- Please note that the correct term is "Boer nationalists" and not "right wingers". We are not an (extremist) element on the spectrum of the South African professional party-political comedy. We wish to be no part of this "rainbow spectrum". We do not consider ourselves bound in conscience by a constitution, laws, rules and statutes made on our behalf without any form of consultation with us or consent by us. If and when we do obey these oppressive laws, we do it out of a higher conscience, and out of respect for the semblance of the order of things. We have a right to resist an oppressive constitution and oppressive laws. Actions borne from coercion can never be interpreted as the giving of consent.
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Kulturele Geregtigheid Stigting
Dr. Tobias Louw
c/o Cultural Justice Foundation
Pretoria, South Africa
incite@lantic.net
tel: RSA 082 200 3489
Office 306, Standard Bank Chambers, Church Square, PRETORIA
Postal address - Box 26037, GEZINA, Pretoria, 0031
16 September 2003
OPEN LETTER TO THE Institute for Security Studies
C/o Dr. Jakkie Cilliers
Executive Director, ISS
South Africa
Dear Dr. Cilliers
I write to you on behalf of the Cultural Justice Foundation.
The good work that your organization has done has not gone unnoticed among the general public, and I wish to congratulate you on your efforts, hard work and successes. From the great number of staff you display on the home page of your Internet webpage it appears that the ISS has succeeded to obtain substantial donor funding.
However, it is also apparent from some of your publications that members of the ISS make no bones about their ideological orientation. Although everyone has the right to express such views, it raises some vital issues about objectivity and core values.
I previewed the ISS Code of Ethics, which should be kept in mind during the rest of my discussion. The Code of Ethics of the ISS says that:
· I am committed to the pursuit of democracy, peace and justice for all Africa's people.
· I shall respect the rights and dignity of all people.
· I shall strive to be fair and courteous, and will undertake my responsibilities with honesty and without fear or favour.
· I commit myself to the Institute's mission and objectives and shall strive to encourage and support my colleagues.
· I accept responsibility for all my words, deeds and decisions.
With this in mind, it is difficult to reconcile the honourable code of the ISS with, for instance, the inflammatory rhetoric of your Mr. Boshoff, which is fanning the flames of ethnic hatred. He seems to think that the Boers are not a people, an ethnic group, to be accorded parity of esteem, as are other ethnic groups such as the Zulus, Xhosas, Congolese, Somalians, French, Brits, the diverse American Indians groups etc. All groups have a right to equal respect, dignity and fundamental rights. Why do the Boers as a people not qualify for respect, dignity and fundamental rights?
Judging from the published views of the ISS the Boers should not be allowed to strive to realize their fundamental group rights, as several UN charters stipulate. They are also not allowed in any event to take a critical view of the South African unitary state they have been forced into without having been asked for their opinion, leave alone their consent. "An injury to one is an injury to all", esp. when one views matters from the perspective of group rights, is it not? Is it not true that the ISS consider all Boers as "terrorists", "extremists" and "rightwingers" when deciding to add the Boeremag to your list of terrorist organizations to be "objectively" dissected in your symposium? I am dead certain that the ISS would bend over backwards to agree with the ANC that their Mbekis, Zumas, Mandelas, Boesaks, Yengenis, etc. are innocent until proven guilty. The same courtesy does not extend to the dangerous Boers.
It is also evident that the term "rightwinger" is, by implication, far worse than "leftwinger", when is is common course that these "leftwingers" have succeeded in damaging the world and its peoples with centuries of bloody revolutions, worst nightmare genocides and aggressive wars whilst hiding their desire for power and money under the chant of 'freedom'. The death of millions of his people caused by one such "leftwinger", Joseph Stalin, who is so revered among the political master class of the New South Africa, is a case in point.
Please note that the correct term is "Boer nationalists" and not "rightwingers". We are not an (extremist) element on the spectrum of the South African professional party-political comedy. We wish to be no part of this "rainbow spectrum". We do not consider ourselves bound in conscience by a constitution, laws, rules and statutes made on our behalf without any form of consultation with us or consent by us. If and when we do obey these oppressive laws, we do it out of a higher conscience, and out of respect for the semblance of the order of things. We have a right to resist an oppressive constitution and oppressive laws. Actions borne from coercion can never be interpreted as the giving of consent.
