Blood letting in the "Rainbow Nation"

Eugene Terreblance, South Africa's vile neo-fascist and white supremacist made famous by his fringe political activity and theatrical antics as the leader of the separatist AWB (Afrikaner Resistance League), was murdered on his farm last week. While he won't be missed by any stretch of the imagination, his murder seems to have been racially motivated and it jolted South Africa into acknowledging the growing trend of race based violence against white farmers. Since this conflict of whites being victimized by blacks doesn't play to the traditional notion of victim and perpetrator in the liberal paradigm, this awful and tragic trend hasn't been getting the attention it merits. Despite the legacy of institutional segregation that benefited South Africa's native white minority during the second half of the 20th century, some of the challenges for South African society moving forwarding include avoiding the Zimbabwe effect of deliberately destroying civic institutions, eroding democratic standards, ethnically cleansing whites; while also continuing to foster a civil-society that values all racial and ethnic groups, but realizes how precarious the situation can be for the key minorities. Post-colonial Africa seems to have it out for minority groups. One need look no farther than Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria to name a few places. Since South Africa transitioned into majority rule in 1994, over 3,000 white farmers have been murdered by blacks. There are other internal crime statistics that are alarming, and it is no secret that South Africa has a plethora of issues it needs to tend to to continue to break the norm and survive as a non-basket case African nation, yet given the extreme sensibilities, the economic repercussions, and the tragic cycle of violence that has claimed so many other African societies, Jacob Zuma and the ANC need to step up and lock horns with this problem.

Some of the best analysis and  insight on the matter can be found here at an excellent blog called Cauthen's Commentary. (Full disclosure, the werewolf was a student of Cauthen's during his undergraduate years at Emory University) Here is a great excerpt offering in-depth analysis of the issue and how music has played a role in the ethnic violence.

"The death of Eugene Terreblanche has trained the world’s attention on the state of race relations in the so-called “Rainbow Nation” of South Africa as well as on a recent ruling of that country’s high court in Johannesburg. Terreblanche – founder of the neo-fascist and khaki-clad paramilitary organization, the Afrikaner Resistance League (known by its Afrikaans acronym, the AWB) – was until recently perhaps South Africa’s most vociferous and violent white separatist who agitated for a racially-exclusive homeland for the Afrikaner ethnic minority. Yet, the news reports of the past few days have focused less on his notorious career and more on his being the latest statistic; indeed, according to the BBC, more than three thousand white farmers have been killed since the inauguration of the new, multiracial South Africa in 1994. Although Terreblanche’s murder does not seem to be politically motivated, but, rather the action of disgruntled farm workers who claim that he cheated them, some of his cohorts in the AWB insist that his demise was the inevitable result of an anti-apartheid anthem and its repetitive lyric of “shoot the Boer.” The historic and controversial ditty had been recently revived and appropriated as a theme song of sorts by the fiery president of the ANC Youth League Julius Malema.  And, after Malema belted out the song at a political rally last month a high court judge, who is white, ruled that its lyrics were unconstitutional as they incited violence against whites and cautioned Malema against any further performances. The ruling ANC was quite dismayed over the verdict as it regards the song as cultural icon of the liberation struggle and sought to have the judge’s decision reversed in a higher court.

Although to some the claim that Terreblanche’s murder was incited by the song may appear far-fetched, in ethnically-riven societies, the catalytic agency of chauvinistic and provocative music to foment individual and collective acts of violence cannot be underestimated. In the lead-up to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the Hutu Power regime regularly broadcast songs on the radio which dehumanized the Tutses and justified their extermination. In this regard, I am particularly reminded of a song by Hutu pop composer Simon Bikindi with a similarly repetitive lyric – that of “I hate these Hutus.” In it, Bikindi was not slamming the rival Tutsi but those fellow Hutus whom he regarded as not being sufficiently anti-Tutsi. And, of course, large numbers of moderate Hutus were murdered alongside the Tutses by hard-line Hutus. Bikindi was ultimately indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the grounds that he utilized his music to incite genocide – although he was eventually convicted on a different charge."

