Apartheid

Apartheid, separate-but-equal, segregation are considered evil because, as a result, Black life outcome is worse than that of Whites. It is not permissible to blame black IQ and black crime for the differences, thus Apartheid must be the culprit. Thus civil rights laws must be enforced that do not allow freedom of association to Whites, rather force whites to accept Blacks into their clubs, neighborhoods, associations, but not the inverse!

The number of black people who believe life was better under South Africa's apartheid regime is growing, according to a survey published yesterday.

In a rebuke to the African National Congress government, more than 60% of all South Africans polled said the country was better run during white minority rule.

One in five black people interviewed gave the regime which jailed Nelson Mandela and denied them the vote, a positive rating - a result which analysts attributed to crime and unemployment. In 1995, fewer than one in ten gave apartheid a positive rating.

A growing number of white people voiced confidence in the future of the state, as did blacks who have prospered since democratic elections replaced apartheid in 1994. Perceptions that the new elite is corrupt have also diminished.

The study was conducted by Afrobarometer in September and October on behalf of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Ghana's Centre for Democratic Development and Michigan State University.

Some 2,400 South Africans were interviewed in a representative sample based on the 1996 census. The disparity in views on the new South Africa threw into relief the anger of a large minority of blacks who felt abandoned, said Bob Mattes of Afrobarometer, which is based in Cape Town.

"They are not looking to go back to apartheid, but as time passes you tend to forget the negative things and emphasise the things that you had then and don't have now, such as law and order and jobs. Apartheid was a harsh, repressive, but seemingly efficient government which made the trains run on time."

There were positive findings for the young democracy but Prof Mattes said the state should be worried at a growing "de-linkage" between ruler and ruled. Only one in 10 people believed their elected representatives were interested in their needs and fewer than one in three felt today's government was more trustworthy than the apartheid regime.

Black people were only slightly more positive than white and mixed-race groups about the government, with 38% deeming it more trustworthy than the ousted oppressors.

The official definition of the crime of "apartheid" was first formulated in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 30, 1973. The definition was "inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group…over another racial group…and systematically oppressing them." [Source:Gatestone Institute]

The official definition of the crime of "apartheid" was first formulated in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 30, 1973. The definition was "inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group…over another racial group…and systematically oppressing them." A later version of the definition was included in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, of July 17, 1998 which came into force in July 2002. The definition became inhumane acts concerning an identifiable group on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious grounds "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." [Source:Gatestone Institute]

The change in legal terminology is important for political reasons. Israelis and Palestinians can be considered as "identifiable groups" and therefore the provisions of international law in the 1973 Convention and the 1998 Statute can be applied to them, thus opening the opportunity for a legal charge of the crime of apartheid against Israel. [Source:Gatestone Institute]

Apartheid

Nostalgia grows for apartheid system