The Congress of Berlin was held in 1878. It was there that modern Colonialism was born. The New World had gone after independence, and so the European Powers needed to expand their influence in the Old World. They drew up borders cutting up Africa.
As part of this policy, Britain wanted to replicate the Federal model of Canada where it had influence in Africa. Cecil John Rhodes wanted a British territory that extended from the Cape to Cairo. That is about 7,250km. About the same as London to Mumbai. At the time, South Africa was not a country. Britain fought a series of Anglo-somebody wars to make it such. Local resistance was fierce. A policy of burning farms to destroy supply lines, and Concentration Camps for the women and children (Scorched Earth) gave victory at the cost of entrenched hatred from the Boers. The Zulu armies also inflicted substantial defeats first time around, most famously at Isandlwana, before the British used internal differences to support rivals to power. Conquered, South Africa became a Union in 1910.
Like the American South, there was a lot of appeasement to be done after the wars. Union Building meant that the losers had to be allowed to feel proud again. This was all at the time of the rise of resentment-driven Nationalism. Dutch was the preferred language of the Boer elite before the World War I to World War II years. World War I killed Empires. World War II killed Colonialism. The post-World War II years saw the rise of Nations built on anger. Built on a desire to be proud. No one won the second World War. It started when Stalin and Hitler invaded Poland. Stalin never left. The Cold War that followed got mixed up with De-colonisation and the rise of Nationalism. It mixed competing economic models with rising Identity Politics.
The Berlin Wall fell when I was 9 years old. It was a different border, but equally as divisive. It was the life-blood of the Apartheid Government which was supported as a buffer against Communism. I was 14 when South Africa transitioned from the Apartheid Government. 1994.
South Africa is dealing with multiple centuries-old wounds. History has been written and rewritten to suit whatever unifying or dividing story was being peddled at the time. Not much is commonly known about the 2,000 year expansion of Bantu people. Not much is known about the 1,000 years of Islamic trade, cultural exchange, and religious expansion. Not much is known about the History of people who lived prior to printing press. Or who owned the printing press, and what message they wanted to spread. Not much is known.
South Africa's wounds are not only local. They are mixed with the same blades that have cut up the rest of the world in different ways. Some countries are dominated by ex-Slave populations. South Africa was the boundary of people who pushed away from Slavery. That maintained independence right up until the late 19th century. Some countries are predominantly the descendants of Slave Owners. In some countries, the population mix changed because of the arrival of Indentured Labourers from India. See the Caribbean. See Durban. Even that dynamic of the difference between Indentured Labourers and Slaves causes tension. The rights of Indigenous peoples versus the rights of people who came, not as Colonisers, but by force.
The Cape Colony shared a lot of history with Indonesia and Malaysia. The Cape still shares flavours with South America, where there was a long history of mixing of locals and those who came by sea. Creole languages hundreds of years in the making with the tastes of many ports. Before the French Revolution and the Enlightenment invented the idea of 'The People'. The positive being Democracy. The negative being the need to separate people into false groups based on made up stories like race, religion, and language. Before the American Revolution cut ties from distant Monarchies. Then both the French and the Americans proceeded on 'Civilising Missions'.
I am a Soutie. I have one foot in the United Kingdom, and one foot in South Africa. My bits hang in the sea. Social Media means I am still connected daily to the very raw conversations about unravelling the Cold War, Imperialism, Colonialism, Apartheid, Racism, Privilege and various other obstacles to people getting along. At the same time, I now live in a divided Britain that spends most of its time calling the other side names, and not much time listening. A wealthy Britain that is still not happy. A Britain that spends a lot of time navel gazing, and not much time reflecting on this complicated past of which it was very much a part.
As I look on this long history of pain, I am actually incredibly positive. Our challenges today look insurmountable. Unless you step back. Unless you see the things in our recent history that we have conquered. Concentration Camps. Scorched Earth. Empires. Colonies. Slavery. Indentured Labour. Scientific Racism. Wars of Religion. The world is less racist, sexist, homophobic, and generally intolerant than it has ever been. Bad Ideas may seem to spread faster, but we are getting better and better at killing them. If we identify people not by the bad ideas, but by our shared ability to improve. Our shared resilience.
Bad ideas die. That is worth celebrating.
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