If your Code of Ethics means anything, then kindly make a sincere effort to persuade ISS members to refrain from using degrading terms in their "scientific" ISS reports, which are apparently meant to demonize and polarize the Boers by the use of such inflammatory rhetoric. In so doing, they display the inability to distinguish between a fact and a value, or more precisely, a prejudice. The use of such rhetoric itself displays the blind ideological prejudice that the ISS uncritically copies from their Masters Voice.
All it really does, is to motivate ordinary people who daily suffer at the hands of crime terrorists, to see Boers as "freedom fighters", "heroes" and "martyrs". You must be aware of the fact that the Moslem response to the US-led attack on Afghanistan and Iraq had been: every day your actions recruit for us a hundred more young Osama Bin Ladens.
The image of hatred, racism and Boer-bashing the ISS is currently developing for itself is, I am afraid, discrediting itself as biased and thus untrustworthy. Unless your donors share the same scant respect for international conventions, they might not be pleased with this conscious and deliberate attempt to flog a horse of your own making.
Is it really so difficult for the ISS to display, as a matter of principle, a fundamental parity of esteem for the Boer people? You profess to do so for any other people, as ethnic groups deserving of the fundamental rights provided for in the two UN charters on Universal Political, Civil, Economic and Social Rights. In terms if these rights, an instance of violation of fundamental rights against an individual member of this people is equal to a violation of the fundamental rights of the group as a whole.
Including by implication then the whole of the peaceful Boer people as "terrorists", "extremists" and "rightwingers" (by virtue of which they could be "hunted off the face of the earth"!) during the ISS Seminar (Terrorism in Southern Africa) destined for 18-19 September 2003, doesn’t bode well for future good relations and peace on the African sub-continent.
The world knows what has been happening in Zimbabwe: state-sponsored crime terrorism at its "best". Does the ISS support Mr "Hitler Tenfold's" Politburo and his racist rhetoric too? If you didn’t notice, South Africa is already at the doorstep of the same room the Mugabe entered, and out of which he will not come.
If you perhaps have any doubt about the terrifying impact of the NSA ideology and its crime terrorists on our people, please bear with us. We invite you to sit with us and view through long hours of video tape and bundles of documents on the ugly face of rural terrorism in Southern Africa. These acts are NOT committed by the Boers, but by members of the Azanian, or non-Boer culture groups of the New South Africa. If the ISS had any objectivity, it would have included the ugly face of farm terrorism in its programme ! You may well agree with the "official view" of there being no sufficient proof of political organization in these acts of terror, but you only have to read the Rivonia trial documents to see how the plan is to be carried out.
You are also invited to visit with us families from among thousands of our Boer-people that were devastated by the New South African crime terrorists. Boers - men, women and their children - are tortured, slaughtered, burned, terrorised and attacked at a rate that is equal to none other in the entire world.
These brutal attacks are sending shock waves throughout the world. Even Prince Charles has recently, in a letter, expressed his shock and dismay at the brutality of these terrorist acts. An international institute, Genocide Watch, is doing a good job to inform the world of what is really happening in South Africa. Even the UN has recently called South Africa one of the four major drug and crime areas in the entire world. So we, the Boers, are not sucking these things out of our thumb.
We, in turn, offer to accompany you to visit the one family that allegedly was devastated as a result of the alleged actions by the so-called Boeremag. One alleged death in two years of activities. The woman concerned lived in a remote dwelling quite a distance away from where the bomb exploded at night, when a piece of railway line flew across the veld and accidentally hit the shack two kilometres away. If anything, her death was an unforeseen consequence. Nothing has been proven in any event, and for all we know it might be the work of some new "Third Force". Its their style. So even that death - which is what percentage of the total? - cannot be attributed to the Boers.
