After delving more
into the history and people of South Africa, it is evident that this is a
country with an extremely rich culture, beautiful landscape, and turbulent
past. I am of course aware of the apartheid era, but was still surprised and
saddened upon learning that it was expressly forbidden and punishable for
people of different races to be in love or have a relationship—I assumed that
this might be frowned upon in the apartheid-era society, but not that it was
actually against the law. This is one of many sad realities of apartheid. Another
surprising and distressing aspect of South Africa’s history was the degrading
and extremely unjust practice of Bantu education, which denied black people the
right to an education by replacing it with debasing teachings promoting racist
stereotypes.
In terms of South
Africa’s strengths, it has become a global economic force to be reckoned with,
as well as being a leading spot for tourism. Its cultural diversity and
overcoming apartheid makes it a historical landmark for human rights. As the
overthrow of apartheid is a fairly recent occurrence, continuing to move away
from this system in the future could present challenges. Another possible
challenge for the future of South Africa lies in allegations of corruption of
Jacob Zuma, the current ANC president.
Upon reviewing
several of South Africa’s current events, the event I found most intriguing was
the Ebola story: “South Africa pulls up its sleeves in fight against Ebola,”
which outlined their very vigilant and robust efforts to keep this virus out of
the country which have been successfully implemented thus far.
Based
on all of this information, a pertinent question I would like to ask David
Gilmour, our guest speaker and the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of
African Affairs, would be: In South Africa today, are all races guaranteed quality
education and schooling opportunities?
I also found the ebola story intriguing! Especially because most people say "Be careful about ebola!!!" after I tell them I am going to South Africa this summer. You are right in regard to how overcoming the effects of apartheid and political corruption will be challenging. But after remembering how far this country has come since its distressing past makes me hopeful for the future :)
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DeleteYou brought up a great question about guaranteed quality education and school opportunities. Just from the U.S. History we noticed that people of color had to fight for the right of equal education. I wonder if South Africa is having to do that now since apartheid was not long ago.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a great question about guaranteed quality education and school opportunities. Just from the U.S. History we noticed that people of color had to fight for the right of equal education. I wonder if South Africa is having to do that now since apartheid was not long ago.
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