Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 04/26/2024 View Thu 04/25/2024 View Wed 04/24/2024 View Tue 04/23/2024 View Mon 04/22/2024 View Sun 04/21/2024 View Sat 04/20/2024
2020-02-27 Africa Subsaharan
De Klerk finally comes to his senses, then aplogizes for.....coming to his senses
[National Interest] FW De Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid-era president, and his foundation, have learnt the hard way the dangers of the comparative politics of sin. He recently gave an interview to mark his historic speech to parliament on 2 February 1990 when he announced the freeing of Nelson Mandela and unbanning of political organisations. During the interview on the national TV broadcaster he was asked for his thoughts on the declaration by the United Nations that apartheid was a crime against humanity, he replied:

I don’t fully agree with that.

He went on to assert that he was not justifying apartheid in any way whatsoever, saying:

But there is a difference between calling something a crime. Like genocide is a crime. Apartheid cannot be, for instance, compared with genocide. There was never a genocide.

He added that more black people were killed by other black people than by the National Party government. But in making this statement he conveniently chose to forget that a great deal of violence was fomented by the government’s security forces.

De Klerk was immediately engulfed in controversy. Condemnation of his statement came in thick and fast. Big names entered the fray, including former president Thabo Mbeki and Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The South African Council of Churches issued a statement as did the governing African National Congress (ANC). And the opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters called for his ejection from parliament when President Cyril Ramaphosa was waiting to deliver his State of Nation speech.

De Klerk’s foundation responded by dismissing the UN’s statement as a product of Soviet-style "agit-prop". This aroused yet more popular fury.

Such was the outcry that De Klerk opted for an immediate and humiliating retreat, issuing an abject apology, and insisting that he remained firmly committed to the politics of national reconciliation. His foundation also backtracked. It issued an apology for any anger and hurt caused. In its statement it said it agreed with the International Criminal Court’s definition of a crime against humanity as acts
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-27 08:19|| || Front Page|| [13 views ]  Top

#1 A number of nations, including western democracies, have neither signed nor ratified the ICSPCA, including Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

In explanation of the US vote against the convention, Ambassador Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. said: "[W]e cannot...accept that apartheid can in this manner be made a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are so grave in nature that they must be meticulously elaborated and strictly construed under existing international law..."
Posted by European Conservative 2020-02-27 20:24||   2020-02-27 20:24|| Front Page Top

11:00 Skidmark
10:55 Skidmark
10:53 Besoeker
10:52 Jack+Creanter7508
10:50 Jack+Creanter7508
10:48 Jack+Creanter7508
10:47 Jack+Creanter7508
10:45 Jack+Creanter7508
10:44 Deacon+Blues
10:44 Skidmark
10:42 M. Murcek
10:38 Lord Garth
10:37 Deacon+Blues
10:33 Skidmark
10:32 Super Hose
10:31 Skidmark
10:30 Super Hose
10:30 M. Murcek
10:26 Skidmark
10:25 Super Hose
10:22 Super Hose
10:22 M. Murcek
10:18 Super Hose
10:18 M. Murcek









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com