But even should any so-called Boeremag member be found guilty of the accidental death of this woman, it is a far cry from the Azanians who with intention and planning, daily wait for their white victims inside their own homes to rape, rob and perhaps slit their throats, if they don’t have guns to shoot with. How many times must we relive the story of the young boy shot by robbers between his parents in their own bed? How many times must we relive the callous rape of a baby, of the shooting of a white baby and her grandmom, after having raped and killed her mother, in the back of the head during a broad daylight hi-jack with AK47s?
I ask you with tears in my eyes: one death out of an official count of about 26 000 p.a., which constitutes less than 0,004% and in which the persons accused have not been proven in a court of law: is that sufficient cause to blemish the Boers as terrorists? It becomes even more atrocious to comprehend this statistic in terms of foreign figures, which are at least double than those made known by the local thought police: it becomes a mere 0,002%. If one considers that the average international murder rate is at about 0,02 persons per 100 000, and South Africa is at the number one spot with an official rate of 0,25 persons per 100 000, then the Boeremag's alleged "contribution" is lower than the rate of any other country in the world ! So please, let us get real here.
Why not does the ISS, instead of being an integral part of the problem, rather play a more meaningful role as peace mediator? We challenge you to drop the Boers from your terrorism category on the symposium programme, and instead organize a special symposium on (a) minority rights in South Africa, and (b) self-determination for any of the ethnic groups who wishes for it, especially for the Boers who have a proven record of the necessary experience and expertise to successfully run a First World country, and (c) international support measures to ensure that these issues do not merely remain "talked about"? Would such not be a conflict-reducing exercise, instead of a hatred-inflaming one? Would it not be liberating to strive for the inclusion of a statement in the ISS Code of Ethics to insist on independence from current ideological rhetoric?
What is our problem with South African "democracy" then? We both know that the problem is not with democracy as such, but with the Uhuru version of "democracy". By the way, the Boers are republicans, and definitely not "democrats" in the perversed sense of the term. A republic only becomes feasible when the basic judicial attributes of citizenship can become a living reality.
Some years ago, a visiting student from the US asked me in all seriousness as her professor of philosophy: "I thought South Africa was now a democracy?" The question was prompted after her fellow Yankee students were gently persuaded (physically beaten - one broke an arm!) into joining a student protest walk about an issue they had no idea of. The shuddering group of nine Yanks were forced, against their will, to participate in tyre burning and the holding hostage a few hundred employees. Her concluding impression was that "Africa democracy" appears to mean that everyone has the right to act in a way they see fit, as long as such action coincided with what the "majority" expects, or forces, them to do.
We cannot impress it enough upon you how unjust, demenaing and undignifying the stereotyping of the Boers are. Adjudged by the particular rhetoric used in the Terrorism symposium of the ISS, it is not as though facts and values are clearly distinguished. The "rightwing" and the "Boeremag" are demonized as "terrorists" (according to your Henri Boshoff). This tactic, to repeat ad nauseam the insulting stereotype of the vulgar, ill-mannered and uneducated Boer-Afrikaner, needs to be deleted from ISS rhetoric if it wishes to retain a semblance of respect in the outside world. The Boers are a well-educated, friendly, warm and peaceful ethnic group well-liked in the developed countries; they are well-known as hard workers in every field, with brilliant scientists and innovating entrepreneurs in many fields, and are eagerly sought after employees in the advanced countries of the world.
Of course, what the ISS does is nothing new in Boer history. The famous book on the history of treacherous rhetoric and dishonest dealings of the British Empire with the Boer Republics in the century preceding the second War of Independence of 1899, translated as "A Century of Wrong", is a clear exposition of exactly the same shenanigans that the ISS is engaging in now.
Although the ISS is trying to demonize the Boers, the members of the ISS should ask themselves the following: in the day when you leave home, at night when you return, and you set your expensive security systems, and you check up on your guard dogs and have tea and sandwiches served to the extra security personnel - is it because you fear the dreaded evil-doers of the so-called Boeremag?
Or do you perhaps fear the Azanians (the ones who vote in your elections) who roam the country and rob, hi-jack, torture and kill without having to fear that they will be convicted in the courts of the New South Africa - or when convicted, won’t fear having to spend too long in the already overcrowded prisons? Little wonder, because annually about a quarter of the prison population is just let loose on the streets!
