There were a few ideas. Some were pretty good, others not so much. So, I tried to pursue the ones that seemed plausible and different. Some have been mostly written, some still need quite a bit of work. Some were even more or less completed and published.
One of the ideas that I had was to write a series about strange communities that differ from most, and that have kind of self-exiled themselves from the wider community that they belong to. These types of communities fascinate me, because whether or not the mission statement in each case is boldly proclaimed or not, they each tend to follow a mindset and ideology that has been largely discredited by not only the larger community that they pretend not to be a part of, but by the wider world in general.
Yet, these communities persist, shrouded in a cloak of mystery, if not outright secrecy. Before long, they almost come to seem fictional, with whispers of rumors seeming to define them as much as facts.
Still, these are real communities, and real people live there. They may be different than you and me. Or, maybe they are not all that different. Maybe it is just separation by degrees. Are their lives really as radically different as perhaps they would have outsiders believe? If not, or especially is so, then what is it about these communities that makes these people, and the towns that they reside in and are a part of, so radically different, then? What instigated them to put their desires to separate themselves into action, and to form communities that truly do stand out?
I mean, this particular blog entry is about a town in the middle of nowhere, deep in the desert in South Africa. Here I am writing this from suburban New Jersey. How do I even know about this community? How is it was the focus of a recently released film from a European director?
My guess is that it is because this town has not moved on in the direction that the rest of South Africa has gone in. That, in other words, the spirit of segregation that drove the white minority government of the country during the days of apartheid, when it became the world's pariah, still seems to exist here. On many levels, it is seen as kind of an embarrassment to South Africa, a relic of the past.
Yet, blacks are not oppressed here, like in the days of apartheid. They are not allowed to live here at all, actually. This is the dream of many prominent Afrikaners of the past, and this community is an attempt by modern day Afrikaners to realize that dream in reality. The pursuit of this dream is the reason why this particular community exists, and so it has gained not just regional, or even national, but international attention.
This is the first part of a series on extremist communities that have imposed a measure of exile upon themselves, in order to preserve what they must perceive as values. But these are valued that, again, have largely been rejected by the wider world. At times, this has created real friction and misunderstanding.
Most of this particular blog entry was written a long time ago, before even my trip to Poland in June. came back to it from time to time, and was holding out in hopes of actually seeing the film so that I could add my thoughts and impressions of the film as well. But alas, I do not know of any instance when the film was shown by me, though I looked for it. So, here I am publishing it, still hoping someday to see the film, and then hopefully write a review of it in a separate blog entry.
There is a movie that came out earlier this year...but if it has been shown in the United States, than it has not to anywhere around me, in any case. If it has, it certainly was not clear, because I have searched the internet repeatedly, but could not find a place that was showing it, although I would love to see it, and would be willing to travel a bit in order to do so. And the Orania film website has not given any indication that this has played, or even will be playing anywhere near me. So, reluctantly, I had to publish this before seeing it. I held out, having written this many months ago, assuming (mistakenly) that it would indeed come around at least once. But alas, I don't know if I am going to get a chance to see it anytime soon. So, here goes with the original post...
What makes Orania stand out is that it is the one place left in South Africa where the old days of apartheid live on. Only whites lives here. More specifically, only Afrikaners (or Boers, if you prefer), or those sympathetic to their culture, can reside here. It is a private community, and those who chose to settle this community in the waning days of the apartheid rule by a white minority government, as an alternative to having to live in the new South Africa.
You look at the flag, and you wonder what the exact meaning is supposed to be. The colors are not mysterious. Orange, white, and blue were the colors of the old South Africa, during the days of apartheid, as well as the dominant colors of the Orange Free State (although the town is not technically in either of the old Boer Republics, but on the edge of the eastern Cape).
The image of a boy rolling up his sleeves makes you wonder what the designers of the flag meant. Rolling up one's sleeves could be interpreted as getting ready to seriously get some work done. It also implies the possibility of getting ready for a fight.
Of course, the little boy seems clear enough, portraying youth, with obvious expectations of future growth.
But the thing is, this community has not grown much. At least in terms of population. Those who started this experiment had expectations of strong growth, with the ultimate goal of setting up a white "homeland".
Those who are familiar with South African history know that the term "homeland" is loaded in this country. After all, it was the white regime's dream of essentially eliminating the possibility of any black South Africans that was the incentive for setting up the "homeland" system, where blacks were given citizenship to one of these homelands, which effectively denied them citizenship, and the rights of citizenship, in South Africa. It goes without saying that the homelands occupied the worst land in the nation, and were overcrowded and poverty stricken. When South Africa imposed "independence" for these "republics", Pretoria was the only government to recognize their independence. Everybody saw through this cynical strategy to justify an all-white South Africa.
