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by jbooth
5798 days ago
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Well, I did qualify with "I believe" on South Africa. You'd obviously know better than I would about what it's like there, but most of what I've read indicates that there isn't a ton of discrimination against white people, especially considering recent history. Sure, there has been upheaval there -- upheaval from a ridiculously racist apartheid system. Trying to claim that whites have it worse seems pretty tough to me, how do you quantify 60 years of institutionalized racism? The whole truth and reconciliation thing seems to have gone about as well as anything ever, considering the alternatives. Zimbabwe, you'd have a definite point. There's an example of bonafide economic discrimination against white people. |
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Then you read interesting material. There is quite a bit discrimination against white people. If the second most powerful person in the ANC calls for genocide against white people, don’t you think that there is no discrimination?
I’ve given you numerous examples. Here is one more: for any empowerment scheme, companies are forced to sell stock. A white person cannot buy it – yet a black person can. Here is another: A white person cannot get a loan at the Land Bank. Yet the former deputy president could get a multimillion rand loan for a new car - even though he is not a farmer.
Most people in the West take quite a bit of joy out of poor white people in South Africa. I was surprised at the level of hate among American citizens for white people. Just as you are cheerleaders for Mugabe during the 80ies and 90ies, you are now a cheerleader for the ANC government.
> Trying to claim that whites have it worse seems pretty tough to me, how do you quantify 60 years of institutionalized racism?
Yet the current government is worse than Apartheid. Let’s compare the fate of black Africans now and during Apartheid.
The Mbeki government refused to give ARVs to HIV positive people. Most white people wanted the government to do that. The policy by the black Thabo Mbeki government cost the lives of at least 365,000 people (mostly black). It seems that for USA citizens, black people killing black people are OK! (I did not even year call for sanctions for a thing that was clearly genocide).
The petty Mbeki government also refused Nevaripine to HIV positive mothers. A few pills (costing less than $1) could have prevented many AIDS infections among newborns. You know that it was white South Africans who fought tooth and nail to force the government to do that?
Here is a NYTimes article you can read: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/world/africa/26aids.html
Life expectancy fell almost 1 year for each year after 1994. Life expectancy among all South Africans dropped 14.32 years from 1995 to 2009.
That is the black government that did it. Here we use 1995 stats for 1994 since a new statistical regime was instituted. http://jae.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/5/813 2003 Broad def. Unemployment: 29.4% 2003 Broad def. Unemployment: 42.7% 1995 Narrow def. Unemployment: 17.0% 2003 Narrow def. Unemployment 30%
Unemployment increased from 2003 to 2010 too! In the 60ies and 70ies (the heyday of Apartheid before sanctions) unemployment among all populations was between 4.5% and 6.5%.
Real income also decreased significantly (1995 to 2003 period): Agricultural work: 11.9% decline in real earnings Domestic work: 19.1% decline in real earnings Informal work: 82.5% decline in real earnings.
The education system also collapsed. Three leading authorities on education (one of them Steve Biko’s wife) said that the quality of schooling significantly decreased since the end of Apartheid.
The current president of South Africa (Jacob Zuma) said that the previous minister of education (under the black Mbeki government) were worse than Apartheid (http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045...):
> "Asmal is a man who believes he knows everything. What he did was worse than what the apartheid regime did to our education system," he was quoted as saying.
> The whole truth and reconciliation thing seems to have gone about as well as anything ever, considering the alternatives.
No it hasn’t – except for ANC fat cats. The country is in serious risk of destabilising. Recent “service delivery” and anti-Zimbabwean riots have shown that. How much do you think the poverty can increase before South Africa destabilises?
> Zimbabwe, you'd have a definite point. There's an example of bonafide economic discrimination against white people.
You know that South Africa is ten years (maybe 15) behind Zimbabwe?
Everything that happened in Zimbabwe is happening in South Africa now. [There have been calls to take white people’s farms]( http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-04-09-the-militant-pacifist), calls to nationalise the mines (this will happen in 5 years). [The ANC’s number two man has called for white farmers]( http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20100310041938251C30...) to be killed (the murder rate for white farmers is already 6 times the national average – i.e. 300 per 100,000 per year).
Btw, I have not even talked about the fact that violent deaths tripled since the end of Apartheid.