The prisons of the New South Africa are crowded to the rafters with Azanian criminals, many of whom are drug pedlars, many of whom gang-rape their fellow inmates; 150 000 criminals, nearly all Black convicts, have been released into our society since 1994; 9 000 criminals – including Black murderers – have been prematurely released in July 2003 as part of the celebrations of Nelson Mandela's 85th birthday. Interpol has recently released the figure of 50 000 murders per year committed in the New South Africa … Are these 50 000 murders per year committed by the Boers or the so-called Boeremag? If so, name one, I beg of you.
No, the Boers are not the ones raping babies of only three of four months old because they have the primitive believe that it will cure their AIDS.
And the civilized world knows this.
The Boers are not the ones slicing off bits of their victim's anatomy for 'muti medicine'.
And the civilized world knows this.
The Boers are not the ones falsifying school or university certificates and calling themselves 'doctor' without having actually studied for this degree.
And the civilized world knows this.
Does the ISS truly imagine that by trying to shift the focus, from the disaster that the New South Africa has become, to demonizing the Boers, and that the intelligent and developed international community is fooled by this for one moment?
The ISS lives in a fool's paradise if it imagines this.
Of course the ISS members are more than welcome to entertain their own views of things. At no point do we wish to change any of that. But whatever these views, why must you negate the veracity of our historical experience and consciousness? Why do you not pay us the same courtesy and stop meddling with those views we hold dear?
The advanced nations of the world know full well what is happening in the New South Africa and where the blame for the anarchy truly lies: the present regime and other hatred groups who are trying their best to blame the sorrowful state of the country on the Boers and apartheid. The world no longer falls for this tactic. Many people throughout the world are openly admitting that they were gravely mislead in helping to manipulate the unsophisticated Third World in taking over this once First World country which flourished under the management of the Boers. That champion of Uhuru democracy, Mr. Mugabe's, has helped our cause a tremendous deal, as it has helped to open the eyes of the civilized world.
In your own reports you seem to be surprised that most of the members of the so-called "Boeremag" accused of "terrorism" are well-educated, professional and very decent persons. The surprise is understandable, as it doesn’t fit the stereotype of the ISS, the SACC, the professional politicians and the kings and queens of the media. Why is it so difficult to look the truth in they eye?
There are many of us who are proud to refer to ourselves by the name of Boer, the nation of pioneering farmers when our beloved country was wild, empty and young; yes, we are proud of our small and young nation that has become well-travelled and highly educated, proud of our many professional people, proud of our people's honesty and famous hartlikheid, or warm-heartedness. We have all experience many times how good African people have exclaimed that they prefer to deal with the Boers as they know exactly where they stand with them, while, when dealing with some other Europeans or Islanders they feel there is falsehood. Yes, we are proud of ourselves, the Boers, a patient people with a respect for the differing views of others, a people whose members have spent great parts of their lives and their personal resources in helping to educate, feed, house and develop persons of all races in this country.
Why then deny the Boers their God-given right, which is ironically also internationally accepted, to govern and develop themselves politically, economically, judicially, educationally, and as a society? We honesty don’t begrudge any other individual or group anything, except for the right to begrudge and deny us our fundamental rights! Or is it more important to live as if international covenants on which these fundamental rights of a people are based, and even little Article 235 of the RSA constitution is worthless.
Yes, the Boers have a proud culture of their own. We have a religious world-view of our own. We share a common language. We have a common ethnic heritage. These are not mere arbitrary criteria, but recognised internationally as sufficient to stake a claim for self-determination as a people. We have no difficulty if other peoples in Southern Africa are not advanced to the point where self-determination is of any importance for them.
We have the right to full self-determination. This right was adopted as a matter of the greatest importance as relating to the Political and Civil (and Economic) Rights of Peoples (Volkere), by the UN, nogal on 16 December 1966. Again, the right to constitutional and economic selfdetermination in a territorium of their own is seen as the most fundamental freedom of a people. Do you and Mr Boshoff deny that the Boers have that right?
