Afrikaner nationalism (Afrikaans:Afrikanernasionalisme) is anethnic nationalistic political ideology created byAfrikaners residing inSouthern Africa during theVictorian era. The ideology was developed in response to the significant events in Afrikaner history such as theGreat Trek, theFirst andSecond Boer Wars and the resultinganti-British sentiment andAnti-communism that developed among Afrikaners and opposition toSouth Africa's entry into World War I.[1]
According to historian T. Dunbar Moodie, Afrikaner nationalism could be described as acivil religion that drew upon theAfrikaner people's history, the defense of theAfrikaans language,republicanism, andAfrikaner Calvinism. A major proponent of the ideology was theBroederbondsecret society and theNational Party that ruled the country from 1948 to 1994.[citation needed] Other Afrikaner nationalist organizations were the Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations (Afrikaans:Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge, FAK), the Institute for Christian National Education, and the White Workers' Protection Association.[2]
One of the first champions of Afrikaner nationalism was an ordained minister,Stephanus Jacobus du Toit (1847–1911) of theDutch Reformed Church, who became one of the founding members (1881) of theAfrikaner Bond as well as the publisher ofDie Afrikaanse Patriot newspaper[1] (founded in 1876). In his writings, Du Toit put forward the notion thatAfrikaners were a distinct nationality with a fatherland (South Africa) and their own language (Afrikaans) and that the destiny of thevolk[3] was to rule South Africa.[4]
Religion, especiallyAfrikaner Calvinism, played an instrumental role in the development of Afrikaner nationalism and consequently in the apartheid ideology. The Dutch Reformed Churches of South Africa engaged throughout the 18th century in a constant battle againstmodernism andmodernity. They aligned with the conservative views ofAbraham Kuyper (1837–1920), who emphasised God's authority over separatespheres of creation. Such spheres (for example: historical nations) had to be preserved and protected fromliberalism and revolutionary ideologies.[5] Kuyper also rejected theEnlightenment with its emphasis on humanrationality andindividuality and thought that it had led to the ideals ofequality, fraternity and freedom of theFrench Revolution. In his view, all these ideas challenged God's authority.[6] Afrikaner theologians worked from this foundation and defined a number of political, economic and cultural spheres that had their separate, independent destinies.[5] Afrikaner history was also reinterpreted through aChristian-nationalistic ideology.Paul Kruger, president of theTransvaal from 1883 to 1902 and a founding member of theGereformeerde Kerke van Zuid-Afrika or "Dopper Church", referred to a "sacred history" with thevolk as the chosen people, where theGreat Trek of the 1830s was seen as theExodus from British rule in theCape to thePromised Land of theBoer Republics.[7]
During the 1930s and 1940s many intellectuals participated in the theoretical formulation of Afrikaner nationalism.Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs, who later (1975–1978) became South Africa'spresident, formulated Afrikaner nationalistic ideology in his 1936 book"Nationalism as a Worldview and Its Relationship to Internationalism" through Kuyperian theology. According to Diederichs, God created nations and these nations had a God-ordainedright to exist as separate entities. Therefore, Afrikaners could refuse a "British-designed" South Africa in which they would co-exist with other ethnic groups as a minority.[2]Geoffrey Cronjé developed these ideas further and argued that as long as the Afrikaner existed as a minority in a racially and culturally different environment, they could not allow the black majority to develop economically or politically, since this would lead to black domination. He acknowledged this as unjust and unchristian and as a solution offered total segregation, that isapartheid, between the blacks and the whites.[2]
The Afrikaner nationalist intelligentsia, along with the National Party and theBroederbond, ended up formulating a radical nationalistic policy which rejected British hegemony in economics and politics as well as ethnicmengelmoes ("mess") induced by the transportation of blackmigrant workers around the country. They proposed as a solution the drastic reordering of the South African demographic map with a dominant Afrikaner Republic not influenced by British imperialism. However, because of the opposition of the urban middle class, they did not propose a return to conservative, pre-modernBoerpastoralism.[2]
