A Holistic Analysis of Apartheid and Related Ideologies as a Universal Peace Disruptor

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 22 Jan 2024

Prof Hoosen Vawda – TRANSCEND Media Service

This publication contains graphic visuals, which may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is strongly advised.  Parental guidance is recommended for minors.

“Under Apartheid Regimes and Ideologies, globally, animals are allocated a higher social status than people of colour and the discriminated. In pre-liberation South Africa, Blacks were treated like animals, with no value for their lives.  Presently, a worse status is bestowed upon the Palestinians by the Zionist Israelis”. [1]

Apartheid Pass Book Laws against Africans in their own country: South Africa by White Racists. A White policeman, in Pre-liberation South Africa, checks the passbook of an African worker.  Note the attitude of subservience adopted by the elderly African in front of a young, White Policeman, who is probably of an equivalent age of his grandson.
Photo Credit: Eli Weinberg. Image courtesy National Archief/Eli Weinberg.

 “Apartheid as a Chief Peace Disruptor”

This publication, contributes to the series of papers[2] on “Peace Disruptors” and “Peace Disruptions”, previously published.  This paper describes Apartheid and related discriminative ideologies, in a holistic manner, from antiquity to the present, 21st century, noting that the term was coined with specific reference to this separate, but supposedly equal system of governance of the multi-cultural and multiracial, multitude of the citizenry of South Africa. The author has also written about this scourge of humanity and source of conflict over eons of human civilisation from the time of evolution of Homo sapiens, sapiens[3], noting that recent evidence indicates that at some stage in the evolutionary history of humankind, the Neanderthals, as well as Homo Sapiens sapiens, co-existed and naturally the latter, based on their larger central processing units housed in the expanded frontal lobes of the cerebral hemisphere[4], added to their advantage for survival in the primitive environment of the earth, at the time.  The publication illustrates how Apartheid can unequivocally be classified as a “Peace Disruptor” globally, using examples.  Some of these cases of practice of apartheid are subtle, others are obvious, while the most critical points is that in the case of South Africa, apartheid [5]was written as official laws, rules and behavioural conduct. in the legislation of pre-liberated South Africa.  Transgressions of these racially biased laws were severely punished by incarceration, often in the stark loneliness of the Robben Island[6], off the southernmost tip of South Africa, as a penal colony, from the time of British occupation of the region.  it is also to be remembered that “Apartheid” as an institute was not invented, nor formulated, as such by the Nationalist, White minority government of South Africa in 1948[7], but was invented by the colonial, imperialist Brutish and implemented throughout the inglorious British Empire, in all its subjugated colonies and countries from China to India throughs to Africa and beyond.  It can be verily concluded that South Africa did not fiendishly formulated this discriminative policy, but highly “perfected apartheid”, in it most brutal application, often murdering dissidents, in cold blooded extra-judicial executions, some of which, thus far, were suppressed.  In fact the reality of these misdeeds are only unearthed recently, with spontaneous confessions from those perpetrators of this category of crime, just prior to their demise.  These revelations, by personal, voluntary confessions were startling as to the extent, the White oppressor covered up their heinous crimes, against political dissidents. In apartheid South Africa.  The author, also presents the parallels between the South African apartheid, which he grew under and relates his experiences in comparison with such discriminative governance of occupied Palestine by the Israeli, Zionist regime, over the past 76 years of inhumane oppression and occupation of both Gaza and the Occupied Territories. [8]

The Origins of Apartheid, from Antiquity, through to the 21st century[9]

This publication, which further expands on a previous paper[10], by the author, traces the origins in history of human discriminative process against fellow humanity with the primary aim of oppression and subjugation. “Britain invented apartheid but South Africa perfected it”.  This quote captures the essence of how Britain originally pioneered legalised racial discrimination and separation policies in its colonies, while apartheid-era South Africa took those systems of institutionalised oppression against Black, Asian, and Coloured communities to even more extreme and brutal levels.

The evidence shows how Britain practiced early versions of apartheid across its global empire [11] long before the term itself was codified:

Restricting native access to public spaces, facilities in colonial Africa, India, Australia

Designating separate living areas like cantonments and special “European zones” in cities in colonized regions

Dividing populations along racial and religious lines through preferential treatment of converts to Christianity

Establishing legal codes and trials that discriminated against ethnic minorities (e.g. preventing native testimony)

However, apartheid as rigorously enforced government policy reached its zenith in South Africa after 1948. Under apartheid:

Racial segregation permeated every aspect of society from hospitals to cinemas, hotels, restaurants, banks, libraries, beaches, public parks, fishing piers ambulances, residential areas, inter-racial fraternisation, buses to pay scales.

