The music video of Bok van Blerk's Delarey song. A song which has made Tim du Plessis, editor of Afrikaans Sunday papper Rapport, warn about resurgent Afrikaner unity. See an English translation of Bok van Berk's Delarey song here.
Bok is not the only Afrikaans boytjie touching on Afrikaner nationalism. Fokofpolisiekar - the boere punks - recently released a track called, "Brand Suid-Afrika" (Burn South Africa).
Think back 16 years. The alternatiewe Afrikaanse beweging (alternative Afrikaans movement) then was very political. They sought to challenge the Afrikaner Nationalist regime. But since then Afrikaans music has - on the whole - shied away from political references.
Interestingly enough, Shifty records, the little record lable started by the rooinek Lloyd Ross that launched the whole Alternative movement, has now recorded an album by author Rian Malan. Operating from a caravan hitched to a Ford V6 truck, the Shifty studio would produce an album by the likes of Koos Kombuis, Johannes Kerkorrel and Bernoldus Niemand (James Phillips) every two months until 1993.
Malan's album is the first from the Shifty's stable in more than a decade. Called Alien inboorling (Alien native), its a very well produced, excellently crafted album (both lyrically and musically) capturing the current zeitgeist of the so-called alternative Afrikaners. And the state of mind is not that different from the Afrikaner mainstream: It's about identity crisis, marginalisation, crime, guilt, hope and immigration. Malan just says it better and more beautifully.
Update
Bok's song has caused such a commotion that he has saught advice from Afrikaans cultural icon Koos Kombuis.
Monday, October 16, 2006
De la Rey Bok van Blerk musiek video
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26 comments:
This is a very moving music video indeed. Especially the mention of the concentration camps. The video a snapshot of re-enacted scenes from the second Anglo-Boer War. I liked seeing the Orange Free State flag -known as the Oranje Vry Staat Vierkleur among the Boers- in the video. This flag was featured -as opposed to the Transvaal Vierkleur- most likely because General Koos de la Rey was born in Winburg Orange Free State. It's refreshing to see something which shows the determination & bravery of the Boers who fought against British colonialism / imperialism & attempted to remain independent within their internationally recognized republics instead of the often disrespectful / tired & unflattering stereotypical image of them.
I very much doubt this simple video would ever lead to any sort of Afrikaner unity for the simple reason that the White Afrikaans population (s) have never truly been united. For one thing the Boer segment is only about one third of the total White Afrikaans population & most Afrikaners of non Boer descent likely do not relate as much to the past struggles of the Boers against Britain nor even of their historical drive for independence.
Do not forget that the Cape Afrikaners even fought against the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War. Those Boers from the Cape who did fight on the side of the republican Boers were mainly from the Eastern Cape & were known as the Cape Rebels. The Cape Rebels were sevrely punished by the British when some of them were captured.
The Afrikaners who inherited the British created state of South Africa were mainly those from the Cape based pro British ranks. The were some token Boers, but they had to renounce Boer nationalism in favour of the emerging Afrikaner nationalism of the Cape based pro British Afrikaners.
The following is a quote.
There has always been a vast difference between the "trek-Boers", "Voortrekkers", "grensboere" and the socalled Afrikaners - who were the elitist collaborators with the British at the Cape, and who also collaborated on the British side to help defeat the independent Boer Republics. After the feat of the Boer Republics, its voters - who had always been known as Boers everywhere in the world - suddenly lost their identity because the elitist Afrikaners who started running things on behalf of the British, insisted that everybody be called "Afrikaner" and that everybody should be "reconciled."
Strangely back then, people who looked down on the defeated Boers were referred to in the news media such as The Star of Johannesburg as "racists" who should make an "effort at reconciliation". However most of the "reconciliation" came from the side of the defeated Boers who had to find a livelihood as working-class workers in the mines and factories of the cities. They were forced to relinquish their identity indeed as the Afrikaners of today are now being forced to start referring to themselves as "Afrikaanses" - people who speak Afrikaans, a term which was thought up by Mrs Elna Boesak.
