AFRIKANER AND BIKO - AZAPO
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Office #3, 5th Floor
Corner House
77 Commissioner Street
Corner Simmonds Street
JOHANNESBURG
2001
info@azapo.org.za
www.azapo.org.za
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 27 AZAPO WEEKLY ONLINE PUBLICATION
AFRIKANER AND BIKO
There was a bizarre news report published in The Star the country unless there was a deal between white na-
on July 23 under the headline: Johann Rupert ‘trying to tionalists and black nationalists,” Rupert is quoted as
distort history on Biko’. saying in the book.
In the report, controversial Afrikaner billionaire Jo- Then the newspaper report further states that Rupert’s
hann Rupert claims that he had established a relation- utterances have angered the PAC, which through its
ship with Bantu Biko, the founding father of Black Con- president Narius Moloto has accused Rupert of trying
sciousness Movement in South Africa. to distort and rewrite history in his favour. Wow!
This report is extremely bizarre for many reasons.
Firstly, SASO never held a conference in Stellenbosch.
Professor Ranwedzi Harry Nengwekhulu was shocked
when he heard the claim that a SASO conference was
held in Stellenbosch. Nengwekhulu, who worked very
closely with Biko at the time, is adamant that if there
was such a conference, he would have known because
he would have actively participated in its organising.
Another peculiar assertion in the report is the claim
that Biko was a member of the PAC. As AZAPO, we can
The newspaper article, quoting from a book titled, The excuse Rupert of failing to distinguish between AZAPO
Stellenbosch Mafia: Inside the Billionaires’ Club, states and the PAC. But for Rupert to make the statement that
that Rupert allegedly met Biko in 1970, while he was in “if I were black, I would also be PAC” means that Biko
Stellenbosch during a South African Students’ Organi- would have told him that he was a member of the PAC.
sation (Saso) conference. “Biko was in Stellenbosch to That is plain nonsense. Biko was not just a member of
attend a conference of the Saso. I wanted to meet him the BCM aligned SASO, he was its leader. The only logi-
and talk about his convictions and beliefs. We met one cal inference that can be drawn is that no such interac-
day and we continued talking until very late”. tion happened.
“I told him that if I were a black man I would also be a It is also bizarre that Moloto, speaking on behalf of the
Pan Africanist. I would also be a member of the PAC, PAC, creates an impression that Biko was a PAC mem-
not the ANC. We agreed that there could be no peace in ber. Why? Everybody who has a basic understanding
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of our liberation history would know that Biko is as fought against apartheid. And what better proof that
AZAPO just as Robert Sobukwe is PAC. Why try to you fought against apartheid than to fake a relation-
“distort history in your favour” Comrade Moloto? ship with Biko, our revolutionary icon.
Another bizarre element in the newspaper story is If Rupert has indeed gone through the Damascus ex-
the failure of the reporter to contact AZAPO on the perience and has seen the light and wants history to
matter. Surely when it comes to Biko, AZAPO is the remember him as one of those few Afrikaners who
authentic voice because AZAPO is the custodian of were on the side of the oppressed, he must do more
Biko’s legacy. Since his brutal murder in police deten- than claim a relationship with Biko. Rupert is ex-
tion by apartheid security police on September 12, tremely rich and powerful. He can use his wealth and
1977, AZAPO has ensured that every September 12, power to lead the process of atonement of white peo-
commemorations are held to honour Biko. ple for their apartheid sins. This process has to be
much more than just an admission that apartheid was
Many AZAPO members have been murdered, defend- wrong and that it was a crime against humanity. The
ing the ideas of Biko. Biko cannot be separated from process must be accompanied by real action. One
AZAPO. such action would be to support the repossession of
the land from whites to Black people. In Rupert’s
case, he would have to give a sizable portion of his
family wealth to the State to promote wealth redistri-
bution. After all, the struggle was not just for the right
to vote but for land and wealth repossession.