The Boers never desired to have a unitary state of a one-nation South Africa. It is sheer nonsense to allege that the so-called Boeremag wants to return to pre-1994 South Africa. Not one Boer supports the single nation-state created by the British empire after they cowardly killed nearly 27 000 Boer women and children during the Boers's Freedom War of 1899-1902, and in this evil manner forced the small, brave Boer army made up of farmers, fighting in their Sunday three-piece suits, to relinquish their two Republics to prevent all of their women and children to be murdered; 60 000 of their farms were completely destroyed in the criminal "scorched earth" policy of the British and left the Boers deeply destitute after they were thus forced to sign the peace agreement of Vereeniging.
Is the Boers the only people in South Africa wanting self-government? Did you know that very recently the Griqua people also rejected the territorial integrity of the unitary South Africa? So the the Rehoboth Basters too with respect to Namibia.
For the Boers, it is not a matter of race. However, our language, culture, ethnicity and religious world-view do play a key role, and rightly so. If we have no right to depend on such, then please put up a fight at the UN and get them to scrap their most sacred covenants on the rights of peoples.
We mention race, because we are often accused of it. We must take this opportunity though to inform you that, if the Boers now had to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea, most Boers would prefer to suffer under Mandela's yoke rather than under De Klerk's lies. But to tell you the truth, we are not interested to be the subjects of either Mbeki or Mugabe, of either Blair or Bush, of either Tony Leon or the "Afrikaners" Van Schalkwyk and De Klerk - the latter two least of all. You can appreciate that as a people we are deeply disgusted by those who callously signed away the last remnants of our already dented self-determination without even bothering to consult us about the effects on us.
Another point of grotesque confusion that we need to clear up, is that Boers are not "Afrikaners". None of your co-workers seem to have any understanding of this. All Boers are aware of the systematic subterfuge and distortion of "identity" that has been the result of the makings of the Broederbond and the National Party, based upon the then image of the British imperialist gentleman. This artificial identity was meant to wean away the Boers from their strong identify, from their history, from their nationalism, and thus weaken them.
The ISS should take note that the Boers never wanted a singular state with a single government ruling all the peoples of the sub-continent. The Boer Republics were taken from them with violent force. Even the terms of the peace treaty of Vereeniging in 1902 stated unambiguously to see to the restoration of Boer independence as a people before any political rights be bestowed upon the African peoples.
But we Boers are not colonialists or imperialists. The Boers never engaged in any "Christianizing" mission work to convert the heathens as did the American, Scottish and German missionaries. Our forebears wisely thought it best not to interfere with those values and views that other people cherish and hold sacred. The Boers made no bones about the fact that they were not great supporters of the capitalist system, as it was seen to be nothing else than another form of Imperialism. No wonder then that the Irish, the Russians, and so many others from Europe joined in the defense of our freedom. The Boers never sought to "civilize" and "develop" other racial and cultural groups from a position of cultural superiority. The Afrikaners tried it for many ears, and failed dismally in more than one way.
Take note that the Boers today have good reason to be immensely frustrated and angered. We have not only lost all forms of the partial self-determination we previously enjoyed, through the treacherous dealings of Afrikaner politicians, but have lost virtually all rights to make a decent living and bringing up our children with good values and good learning. All indications are that the marginalizing of the Boer will only get worse under the present regime, which is regarded by us as illegitimate.
Even Afrikaners hostile to the Boer aspirations, like the well-known historian Prof. H. Gilliomee, has stated that De Klerk shamelessly broke his promises and public commitment to counsel with his people about changes to be introduced into South Africa and it is openly admitted that during the vote of 1994 the count of the vote was stopped midway and the ANC declared the winner, and that De Klerk's National Party was given extra percentage of the vote for allowing the ANC to be declared the winner.