See how history repeats itself?
End quote.
From: Anti Apartheid Journalist Adriana Stuijt.
Found at this link.
As a result there is now considerable confusion among some of the descendents of the Boers who call themselves Afrikaners forgetting that this was the term applied to all White Afrikaans speakers after the Anglo-Boer War but was driven by the non Boer & even outright anti-Boer Afrikaners.
This video would appear to touch more on Boer nationalism than Afrikaner nationalism. Remember: Afrikaner nationalism was instrumental in sidelining Boer nationalism & lead to the marginalization of the Boers.
After the Anglo-Boer War the Boers were fairly decimated & the Afrikaner nationalists from the Cape were instrumental in taking advantage of the Boers' destitution by imposing their own hegemony in the region due to their larger numbers.
The Afrikaner nationalists would later shamefully invoke past notable Boer struggles & history in order to gain power in the region & to skillfully manipulate the remaining Boers into tacitly or nominally supporting a greater pan Afrikaans nationalism which was never truly solidified.
I think the main likely reason this video is causing controversy is because it eloquently illustrates how the Boers were so brutally & outright conquered through partial genocide then swindled out of their independent countries with the terms of the peace agreement by the same British powers which run the current South African regime. The government would like everyone to forget their close connections to Britain & how the Boers were brutally forced into an un-natural macro state as a result of their defeat during the Anglo-Boer War.
Though on the up side the South African government has recently just recognized the Boers as a distinct entity outside of the Afrikaners. Perhaps due to the smaller number of Boers the government is not as worried about Boer nationalism as they might be of Afrikaner nationalism which -due to the apparatus of the British created macro state- was a potent force in the recent past.
Hi Ron, welcome to the blog and thanks for your thoughtful posting.
I agree with most of what you said except this. The term Afrikaner is considerably older than the use of 'Boer' to denote an identity. (Boer means farmer in its normal meaning.) It is a word mostly used by right wing Afrikaners and funnily enough the English to describe Afrikaners even today, (perhaps because of it's links to and sounds like the word boorish?? it fits the stereo type)
But use of the word Afrikaner predates even the arrival of the British at the Cape in 1806.
Use of the word Afrikaner was first recorded as early as 1707 to denote whites that had been born in the Cape as opposed to Europe. When the British arrived some Afrikaners called their new British compatriots the same, but the monicker was spurned - one English paper in the Cape said Afrikaner refers to the offspring of slaves. Afrikaans was described as a bastard tongue, not worthy to be called a language.
And indeed a strong link can be made that the so called coloureds of the Cape and Afrikaners. The first white to say "I am an Afrikaner", his sister was coloured. And he was deported incidently - the standard sentence for misbehaving at the Cape - which is why some speculate he made such a fuss of being African.
You are right to say that allegiances shift as power shifts. The Afrikaners in the Cape that did not fight the British, and the third that lay down arms in the Republics (the so-called Hensoppers) soon after hostilities commenced did so because they had something to loose or were scared.
People that don't know South Africa were surprised at how political allegiances shifted recently. In the first all democratic elections the coloureds and asian South Africans voted overwhelmingly for the party of apartheid, and not the party of liberation. And the party of aprtheid welcomed them with open arms. This is the same party that destroyed District six in Cape Town.
Weird? Only if you think South African politics can be reduced to simple racial explanations. But the fundamental driving force is power.
And today, with the increased agitating by members of the ANC that coloured, whites and asians can not be African, allegiances are bound to shift further.
I agree with you that history repeats itself.
I am aware that the term Afrikaner goes back for centuries, but my point was that it started being used on a large scale political basis after the Anglo-Boer War on the part those who were attempting to co-opt the defeated Boers into a pan White Afrikaans grouping mainly in order to sideline the English within the political realm. I am also aware of a strong link between the White Afrikaans people(s) & the Coloureds (who are of course essentially Brown or mixed race Afrikaans speakers). In fact the Afrikaans language itself was significantly shaped by the various ancestral groups among the Coloured population.
