South Africa

South Africa’s story of colonization starts with diamonds and metallurgy. Although it already existed as a British colony it was a diamond rush in 1870 that really, (sorry for the cliché), put them on the map. With interests now peaked we see the gathering of those seeking profits. People like Barnato and Cecil Rhodes, who founded DeBeers and Consolidated Gold Fields, established the mining companies that would dominate South Africa for the next hundred years or so.

Over the next century, and mostly in the last twenty years of that century, an interesting political shift took place. The largely subjugated African people began to revolt. The greatly oppressive system of Apartheid was exposed as unjust and crusaders against it emerged and were swiftly thrown in prison later to be released, elected president and given the Nobel Peace Prize using the very specific case of Nelson Mandela. But you gotta do your 30 years of unjust imprisonment first, presidencies and peace prizes aren’t given to just anyone you know.

One of the obvious consequences of colonialism is xenophobia. So consequently the residue of that fear, racism, is commonly a symptom of post-colonialism.

I’d imagine the social situation in South Africa is far from resolved, although I’d have to do more research to offer specific examples, but I wonder if there is a pattern in the societal upheaval of the nation that can be seen elsewhere. Is every situation of colonization and exploitation unique or does it follow some model. Being that the motives for colonization, no matter what the territory, are usually the same I wonder what other symptoms and residues can be similarly observed in the progression of subjugation to chaos to the always elusive sense of balance of power.

For my sources I used HUMAN RIGHTS Historical images of Apartheid in South Africa, from www.un.org and the introduction to Mining in Africa Today: Strategies and Prospects, a collection edited by Samir Amin.