During the only referendum held for the white electorate in 1992, about half of all Afrikaners rejected even the principle of negotiations for a "new constitution". You should know this, as it was reflected in an ISS report. It is common knowledge that the array of acts currently passed through national parliament are primarily based upon race as criterion, made possible by the RSA Constitution that actually actively promotes racial discrimination ! Ironically, the fact that the race classification act was dropped long ago, makes no difference. The logic of it? It is simple if one understands the basics of historical-materialist dialectics: "black empowerment" as basic thesis has "white disempowerment" as basic antithesis. The synthesis will be a Cuban-influenced fanagalo of rainbow tongues where everyone will be equally destitute.
The then electorate was never given the opportunity to express themselves on the undertaking of the State President, that the implementation of any substantial constitutional changes would be preceded by testing the opinion of the electorate on those proposed changes. The question was changed and an answer given that became equally meaningless. It reminds one of the beautiful description by the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, of the ancient spectacle of one man trying to milk a he-goat, and the other man holding a sieve underneath. That happens when someone gives an answer to a question that was not asked: De Klerk did say: we had a referendum and the electorate said yes. Half of the "Afrikaners" are definitely donkeys, one must admit.
This still means that the clear views of a substantial segment of the then electorate was totally ignored: this being at least half of the Afrikaans speaking electorate!
The Afrikaners/Boers were lied to.
If they thought they were to give a mandate for a process that will lead to a two-thirds domination by the ANC/Communists with no security of meaningful minority/group rights, there would never have been a "Yes" vote to go ahead with negotiations. Nobody, esp. not one Boer, accepted under any circumstance, a "mandate" that would most certainly end up in giving up our freedom in toto, and handing over all forms of power on all levels of existence to a group or groups that are in principle and in practice harbour nothing but ill intentions with respect to our ideals.
It is alleged that the state advocate Mr. Paul Fick, during the present High Treason trial of the so-called Boeremag, whose members denies the legitimacy of the present regime, flippantly remarked: "De Klerk lied, but so what?" He staunchly defended the view that De Klerk's testimony, as well as history itself, was irrelevant to proceedings, and therefore irrelevant to the issue of the Boers losing their freedom, however partial and watered down it had already become at that stage,
The user of the expression "so what", my professor of philosophy at university taught us, conveys a lack of and refusal to understand what a matter is about, and reflects the extreme indifference of "Das Man" - the typical mass man of today's world. By stereotyping the Boer as extremists and terrorists, Fick and Boshoff alike tell the Boer people in their striving for freedom: "You are not deserving of freedom, dignity, life and justice, and so what !"
The Boer people insist on the most fundamental right as a people: the right to freedom, to full self-determination, as contained in the UN charters.
It is our divine right as a people.
In the eyes of the world and the UN the ISS has no justification to deny us this basic right. They also have no right to even pay lip service to it, esp. when in practice they do everything they can to deny its realisation.
The ISS and the world knows full well that in the past we have enjoyed a number of constitutional Republics of our own making. Torn down by the Dutch or English, we rebuilt it over and over again. This predates the time that Western books became more known among migrants from central Africa.
At the very least, you would do well to heed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We, the Boers, insist on recognition of our legitimate striving for freedom as a people.
We demand that you display parity of esteem.
As a specific people we have the right to the dignity, equality and liberty of which also the Constitution of the New South Africa speaks. Not because this constitution says so, but because international convention say so.
We call for all of the "freedoms and rights" mentioned in the said UN declarations and covenants.
We petition for the right of self-control over the vital areas of our lives.
We claim the rights to "life, liberty and security of person".
Our children of five years old know enough about rape, AIDS, assault, murder and the like to grow up with a big question: what are you doing to protect us properly? When we grew up, we slepts with open windows and walked down the streets without fear. Its all changed. So please do not blame the Boers for having no confidence in the unitary Azanian State's ability or willingness to protect us. Don't blame us for not having any confidence in a regime that puts a racial tag on us in typical Orwellian newspeak, as members of the "Non-Designated Group". How surreal can the Marxists ideologues get!
The ISS should have a picture of why, now even much more than ever before, the flames of Boer freedom are flaring up once more. It is not a party-political decision, but a natural move of resistance. We hate oppression and we love freedom.
