in the 70s or maybe the 80s, when it was run by the Afrikaner regime, it was very very anti semitic. We were all referred to as Jood, or try bloody Jood, or a few other terrible terms. The jews were always mocked for their religion and vilified by both the Afrikaner and Non Afrikaner community.
The blacks have by and large never been this way, because they have been constantly fighting their own battle of persecution.
In general anti semitism is as rife in South Africa as elsewhere.
South African Jews have become very hippocritical.
They keep moaning and groaning about how bad everything is yet at the same time those who choose to stay get their backs up when for instance the Australian Jewish contingent who came over recetnly looking to help families move over to Australia.
I have spent a lot of time in Jewish communities globally, and whether it by New York, Sydney, London, L.A., whatever there are still many thousands walking with a “head covering” that does not resemble anything close to a baseball cap on Shabbos or any other day.
Don’t fool yourself your greatest risk in South Africa is not getting vilified or mocked, your greatest risk as a religious person is getting mugged, shot at, or worse murdered for a bag you carrying that contains nothing of any value.
As an immigrant, South African Views in relation to racial integration, and diversity are both positive and encouraging. In all societies you will often find various skeletons in the closet when confronting prejudice, However the measure of a nation is the way in which it’s leadership, institutions and wider populace challenge popular thinking both adverse and positive.
As an African son i believe South Africa and more importantly the wider African community has a very long way to go, but i strongly believe we will get there. Viva South Africa, God bless Africa !!
You are confusing 2 issues and taking them interchangeably: discrimination and racism.
I agree with you that discrimination based on race is wrong. Hence the problems with BEE and AA. Every race is different and each should compete without discrimination.
Racism is something else. Eacism is not liking another race and being aware of racial differences and categorising people by race. What is wrong with that? Racism is me choosing to only having children with a white person to protect my race, or you choosing to only have children with a Jewess. Why should I tell you what to think and feel about another race?
Discriminate on the basis of race is different than racism. It is discrimination. I can also discriminate by hair length, sex, religion etc.
Why shoudl we be forced to like everyone?
If I don’t like the attributes of a race, why must I like them? As long as I don’t discriminate against them what is the problem?
Consulting Engineer on April 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
@Tony M
What is your point about Ali’s grandparents? Their affiliation with Ossewa was related to the Nazis being anti-british, not related to the Jews. But he must confirm this himself.
If my grandparents were SS stormtroopers what does it have to do with anything today?
And who wasn’t called a name in the SADF? Yes a Jew was referred to as Jood, an englishman as a Soutpiel, a homosexual as a bomchom etc. Everyone was picked on in one way or another. It happens in every military.
You will get shot and killed for nothing in SA whether you are white, Jood, Black, homosexual, Indian whatever. Your yarmulka won’t affect the risk.
Consulting Engineer on April 27th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@CE
Howzit bru,
Yes I did forget the Hindus.
I think it could be because in history we have had the crusades by the Christians and Jihad’s against the Infidel. Then the Palestine/Israel
war.
Some Christians call Osama bin Laden a terrorist. To millions he is a hero.
Muslims all hate Dubya, ) although some will deny it) will not eat Kentucky or Macdonalds even it it was Halal and will not drive Hummers or any other American car.
Muslims today, still protect their religion, as do the Jews.
I find we as Christians have become really slapgat about ours.
Many of us never go to church or even pray. When people mock our Saviour we do nothing, like with Dan Brown and the “Da Vinci Code”.
It was actually the Muslims in Kenya who got the movie banned because they said it was not right. That is quite embarrassing.
Imagine saying that Mohammed (May peace be upon him) slept with a prostitute and had a child with her. Fatwas and Jihad instantly. Ask Salmon Rushdie. Or the Danish cartoonist.
Anyway, my point about the Hindus is that historically they have not been aggressive. Or if they have, it was reciprocal aggression.
I am getting as longwinded as my father.
There were Jewish people on both sides of Apartheid, both pro- and anti-.
and the next time you mention the prevalent racism and antisemitism in the UK, could you also mention how many punks and worknig class have sepnt their lives fighting it.
Or are you unaware of how many UK citizens have been “Rocking against racism” and the NF, now the BNP, for he last thirty years?
@CE
Howzit bru,
Yes I did forget the Hindus.
I think it could be because in history we have had the crusades by the Christians and Jihad’s against the Infidel. Then the Palestine/Israel
war.
Some Christians call Osama bin Laden a terrorist. To millions he is a hero.
Muslims all hate Dubya, ) although some will deny it) will not eat Kentucky or Macdonalds even it it was Halal and will not drive Hummers or any other American car.
Muslims today, still protect their religion, as do the Jews.
I find we as Christians have become really slapgat about ours.
Many of us never go to church or even pray. When people mock our Saviour we do nothing, like with Dan Brown and the “Da Vinci Code”.
It was actually the Muslims in Kenya who got the movie banned because they said it was not right. That is quite embarrassing.
Imagine saying that Mohammed (May peace be upon him) slept with a prostitute and had a child with her. Fatwas and Jihad instantly. Ask Salmon Rushdie. Or the Danish cartoonist.
Anyway, my point about the Hindus is that historically they have not been aggressive. Or if they have, it was reciprocal aggression.
I am getting as longwinded as my father.
