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Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging

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The flag of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or AWB, meaning Afrikaner Resistance Movement, is a political and paramilitary group in South Africa under the leadership of Eugène Terre'Blanche. They are committed to the restoration of an independent Afrikaner republic or "Boerestaat" within South Africa. In their heyday they received much publicity both in South Africa and abroad as an extremist white supremacist group.

Beginnings

The AWB was formed in 1970 in a garage in Heidelberg, Transvaal, a town southeast of Johannesburg. Eugène Terre'Blanche, a former police officer, became disillusioned by then-Prime Minister B.J. Vorster's "liberal views," as well as what he viewed as Communist influences in South African society. Terre'Blanche decided to form the AWB with six other like-minded individuals, and was elected leader of the organisation, a position he holds to this day.

Their ideology was to establish an independent Boerestaat ("Boer State") for Afrikaner people, existing separately from South Africa, which was considered too left wing by Terre'blanche. The AWB was formed in an attempt to regain the ground lost after the Second Boer War: they intended to re-establish the Boer Republics of the past — the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and the Republic of the Orange Free State (Oranje Vrystaat) — which the European and American governments had recognised in the late 1800s.[1]

The AWB flag is comprised of three sevens in a white circle upon a red background, forming a triskelion, highly similar to the Nazi swastika.

Despite the strong resemblance to the Nazi swastika and the historic admiration for Nazism among the far right in South Africa, Terre'Blanche publicly claims to distance the AWB from this interpretation of the emblem. He claims instead that the sevens, 'the number of JAHWEH', 'stand to oppose the number 666, the number of the anti-Christ'. Red is considered to represent Jesus' blood, while black stands for bravery and courage. The inner white circle symbolizes the "eternal struggle".[2]

The AWB also uses the "Vierkleur" or the original flag of the once independent Transvaal Republic.

AWB during apartheid

During the 1970s and 1980s, the AWB grew from the original 7 to several thousand white South Africans. They opposed the reform of Apartheid laws during the 1980s, harassing liberal politicians and holding large (and often quite rowdy) political rallies. Terre'Blanche used his flamboyant oratorical skills and forceful personality to win converts. He railed against the lifting of many so-called "Petty apartheid" laws such as the law banning interracial sex and marriage, as well as the larger and more important steps, such as limited political rights to Indians and Coloureds. During the State of Emergency (1984 to 1986) there were many reports of AWB violence against unarmed non-whites. The AWB was especially in opposition to the then-banned African National Congress which they believed was controlled by the South African Communist Party. The ruling National Party considered the AWB to be little more than a fringe group, so while not officially endorsed, they were able to operate relatively unhindered. However in 1986, white police officers took the unprecedented step of using tear gas against Terre'Blanche and the AWB when they disrupted a National Party rally.

Volkshulpskema

An economic crisis in the mid-1980s[citation needed] saw many poorer white South African families fall on hard times. The AWB instituted a programme to help the very poorest Afrikaner families. It was inititally called the AWB Voedingskema (feeding scheme) and then the Volkshulpskema (people's help scheme), the programme contributed to the popularity of the AWB in the Afrikaner community. The scheme delivered a meal every day to 14,000 poor Afrikaner children in Pretoria. In the final 3 months of 1986 alone 300 tons of food was donated. In the winter, bedding was donated as well. Sympathetic mine owners and farmers 'arranged' jobs for unemployed Afrikaners on the farms and mines. Certain farmers also donated vegeatables on an almost weekly basis to the poorest. Afrikaans singer Bles Bridges held a concert on March 3rd, 1987 in Pretoria and gave the 10,000 Rand raised to the AWB's People's Help Scheme.[3]

AWB during the end of apartheid

In 1992, the AWB was beset by scandal when Terre'Blanche was found to be having an affair with journalist Jani Allan, with transcripts of their sexual relationship appearing in the South African press.[4]

During the negotiations that led to South Africa's first multiracial elections, the AWB threatened all-out war. During the Battle of Ventersdorp in August 1991, the AWB confronted police in front of the town hall where President F W de Klerk was speaking, and three AWB supporters and one passer-by were killed in the conflict.[5] Later in the negotiations, the AWB stormed the Kempton Park World Trade Centre where the negotiations were taking place, breaking through the glass front of the building with an armoured car. The police guarding the centre failed to prevent the invasion. The invaders then took over the main conference hall, threatening delegates and painting slogans on the walls, but left again after a short period.[6]