A rigid racial hierarchy placed whites in complete control with Blacks stripped of citizenship rights.

Freedom of movement was strangled through pass laws; millions were forcibly removed into impoverished ethnic homelands.

Mixed marriages and sex were banned; state repression through police/military might entrenched white supremacy.

The quote also acknowledges Britain inventing the template, while South Africa amplified its mechanisms to affect total subjugation of 80%+ of the population under white Afrikaner minority rule. An apt summation of the brutal endpoint of British colonial racism. The term “apartheid” comes from the Afrikaans word meaning “separateness.” While the system of apartheid was formally instituted in South Africa in 1948, its origins trace back to colonial policies beginning in the 17th century under Dutch and British rule.

In 1652, the Dutch East India Company established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, bringing European settlers into contact and conflict with native populations. Over time, Europeans seized more land and imposed laws to force Africans into supplying cheap labour.

After the British took control of the Cape Colony in 1806, they continued segregating lands and passes that restricted the movement of non-Europeans. Following the scrapping of slavery in 1833, there was a desire to force Africans into wage labour while limiting their rights.

In the late 19th century, European colonists and Afrikaners pushed into more tribal territory, dispossessing and oppressing native groups. This led to wars with indigenous groups like the Zulu, spurring further separation policies by Whites.

By the early 20th century, policies like native reserves, pass laws and economic discrimination against non-whites were entrenched in territories under British and Afrikaner control. This laid the foundations for formal apartheid.

Apartheid was official government policy in South Africa between 1948-1991 under the National Party. It legally classified South Africans into racial groups with different political/economic rights. It was a brutal, oppressive system supporting white minority rule.

International pressure, internal unrest, and economic impacts eventually led South Africa to dismantle apartheid in the early 1990s. However, economic inequality and prejudices still linger in South Africa decades later as an apartheid legacy.

Apartheid South Africa: A segregated bridge at Pretoria railway station, mid-1960s. Note the separation based on race, clearly signposted at the entrance.
Photo by Ernest Cole. Courtesy Ernest Cole Family Trust © Ernest Cole Family Trust.

In addition, it is relevant to discuss some specifics of apartheid practised in the colonies of the

former glorious British Empire, including China, Far East, India, rest of Africa, North America, Australia[12], as well as New Zealand and even internally in the United Kingdom.

The British Empire did implement various discriminatory policies and segregation against local populations in many of its colonies over the centuries:

In parts of Africa like Kenya, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, the British imposed legal separation between European settlers and native African groups. Things like separate schools, neighbourhoods, public facilities, etc. This enabled exploitation of land & resources.

In British India[13], the British frequently lived in separate walled cantonments. They also created classifications like “martial races” to stereotype groups as warlike or not. The British fanned religious/cultural divides between Hindus and Muslims as well.

In China[14], the British areas were split into cemeteries, clubs, parks and housing earmarked for “Europeans only.” The Shanghai Public Gardens infamously displayed a sign reading “No dogs or Chinese.” Or worse still, “No Dogs and Coolies Allowed”, as seen in some very exclusive British clubs in China.

In North America and Australia, there was massive ethnic cleansing and displacement of native peoples from their homelands by British colonizers seizing land. First Nations children were forcibly assimilated via residential/boarding schools too.

As for apartheid-like policies back in Britain itself as well as New Zealand: some examples include discriminatory immigration controls, race-based population censuses, informal employment discrimination against particular groups like Irish or Indians, and even some pubs/hotels operating color bars restricting or banning non-white patrons well into the later 20th century.

In general, the core theme was using segregation and discrimination to uphold white British hegemony across the far-flung former Empire. The legacy remains in economic, social and political inequalities that are still being addressed today by the affected populations. There are a few particularly egregious examples of racist apartheid policies and incidents that occurred in British-occupied areas of China:

Signs in parks and facilities barring Chinese people, including the notorious “No dogs or Chinese allowed” sign posted at the entrance to the Shanghai Public Gardens during the late 1800s/early 1900s period. This blatantly equated Chinese people to animals.