North Korea: A Nation of Racist Dwarfs - Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens has authored another brilliant piece, "A Nation of Racist Dwarfs," over at Slate. North Korea is arguably the most perverted and tragic modern manifestation of humanity on the face of this fair planet. Hitchens, in a way only his dry and acerbic wit can capture, pens a solid piece on ethnic nationalism and racism in the Korean peninsula.   Here are some excerpts: 

"Here are the two most shattering facts about North Korea. First, when viewed by satellite photography at night, it is an area of unrelieved darkness. Barely a scintilla of light is visible even in the capital city. (See this famous photograph.) Second, a North Korean is on average six inches shorter than a South Korean. You may care to imagine how much surplus value has been wrung out of such a slave, and for how long, in order to feed and sustain the militarized crime family that completely owns both the country and its people.

But this is what proves Myers right. Unlike previous racist dictatorships, the North Korean one has actually succeeded in producing a sort of new species. Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming."

Harry Reid stuck in the Weeds. The "no negro dialect" debacle.

Thank goodness Harry Reid isn't a Republican, or this would be the first racist super-scandal of the new decade. Here's the money quote from the Associated Press article link:

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Obama is the nation's first African-American president."

Could you imagine the Democratic-liberal lynch mob that would be forming and fermenting if some Republican said this? Racial extortion artists like Jesse Jackon and Al Sharpton would take to the street and rile up the mob, the NAACP would be filing formal protests and organizing a boycott, the cable news networks would be broadcasting this modern day linguistic racial atrocity ad nauseum, and the outrage and sense of collective black pain would be jammed down our throats like those awful medicines from our childhood. However, by virtue of labeling himself a Democrat, Reid's party affiliation has completely insulated him from such baseless claims, hollow grievances, and empty rhetoric. Sure there is some limited reported going at the moment, but let's face it, jobless claims are on the rise, it's too cold to report on global warming, and Obama is still blaming President Bush for everything bad that has ever occurred. It's a slow news week with liberals in control of everything, hence, this story is getting some air time. The werewolf can't help but be amused, by the rather repugnant double standards at play, both by the media, and the liberal establishment. We live in strange times.

First of all, Harry Reid is the epitome of a loser. The guy just sucks. He's inarticulate, boring, lacks any sense of style, is frequently confused, and weirdly a slave to the hard-left of the Democratic party. Despite being Senate majority leader, he's getting clobbered in every poll in his home state of Nevada, and will likely be a political relic this time next year. We can only hope.

That being said, the werewolf really doesn't get where the controversy is stemmed. Harry Reid doesn't like ghetto black people. Neither does President Obama's second-in-command, Vice President Joe "the Mouth" Biden. I mean, in Biden's eyes, and from his mouth, Obama is "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Biden may have been on to something, since Obama was elected, however that's well above the werewolf's current pay-grade. The werewolf sees a trend that senior senators from the liberal wing of the Democratic party don't like black people who radiate urban ghettoness. Fair enough. It's all about good public relations and image, before content and substance.

The second part of this story pertains to the use of the word "negro." The United States, like every other western nation, has a spotted history when it comes to race relations. This is well-documented. As political correctness has invaded the vernacular in an attempt to stymie free-thought, creativity, and simple facts, a bizarre stream of evolving labels have been created to help people understand their racial lineage. During the dark days of real racism, segregation, and political oppression of black in America, the term "negro" was considered the enlightened term to describe black Americans. The term populates the writings of Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr, and other civil rights heroes. Just think of the famous philanthropic organization The United Negro College Fund. Over the last three decades, the term for American blacks has evolved from colored, negro, black, Afro-American(hairstyles were big in the 70's), to African-American, to who knows what. It's an oppressive linguistic paradigm. The term negro is certainly anachronistic, outdated, and even tired, but using it in the modern vernacular is a far cry from racism. If you want to hear a litany of racist words, listen to some gansta rap! As much as Reid is a loser, he is also a 71 year-old man who was brought up in a time when a self-described forward thinker such as himself would be considered enlightened for describing his black countrymen as Negros. While the werewolf loves watching liberals trip over themselves with the bizarre and oppressive linguistic codes they want to impose on all of us, and he delights in seeing Harry Reid look like an anachronistic fool, it's a cosmic joke and intellectually dishonest to think Harry Reid racist for using the term negro.