When apartheid was clearly on it's last legs, particularly following FW DeKlerk's famous announcement in February of 1990, when he declared that apartheid had failed, and then announced that Nelson Mandela would be freed, and the ban would be lifted on opposition political organizations, numerous extremist whites stepped up their desire for a new solution . The writing was on the wall, but there were plenty who were paranoid of what would happen. Some whites, particularly extremists groups like Terre'Blanche's AWB, had advocated a Boer homeland (he specifically wanted these to be the borders of the two old Boer Republics, the orange Free State and the Transvaal. Quite a few spoke about these things, but a band of Afrikaners actually went ahead and did it.
Or tried to, anyway. When they set up Orania, they believed that they were setting up the beginnings of a white homeland. The town, which is situated in the very inhospitable Karoo desert, is hardly very appealing for many. It is extremely hot and arid, and hardly would seem the first choice for a fresh new start. But those who designed the town wanted this community to blossom in the desert, to flourish. Perhaps they truly saw this as the beginning of a mass movement, which just might culminate in the fruition of a white homeland.
But now, more than two decades after Orania was first founded, it still has only reached about 1,000 inhabitants. Not enough to be seen as a homeland. Not even close, actually. It does have 10,000 supporters, although moral support among what amounts to a tiny minority of South Africans, even white South Africans, can only go so far. The fact of the matter is that Orania is a tiny community in the middle of nowhere. You do not get here by accident, but by making a point of coming here. The residents here have chosen a self-imposed isolation not all that dissimiliar to the political isolation that the white minority apartheid regime faced by relentlessly pursuing it's racial policies. Much like the old South African regime, they are taking pains to preserve the language and culture of Afrikaners, which they feel is under threat.
That old South Africa, of course, is gone. Still, there is Orania. It continues to exist, a tiny archipelago of apartheid with less than six hundred residents, isolated in a continent that has moved on from the days of white rule. Perhaps it has dawned on residents that their "movement" has not aught on, and that this community, far from being the founding site of a new, white homeland, is instead, more of a pariah than anything else. An oddity. A community of extremists trying to attract like-minded, and willing, extremists, that are in short supply.
The fact of the matter is that the rest of the world, including white South Africans, and even including Afrikaners, have moved on. They want to be part of the world in the present day, and not merely some small and insignificant longing for the past.
But the stated goal of Orania was not to recreate or preserve apartheid, although the Afrikaners who established it did try and separate themselves from pretty much every other group. Rather, they say, it was meant to preserve Afrikaans, the language of the Afrikaner. They meant for Orania to help them preserve Afrikaner culture and values. They did not view the emergence of the new South Africa as an opportunity to create something new, but as a threat to the old way of life for their people, their language, and their culture. That is why Orania came to exist in reality, although it has not quite grown into the white homeland that some had come to expect it to grow into.
Those who founded the community of Orania may have tried to do something that the white minority government of South Africa had rarely done: they used their imagination, and they conceded certain realities. Living in a country where whites constitute a small and diminishing minority, and on a continent where whites are an even tinier minority overall, it was necessary to comes to such an understanding. They tried to portray this as a change of heart. They claimed that they were willing to sacrifice to help build this dream into a reality. Gone were the black servants, such as housekeepers and gardeners, that most whites had during the days of apartheid (and probably, most whites still have in present day, officially post-apartheid South Africa). After all, that was what apartheid was all about, was it not? It was called "baaskap" in older days, and it came to be known officially as apartheid. It was white supremacy, where blacks were supposed know their place and serve whites, and whites ruled the land and made up the rules, living lives of privilege and seclusion. It might not have been every white that lived in the lap of luxury, but all whites did benefit from the apartheid system that was designed to benefit them. Whites in South Africa came to enjoy a standard of living that was not only the highest in Africa, but even got to be the highest in the world. There was wealth to spare among the small white minority in South Africa. They enjoyed their standard of living, and the government censored news and other exposures to any different realities from the one that they knew. Apartheid kept the groups separated (not just black and white), and the only real interaction that whites knew towards blacks was that they were supposed to be in servitude to whites. It was the relationship of master and servant, and it lasted a very long time - longer than many people possible.
