South Africa Apartheid

Question:

Describe a contemporary international event, current event, or global issue, and discuss why you feel this event was important.

An international event that I think is important is the apartheid conflict in South Africa. The apartheid conflict has attracted viewers from all over the world. The actions that political leaders seem to have taken made this a crime against humanity. The crime that I am speaking of is the segregation of races in South Africa. This action was known as the apartheid laws.

The apartheid laws were laws that restricted blacks and colored people form interacting with whites. These laws were very similar to America’s segregation laws but on a different scale. The whites in power systemically controlled blacks. For example, blacks were educated to take employment in technical areas such as mechanics or construction. This perpetuated the idea of blacks being ignorant and incompetent, only a few blacks were achieved professional status, in doing so the blacks had to attend a black university.

Racist ideologies were portrayed throughout this time period which kept blacks virtually non-existent. During the apartheid, there were 19million blacks and 4.5million whites. The logical idea would be to have placed the blacks on the most land since they occupy the most percentage of people. Instead the whites occupied 87% of South Africa land while the blacks occupied 13% of the land. As you can see the land allocation is not properly proportioned. This move put blacks at the end of the end of the social and economic ladder.

This is considered an international event because it brought back ideals that the rest of the world thought had been eradicated. It has been established that one group of people should not be oppressed because they do not fit the criteria of other people. Due to globalization the world has become a more tolerant and accepting place. We promote the idea of diversity which is what makes the apartheid so horrifying. It was almost like a second age segregation act except it was in South Africa.

In conclusion, the apartheid was an international conflict since it attracted people from all over the world. During this period the whites systemically controlled blacks through economic, educational, and social laws. Also during this period that apartheid placed blacks who seemed to be low class on the lowest amount of land available. This is type of treatment that leads to this being a crime against humanity. Now during this new age of diversity and globalization all people have the right to life, liberty, and property.

Cortez A., U.S.

What do you think about the apartheid? Do you agree with Cortez? What contemporary event or global issue do you think is important?