Initially during the 19th century the position of the Dutch Reformed Church on the nationalist issue was more pragmatic than ideological and for example, in South Africa, the church viewed segregation as a harmonious way of administering a heterogeneous community. The economic depression in South Africa between 1905 and 1909 changed this attitude when a new group of "poor whites", mostly Afrikaners, emerged.[5] By 1939 racial segregation had become a church dogma:
The Afrikaner state as aChristian civilisation thus had an allegeddivine right to stay separate and to rule the surrounding"heathen" nations.[7][8]
Afrikaner nationalism andNazism had common roots inreligio-nationalism and inPan-Germanism, and therefore theracist elements of both movements could assimilate.[9] For example, Afrikaner criticism of thecapitalistic system in theinter-war period was oftenanti-Semitic.[10][11] Many Afrikaner nationalists also viewed a strong government onNazi-German lines as necessary to protect the nation (volk). Just before and duringWorld War II (1939–1945), these sentiments led to the appearance of a number of pro-Nazi Afrikaner nationalistic organisations, such as theOssewabrandwag (founded in February 1939) and its paramilitary wingStormjaers.[12][13][14] After resigning due to his adamant opposition to war againstNazi Germany, former prime ministerJ. B. M. Hertzog released a statement in which he openly and explicitly praised Nazism. He said South Africa needed to become a fascist dictatorship.[15]
TheUnion of South Africa's entry intoWorld War I on the side of theAllies, automatically undertaken as an extension of theBritish entry into the war, aroused Afrikaner nationalist resentment due to recent memories of theSouth African War. After the repression of theMaritz rebellion against the government,J. B. M. Hertzog founded theNational Party as an Afrikaner nationalist party.[17] Hertzog led the National Party the1915 and1920 elections under the slogan "South Africa first" to create a South Africa independent from the British influence.[18] In the1924 elections he defeated theSouth African Party led byJan Smuts, after Smuts had used force to end theRand Revolt of white miners in 1922, and stayed in power for 15 years in a coalition government with theLabour Party. During his reign, he steadily promoted Afrikaner nationalism while deepening the racial segregation in the country.[19]
During the 1930s a group ofBroederbond members shaped Afrikaner nationalistic ideology, by trying to create a common "Christian-republican" identity for white, Afrikaans speaking South Africans as well as introducing the idea ofVolkskapitalisme (people's capitalism) that tried to take control from the allegedly "British" or "Jewish"Capitalism and adapt it to Afrikaner culture.[20]Volkskapitalisme strived to improve the economic conditions of the Afrikaners who in general at the time were less well-off than the English-speaking whites in South Africa. In practice the program consisted of utilising Afrikaner investment into both new and existing Afrikaner businesses. Althoughvolkskapitalismemanaged to develop some Afrikaner businesses, such asSanlam andSantam (to provide Afrikaners with financial aid) into corporate giants that still have a central role inSouth African economy, ultimately the economic benefits for the majority of the poor Afrikaners were slim.[20]
Despite the efforts ofBroederbond activists to "Afrikanerise" South Africa, the uptake of this new Christian republican identity was slow and unenthusiastic. According to electoral studies the majority of the target group (white, Afrikaans speaking South Africans) did not vote for the National Party until the early 1960s.[20]
During the 1930s and 1940s Afrikaner nationalists used popular medias to diffuse nationalism with maps and narratives of the heroic past of Afrikaners people, moral purpose and a place among other nations. These ideas were spread through new emerging Afrikaner print media, such as the Christian-nationalistic journalKoers (Direction) and more popularised magazines such asInspan andHuisgenoot as well as books published by theBurger Boekhandel publishing house and the newspapersDie Burger,Transvaler andVolksblad.[2] The usage of Afrikaans instead ofDutch was aggressively promoted throughout the 1920s especially in white schools.[21] The Bible was translated into Afrikaans byJ. D. du Toit, E. E. van Rooyen, J. D. Kestell, H. C. M. Fourie andBB Keet in 1933.[22][23]
