Non Racialism In South Africa

When Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994, the world looked on at the ?miracle? of racial reconciliation that unfolded in South Africa. However, the dream of a ?Rainbow Nation? (in Archbishop Desmond Tutu?s phrase) seems to be fading, and racial identities seem to be more entrenched than ever. What prospects then for the ?non-racial democracy? envisioned by Mandela and the South African Constitution?This book examines the status and future prospects of non-racialism. It discusses the nature of non-racialism and applies the concept to wider national issues and to questions of identity. The book looks out into South Africa's future and assesses generational changes to the country's handling of non-racialism. This latter point is the main theme in the opening preface by Ahmed Kathrada, jailed with Nelson Mandela, who reminds the reader that there is no easy answer: non-racialism is built every day, every minute, by people who seek to transform social relations and allow the ?Rainbow Nation? to flourish.This book was published as a special issue of Politikon.

ÿAt the time of his death in August 2012 Neville Alexander was undoubtedly one of South Africa?s foremost proponents of the philosophy of non-racialism. He had devoted his life to fighting against the evils of racism, sexism and economic injustice. He understood how these social realities not only divided but also ranked human beings in terms of human worth and value. He saw how these realities diminished the whole society, both the perpetrators and victims. And so he gave over his life as a scholar and a political activist to challenging these realities. This volume brings together the reflections of a group of activists and scholars on the significance of Neville Alexander to the cause of freedom and justice in South Africa. The reflections are essentially the keynote speeches and the responses to them that were made at a conference in Alexander?s honour held at the Centre for Non-Racialism and Democracy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in July 2013.

Racism after Apartheid, volume four of the Democratic Marxism series, brings together leading scholars and activists from around the world studying and challenging racism. In eleven thematically rich and conceptually informed chapters, the contributors interrogate the complex nexus of questions surrounding race and relations of oppression as they are played out in the global South and global North. Their work challenges Marxism and anti-racism to take these lived realities seriously and consistently struggle to build human solidarities.

There is global evidence that "e;ghosts"e; of notions of essentialist differences between human "e;groups"e; continue to haunt in various forms. People draw upon ideas of religion, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and nation to draw distinctions. Racism, xenophobia, sexism, and right-wing populism are ongoing and increasing phenomena. In addition, genetic science has introduced new forms of "e;proof"e; which lends itself to misuse, to confirm "e;common sense perceptions"e;. The valuable contributions of the authors in this publication not only warn against such notions, but offer ways of exploring, exposing and challenging the ghosts and the fears engendered through their contemporary forms.

In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.

After centuries of white domination and decades of increasingly savage repression, freedom came to South Africa far later than elsewhere in the continent- and yet was marked by a commitment to non-racialism. Nelson Mandela's cabinet and government were made up of women and men of all races and many spoke of the birth of a new "Rainbow Nation." How did this come about? How did an African nationalist liberation movement resisting apartheid- a universally denounced violent expression of white supremacy- open its doors to other races, and whites in particular? And what did non-racialism mean? This is the real 'miracle' of South Africa: that at the height of white supremacy and repression, black and white democrats- in their different organisations, coming from vastly different backgrounds and traditions- agreed on one thing: that the future for South Africa would be non-racial. This book is a path-breaking study of the emergence of non-racialism in South Africa. It tells some of the stories and hidden histories that help explain South Africa's past. It focuses on a talented, brave, but tiny minority of whites, liberals, radicals, communists, Trotskyists, humanists, Christians, and idealists who rejected the growing racism of post-war South Africa and worked to breach the dividing line between black and white. From the Torch Commando that could mobilize tens of thousands of whites at the beginning of the 1950s to the Liberal Party and Congress of Democrats that could only boast a few hundred members by the end of the decade, white activists fought to maintain the vision of racial equality in an increasingly divided society. Their African nationalist allies fought a harder battle within the ANC and other organizations in order to keep alive the notion that black and white could struggle together and live peacefully. Together, black and white activists developed a theory of struggle and ways of mobilizing that maintained the ideal of a non-racial South Africa. The democratic state ushered in after 1994 can be traced back directly to the work that activists undertook in the 1950s and after.