The division of cemeteries, churches, hospitals, schools, clubs, and housing areas in cities like Shanghai into “British only” and “Chinese only” sections. British people sought to avoid all non work-related contact with Chinese people, whom they viewed as culturally and racially inferior.

Refusal to allow Chinese witnesses in legal cases tried under British extraterritorial legal jurisdiction in Shanghai. By denying Chinese testimony, the British stacked the system unfairly against any Chinese plaintiffs or defendants.

The location of the Shanghai Racecourse. The British owners placed it right by a poor area known as the “Chinese Pigsty” and would force inhabitants to clean up after horses for little compensation. This was meant to maximally humiliate local Chinese.

Signs along the Shanghai Bund barring ” coolies and Chinese servants” from walking along the Huangpu River embankment designated for Europeans. Any violators were subject to beatings by British-backed Sikh security forces.

The British in China unquestionably implemented apartheid-style discrimination meant to uphold notions of European racial superiority and severely oppress the Chinese population under their control. It was dehumanising, racist treatment by any measure. The most egregious policies and signs explicitly barring Chinese from facilities in British-occupied areas generally ended in the early 20th century, but racial discrimination still persisted for decades after. In summary:

In the aftermath of the Chinese revolution of 1911 which overthrew imperial rule, the new Republic of China government voiced stronger condemnation of the racist treatment of Chinese citizens in foreign-occupied territories like Shanghai.

This mounting pressure, as well changes in global racial attitudes after World War I, led the British authorities in Shanghai to quietly remove some of the most visible and objectionable signs barring Chinese entry into parks and other facilities in the late 1910s.

However, the city was still very much divided along racial lines. Most clubs and hotels remained off limits to Chinese people through the 1920s/1930s. British people continued living in separate privileged areas like the French Concession region of Shanghai.

During World War II, the Japanese occupied Shanghai which briefly ended British control. After the war, while the UK regained authority for a short transitional period, nationalist sentiment was growing among the Chinese populace accelerated by Japan’s defeat.

In 1943, the UK had signed the New Treaties returning the foreign concessions in Shanghai to Chinese sovereignty by 1947. This was part of the slow demise of British imperialism globally.

While the most explicitly racist apartheid policies were rescinded during the 1910s-1920s, real change didn’t begin until Chinese nationalist pressure finally eliminated unequal treaties imposing foreign rule over Shanghai and other port cities by the late 1940s.  However, Hong Kong has an interesting relationship with racial segregation and discrimination historically as a former British colony:

When Britain first gained Hong Kong in the 1800s during the Opium Wars[15], there were not extensive apartheid-style divisions imposed initially between Europeans and Chinese. However, some discrimination did exist in areas like wages and jobs.

Over time, certain facilities did cater only to Europeans, such as the Hong Kong Cricket Club and Victoria Recreation Club. Most Hong Kong social clubs remained Europeans-only into the late 20th century.

The British did establish segregated housing areas, especially on The Peak where managerial class British resided away from densely-packed Chinese tenement housing. Certain hills, buildings and beaches were designated European priority as well.

Perhaps the most impactful divide was in the education system. Prestigious Anglo-Chinese schools served predominantly European and Eurasian students selected through exams and high fees. This track led to civil service/corporate jobs reserved largely for Caucasians up until the late 1970s.

Today, while ethnic inequality is less institutionalized, some argue subtler cultural hierarchy still disadvantages minorities, especially South Asians, or mainland Chinese immigrants compared to native Hong Kong Chinese populations. Overall far less overt apartheid than colonial Shanghai though.

In summary, Hong Kong’s racial separations reflected wider societal class divides during the British era. But absent were overt “whites only” signs on facilities that plagued mainland China under Western imperialism. The cultural superiorities Hong Kong’s European population clung to served maintaining dominance in government and commerce, locally.

Thailand presents an interesting case, as unlike China or India, it was never directly colonized by European imperial powers like Britain. However, Britain still exerted strong economic and political influence. As for apartheid and discrimination:

During the 19th century, Thailand (then Siam) did cede some border territories like Penang and Singapore to British control. Here the British established typical separate European enclaves, businesses, clubs etc. that excluded native groups.

In Thailand proper, the British worked closely with the Thai monarchy to secure trade and extraterritorial legal rights. But Thailand itself was not colonized or occupied as a whole. The king agreed to allow British subjects to be tried in British consular courts rather than Thai ones, similar to concessions in China.