If Rupert can do these things, maybe we might be
convinced that Biko has influenced him from the
grave.
WORLD PEACE AND STABILITY WILL
FLOURISH UNDER MULTILATERALISM
Under its policy of policing and bullying the world,
the US is out to ensure that the countries it considers
But why would Rupert claim that he had a relation- as its enemies do not possess nuclear weapons.
ship with Biko? We can only speculate. Biko has im-
peccable revolutionary credentials. He was the best The US is doing this unilateral policing with a bias
that the Azanian revolution has produced. He is an that is guided by its interest. It claims to work on the
icon of Black pride. He is the ultimate voice of the basis of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nucle-
Black revolution in this country. He is the undisputed ar Weapons, which is simply known as the Non-
champion of mental freedom for Black people. Biko is Proliferation Treaty or NPT.
a symbol of Black power.
The NPT was negotiated between 1965 and 1968 by
And what about Rupert? He is the symbol of ill-gotten the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament in
white wealth acquired through land dispossession, Geneva, Switzerland.
colonialism and apartheid. He is the symbol of white
power. He is a symbol of white wealth. He is the ulti- The main elements of the NPT were to ensure that
mate exhibit of the success of settler-colonialism for there was no further proliferation of nuclear weap-
the Afrikaners. ons, while attempts would be made to persuade the
nuclear countries towards disarmament. Meanwhile,
Given his profile, what does he need to do to shed off the right to peaceful use of nuclear technology would
the offensive whiteness and gain political acceptance be protected and encouraged.
in the eyes of the majority in neo-colonial South Afri-
ca? He must fashion himself as part of those who 2
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The imposing power of Iran in the Middle East was the US was under the influence of Israel whose Presi-
troubling the US, which had a duty to protect its Zion- dent Benjamin Netanyahu held the view that
ist isolated ally Israel. US President Barack Obama the Nuclear Deal "would not block Iran's path to the
opted for persuasion rather than hostility against bomb; it would pave it".
Iran. In 2015 the US led the western powers to clinch
a Nuclear Deal with Iran. The countries were the US,
UK, Russia, France, Germany, China and the EU.
Five of these nations are declared Nuclear Countries.
They are the US, UK, Russia, France and China. These
are countries that weaponised their nuclear before
the conclusion of the NPT.
The US was the first country to develop nuclear weap-
ons during World War II. It tested them in 1945. The
US did this out of fear that Nazi Germany would de-
velop them first. With the nuclear weapons in its
hands, the US tightened its security and its threat to
destroy any country that threatened its interests. Other countries with nuclear weapons are India, Paki-
stan and North Korea. These countries have declared
In the era of the Cold War, that put Russia in a disad- their nuclear status through the open testing of their
vantaged position. Threatened by the urge that the US nuclear weapons. Israel is another country that has
had over it, Russia moved with speed and tested its nuclear weapons. The difference with Israel is that it
own nuclear weapons 4 years after the US in 1949. has kept its nuclear status under cover. That has
Threatened by Russia's security advantage, the UK placed it in a position where it is able to avoid any
and France tested their nuclear weapons in 1952 and punitive attention, while it benefits from the security
1960, respectively. China followed suit in 1964. of possession.
These are the countries that the US mobilised to con- Nobody pays attention to the irony of a nuclear pow-
tain Iran's appetite for the weaponisation of its nucle- er like Israel demanding that its neighbour Iran be
ar technology. As we pointed out earlier on, the US destroyed through sanctions for possessing a capabil-
did this to protect its ally Israel. It also did so because ity to develop nuclear weapons.
it could not tolerate the increase of nuclear powers
that are hostile to it. That would undermine its bully- The EU countries were clear that they would not be
ing position in world politics. bullied by the US. They stood a lot to lose by pulling
out of the Nuclear Deal. Countries like Germany were
The Nuclear Deal had a commitment that sanctions already big trading partners with Iran. The arbitrary
would be lifted if Iran complied with the terms of the sanctions were not helping these countries. And so,
deal. The withdrawal of Iran's oil from the world mar- they devised a facility through which Iran could trade
ket was not only hitting Iran, it also caused scarcity with them by bypassing the dollar.
and drove the oil prices higher.