@ Consulting Engineer
I been following most of your comments on various posts,trying to figure out if you represent an unusual position or not and whether your thoughts by most are misunderstood(especially those who diagree with you).But I have come to a conclusion without a doubt:YOU ARE A SICK RACIST,and for the mere fact that you go out to publicly announce and justify it,makes it horrible to bear!!
How I wish the was little of people like you in the whole world,particularly in S.A!But then again certain attributes of believes are genetical,maybe is not your fault,your diagnosed with this sickness.Wake up!!,your racism is just a mere acid to soul your apartheid will NEVER,EVER happen again!!!Your racial prejudices maybe good for your ego but hardly a pill for your heart…
@ David Saks
Thank you,for a good piece of writing.Particularly a piece that acknowledges some positive developments in this country.
What strikes me about Osama is his first messages before the terrorism were calls for US troops out of the Holy Land of Saudi. Seemed legitimate in terms of their religion. How would americans have responded to Saudi troops in Washington DC?
If the US had not based troops in the Gulf would there have been an Al Qaeda at all? Seems like Bush makes far more terrorists than he ever eliminates.
There was no muslim terror until the US started their support of Israel. Terror in the mid east started with Israeli terrorists attacking british troops after WW2. After that it was the PLO, again related to israel.
I recall one time on the coast of Kenya, it was very muslim. The hotels had signs requesting tourists to respect their culture and not to go topless on the beaches as it undermines their youth. But the europeans did it anyway. I thought that if you don’t want to respect their culture (even though it has many forms of discrimination), why go there and show disrespect? It makes you feel ashamed to be white when you see that.
I also quickly learnt that they get very offended if you enter a mosque. The architecture on some mosques in northern ghana is fascinating. I wished i could go in to have a look. But a person’s religion is something you must respect.
Regarding the Hindus, they seem agressive enough in that muslim versus hindu fighting in India and the Pakistan vs India wars.
Consulting Engineer on April 28th, 2008 at 9:21 am
David,
You write:
“What we can, and surely should, be taking heart from is the genuinely strong national consensus that unfair discrimination has no place in the society we are trying to build and that there exist so many institutions — among them the Human Rights Commission, Equality Court and, of course, a free media — to expose and confront it.”
Are you seriously suggesting that South Africa’s “free media” will expose and confront antisemitism? Do you have faith such faith in The Mail and Guardian ??
BLACKLISTED DICTATOR on April 28th, 2008 at 10:00 am
@Tebogo
Im glad you read most of my posts. Another fan!
Maybe you don’t like my views but as you say I make sure I justify it with facts. That is what you can’t bear. You cannot counter the facts, except by exposing your unjustifiable views.
If you want to call me sick, what is the disease? Is it listed in DSM? or is just your opinion? Opinion without facts is like a poep. Hot air that dessimates rapidly.
There are many people like me, as you are well aware. have you seen th growth of the right wing in France, Normay, Belgium, Denmark, eastern europe? The best thing is that the growth of the right is fueled by people like you. The more liberalism ideolgies causes failures, the more rapidly people turn away from it. Just look at the collapse all around you.
Consulting Engineer on April 29th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
One thing South Africans can be proud about is that we confront our racial differences and embrace them. Sometimes we are blunt about it and it times it is awkward, but at least it is being dealt with.
In the USA for example, politcal correctness and a move away from cultural backgrounds towards a melting pot of American culture has left to underlying racial issues being ignored. In other words, the 300 years of racial discrimination has been swept under the carpet, but that does not mean that its legacy has gone.
“Racism is something else. Eacism is not liking another race and being aware of racial differences and categorising people by race. What is wrong with that?”
I like your passion for knowledge(noticed in most of your comments) is your racial views I despise.Justify with facts?Man,please!You use one of the most cunning method I know.You take the very same facts and twist them in the wrong way to suit your negative position,hence is very difficult for you and your type to acknowledge any wrong-doing.The quote above is the primary example of the truthful argument twisted to to suit a sick argument,there is nothing with an individual not liking another race to an extend of taking a gun and shooting(incident in Swartruggens earlier this year).
“Now that it is becoming clear that South African Blacks were better off under Apartheid,…”
You surely remember this “fact” don’t you?!How can you not,yet you expect the majority of people in this Republic to view people like you differently.The killing of innocent people during apartheid was just fine with you,system that embraced white supremacy(apartheid) yet you so much carry it attributes with pride,you defended the UOVS event with so much enthusiam and you continue to see nothing wrong with that!!
There is nothing wrong with being passionate about being white but when done at the expense of other race,then there is a problem.And this is exactly whats happenig in this contry…
But then like I said somethings are genetical,hence the difficulty in noticing our our incorrect postion!!Being sick is believing that you were created better than others.
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David Saks has worked for the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) since April 1997, and is currently its associate director. Over the years, he has written extensively on aspects of South African history, Judaism and the Middle East for local and international newspapers and journals.
David has an MA in history from Rhodes University. Prior to joining the SAJBD, he was curator -- history at MuseumAfrica in Johannesburg. He is editor of the journal Jewish Affairs, appears regularly on local radio discussing Jewish and Middle East subjects and is a contributor to various Jewish publications.
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If only we could change our skin color by wearing a black, white, or preferably a multi coloured cap.
I reckon we should all be classified as coloured so that we could then have say religious differences as our biggotory points of departure.
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