In Bangkok and port cities, there arose Thai-Chinese merchant areas and British/European ones centered on trading posts of the British East India Company and later multi-national corporations. But stringent racial segregation policies within Thailand were largely non-existent compared to crown colony city-ports across Southeast Asia.

Social discrimination did linger though in the differential treatment of wealthy Western expatriates versus poorer laborers from China and South Asia in Thailand over the 20th century. Additionally, Thailand itself has long struggled with equality regarding marginalized indigenous tribes in the North and immigrants from Laos or Burma.

Discriminative signs against Indigenous Chinese in Colonial China at the entrance to plush British Clubs

While extreme apartheid policies were absent, 19th–20th century Thailand saw informal economic and social racial hierarchies between Western elite and other ethnic groups, likely an inheritance of European colonial racial attitudes across the region mixed with pre-existing Thai prejudices.

The British imposition of apartheid-like policies deeply impacted Australia’s indigenous Aboriginal peoples from the 18th-21st centuries:

18th-19th Centuries:

British colonization starting in 1788 marginalized Aboriginal groups via massacres and dispossession from ancestral lands. These policies enabled the establishment of white settlements and later independent Australian states with minimal regard for native rights.

Segregation manifested via the forced relocation of Aboriginal groups into designated reserve regions unable to sustain traditional lifestyles and lacking resources/assistance from the white-dominated colonial governments.

20th Century:

Assimilation policies including the “Stolen Generations” from 1910-1970s saw indigenous children removed from families to church/state-run institutions aiming to “integrate” them into white Australian culture while denying native language/identity.

Various other apartheid-esque controls existed like restrictions on entering white-only public swimming pools, theaters, hospitals etc. into the second half of the 20th century. Aboriginals had limited civil/political rights and faced ingrained discrimination.

21st Century Legacies:

Socioeconomic inequality, higher imprisonment, lower life expectancy and educational attainment for indigenous groups stems from generational trauma/disadvantages resulting from centuries of racism and apartheid inflicted since British colonial era.

Although now politically equal, reconciliation efforts by the Australian government have been inconsistent. Culturally ingrained prejudices also persist among some Australians against Aboriginal minority populations despite progress made.

So in essence, British imperialism decimated native populations via displacement and cultural erasure. The impacts have profoundly crippled equality for indigenous peoples in Australia lasting into the present day.

there are unfortunate similarities in how British colonialism and later local settler-led governments in New Zealand perpetrated apartheid-like policies and systemic discrimination against the native Māori people that have created lasting impacts:

19th century land seizures pushed Māori groups off ancestral territories, breaching the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi made with the British crown which was meant to guarantee territorial rights. This enabled mass British settlement and marginalization of natives.

Attempted cultural assimilation began in earnest in the late 19th century via the Native Schools system which banned Te reo Māori language in classrooms and abused Māori children for using their mother tongue rather than English.

20th century urbanization saw influxes of Māori migrating to cities for jobs and opportunities as their traditional rural tribal structures eroded. However, many faced prejudices when trying to find housing or employment, leading to informal “apartheid” style segregation.

Government initiatives like the 1927 Tohunga Suppression Act also outlawed Māori healers and religious experts, further depriving native communities of cultural pillars while entrenching British Christianity and Western medicine.

These policies and societal racism have left a legacy of higher Māori incarceration rates, lower lifespans, endemic poverty, broken cultural continuity with language and customs, and disenfranchisement from civil institutions.

In many ways, New Zealand followed the British playbook of indigenous subjugation seen similarly in Australia and other colonies, with modern efforts at reconciliation being inconsistent and effects still persisting.

At this point it is relevant to define the etymology of terms used above and also discuss where those philosophies are still seen in the 21st century:

Apartheid:

Etymology: From the Afrikaans word meaning “separateness”, derived from Dutch. Used to describe the system of institutionalized racial segregation enforced upon the non-white populations of South Africa from 1948-1991.

21st Century Manifestations: Policies and informal societal segregation based on race or caste persists in some areas of the world, like the repression of Rohingya people in Myanmar. Sectarian divides in the Middle East have also been characterized as forms of apartheid when essential services or rights are unequally provided on such lines.

Assimilation:

Etymology: From the Latin word “assimilare” meaning “to make similar”. In colonial contexts it refers to the practice of forcibly integrating native/indigenous cultures and communities into the dominant colonial one.