The term Boer has certainly been adopted by more people in recent times who mainly tend to be conservative in outlook, but the fact of the matter is that there have always been those who have continuously referred to themselves as Boers long before the "Boer rival" of sorts which has been taking place in recent decades. I think more people feel free to consider themselves Boers again since the collapse of Afrikaner Nationalism & its quasi colonial nature which looked down on a purely Boer nationalism -since the goal of Afrikaner nationalists was to unite White Afrikaans speakers mainly in order to control the British created macro state, while the main goal of Boer nationalism has always been the freedom to exist as a specific group of trekker origin & steeped in a specific culture which was formed on the eastern Cape frontier.
The term Afrikaner tends to be a generic term used to describe White Afrikaans speakers regardless of their specific cultural origins -while the term Boer was generally used to denote the trekking pastoralists of the eastern Cape frontier (who left the Western Cape for the frontiers as early as the 1690s & into the 1700s) & later the Voortrekkers & their descendents. The Boers of the eastern Cape frontiers often called the cousins they left back in the Western Cape the Cape Dutch illustrating a cultural & political divide & difference. Perhaps somewhat akin to -but not as severe as- the difference between Serb & Croat. Afterall these latter two examples also spring from common origins & speak the same language (Serbo-Croation but called Serbian among the Serbs & Croatian among the Croats for political & cultural reasons & probably also due to dialect differences). The Boers on the eastern frontiers developed into a distinct cutural group apart from the Afrikaans speakers in the Western Cape who did not share the same struggles for independence & even survival. The Boers of the frontier even developed their own dialect of Afrikaans which was often called "die taal" & later classified as Eastern Border Afrikaans.
I was not too surprized to see the Coloureds of the Western Cape elect a National Party government in 1994 because I knew that despite any differences that the Coloureds might have had with the National Party in the past: they no doubt felt that party would better protect their interests as compared against the ANC (among whom a significant amount were hostile to the Coloureds) since they did have some common macro cultural bonds with the Afrikaners such as the Afrikaans language (different dialects) & religion.
I agree with you that history repeats itself.
Well actually that was part of the quote from Adrianna Struijt I posted.
I posted Stuijt's comment on the matter as it was a great assessment of the difference between Afrikaner & Boer.
Due to the destitution & diminished numbers of the republican Boers following the Anglo-Boer War: they tended to yield to the ascending Cape based Afrikaners in the region.
Well Ron, both on my father and mother side of the family - we come from farms in the Free state and the Transvaal. I can't remember any people in our family or friends ever caling themselves 'Boere'.
I went to the largest Afrikaans University - Pretoria University - and I must say that none but far right wing arseholes called themselves that.
The rest considered it an insult foisted upon them by the English.
Your arguments about Afrikanerdom only appearing as a force to act as a counter to the English when the country became a Union does not bear up. I suggest you read "The Afrikaners" by Herman Gioliomee.
But were splitting hairs. The point your making is that the Boere (in the Boer republics) were not racists but trying to protect their culture. That it was a mistake to organise as a race based white republic after the Boer War - I agree.
Well your family is somewhat typical of how many Boers were co-opted into the Afrikaner designation. Most Boers appeared to have stopped referring to themselves as Boers sometime during the 1930s when a Cape based Afrikaner nationalism became an ascendant force. It appears that many Boers became susceptible or complacent to the propaganda of the Afrikaner nationalists & were conditioned out of their own self identity in favour of a pan White Afrikaans designation which was controlled by those who were not descended from the trekker or republican Boers ie: the designation was controlled by those who were from the Western Cape during the formative era of the Boer designation & cultural group.