Blacks more often than not lived in overcrowded ghettos, essentially. They were not given citizenship rights, and so they were at the mercy of the police. They had to carry their passbooks everywhere, and could be arrested at any moment, and deported to their "homeland", if their paperwork was not deemed proper (and it was hard to be given permission to do pretty much anything, if you were not white). Most blacks, thus, lived in as temporary residents, which meant that most blacks, after working for whites, would come to a home that had no electricity, heat, or running water.
The old South Africa began to end in 1990, with DeKlerk's famous speech. But the process of actually fully dismantling apartheid was a long one, and it was hardly painless. It involved not just a long process of discussions, but saw the long process of dismantling the legal infrastructure of apartheid. It took years, and even then, some segregation could still easily be found. At least one town, Ventersdorp, reintroduced so-called "petty apartheid", with segregated bathrooms and entrances to public buildings. In popular tourist beaches, segregated beaches remained. In many respects, more remained the same than had changed in South Africa. It was the same flag that flew over the land, the same national anthem, and the same white minority government in charge, voted in exclusively by a white minority population.
Only when Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President, and the country had a government elected by all the people in a "one man, one vote" democratic process, could it be said that apartheid really was over. Even then, inequality, and rampant inequality at that, continued. it continues to this day.
But things did begin to change. Legally, blacks were now equal to whites. The government began an extensive process of trying to provide electricity and running water and heat to homes that did not have them before, and there were marked improvements for millions of black households, although there is still plenty of work left to be done.
Still, there was inequality. Whites still lived a life that was far more privileged and plentiful than anyone else in the land. Many still had their servants. And as much change as South Africa has seen, many blacks still have jobs that reinforce servitude. Economically, whites were still the overlords, so to speak.
This was part of the great sacrifice, according to those who set up Orania. In Afrikaans, the term is "selfwerksaamheid" (self-reliance), and it meant something that, they felt, Afrikaners had gotten away from in their lives of privilege in the old apartheid system. In Orania, they would not have black servants. Everything would be done by Afrikaners, even those things that Afrikaners had long relied on others to do. It was a different approach. Go it on your own. The infant rolling up his sleeves, getting ready to get to work. Or perhaps to fight for what he believes. Or both.
Perhaps that is why, on the official website, Orania is termed not so much a town, as a concept. See for yourself:
www.orania.co.za/english
In an article by Stewart Maclean and Emily Miller of Mirror, titled Apartheid's last stand: Inside South African village Orania where 800 Afrikaners cling to all-whites culture, we get some of the ideas behind the town, in the words of the town's founders:
"We want to preserve our culture so we interview everyone before they come to live here," says John Strydom, spokesman for the town. "They must be Afrikaans-speaking, they must want to engage with our culture and they must be our sort of people."
There is no written rule banning blacks.
Mr Strydom insists: "This is not about skin colour or prejudice. We judge each case on its merits. But we have traditional values.
"So would I move to Orania if I were black or coloured or gay? Not a chance."
He admits: "We don't have black cleaners or staff like elsewhere in the country. But it's not as if we don't allow any blacks to enter the town. Sometimes the electric or phone companies send in a black workman and we won't stand in their way."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/apartheids-last-stand-inside-south-260868
From the same article, here are some words from the town leader, Carel Boshoff:
"We have a lot of busts of my grandfather," admits Mr Boshoff. "The way he is viewed by South Africans now means there is a surplus. But I'm proud of him.
"And, in time, we expect our project to grow. We feel let down that, at the end of apartheid, we never got to argue for a homeland of our own. Now, the way South Africa is going, we expect it to fail completely in the next three to five decades. After that, perhaps we'll get a bigger space to display our culture."
There is a film out about the community, and according to one description (which I took the liberty of posting below), it will challenge your preconceptions about Orania and Oranians. I personally believe, deep down, that this community was founded on lingering racism leftover from the apartheid days, but perhaps these is something to be said about the residents creating their own community, and trying to preserve their culture.
Perhaps they try to pass Orania off as a concept, but it is a real community. A town, with a history.
Very late in 1990, roughly 40 Afrikaner families migrated to this town. Their leader was Carel Boshoff, the son-in-law of former South African Prime Minister, and the person who likely best represented apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd. The town itself is privately owned by a private company, the Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok.
