The Effect of Apartheid on the World - Literature review Example

The Effect of Apartheid on the World Introduction The ebb and flow of the structure of racial inequality in South Africa called the apartheid is considered to be one of the most controversial and notorious episodes in the history of the modern world. The impact of apartheid on a huge number of South African people who bear witness to the appointment of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s very first president to be elected through a democratic process is unforgettable (Louw 19). In fact, they still strongly influence social relations in that country until now. The oppression inflicted by the detested apartheid system and the drawn-out struggle for liberation by most South Africans also had a major effect in other nations. The fight to abolish apartheid pinned the attention and interest of the entire world and was intently monitored by people across the globe who opposed apartheid. This essay chooses to discuss the effect of the apartheid on the world because no single event has had a direct, substantial impact as the apartheid. Although both the continuing national movement for racial compromise in South Africa and the encouraging case of the global anti-apartheid campaign have been widely studied and deliberated in the academic and general literature focused on apartheid and its consequences, the other parts of Africa have been somewhat disregarded in the narration of this historical event (Sonneborn 44). This is a major issue. From the point of view of observers positioned somewhere else in or outside Africa, it is definite that apartheid was certainly not limited to the boundaries of South Africa. On the other hand, its impact was, and is, witnessed all over the region. The economic structure of apartheid depended greatly on the availability of labor from possibly several Southern African nations. The armed forces and national security of the apartheid system in South Africa were actively engaged in efforts to destabilize liberation movements in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Mozambique (Claude & Weston 71-72). This, consequently, resulted in the creation of strategic coalitions among the new autonomous African states aimed at putting an end to white rule and colonial administration all over Africa. The Apartheid and Its Global Consequences Decades ago, the law and tradition of South Africa on race relations and human rights were not conflicting in a vital way with colonially subjugated Africa and the rest of the globe. After the Second World War, waged against Nazi Germany marked by its unspeakable human rights violation and obedience to racially prejudiced ideals, the international community began committing itself to the termination of racial discrimination and promotion of human rights as is specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter (Claude & Weston 72). Within the thirty years of the postwar period the anti-colonialist campaigns dismantled the European colonies in Asia and Africa, changed the objectives and structure of numerous international organizations, and assisted in the establishment of racial equality ideals. In South Africa the same petitions for the involvement of the people in political activities and racially prejudiced laws, were vigorously silenced by a White administration whose philosophy resembled that of Nazi Germany (Claude & Weston 72). Hence South Africa became evermore detached from the rest of the globe and awoken intense emotions since then. Due to its fundamental relations and beliefs, and the measures taken to implement the policy and its outcomes, the racial system of South Africa estranged it from the international community. It established the policy, placing race as the fundamental ideology of the country, at a time when revelations about the outcomes of Nazi regime obliged other countries to definitely detach themselves from agendas rooted in principles of racial discrimination (Sonneborn 55-56). Furthermore postwar race studies had disparaged its importance as a way of categorizing human beings and challenged beliefs that specific racial groups are characterized by specific cultural attributes. If the apartheid system had been put into effect after the people had been asked and granted their consent, it would be harder for external agencies to proclaim it unlawful. Indeed, government ‘castrated’ structured protest, reduced the liberties of the whole population, reinforced the police’s resources and authorities, and transformed the nation into a ‘police’ society (Sonneborn 56). Other countries discovered signs of damaging impact of apartheid not just in the widespread rights violation accompanied by massive racial gaps in the distribution of resources but particularly in the way wherein the police reacted to scattered ‘outbreaks’ of Black resentment just like in Sharpeville (Sonneborn 56). The duration, force, and drive of outside concern for apartheid are disproportionately dispersed among the players in global politics. Occurrences such as the Sharpeville killing resulted in Britain and the U.S. announcing concern about the racial practice of South Africa since 1960 (Allen 130). There were also other aspects favorable to such concern such as Western rivalry with Eastern nations for the support of the newly sovereign African and Asian countries, the actual petitions of these nations brought to the UN, the African Unity, and Commonwealth assemblies, the growing local concern for race relations, and acceptance of the belief that “individual merit, and individual merit alone, is the criterion for man’s advancement whether political or economic” (Allen 130). In relation to the USSR, which was a racially diverse state, its unmistakable denunciation of apartheid since the beginning situated it beside new states. This though was an extra stemming from its position, not the motivation itself. It can be seen in Soviet philosophy, established connections with the Communist Party of South Africa and lately with the African National Congress, and in the fanatical resentment of South Africa to communist ideology (Allen 130-1). In the opinion of the progressing former colonies of the Caribbean and Pacific, Asia, and Africa, who aim for a more just, equitable relationship with the affluent White western countries, South Africa “is the epitome of their universal struggle and a symbol of all that runs counter to their aspirations” (Ballinger 27). Within the point of view of most of these nations apartheid is a serious problem. Hence India, the major constituent of the non-aligned campaign in the 1950s, greatly denounced the way South African Indians were treated at the UN from 1946 for it considered the rejection of racial equality as a mockery to India’s integrity (Cyr 458). To the African countries which have replaced European colonialism since 1950 and the small number of African states autonomous prior to that, apartheid makes up generally a combining aspect but provides as well a particularly severe challenge to their self-dignity. This is not merely due to the fact that racial discord within the state creates sizeable and growing costs, such as greater military expenditure, armed hostility, upon nearby states. Moreover, it is because of the knowledge of Africans that “the most blatantly racialist