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As reported in news.com.au, South Africa's Parliament have voted to "expropriate" land from white farmers with no compensation.
From TFA:
The motion was brought by Julius Malema, leader of the radical Marxist opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters, and passed overwhelmingly by 241 votes to 83 against. The only parties who did not support the motion were the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the African Christian Democratic Party
...
"The time for reconciliation is over. Now is the time for justice," Mr Malema was quoted by News24 as telling parliament. "We must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land."
...
Mr Malema has been leading calls for land confiscation, forcing the ANC to follow suit out of fear of losing the support of poorer black voters. In 2016, he told supporters he was "not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now"
This policy has been tried in other African countries before, most recently Zimbabwe, with disastrous results. The farms appropriated usually fail rapidly, leading to food shortages and economic destruction. Will South Africa be able to avoid repeating history, or is it about to slide into 3rd World status?
(Score: 4, Informative) by lgw on Wednesday February 28 2018, @07:22PM (1 child)
Al land, every bit of it in the whole world, was taken by violence from previous owners at some point in history. That cannot be a perpetual excuse to take it back by violence, unless you wish unending violence. Maybe that's mankind's lot, but could we at least not embrace it?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 01 2018, @12:56AM
It's pretty easy when you're on top of the hill to declare a Bush style "New World Order" this is how things are and we're going to all be peaceful about it going forward.
When you're on the bottom of the pile and the jerk on top declares "game over, now we all stay put" where's your incentive to play along?
South Africa was basically a case of over-reaching - while the whites in America managed to thoroughly grind the indigenous into the dust (European diseases certainly helped the cause, especially in Central America) the white presence in South Africa was much less well supported from the mother countries, and they didn't manage to solidify a sustainable position. So, here's the backlash. Is it overblown? From the white perspective, certainly it is. If the whites want to stay there, they have to be prepared to make much larger gestures of reparations than what is happening in other countries around the world where the oppressed are essentially still oppressed by force. Reparations are part of the "hearts and minds" battle, getting people to get along peacefully in the future - the tension in SA is so high that I don't think they're quite ready for such measures. At least they're leaving the option open for the land holders to leave with their lives, and maybe even their possessions that aren't tied to the land.
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