South African opposition to the country's involvement in both wars againstImperial andNazi Germany led directly to the National Party's rise to power in the 1948 elections, the implementation ofapartheid, and culminating finally in Afrikaner mobilisation in 1961; when South Africa voted to leave theBritish Commonwealth and become arepublic.[18] The National Party government implemented, alongside apartheid, a program of legislatedPuritanism.Pornography,gambling and all other such vices were banned because they were all considered contrary to the "Afrikaner way of life".[13] In keeping with Afrikaner Calvinism,adultery and attempted adultery were also criminalized under the Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 23 of 1957.[24]
During the 1960s a split emerged among the Afrikaner electorate over the issue of how to preserve a distinct identity in a multi-ethnic society: one faction insisted on preserving the national identity through strict isolation, while others thought that such barriers needed to be relaxed. Evidence of this manifested itself in the 1970 election as a radicalsplinter group from the National Party, theHerstigte Nasionale Party, got 3.59% of the vote compared to the National Party's 54.86%. The gulf widened further during the 1980s partly due to international pressure against apartheid.[18]
One notable Afrikaner nationalist organisation was theAfrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), a political party and formerparamilitary group. The group had the support of an estimated 5–7 percent of white South Africans in 1988.[25] The organisation was consumed with personal and militant scandals in the late 1980s and early 1990s which led to a diminished support. This organisation however, never garnered substantial Afrikaner support and which substantial support was retained by the National Party until its dissolution.
In the 1990s the National Party acknowledged the failure of its ethnic project and under the leadership ofF. W. De Klerk dismantled the political system set up from 1948. After apartheid, Afrikaner nationalism lost most of its support.[20]
The most well known example of Afrikaner Nationalism after 1994 is the Afrikaner town ofOrania in the Northern Cape,South Africa. The town was founded in 1991 with the explicit goals of preserving the Afrikaner culture, language and religion.[27] Only Afrikaners are allowed to stay, live and work in Orania.[28]
Although it has mostly disappeared from publicity, Afrikaner nationalism is kept alive through such political initiatives as theCyber Republic of the Boer Nation,[citation needed] which claims to be "the only white indigenous tribe in Southern Africa" and has tried to appeal to the UNWorking Group on Indigenous Populations for the protection ofcultural,linguistic andreligious rights of people around the world.[29] In 1996 and 2005, Afrikaner nationalists submitted petitions claiming indigenous status to the UN. The claims were rejected on the grounds that Afrikaners were not marginalised or discriminated against, nor did Afrikaners meet the criteria to be indigenous.[30]
Also some marginal right wing political parties, such as the Herstigte Nasionale Party, still declare their goal to be the "unashamed promotion of Afrikaner nationalism".[31]
Front National (South Africa); a political party in South Africa also emerged in the post-apartheid years promoting Afrikaner Nationalism. The party is linked toSouth Africa Today media outlet that reports aboutSouth African farm attacks and other issues that affect white South Africans.
The tradition of Christian-national education is continued by theMovement for Christian-National Education (Afrikaans:Beweging vir Christelik-Volkseie Onderwys) which educates the youth about theBoere-Afrikanervolk in the Afrikaner Calvinist tradition, Boer culture and history as well as in the Afrikaans language.[32]
TheAfrikaner Weerstandsbeweging has largely been inactive in South Africa since the demise of apartheid, although in 2008, the organisation was reactivated and is actively seeking an Afrikaner secessionist state within South Africa.[33] On 3 April 2010,Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the AWB, was murdered on his farm.[34]
TheSuidlanders is asurvivalist Afrikaner group.
The dictionary definition ofvolk at WiktionaryAfter 1936 the NP developed increasingly explicit anti-Semitic tendencies, and in the same year it took part in an anti-Semitic campaign connected with the arrival of the refugee shipStuttgart in Cape Town harbour. The Stellenbosch professors Schumann and Verwoerd, both of whom had studied the problem of 'poor whites', took the lead as anti-Semitic agitators.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)In 1996 and again in 2005, a group of Afrikaner nationalists submitted petitions claiming Indigenous status at the UN.5 The claims were rejected on the grounds that the group was neither marginalized, discriminated against, nor did it meet the criteria "set out in international legal standards and discourses at the present time".
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