The light skinned portion of the comment has it's own asinine insinuations, but that relates to the shallow pursuit of image construction and preference. Reid was caught red handed stating what most elite white liberals would like black America to become. Enjoy the amusement of how he handles it all.

There is racism embedded in liberalism. It is sourced in the notion that people who aren't white are somehow not responsible for their own actions and are incapable of helping themselves. The werewolf can think of few things as truly degrading and hateful as denying a group of people ownership and agency of their own fates. To salt that wound, liberalism hinges on "enlightened white liberals" acting as shepherds for these blighted groups. However, that's another debate for another time.

Addition: The werewolf missed a few key points in the above musings. The comparison of what occurred to Trent Lott in 2002 and the issue of whether these remarks qualify for demanding Reid's resignation.

The werewolf never really liked Trent Lott. He considered him a marginal senate majority leader, and a pork barrel professional (most legislators are), but then again, the werewolf had no reason to strongly dislike Lott. He was just another unremarkable Republican senator from the South. While Lott's remarks clearly exposed him to a barrage of criticism, could be considered ill-advised, and the pressure they generated caused him to vacate his leadership position. Tough knock of politics.

The werewolf thinks that Reid's leadership has contributed to the internal weakening of the Democrat party. From a strategic point-of-view, he would love to continue to watch Reid flounder, because it damages an agenda he opposes. Also, Reid's re-election is unlikely based on these polls, therefor his time is already limited and Reid has been rendered semi-impotent as it currently stands. However, a resignation of the Democrat senate majority has a karmic-like justice to it. As they say, what goes around, comes around.

Update: Ann Coulter calls Al Sharpton out.

Obama and Our Post-Modern Race Problem. Shelby Steele spells it out.

I was reading this thoughtful opinion piece by Shelby Steele when I had the misfortune of getting fragged. Steele, one the keenest minds and observers on race relations, puts forth a compelling series of thoughts on what propelled Obama to the presidency. He contrasts him with Reagan and certain celebrities, examines the elements of symbolism involved, and he beautifully deconstructs the manipulation of perception that was essential to achieve the intergalactic fluke that was the 2008 presidential election. The closing paragraph eloquently states "And yes, white America conditioned Barack Obama to emptiness—valued him all along for his "articulate and clean" blackness, so flattering to American innocence. He is a president come to us out of our national insecurities."

Now that the blind euphoria around Obama is subsiding, the messiah's failings are becoming more apparent, and Obama's is star is clearly waning, I think America will devote some serious time and consideration to understanding just what the "hell happened" because in many ways 2008 was a fluke.

I chalked 2008 result up to the confluence of several factors:

On the election side, the Obama camp ran a highly disciplined and professional campaign. It was impressive. The McCain camp lacked discipline, never defined their territory, and allowed their internal divisions to boil the surface, disrupting the entire operation. I also think McCain lost the will to win, as he refused to exploit Obama's obvious weaknesses to his own advantage.

Bush fatigue, incompetent Republicans, and an exhaustion from the perception that we were losing in Iraq. This hurt Republican voter turnout and alienated independents.

The tabula rosa syndrome. Obama was able to be everything to everyone. Voters were able to project their aspirations onto him and see him as a vehicle for these dreams. While this proved inherently false ex post facto, and only works once, he had a mystifying sway over considerable segments of the voting population that I think drove voters to the polls on his behalf.

White guilt. Steele is a billion times more eloquent at flushing this out and in much greater detail than I could ever hope to. However, I noticed among some of my peers at business school, former colleagues, and contemporaries, that their whiteness or "pinkness" (as some of the more slavishly politically correct ones would say), was a liability to which the bore a burden. I think that they imagined casting a vote for Obama would somehow absolve them of the imagined sins that they were somehow accountable for in their own minds. It was the worst form of self-loathing, but, it clearly manifested itself heavily.

Energized democratic voter turnout. Blacks turned out in record numbers, as did younger voters, and other traditional democratic constituencies. There was an irrefutable energy shrouding Obama, and the historic nature of his campaign, that inflated this numbers. I also think Bush fatigue played a part, although not as much in energizing the liberal base, as deflating the GOP base. The irony of the high black voter turnout, is that while it increased Obama's margins, it also ensured that the gay marriage ban in California would pass, as black voters are overwhelmingly against gay marriage. The irony is priceless.