21st Century Manifestations: The pressures towards assimilation continue for some minority indigenous groups seeking greater autonomy, land rights, and preservation of threatened cultural practices, languages or identities in the face of globalized modernization. This happens across regions from Australian Aborigines, to tribes in the Amazon, to ethnic minorities in China like Uyghurs or Tibetans facing encroaching cultural erosion.

While the exact systems of apartheid and forced assimilation that empowered 19th-20th century European imperialism have faded, their basic desire to elevate certain racial/ethnic majorities over minorities continue in localized forms globally, enabled now by more subtle policies of governments or corporations rather than overt colonial diktat.

His Master’s Voice [16]

The concept of subscribing to “His Master’s Voice” whereby the indigenous people of countries occupied by British colonialist followed the teachings of their former masters, even after independence, and are deeply indoctrinated in this sectionalist philosophy to divide humanity into “them and us” causing enormous Peace Disruption” in different parts of the world. oncept of “His Master’s Voice” refers to how colonialism conditioned those under imperial rule to internalize the worldviews and prejudices of their colonial masters, perpetuating systems of inequality and discrimination even after independence from formal empire. This indoctrinated sectarian mindset manifests in several post-colonial contexts:

In South Asia, the British strategically fomented Hindu-Muslim division that contributed to the violent Partition in 1947, and religious tensions that flare up periodically in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh today. This was the end result of the Divide and Rule Policy of the departing British bequeath as an acrimonious GIFT to the Indians to kill themselves and show the world what the “uncivilised heathens” are doing to themselves without the British “civilised “supervision of the masses.

In Africa, European powers arbitrarily divided ethnic groups into separate territories that became unstable states post-independence, fuelling conflicts tied to tensions between traditional tribal/religious identities versus artificial colonial borders.

Across former British colonies, cultural attitudes championing Western paradigms, Christianity, the English language and white/European supremacy took root. This was often integrated into education, governance and social structures by native elites who internalized British colonial ideology.

A cultural hierarchy emerged: perpetuating unequal distribution of resources, lack of rights, and animosity towards marginalized indigenous communities who were seen as “uncivilized”. Assimilationist pressures persisted.

In essence, the post-colonial world is still wrestling with unhealthy divisions, social inequities and prejudices deliberately engineered under imperial rule. Shedding this enduring colonial mindset remains an ongoing struggle hampering peace and stability decades after the end of formal empires.

Examples of legislature against Racial Integration in Pre-Liberation South Africa.[17]

Some of the major examples of racist apartheid laws and policies that existed in South Africa from 1948 up until the early 1990s before the transition to democracy include, in 1994:

The Population Registration Act (1950) – This law instituted formal racial classifications and mandatory ID cards assorting South Africans into one of four groups: native, white, coloured, or Asian.

Group Areas Act (1950) – Forced physical segregation by creating separate settlements and removing people into areas designated for their assigned racial group only. Led to mass evictions.

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) – Legally mandated public facilities like hospitals, schools, parks, beaches to be racially segregated.

Natives Resettlement Act (1954) – Enabled the government to forcibly remove Blacks from urban areas marked for white occupation into distant rural reservations dubbed “Bantustans.” Millions displaced.

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and Immorality Act (1950) – Made interracial marriages and sexual relations illegal as they were seen as threats to racial purity. In fact special police units were deployed, who burst into private residences and hotel room to apprehend transgressors in the act of inter racial sexual relations.  Severe sentences were imposed on the participants.

Pass Laws (1952) – Limited Black South Africans’ freedom of movement by requiring them to carry internal passports to access white areas to work. Arrest was common for permit violations.

The above represents just a sampling of the elaborate legal framework constructed to enforce complete segregation and oppression of non-white groups across all aspects of society for over four decades in South Africa. A brutal system only dismantled after intense internal and global pressures.

No Respite for an Injured Palestinian, in Israeli Air Strikes, using Cluster Bombs. An injured man lies inside an ambulance waiting at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip before receiving medical care in Egypt.
Photo Credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images

