Artesian writes: [...]
> If, however, you're referring to the the type of deal struck by de Klerk, > Botha with Mandela, then preserving "cultural identity" of the minority is > a > non-issue at best, a joke at worst, as the economic and social power of > the > minority has been preserved. =========================================== The outcome of those negotiations was the dismantling of the legal and political system of apartheid, including the unbanning of the ANC, which was effectively an agreement to replace white rule with a black majority government. It was a concession forced on the apartheid regime by powerful domestic and international pressures. Because it was a "deal" resulting from a military stalemate rather than the ANC dictating terms in the aftermath of a successful armed struggle, it necessarily required reciprocal assurances by the Congress that Afrikaner assets would not be seized nor regime officials prosecuted for their crimes. Otherwise, there have been no deal. In this context, I consider that the extension of political and other democratic rights to the black masses was an historic advance, even though the ANC, like most other national liberation movements, subsequently fell well short of the expectations of it's active supporters. I'd be surprised if you really viewed the fall of apartheid "as a non-issue at best, a joke at worst". You didn't oppose the enfranchisement of the black majority and the legalization of the ANC because these represented less than a socialist revolution which would have economically and politically expropriated the white ruling class, did you? You wouldn't now reverse that deal if you could, would you? ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