regime in the world” (Ramphal 3), is a memento of past degradation and a current affront to their racial dignity, which can be destroyed only if the White regime in South Africa is abolished. Likewise, key components of the post-apartheid transition, especially the restoration of economic and political relations, the introduction of attempts to settle historical hostilities, and the breaking up of racially prejudiced social structures, have also had global effects, particularly for Africans outside the boundaries of South Africa. The termination of the economic ban against South Africa by global adversaries of apartheid was a defining moment in world history (Cyr 455). The circumstances related to the ban—consumers’ avoidance of South African products, the pulling out of private and public investment, and bilateral trade limitations—had the double impact of divorcing South African investment and protecting other African countries from South African industries (Louw 84). When the ban was terminated in the 1990s, a large number of South African companies aimed at regional investment centers. Although the risk of direct competition from leading South African companies raised apprehensions in numerous national recipients, the fact that majority of these efforts were initiated by white shareholders was possibly all the more alarming (Louw 84-85). Such vigorous involvement was not what majority of African peoples anticipated from their initial interaction with the ‘new’ post-apartheid South Africa. The economic apartheid system is recreated today all over the globe as underdeveloped countries submit to the pressures of Western countries. The emergence of China as a competitor for Africa’s resources, although devoid of the military and economic intimidations of the United States, has created greater justification for the expansion of the U.S. military, and the likelihood of global war (Claude & Weston 78). Barack Obama, the first African-American U.S. president, governs deserted civil rights, high unemployment rates, and an eternal war economy—a structure that does not oppose people of color so long as they function within their own class (Schroeder 94). Apartheid affected the world through its validation of racially biased beliefs and principles. The South African apartheid system led to unintentional consequences. Primarily, this system legitimized the oppressive and prejudiced view and treatment of a whole group of racial class in South Africa (Schroeder 94-96). However, the country is certainly not the most notorious case of a racially biased political system in world history, but it is somewhat depressing. The consequences of such are extensive, because in the evermore globalized world other nations trying to build fair structures for race relations could be inspired by the South African apartheid system. Several nations might discern the gap between Black and White people, and apply it as a guideline for their own nation, as a justification to or not to initiate reforms (Schroeder 96). The major effect and wide-ranging outcomes of apartheid comes from its total duration. It persisted for nearly five decades, and was terminated more than two decades ago. Although the response of the world to the apartheid was somewhat retarded, hindered significantly by the attempts of Britain and the U.S. to avoid international sanctions, the apartheid still collapsed in the end due to demands both outside and within South Africa. Because of both peaceful and violent campaigns all over the world, alongside political and economic security issues, President de Klerk—the last head of apartheid South Africa—was compelled to launch efforts at abolishing apartheid (Cyr 462). President de Klerk lifted the ban on political leaders and groups, started to eradicate racially biased traditions and policies, engaged the government in discussions with some organizations representing the different racial groups, and emancipated Nelson Mandela from his political incarceration (Cyr 463).The effect of Mandela’s release echoed all over South Africa and the entire world. After giving an emotional speech to crowds of followers in Cape Town where he promised to carry on with the fight, but supported nonviolent reforms, Mandela brought the struggle to the international arena by engaging in a world tour (Cyr 463). The very first democratic election in South Africa happened in 1994, and Nelson Mandela was voted by the people to become their president (Louw 61). In the attempts to get rid of the effects of the apartheid, the new government asked South Africans about their opinion of the new constitution. The new constitution of South Africa, a merging of the Freedom Charter created during the movement, and the contribution of the masses, is regarded as a highly liberal constitution by countries across the globe, awarding rights and privileges to people irrespective of race, gender, religion, and others (Louw 222). Moreover, the government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was intended to expose the realities of the apartheid and reconciling various races (Louw 222). The impact of the TRC is seriously questioned because a large number of lawbreakers were granted amnesty merely for revealing their true crimes. South Africa today is a nation that is still coping with the consequences of the apartheid, particularly lingering hatred for the terrible crimes perpetrated against the Black people, and the ongoing vastly unequal resource distribution (Claude & Weston 59). Nevertheless, South Africa is still one the richest countries in Africa, attracting numerous visitors, tourists, and immigrants from across the globe. Conclusions The apartheid system in South Africa has both positive and negative consequences. The positive ones include being a reminder that racial discrimination and other human rights violation, like those perpetrated in Nazi Germany, will only provoke dissent all over the world and will raise sanctions from the international community that could adversely affect the future of the country adhering to the apartheid system. On the other hand, the negative impact of the apartheid is the fact that it became a blueprint or exemplar for race relations in other societies. Works Cited Allen, John. Apartheid South Africa: An Insider’s Overview of the Origin and Effects of Separate Development. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2005. Print. Ballinger, Ronald. South Africa and the United Nations: Myth and Reality. California: The University of California, 1963. Print. Claude, Richard Pierre & Burns Weston. Human Rights in the World Community: Issues and Action. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Print. Cyr, Ruth. Twentieth Century Africa. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2001. Print. Louw, P. Eric. The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of Apartheid. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Ramphal, S.S. The South African Crisis: Why the Bell of Apartheid Tolls for Everyone. California: The University of California, 1988. Print. Schroeder, Richard. Africa after Apartheid: South Africa, Race, and Nation in Tanzania. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2012. Print. Sonneborn, Liz. The End of Apartheid in South Africa. 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