Monday

Race, Murder, Violence & the 2010 World Cup

In less than 10 weeks from now, most inhabitants of planet Earth will be in the firm grip of an “illness” that is sure to have a much wider geographical spread and a greater reach than any flu caused by lowly viruses like the H1N1 strain. As football fever takes over the world, schools will witness a sudden drop in attendance, organisations will have to watch helplessly as productivity plummets and entertainers who aren’t smart enough to reschedule their performances to avoid a clash with match times will have to play to empty galleries. After all, it’s only once in four years that the world’s greatest and most popular spectacle, the FIFA World Cup, takes place.

The 19th soccer World Cup (2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa) will be the first time that the tournament is being staged on the African continent. South Africa won the rights to host the event, edging out Morocco and Egypt in the all-African bidding process. Despite initial concerns and relocation rumours, FIFA has stood by South Africa and expressed confidence in the the ability of the hosts to stage a successful World Cup.

Even if the South Africans have managed to overcome problems related to infrastructure and logistics, it’s hardly going to be a smooth ride for the tournament. High rates of violent crime and uneasy relations between the peoples of the “Rainbow Nation” are things that could turn out to be a nightmare for the hosts and their guests from around the world. With only a little more than two months to go before the tournament kicks off, race relations have taken a sudden turn for the worse.

Eugène Terre’Blanche, the founder and leader of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) party, was murdered on his own farm in Ventersdorp, allegedly by two of his employees over a “wage-dispute”. Described by the mainstream media as a “white supremacist”, leader of a “far-right party” with very little support, Eugène Terre’Blanche was a hated figure for many, and some even go to the extent of claiming he deserved what he got.

However, the brutal murder of the aptly-named Terre’Blanche (which can be translated from French as “White Earth” or “White Land”) should not be seen in isolation, whether it was over a wage dispute or not. Even after the transition from the apartheid regime to a supposedly democratic government, South Africa cannot be called a peaceful country by any stretch of the imagination. Though violent crime is a terrible nightmare for all South Africans, be they White or Black or any one else, the White citizens (4.5 million or about 10% of the population) of the country, particularly the Afrikaans-speakers (Afrikaners), are at the receiving end of the most violent, horrific and brutal crimes.

Many Afrikaners feel they are being subjected to a slow, but extremely violent genocide. If the horrible farm murders are anything to go by, then their claims are certainly true. After the transition in 1994, out of 40 000 White farmers in South Africa, more than 3 000 farmers and their family members have been brutally murdered, often after being raped and/or tortured in the most horrific ways. The South African regime also supports dictator Robert Mugabe of neighbouring Zimbabwe, whose tyranny and violence against dissenters and commercial farmers led to the complete collapse of Zimbabwean society.

Genocide Watch believes the terrible violence against Afrikaner farmers constitutes warning signs of genocide. However, the international community and “mainstream media” deliberately continues to ignore these signs. Even in the event of all-out genocide against the Afrikaners (there are plenty of rumours of about “Uhuru” or a planned campaign of genocidal ethnic cleansing against White South Africans), it is unlikely that they will get any support, as all the uncivilised regimes of the Third World would band together to support a genocide taking place under a fellow Third World regime. The shameless international “mainstream media” would deliberately turn a blind eye, as they usually do.

Faced with an uncertain, violent future, many Whites (including Afrikaners) are emigrating to other countries. Others want Afrikaners to form a separate homeland called Volkstaat. Considering the fact that Eugène Terre’Blanche was planning to consolidate the AWB and make international efforts to form an Afrikaner homeland, it raises questions about his brutal murder. This comes after Julius Malema, the president of the ruling African National Congress’ Youth League sang a controversial song that included lyrics like “kill the boer”. While André Visagie of the AWB initially called the murder “a declaration of war against the Whites” and vowed to extract “revenge” for the murder, the party later retracted its stand and instructed its members not to indulge in any form of violence.

Racial tension is not the only thing that worries South Africa ahead of the World Cup. The country is plagued by extremely high levels of violent crime. The rate of assaults and murders is very high, car-jackings and armed robberies are quite common while rape is endemic in South Africa with monstrous levels of child/infant rape. The government and tournament organisers claim crime levels have seen a reduction ahead of the tournament, but the safety of soccer fans and visitors still remains a worry.

Faced with such threats, the 2010 World Cup may not attract spectators in droves as expected earlier. Many fans may feel that it’s better to watch the spectacle on television, as the risks associated with going to South Africa may be uncomfortably high.