Considering that the Boer designation is a cultural one & not a political one: you should not let your experiences from university distract from that. After all: it was the far right which foisted the Afrikaner designation onto the Boers (as well as all Afrikaans speakers) in the first place. Furthermore: there are right wing Afrikaners who would never agree to being called Boere just as there are moderate Boers who would never agree to being called Afrikaners. To make matters even more complicated: there are Afrikaans speakers who refuse to be called either. To make a comparison: not all people who refer to themselves as Quebecois are far left separatists.
Well I did not mean to imply that Afrikanerdom was a force used solely to counter the English -as I am aware that it got started in the 1870s mainly by Reverend S J Du Toit, his brother D F Du Toit & Gideon Malherbe when they started an Afrikaans language movement to get the Afrikaans language recognized as a distinct language. Furthermore: Hermann Giliomee has been criticized as writing from an Afrikaner elitist bias who does not take into account the Boer perspective.
Just to point out an interesting observation here. The names Du Toit / Malherbe / & Giliomee (from Guillaumé) are all French names testifying to the French Huguenot origins of the Boers & Afrikaners. Most people in the West even if they are aware of the " White tribe of Africa" tend to erroneously think that they are only the descendents of Dutch people without even realizing that their Dutch ancestors only accounts for less then 40 % of their origins. The French ancestors accounts for as much as 24 % of their origins which is obvious when considering the numerous French names (both first & surname) among the Afrikaans population. Quite a number of the French names have taken on a Dutch spelling such as De Klerk (from Le Clercq) / Lombaard (from Lombard) / Jordaan (from Jourdan) / Nortje (from Nortier) / Cronje (from Cronier) / Gouws (from Gauch) / Pienaar (from Pinard) just to name a few. Though many have retained their original French spelling such as Joubert / Marais / Terreblanche / Vivier / Le Roux / Naude & Roux just to name a few.
Their German ancestry accounts for about 30 - 35 % of their orgins. & shhhh! don't tell your old far right colleagues from your university days but about 5 - 7 % of their origins are from non White ancestors: mainly the result of intermarriage with Indian slaves during the 1600s & 1700s as well as a slight absorption of Khois & Malays as well.
To address the point about the use of the Afrikaner designation. In fact the White population born in the Cape were originally called Afrikanders not Afrikaners. The d was dropped around the time when the Afrikaner nationalist movement (which is distinct from Boer nationalism as it was mainly expressed in the form of the republics of the era) was started in the Cape during the 1870s. The Boers were sometimes referred to as Afrikander Boers in literature as noted in The Story of the Boers by the Holland author C W van der Hoogt. Who actually heard one of President Paul Kruger's sermons when he (Kruger) visited Holland during the time when he obtained the London Convention.
To go back to my earlier point of how I doubt this music video (as great as it is) will not likely lead to a united White Afrikaans population. All one has to do is to look at how divided the Boer populations were in the past particularly during the era of the Great Trek & the Boer Republics which followed. There were a total of about 15 Boer republics. This was mainly the result of disagreements among the various Boers over religious & political matters. In fact the most interesting disagreement among the Voortrekkers -at least from my stand point- was the difference in vision between Hendrik Potgieter & Andries Pretorius. Potgieter was in favour of a decentralized republic while Pretorius was in favour of a centralized & united republic.
The ardents of Potgieter & his vision in the Zoutpansberg Republic (which used the red saltire on blue background Voortrekker flag) resisted their incorporation into the Transvaal Republic for a long time & was one of the reasons for the Boer civil wars which later raged during the 1860s. Ultimately the centralized vision of Pretorius won out & was probably one of the reasons why the capital of the Transvaal Republic (aslo known as the South African Republic) was changed from Potchefstroom (named after Potgieter) to Pretoria -which was named after Pretorius- in 1860. If the republican Boers could never stand united amongst themselves in the past & just barely stood united with the Cape based Afrikaner during the 20 century (though this was mainly the result of coercion & resignation & even misguided beliefs): I still little chance of them doing so now.
