What is racism? Racism is the belief that a particular race is better or worse than another, and that a person is born with their social and moral characteristics, which are related to their race. Racial separatism is the belief, which is based on racism most of the time, that different races should remain apart from one another.

Xenophobia Xenophobia is a related phenomenon to racism. It is defined as an intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries or as an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners.

Racism has existed throughout human history. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations and the creation of laws. Practices and ideologies of racism are universally condemned by the United Nations in the Declaration of Human Rights.

Racism in SA - apartheid Perhaps one of the most shocking examples of full-scale racial oppression and subjugation is the policy of apartheid that was in place in South Africa between 1948 and 1994.

Some “Pillars” of Apartheid The first grand apartheid law was the Population Registration Act of 1950, which formalised racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of eighteen, specifying their racial group

The second pillar of grand apartheid was the Group Areas Act of 1950 The second pillar of grand apartheid was the Group Areas Act of 1950. Until then, most settlements had people of different races living side by side. This Act put an end to diverse areas and determined where one lived according to race.

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between persons of different race

Under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953, municipal grounds could be reserved for a particular race, creating, among other things, separate beaches, buses, hospitals, schools and universities.

Racism in SA Today How different is current-day South Africa from apartheid South Africa? What racism do you think still exists? What have you observed in your experience?

Syncretism The term syncretism is sometimes used to describe the cultural phenomenon where individuals from different marginalised groups stand together, and support each other, against the oppression of the dominant culture.

Syncretism in South Africa An example of this might be the common ground that Black and Jewish South Africans found during the apartheid years. Both minority groups shared the experience of marginalisation at the hands of a dominant culture.

Some famous Jewish Apartheid activists Joe Slovo, of whom Nelson Mandela said: “We are assembled to mourn the passing of a leader, a patriot, a father, a fighter… Indeed, it is the combination of all these qualities so splendidly in one individual, which made Comrade Joe Slovo the great African revolutionary that he was”. Helen Suzman For many years, the lone voice in parliament that stood courageously against apartheid. As founder of the Progressive Party, she was a thorn in the side of the National Government. Albie Sachs Justice Albie Sachs, presently a member of the South African Constitutional Court, was a freedom fighter in the ANC. Twice he was detained without trial by the security police under the apartheid regime.

Recognition “That people of Jewish descent should be so prominent in the liberation movement says something fundamental about the compassion of Judaism. Many Jewish immigrants arrived on our shores in abject poverty, laying claim to little but their rich commitment to humanitarian and egalitarian ideals. Jewish compassion is the fruit of empathy, rather than sympathy. It is the fruit of struggle over many millennia, against racism and persecution”. It was not a Jew who expressed the above views. They were spoken by current Deputy President of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe at a conference in Gauteng on October 19, 2002