There was a term that called me my attention when we did the maps, which was the apartheid in South Africa. This concept means separation and it was a completely act of social segregation.
The abundance of natural resources, mostly mineral resources, in South Africa provoked a high immigration from England in the XX century.
With the invention of the National Party (in 1948), created in order to have the socioeconomic control in this country, and then, the "Grand Apartheid", non-white people had been deprived of their rights (as voting). Their lives were completely affected by the laws that had been approved, such as the restriction of marriage between white and non-white and the creation of "white-only" jobs.
In 1950. the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed descent).
In 1951, the government created the "homelands", which were independent states and the government was the responsible to assigned to each African where "his/her belonged" according to his/her record of origin.
Other breaches to the rights of non-white people were they had inferior public services and the existence of benches or buildings that they couldn't use.
The system was dismantled in 1990, but nowadays South Africa still wrestles with its significant racial issue.
As my reflection, I sincerely believe that those kind of events on the history shows the cruelty of the human beings, and I really don't understand how someone can hate someone else by the colour of his/her skin, religion or sexual orientation, and how, despite the plurality that exists in our age, some of us is still thinking, for example, that homosexuals should disappear or that they are an abomination.
those are the things that make me realize about the cruelty and intolerance of the human being, but it also makes me admire how some people fight against this cruelty and ignorance like Nelson Mandela did.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that we as future teachers have the homework to change that on the future generations.
When the South Africa FIFA World Cup had started, in 2010, I saw “Africa mía” a Documentary-reality with Pedro Carcuro. He talked a lot about the apartheid, he said that every black people must have an identification card, and in the peak of Apartheid, Nelson Mandela, as a symbol of manifestation, ripped apart his card and burnt it. He was imprisoned for 27 years, and his spirit wasn`t decline, he studied by mail through an extern program from the University of London and got his Bachelor degree in Law. After that he won the Nobel Peace prize and he became the first black president of South Africa.
ReplyDeleteI think that no much people would do the same, I admire his strong conviction and the apparent lack of fear, just to make a point and defend his beliefs. Just like Victor Jara do in 1973. He was arrested and tortured, despite that, he never stopped singing, as a symbol of protest. He was beaten up, especially in his hands so he couldn`t play guitar anymore and he was riddled with 44 shots. Both, Nelson Mandela and Victor Jara, have left a legacy that cannot be ignored.