Friday, April 17, 2020

Herrenvolk in South Africa (1945)

From the April 1945 issue of the Socialist Standard
  "But assuredly South Africa is a land of bitter divisions.
  This fact stares you in the face as soon os you set foot in the country. Benches in public places are labelled in English and Afrikaans “ Europeans Only.” The trains are divided into First and Second Class: European, first. Second, and Third Class: Non-European. These things are symbolic. They stand for the division into Black or White. They hint at the division into Boer or Briton. South Africa is apparently fairly liberal. But behind the facade lurks that brutality which Alexander Campbell has cleverly called the Sjambokracy.
  As far as the Boer-Briton division is concerned they are doing far too little. This is not only regrettable—it is calamitous.”

Rev. W. M. Macartney, M.A., in ‘‘Life and Work,” official organ of Church of Scotland. 
(Quoted in " Forward,” March 3, 1945.)

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