My observation over the years in diverse countries, including my own, is that racism and intolerance always smoulder under the surface. Leaders with inclusive and tolerant leadership styles, like Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, countered this by managing diversity and multiracial societies as assets. They built bridges between the racial divides of the past: a policy of reconciliation and nation-building.
When a race-intolerant demagogue appears on the scene, the race card is played to obtain support and power. Real and imagined problems are given a race tag and portrayed as a threat: a policy of divide and rule. Once the smouldering race-intolerance is awakened, there are always people who will embrace it if the right climate — normally based on fear of domination — is created. There are normally also religious undertones.
Once power is obtained, all the checks and balances — like the justice system, courts and democratic institutions — are infiltrated to obtain total control. Persecution and discrimination based on colour, ethnicity or religion are often the order of the day.
There are many such examples in history, including in SA. It led to World War 2 and ethnic persecution in many countries. It is deeply concerning that such a process is now playing out in a country that was formerly regarded as the beacon of democracy.
The extent and speed of what is happening in the US can only be fully understood if you read the Maga blueprint “Project 2025”. It is difficult to stop such a radical autocratic/dictatorial injunction through a democratic process.
Dawie Jacobs
Pretoria
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