Faced with this frustration, the US escalated war talk
Enter Donald Trump who was bent on undoing every against Iran and provoked it by flying a technological-
Obama gain. Trump wasted no time in pulling out of ly sophisticated drone in the Iran skies. Iran shot it
the Nuclear Deal, thereby violating the terms of the down with the technological capability and precision
deal. Yet the US pulled out and blamed Iran, while it that shocked the US and the world. It was then that
re-imposed sanctions on Iran. It was also clear that they realised that they had all along underestimated
3 Iran. It was more powerful than they thought. They
3had mistakenly thought that Iran would not have the CONVICTED RACIST SPARROW HAS DIED
capabilities to bring that drone down.
Convicted white supremacist Penny Sparrow has died
The analysis of that Iran threat forced the US to abort of colon cancer. In 2016 Sparrow was found guilty of
its retaliation mission against Iran. At the beginning of "hate speech" by the Equality Court after referring to
this month, the US puppet UK seized an Iran oil tanker Black beachgoers as "illiterate monkeys".
Grace 1 in the Strait of Gibraltar under the accusation
that it was ferrying 2.1 million barrels of crude oil to She was ordered to pay R150 000 to the Oliver and
Syria in violation of European sanctions. Adelaide Tambo Foundation. The Foundation correct-
ly rejected what it called "racist money".
Iran flexed its muscles by seizing a British oil tanker in
the Strait of Hormuz. This is an important oil shipping The ANC-led government has reduced white racism to
route. Iran's advantage is that it enjoys geographical "hate speech" that is punishable by a court order to
proximity to the route. pay a few shillings. The logic here is that racists do not
become racists until they make "hate speech" out-
It is becoming increasingly clear to the US that Iran bursts.
has an ace up its sleeve. On the other hand, the world
powers seem to have no appetite for a third World This is nothing but another ploy to let white racists
War that Trump is busy provoking. and land thieves off the hook.
The nuclear countries, which have not signed the NPT, AZAPO does not believe institutionalised racism can
believe that the manoeuvres by the NPT nuclear pow- be eradicated through litigation. Racism is a function
ers to strip other countries of nuclear capabilities is of power.
designed to denude others of security to weaken them
to toe the bullying line by the US. White people still enjoy economic power, which en-
sures that they monopolise the wealth to the exclusion
This is what countries like North Korea are resisting. of the majority of Black people.
In its Nuclear Summit with the US, North Korea indi-
cated that it was prepared to denuclearise only if the On the other hand, Black people are subjected to land-
US would do the same. That is how the negotiations lessness, abject poverty and an association with
deadlocked. shacks. Whites who refer to Black people as monkeys
are genuine. And nothing is going to change their gen-
The countries of the world should strengthen their uine attitude if the conditions of Black people remain
resolve to diminish the unipolar world under the bul- the same even under a democratic dispensation.
lying of the US. Multilateralism is the world system
that must be promoted. That is why the development White racists will be clever enough not to make any
of China and Russia to world power status that is outbursts, in which cases they would avoid court cas-
threatening to surpass the US might in the march of es. With a zero conviction rate by the Equality Court,
time is welcome. statisticians and the politicians will be boasting about
how racism has been successfully eradicated. How
In line with multilateralism that hold as sacrosanct the stupid!
sovereignty and self-determination of nations, the
world governance system of the United Nations needs White racism is a power-based system that is connect-
to be transformed. ed with the landlessness of Black people. It will take
the reconquest of the land and the radical redistribu-
tion of the wealth to restore Black people's dignity
and uproot white racism.
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