While I am on the subject of flags: the Orange Free State flag (known as the Oranje Vry Staat Vierkleur) -which is seen prominently (but somewhat fleeting too if this doesn't sound too contradictory) in the De La Rey video by Bok van Blerk- will be 150 years old on February 23 2007. The Orange Free State was the most stable Boer republic & was widely referred to as the model republic.
Well Ron, you know allot about the subject, although I would take issue with some of your finer points - if I thought they really mattered. Afrikaner, Boer and South African identity is fairly new phenomena. Identities change, and with such a new one it changes fast. Very few Afrikaans speaking people call themselves Boere or think that its a useful and descriptive identity today.
Also the fact that authors like Rian Malan, Andre Brink are echoing the thoughts of right wing Afrikaners do show that something is afoot. Whether Afrikaner unity is a good thing remains to be seen.
Well your points are well taken & I agree that identity can be fluid, but there does appear to be a growing realization that there are cultural differences among the White Afrikaans speakers stemming mainly from difference between the republican oriented Boers of trekker descent & the Afrikaners who tend to be more outward focused -some say even neo colonial.
The confusion over what White Afrikaans speakers call themselves in noted in the following interesting article by a one H Labuschagne Which by the way is yet another surname of French origin.
Who Were The Boers of The Anglo-Boer War.
The former anti-apartheid journalist Adriana Stuijt wrote an excellent article detailing the differences & how the Boer identity was absorbed at the following link.
Boer, Afrikaner or White - Which Are You?
Furthermore back in June a group of self proclaimed Boers declared sovereignty with what was called the Majuba Declaration.
Boere Declare Sovereignty in South Africa.
The South African government even later responded in writing stating that the government recognizes the Boers as a distinct cultural group.
Ron. I'm rather amazed about this debate about Boere and Afrikaners which is unfortunately not only a storm in a teacup but also a distraction.
Afrikaans (whatever you'd like top call them) speaking South Africans have some serious decisons to make. They face being marginalised to such an extent, that it's not incoceivable that the existince of their culture might actually be threatened fundamentally. This is not some vague inconsequential threat like the sporadic relatively small acts of terrorism people fear so much in America. It's about actual survival.
This whole thing of 'Boere' being a different identity is something that has been cooked up a few years ago, when some very frustrated right wing Afrikaners thought that most Afrikaners don't support their seperatist ideals, and they needed legitamacy for their cause. Hence this new half baked argument. What this argument conveniently ignores is that most Afrikaans speakers laugh at Van der Merwe jokes, listen to Steve Hofmeyer, love rugby and Kabamba Floors, and have moved and lived in most parts of South Africa. (Like America, the South African labour market is very mobile. It's not strange for families to move up and down the country for jobs, lovers etc.) That wanting a volkstaat makes you a seperate identity from the rest is a stupid argument and an artificial one. By changing your mind you change your identity? Lots of people that want a volkstaat now live in the Western Cape and some are English speakers from Natal. Does that make them Boere? If a volkstaat is to have a chance of prospering and to work in peace, it has to be 1) in an area in South Africa which is not contested, 2) is based on Afrikaner (or Afrikaans culture if you want) and not race (this excludes allot of English speakers and includes allot of colourds) 3) take a highly sophisticated and sensative political leadership to navigate the many pitfalls. One of which is to manage world opinion and another to keep Afrikaner existence from becoming a pawn in a game between international far rightwingers and leftwingers.
Times have moved on. And when Afriforum, a conservative organisation of students I would not have supported when I was a student, paint their faces black to protest the governments denial that we are Africans, I support them.
If I am to accept my idenity as a South African of nondescript race or origin then I should be allowed that, and at least not be put into a catagory and overtly discriminated against by affirmative action and less overtly by repeated references to the guilt of my people, (white afrikaans-speaking people with Duch/German/French surnames). Deny that we grouped and discriminated against and you either do not live on this planet, or you are lying. "Afrikaners" were ready to move out of the Kraal, but are being hearded together and chased back into a lager. Any historian will tell you this is how you unite people.