Our first proposal, which is a reasonable and morally acceptable one, made in the spirit of peace, justice and conciliation, is that the ISS makes a start in the same spirit to monitor their hate inciting members and language. The ISS and especially Mr. Boshoff have a responsibility to choose their words wisely, and demonstrate thereby that the ISS is not racial or cultural bigots, but that instead it can rise above such low levels of expression and ideals.
We are very longsuffering, but we shall not stand for Mr Boshoff's insults.
In conclusion, we, the Boers, wish to be free of the low moral standards and racial hatred exhibited daily by the rulers of the New South Africa by ignoring the atrocities committed by the people of their own culture.
In view of the above, as well as the ISS Code of Ethics, one can justifiably ask whether the ISS is in fact even-handed in its professed striving for "democarcy, justice and peace" - esp. as it rejects the Boers universally accepted right to self-determination? Is there really any respect for the rights and dignity of the Boer people? Is it responsible, honest and fair to simply parrot the professional politician's ostensible Boer hatred? Are the individuals in the ISS actually supporting one another in Henri Boshoff's attempt to label the Boers as extremists and terrorists? Does the ISS accept responsibility for all Henri's words, deeds and actions, esp. when he so ostensibly seeks to inflame racial and cultural hatred?
You are more than welcome to disagree with us, and even to criticise our points of view. But please do not insist that we have no right to disagree with you, or with the regime imposed onto us. The irony is that, in addition to the crime terrorists, for which we both have to watch out, our people also have to watch out for the regime's forces arriving at night on our doorsteps armed to the teeth.
We, the Boers, are simply striving for liberty and justice for ourselves.
We, the Boers, will once again be free in our own peace-loving, prosperous country.
After their arrest and conviction for illegal armed occupation, their khaki-clad leader, Willem Ratte, wrote furiously from goal to contest his English press depiction as some right wing anachronism. what outweighed this was a First Anglo-Boer War antecedent. In his torrential and powerful manifesto, Ratte insisted:
Were the Boers of 1880 called right-wingers, for resisting the imperialist British occupation? Then, as now, you had an alien regime lording it in Pretoria over our people, whose gutless president had betrayed and handed over his sovereign state.
Then, as now, the new (neo) colonialist administration pretended to be God's gift to the supposedly "dirty and dumb Dutchmen", and tried its beast to smear the pro-independence party as only a few backward "Don Quixote's tilting at windmills". Our struggle has nothing to do with right or left ... this being incidental, like religion in the Irish-British conflict, but everything to do with a nation having an inherent right to be free.
From: The Politics of War Memory and Commemoration. Page: 121.Chapter 3. The South African War / Anglo-Boer War 1899 - 1902. and political memory in South Africa. Bill Nasson. The one dimensional / nebulous & reckless term Right Wing therefore does not accurately describe nor does justice to the centuries old just struggle of Boer self determination as the mass use of the term even post dates the first Boer freedom struggle & was not even used to describe to the Boer Commandos of the Anglo-Boer War.
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Liberty, after all, cannot be suppressed and crushed.
When the Liberty was on the verge of being swept away by Ceasar from the mouth of the River Rhein, it was defended by the Neblis, the forefathers of the present day Hollanders.
The Teutons thus have never become the nation of subordination.
When the Liberty was again about to be wiped out from the whole Europe by King Phillip II of Spain, it was preserved through 80 years of hard battles by the 16th century Hollanders, the forefathers of the present day Boers.
Liberty, thus, flourished among them and finally went across the Atlantic to bear beautiful fruit in the virgin forests of the new Continent.
The Dutch people have saved the Liberty of Mankind twice, indeed, from danger and perils. Who could know that Liberty expects its third rescue to the Boers in South Africa, who are the descendants of this nation.
When the Romans came to its extremity of puff-up, the Neblis broke them.
When the Spanish came to play the tyrant, the Hollanders crushed them.
And now, when the Englishmen are about to come to the extremity of haughtiness
and arrogance, the Boers are boldly assuming the duty of correcting them.
How great is the Dutch race!! Liberty owes much to them.
RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS
Kanzo Uchimura*, 15 December 1899
*Japanese writer and philosopher, born and raised as a Samurai (warrior) and later converted to Christianity.
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