Bophuthatswana coup

Main article: Bophuthatswana coup

In 1994, before the advent of majority rule, the AWB gained international notoriety in its attempt to defend the dictatorial government of Lucas Mangope in the homeland of Bophuthatswana. The AWB, along with a contingent of about 90 Afrikanervolksfront militiamen entered the capital of Mmabatho on March 10 and March 11. During their entry to the homeland they were all observed indiscriminately shooting civilians and tossing grenades from their vehicles. After the black soldiers and police with Bophuthatswana Defence Force (they and the AWB were out in force to support president Mangope) witnessed these killings, they disappeared from the streets in protest. They later turned on the AWB/Volksfront militiamen at the airport at Mafikeng. One AWB member was shot and killed when the convoy attempted to leave the airport and continue on to Mmabatho. When in Mmabatho, the AWB and the Afrikaner Volksfront found themselves under continuous siege from both the Bophuthatswana Defence Force and Mmabatho citizens. When attempting to retreat from Mmabatho on March 11, three AWB members were killed by Defence Force members. The three exchanged fire with Defence Force soldiers and policemen from their Mercedes on reaching an intersection. The wounded survivor Alwyn Wolfaardt waved a pistol but was advised not to start shooting by nearby journalists. Woolfaardt requested an ambulance for an injured member and Menyatso allegedly replied, "Why didn't you bring your own ambulance". The journalists themselves were nearly fired upon by Bophuthatswana soldiers (they were saved by a jammed rifle) and Wolfaardt was shot at close range by Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe whose words "What are you doing in my country?" were broadcast around the world by a television news crew. This proved to be a public relations disaster for the AWB and showed the world in stark terms that decades of white supremacy had come to an end. Despite this disaster, Eugène Terre'Blanche proclaimed the failed campaign a victory.[7]

Post-apartheid

On June 17, 1997 Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting a petrol station worker, John Ndzima, and the attempted murder of a scurity guard and former employee, Paul Motshabi. Terre'Blanche was released in June 2004 after serving 3 years in Rooigrond prison near Mafikeng.[8] During his time in prison he became a born-again Christian and claims he has moderated many of his more racist views and preaches reconciliation as 'prescribed by God'. However, the AWB website still claims these court cases and other scandals involving him were fabricated by the 'Black Government and the left wing media'.[9]

Membership

Although primarily an Afrikaner movement, with Afrikaans as their sole official language, the AWB also had English-speaking white members. As Terre'Blanche's driver and AWB member, Jan 'J.P' Meyer, once remarked, "We have a large membership, even in parts of the country that we don't see as our [the Boervolk] homeland".

There have even been rumours that the AWB sought non-white members, recruiting among coloureds and Indians.[citation needed]

As the AWB gained support it was queried whether or not they should be a culture or race- based organisation, if they had opted to be culture based then non- Afrikaans Whites would have been excluded and members of the Coloured community embraced, due to their status as brown Afrikaners. However the AWB leadership chose to keep it a primarily (whether or not they were exclusively so in clined is debatable) White organisation, allowing non- Afrikaans Whites membership, although they retained their Afrikaans status by restricting internal communication (i.e. not press releases or media interviews) to Afrikaans.

In fiction

In Harry Turtledove's novel, The Guns of the South, members of the AWB attempt to change history by travelling through time, to ferry AK-47s and similar weapons to the Confederate States of America.

See also

Further reading

The Bang-bang Club: The Making of the New South Africa, Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva, William Heinemann, 2000 ISBN 0-434-00733-1 (details the Bophuthatswana incident)

References

  1. ^ Van Der Hoogt, C. W (1900). The Story of the Boers, Chapter: A Century of Injustice. p. 96.
  2. ^ "Symbols and Emblems". AWB. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  3. ^ Kemp, Arthur. "Victory or Violence: The story of the AWB of South Africa". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  4. ^ Sweeney, John (December 19, 1999). "Brief encounters". The Observer.
  5. ^ "Amnesty decision". Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 1999. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  6. ^ "Goldstone Commission : Events at the World Trade Centre June 1993". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  7. ^ "Tebbutt Commission". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  8. ^ Carroll, Rory (June 10, 2004). "Terre'Blanche returns to a new world". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-01-04.
  9. ^ "AWB Leader: Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche". AWB. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
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