 The Bottom Line is that apartheid like prohibitions against a particular group progress into ethnic cleansing and later enlarges into a full scale genocide, globally.  Fortunately, due to statesmen of high caliber in the form of President Nelson Mandela obviated the last two stages of the climax of apartheid: namely Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide in Pre-Liberation 1994, South Africa and there was a peaceful transition, to full democracy.  However, in other regions the situation was not as peaceful, as one would expect and resulted in gross peace disruptions.  This is an important point to consider in the dynamics of apartheid like scenarios, globally.  Often the red flag as early waring signs of what the future holds is often ignored, as the saying goes.  “The Writing is on the Wall” but the locals as well as the custodians of humanitarianism, eith deny these Red Flags or are simply unaware of the impending doom upon a certain sector of the regional community.  Examples of this are repeatedly encountered in history and humanity ends up making the same mistakes, with the discriminated populations experiencing brutal sufferings under the oppressors. n important point. Apartheid systems that severely discriminate against and segregate particular ethnic, racial, religious or other groups contain an inherent danger of escalating into ethnic cleansing and potential genocide in extreme scenarios:

Dehumanisation Tactics – Apartheid propaganda campaigns stereotyping marginalized groups as subhuman, inferior or threatening fosters societal conditioning that enables acceptance of moral transgressions against them.

Impunity Slippery Slope – Lack of local/global accountability for initial apartheid human rights violations can lead regimes to perpetrate bolder abuses without repercussions. A violence continuum often emerges.

Existential Framing – Leaders may paint oppressed groups’ very existence or growth as a mortal threat needing elimination. Genocide then gets rationalized as necessary self-defence, not unprompted aggression requiring prevention.

Examples: Brief summaries of those major genocides:

Armenian Genocide (1915-1923)[18]

Perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against Armenian citizens

Up to 1.5 million Armenians killed

Carried out via mass executions, forced displacement and death marches

Driven by ethnic cleansing motivations to establish a homogenous Turkish state

Rwandan Genocide (1994)[19]

Hutu extremists targeted ethnic Tutsi minority groups in Rwanda

Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred over around 100 days

Machetes, firearms, grenades were used in widespread government-encouraged slaughter

Herero and Nama Genocide (1904–1908)[20]

As part of German colonization, tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people killed in Namibia

Scorched earth policies involved prison camps, execution, starvation, forced labour

Over 75% of Herero/Nama population perished

These reflect some of the immense human tragedies underlying the modern concept of “genocide” denoting premeditated mass murder to destroy particular groups, often following years of escalating persecution.  In addition the following can be added to the list

1990s Balkans[21] – Ethnic apartheid policies led by Milošević laid foundations for genocidal mass killings of Bosnian Muslims and Croats later that decade.

Nazi Germany – Years of segregation and persecution against Jewish minority preceded 1940s shift to extermination phase of Holocaust, as the “Final Solution”.

The present Genocide in Palestine,[22] which is largely ignored by United States, allowing Israel to continue it heinous crusade against the defenceless Palestinians.

While not inevitable, history shows how apartheid frequently constitutes an early warning sign that violence risks spiralling without intervention. Setting legal and ethical precedents consenting marginalization of vulnerable populations thus demands vigilant global condemnation.

This is the current pathogenesis of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, ignored by the Biden Administration, United Kingdom and European Union.  In fact United States and Britain are grossly complicit in the genocide committed by Israel against the oppressed Palestinians, resulting in South Africa, as the only country having the tenacity and courage to lodge a case at the International Court of Justice in Hague, with the hearing taken place on the 11th and 12th January, in which the deceit and obfuscation displayed by Israel, was evident to the entire world.  It will be interesting to note the outcome and which way does the pendulum swings.  However, South Africa needs to be commended and admired for its courage in defying the Master.  South Africa’s, Honourable Minister Grace Naledi Pandor, needs to be nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, for her initiative.

The Possible Remedial Strategies[23]

The recommended strategies to the following: 1 Apartheid, 2, Sectarianism amongst Islamic groups, 3. Anti Dalitism 4. Anti-Semitism 5. Religious Factionalism and 6. Religiophobia, in general. Proactively countering discrimination and sectarian divisions remains imperative work across societies. Some general recommended strategies include:

Education reform – Prioritize teaching interfaith tolerance, cultural literacy, countering prejudice in youth to promote inclusive worldviews from early on.

Intergroup contact – Facilitate more opportunities for cooperative civil engagement between communities such as joint infrastructure or social projects to reduce insularity.

Media regulation – Combat disinformation and conspiracy sources that spark extremism online/on-air by censoring calls clearly inciting violence. This is presently happening in India under the BJP[24] with deep seated hatred against the Muslims.  The nationalistic BLP mantra now is: “India is for Hindus”, sends a clear  message and is a Red Flag to the Muslim community as well as the rest of the world, which once again is doing nothing.[25]

Anti-discrimination legislation – Further codify legal protections prohibiting bias in jobs, housing, services with enhanced reporting mechanisms and penalties for violations.