The comments posted on this blog is a good reminder why the white race cannot stand together as one man or woman for that matter. They argue and disagree about the smallest of things - here it seems to be whether to be called an Afrikaner or a Boer! What does it matter if at the end of the day it is what you feel in your heart? My grandfather fought under General CF Beyers and even named my father in his honour. I would like to be known as a Boere Afrikaner in flesh and bone. I also feel an antogonism against the Khaki's for what happened in the Anglo Boer War as some of my family died in concentration camps, but one cannot keep that against the English of today - unless of course, they have the same feeling against us as those before them! But the Afrikaner or Boer, whatever you want to call them, will never be able to pull together as they like to argue and disagree about everthing. And true to their culture, they would rather give way and move somewhere else than to stand up and fight for what is theirs!!!!
Quoted from previous comment: "& shhhh! don't tell your old far right colleagues from your university days but about 5 - 7 % of their origins are from non White ancestors: mainly the result of intermarriage with Indian slaves during the 1600s & 1700s as well as a slight absorption of Khois & Malays as well."
I think the poster meant to say: Shh! Don't tell the government, because then they won't be able to discriminate against Afrikaans speaking South Africans with a light hue on their skins!"
The only reason why the "Afrikaner" groupings still seem so "white" is because they are being marginalised in the "free" South Farce-ica.
If you suffer together, you stick together.
I think the "De La Rey song" is a commercial venture, which (obviously) hopes to make a profit. Who ever heard of young Mr. v Blerk before the release of this song? No one.
I would dearly like to know who actually wrote the song, who produced the CD and Video, and who owns the rights to the royalties.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the Bok craze was orchestrated - not by the right wing - but by savvy businessmen who know how to make a quick buck off a "cultutre group" desperately searching for a place to fit in the new South Africa.
I suggest you discuss the term "Afrikaner" under a different heading than this one.
A fantstic music video! People is going on and on about Bok's song del a rey,whyyyy? Some people has a talent for telling stories, writing books - he has a talent for telling a story(in this case a factual story) through music.If my grandfather told me this story about genrl de la rey and Bok sings it to me I would defnitly choose a story in lirics.He's just being proud of one of our Afrikaans "boere" and sings about it - he could just as well as felt the need to sing a story about our president, Table Mountain, the Karoo - but he chose to sing the story of Koos de la Rey to us.I say thankyou so much for young people like him - as we say in Afrikaans -"doen so voort!!"
HOMESICK FROM CANADA.....I would love for the Afrikaners and Boere to have their own Volksstaat because at least then we dont have to flee the country in fear of your live and fear that your daughters might be raped by someone that doesnt even belong in our country, the so called refugees from neighbouring states. Let them go back to their countries and fight their own battles because that is one of the biggest problmes in South-Africa is the illegal aliens.
Give us back our freedom in our own piece of land where we can still speak Afrikaans and laugh at van der Merwe jokes and enjoy OUR part of our country. Im a Pienaar and I know there somewhere is a piece of land that belongs to me but I dont want to shed my bloud because of someone that just doesnt give a damm about a nother live.
Ons vir jou Suid-Afrika.......
I didn’t really like the song; I was catchy but didn’t mean anything to me! BUT! The fact that the song was banned from Loftus made my blood boil!!!! I must be honest and say that, it does make me feel that someone somewhere is trying to suppress Afrikaans. Farm killings Whites in general are being targeted not only Afrikaans speaking ones. Afrikaaners/Boere can stand together, and we will if the need arises! Deep down inside I am tired of saying SORRY for something that I had nothing to do with! In fact I was raised and taught not to discriminate by my White grandfather, grandmother, father and mother!! Why should I be the victim of BEE, Affirmative Action? I am proud to be Afrikaans and contrary to popular belief being Afrikaans does not make you a racist!
Hi Wessel.
