The dangerous myth of the ‘reverse apartheid’ in South Africa

If you have lived in South Africa enough time, you have undoubtedly heard the term “reverse apartheid” used by a section of the white population in the country. The “reverse apartheid” is similar to reverse racism, sometimes called reverse discrimination. This is the concept that affirmative action and similar programs aware of the race to repair racial inequality are forms of anti-white racism.

The term has often been used by unhappy rightists to characterize democratic dispensation. He has also gained popularity in the global north, particularly in Europe and the United States, where there is a growing anti -immigrant feeling that is based on the illogical idea that the white race is being displaced by a growing number of people in the majority (a majority (a Collective term for people who are not considered white, which covers the majority of the world’s population, including black, Latin, Asian, indigenous people and mixed inheritance people) migrating to historically caucasic geographies.

In a 2023 study entitled Young male and right -wing populism in Australia, The researchers led by Professor Pam Nilan of the Alfred Deakin Institute in Victoria discovered that there is a certain affinity among the young whites of the working class deprived of their rights and the right radical ideas. In the heart of these ideas is the feeling that the whites of the working class are particularly deprived of their rights in Australia, while indigenous peoples or people of the first nations supposedly have much easier, constituting “reverse racism ” This feeling is also very popular in Europe, where right -wing extremism is increasing. A survey conducted by the data journalist, Victoria Waldesee, found that in Britain, between a tenth and fifth (10 to 20%) they feel that people of ethnic origins of minorities face less discrimination than white people. In other words, whites are more strongly discriminated against in British society.

The perception of “reverse racism” was also witnessed in an investigation of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) that was established after the resignation of a captain of the RAF group, a white woman, who protested for what she considered a discrimination of the White men for diversity. and inclusion policies that the RAF had implemented. She argued that the rapid monitoring of women and ethnic minorities was contrary to the Equality Law and discriminated against white men. While the RAF defended its recruitment practices, arguing that its policies were equivalent to positive action, not discrimination, the government finally put on the side of the group’s captain.

In the United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump, the argument of “reverse racism” is especially pronounced. Planted the seeds for their campaign, declaring in a TIME Interview that there is “a defined anti-white feeling” in the United States. He was echoing the feelings of many of his Republican supporters who argued that, according to democratic administration, African Americans and other minorities were supposedly prioritized, which resulted in a situation in which “anti-white racism” represented a major problem What anti-Negro. racism. Without any fact that supports this argument, it became an accepted truth in the Trump campaign and remains to date. Therefore, it should not surprise that Trump has become a savior of all whites in the world that are “oppressed.”

A week ago, Trump signed an executive order that He stopped all help and financial assistance to South Africa As punishment for what his administration states are “violations of rights” by the government against some of its white citizens. The Administration said that the South African government is allowing violent attacks against Afrikaner White farmers and introducing a law of expropriation of land that allows it to “take agricultural property of Afrikaners of ethnic minorities without compensation.” This echoes the feelings shared by his trust associate and head of the Government’s efficiency department, Elon Musk, who has perpetuated the false narrative that whites are oppressed in South Africa.

A few days after the signing of the Executive Order, the United States Secretary of State, Marcos Rubio, announced that he would not attend a G20 summit scheduled for this month in Johannesburg. Repeating the falsehood of the seizures of the Earth, he declared: “South Africa is doing very bad things. Exproofing private properties. Use of G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality and sustainability’. In other words: dei and climate change” – referring to South Africa’s Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

This attack on the initiatives ofi began in the United States, with statements that they are Anti-Blancos. And yet, in the United States, as in Europe and South Africa, it is whites, not blacks and minorities, which are at the top of the food chain. Each development measure confirms this. Studies of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, including the most recent Be black in the EU Report, consolidate this fact.

The myth of “reverse racism” exists only in the minds of the racists and the right -wing elements such as Trump and Musk. As several scholars of decoloniality, prejudices and discrimination have argued are inherently linked to historically entrenched and entrenched institutionalized forms of systemic racism and racial hierarchies, injustices and imbalance of power. Blacks in South Africa are not racist, because racism is not simply a feeling of resentment of whites, which in a country with a history of centuries of oppression is a valid emotion. Rather, as operator and fiske argue in an article in 1988 in the book Confront racism: the problem and answerRacism is equal to more prejudice. In order for “reverse racism” or “reverse apartheid” to be feasible, blacks would have to be the creators and beneficiaries of a system of group privileges enabled by a disproportionate part of the power and property of society.

To use the words of Feagin and Vera in White racism: the basicsPublished in 1995: “Black racism (or other minority) would require not only a widely accepted racist ideology addressed to whites, but also to the power to systematically exclude whites from opportunities and rewards in the main economic, cultural and cultural institutions policies. While there are blacks Americans with anti-white prejudices, and there are cases of black discrimination against whites, these examples are not fundamental for the central operations of society and are not an entrenched structure of institutionalized racism. “

To be clear, there is no “reverse racism” or “reverse apartheid” in South Africa. What there is is an attempt by the democratic government to repair the injustices of a past that systematically brutalized and privileged the black majority that remains the face of exclusion, poverty, unemployment and inequality. Anyone who says something different, be it Donald Trump or the right -wing element within the country, is affected by the nostalgia of apartheid. These people are extremely dangerous and represent a real threat to the democratic project.