Public messaging – Cultural/religious/political leaders and celebrities leveraging platforms to consistently speak out against bigotry when incidents occur.

Truth and reconciliation efforts – Spotlight past oppression through memorials, museums, shared testimony and acknowledgement between former conflicting groups seeking collective healing.

Sustained engagement on these areas can positively shift mindsets over time. But outcomes require patience and commitment from policymakers, educators, media figures, clergy and everyday citizens alike. Anchoring efforts in moral empathy and historical truth-telling tend brings the best results. Most regrettably, international bodies like United Nations is voiceless in the face of vetoes by US, and Britain at meetings, in which important resolutions are persistently curtailed and the rest of the world is rendered literally impotent in the strongest sense of the term.

The Stark Physical Reality of Apartheid in Israel

Photo Left: The Great Israeli Wall of Separation, surrounding the occupied West Bank,  also call the Apartheid Wall of Segregation, dividing the Palestinian community. This wall even separates freeways for Palestinians and Israelis with regular checkpoints housing fully armed military personnel, issued with orders to kill any transgressors. Intense high definition infra-red cameras, with Microsoft Face Recognition Software and night vision capabilities, augment the surveillance, on a continuous basis, against all Palestinians. As part of its military occupation, Israel steals land and forces Palestinians into ghettos, surrounded by checkpoints, settlements and watchtowers and an illegal apartheid Wall. Photo Credit: Activestills.org
Photo Middle:  Young Palestinians climbing the ISW to attend prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Occupied Jerusalem, 26 July 2013 (Photo Credit: Zonszein 2014 
Photo Right: His Holiness, The Pope Francis standing in front of the ISW during his visit to the City of Bethlehem, OPT in May 2014 Vick 2014

References:      

[1] Personal quote by author, December 2023

[2] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/01/the-genesis-and-psychotype-of-brutal-and-gruesome-peace-disruptors/

[3] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Homo-sapiens-sapiens

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe

[5] https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa

[6] https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/916/

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Party_(South_Africa)

[8] https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution

[9] https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid

[10] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/01/agony-of-the-past-and-ecstasy-of-the-future-war-or-peace-welcome-2024/

[11] https://www.quora.com/Did-the-British-or-the-Dutch-implement-apartheid-in-South-Africa

[12] https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/employers/racial-discrimination

[13] https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv03370/05lv03387.htm

[14] http://www.modernchinesehistory.com/pages/p47.html#:~:text=The%20Public%20Garden%20was%20closed,ever%20existed%20in%20this%20form.

[15] https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/hong-kong-and-the-opium-wars/#:~:text=Britain%20won%20the%20war%20in,damages%20for%20the%20destroyed%20opium.

[16] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2021/09/his-masters-voice-his-masters-eyes-and-his-masters-ears/

[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_South_Africa#:~:text=One%20example%20of%20apartheid%20legislation,large%20majority%20of%20the%20population.

[18] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-overview

[19] https://www.history.com/topics/africa/rwandan-genocide

[20] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2021/12/the-lot-of-the-exploited-discriminated-and-oppressed-part-2/

[21] https://www.jstor.org/stable/20787620

[22] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2023/11/the-geopolitics-of-defining-genocides-massacres-targeted-extrajudicial-state-sponsored-murders-and-ethnophobia/

[23] https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/49241219.pdf

[24] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2023/11/the-forgotten-part-1-kashmir-heaven-on-earth-turned-hell-on-earth-by-21st-century-india/

[25] https://www.transcend.org/tms/2022/02/the-execution-of-love-as-a-tool-in-ethnic-and-religious-cleansing-in-india-part-4/

______________________________________________

Professor G. Hoosen M. Vawda (Bsc; MBChB; PhD.Wits) is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.
Director: Glastonbury Medical Research Centre; Community Health and Indigent Programme Services; Body Donor Foundation SA.

Principal Investigator: Multinational Clinical Trials
Consultant: Medical and General Research Ethics; Internal Medicine and Clinical Psychiatry:UKZN, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine
Executive Member: Inter Religious Council KZN SA
Public Liaison: Medical Misadventures
Activism: Justice for All
Email: vawda@ukzn.ac.za


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This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 22 Jan 2024.

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