Don't really know what the hell you are mate, but calling boere(not boers) rightwing arsholes, definately makes you an idiotic prick. I am a boer ie farmer in RSA. Must be nice sitting with your big mouth in London while my neighbours on both sides get tortured to death and the 10 and 13 year old girls raped and murdered. I will tell you what chance we have as a nation. Simple, stop the murder of minority groups and let us be. But then we all know it is not going to happen, so keep on talking up unrealistic solutions. Up yours rooi nek.
Wessel, since you know the history so well. If the Brittish wasn't as gready and didn't kill(unhumanely) our wifes and children as they did, we wouldn't be a minority group in the first place, now would we. Probbably where Hitler got his grazy ideas from, don't you think? To bad you talk so loudly about our mixed identity and guilt, not seeing your ancestor's own hey? Yip. We too study history. Seems as you as a race do just fine in whiping out races. Maybe we should follow your example. What did you do with the Australian locals? Why is everyone an expert on RSA? Maybe we are just to polite or not as inhumane. Talking about guilt? Do you have any?
Hi, Mr anonymous (the last one before this post). I suggest you read my post about sanctimonious English double standards before you judge me. And perhaps also this one on how the international community does not get South Africa.
..and terloops, how many Engelsmanne do you know with a name like Wessel?
Mr. anonymous two posts above this one. Point well made. Most people overseas don't have a clue what it is actually like in South Africa.
What is happening (the murders, the rapes, thousands dying from aids and the dramatic increase in the divide between rich and poor) is a tragedy, and your right, it's very hard to think how this could be adressed.
Liefde, Rooinek (soutpiel) Wessel
I need to ask why as an American I have never seen or heard of Afrikaners migrating to the USA.
Boer resistance to Britain's greed for gold and diamonds, spearheaded by Cecil Rhodes (remember Rhodesia?) was and is nothing short of heroic. Here in the USA, we are not taught anything about the Boers other than they are racists and used apartheid nto keep the Blacks as permanent underdogs. I read about the two Anglo-Boer Wars and once saw a movie called "Untamed" with Tyrone Power and Susan Heyward in 1956. The movie is not available anymore. It was about the Great Trek into Transvaal and the Orange Free State while fighting off Zulu savages. I liked Bok van Berks "De La Rey" so much that I bought it so that I could play it loud and clear on my outdoor speakers. By the way, why are so many Portuguese shopkeepers slaughtered in South Africa by Black hoodlums?
Wessel,
You stated that
"the dramatic increase in the divide between rich and poor"
is one of the things the outside world knows little about in South Africa.
First National Bank´s chief economist states that 300 000 new members join the middle class in South Africa every year.
So, I tend to disagree with you regarding "the dramatic increase in the divide between rich and poor".
I find your posts regarding Boere and Afrikaaners interesting.
The word Afrikander is still in use today. It is a Portuguese word for Afrikaner.
Chuck, you ask about Portugese shopkeepers. The answer is probably that they operate corner shops with cash, that are not inside fortified shopping malls. But spare a thought for Somali corner shops, they have it *much* worse.
Question for you Chuck. Why do Americans veer between clueless left platitudes, and stupid racist bigotory (excellently documented here), when they comment on SA?
Thanks for your comments Boetie Vêr Weg.
I stick to my statement however. Poor South Africans are poorer on almost any measure compared to 10 years ago. South Africa needs far less poor people, a rapidly growing and reasonably paid working class.
What are you doing in Portugal by the way?
Hey Chuck
Why Boere are not escaping to the States? We are!!
This land has got to be the closest to home on the planet
And we who call ourselve Boere tend to be the folk who remember...
and no,not hate,just want to be left alone.
I'm South African but I live in the UK and I love this song and all afrikaans songs for that matter.They are the warmest people and South Africa is the most beautiful place to live in.I think Bok Van Blerk is only singing about the pain that south africans went through when they were put in concentration camps and when they were fighting in the war and the brave men fighting for their families.
kelsey
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