Originally, the town was built for construction workers working on the Orange River Project in 1970. But it had long since been abandoned by the time the first Afrikaners began settling here.
http://www.northerncape.org.za/getting_around/towns/Orania/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania,_Northern_Cape
Oranians are usually assumed to be racists, and the exclusively Afrikaner community to be a small enclave where apartheid practices and mindsets live on. In 2005, Orania's Radio Club 100 was shut down, and the equipment taken away by the Communications Authority of South Africa. Officially, it was because they did not have a license. But many read between the lines, and it was felt that it was deemed to be racist. Orania's management claimed that it had simply broadcast small, local announcements pertaining to the locals only, such as birthdays.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/orania-radio-station-kicked-off-the-air-1.258326#.UWfFCbVORic
http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/Orania
Yet, the reality is that these people have not had a change of heart. In fact, they are basically the only ones in South Africa who have not gone with the tide, and accepted the changes that were inevitable. Even those who support this community can be said to have accepted a greater deal of reality, since they did not pack up their things to come to live in an all-white community. But those few hundred who did were trying to preserve a part of the past that was not worth preserving. They might not outright admit it, knowing better by now from the lessons of history. Outright racism would no longer do, at least not from official circles. But the residents of Orania are trying to keep an old dream alive. But that is what it is, and will always be now: a dream. The days of apartheid are over. Almost everyone in South Africa have accepted this. Even racist whites have resigned themselves to this. But for those who feel that they "sacrificed" in order to build the dream, and moved to the hot and arid desert in pursuit of the dream, are fooling only themselves when they claim to have accepted a new reality. Indeed, they are the only ones in all of South Africa, and indeed, in all of the world, really, who have not yet accepted the new South Africa. Their isolation is now two fold, but unlike the regime that was in change of Pretoria during the days of apartheid, the world is not waiting for Oranians to have a change of heart. A few hundred extremists is not a matter of urgency. The rest of the world accepts that a small community has decided to pursue an outdated dream, and to deny reality. The fact of the matter is that, in the grand scheme of things, Orania is a tiny community of little to no significance. Even symbolically.
At least not yet, although the founders hope to change that. To those ends, they predict that South Africa will fall apart within a few decades, and that the turmoil that this will bring will ultimately attract more Afrikaners to join this movement for an Afrikaner homeland.
The old flag of Orania, which bore a stronger, much more obvious relation to the old South African flag. It was followed convention far more than the present flag of Orania, and featured a citadel shape in the middle, which may have hinted at the original fortress at Cape Town, one of the original structures of the Dutch settlers. But it also almost hinted at the lager, the traditional defensive circling of the wagons which became a staple among Boers when employing self-defense.
The new flag of Orania, featuring the same, traditional colors.
Illustrations of the "official" currency in Orania, the Ora.
Here is a link to an article, "South Africa's 'White Homeland'", by Barnaby Phillips, the South African contributor to the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2500435.stm
Here is an article about Orania that was written during the days of the 2010 World Cup, when South Africa was, once again, under the world's microscope. The title is "World Cup: Is South Africa's white town racist?", written by Nicolas Brulliard of the Global Post, and explore the town to try and find out if it is a beacon/hallmark/bulwark of racism:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/south-africa/100617/orania-south-africas-white-enclave-cool-world-cup
Here is the link to Wikipedia, which is always an informative site, and from which I borrowed some of the material I used in writing this piece:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania,_Northern_Cape
Also, there is the movie out there that premiered in September of last year during the Raindance Film Festival, titled simply "Orania". In Afrikaans, which is the language the movie is done in, the title is "Vítejte v Oránii". It is directed by a German, Tobias Lindner, and is slated for release on June 13, 2013. Notably, it was nominated for best documentary. I, for one, hope to see it, and think it will be very interesting, to say the least.
A description of the film on the Raindance website:
It's easy to come to Orania with a whole heap of preconceptions. A documentary about the eponymous town founded in 1991 only for Afrikaners - white South Africans descended from the original Dutch settlers - it's unsurprising that the place has garnered such a negative image within the post-Apartheid nation. It would be easy to play on the town's obvious eccentricities and portray it as a kind of South African Royston Vasey, but rather than ridicule his subjects Tobias Lindner's frankly stunning documentary sets out to get to know them better. Taking a Verite approach Lindner's camera quietly observes a broad selection of the town's inhabitants as they go about their business, and so intimate is our access to this unusual community that we almost feel a part of it by the end.
The film ultimately reveals not so much a community of bigots (even the most traditional and right wing of inhabitants are shown to have a human side), but a people merely trying to keep their culture alive. It's refreshing to see a documentary that doesn't have an axe to grind, but even more so it's good to leave the cinema feeling as though your prejudices have been challenged in a very unexpected way. Surely that is the best result a documentary can hope for?
Dean Bowman
http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?id=595,8883,0,0,1,0
Here is the link for more information on it below, and you can check the Wikipedia link, which can also be found below:
"A film called Orania" by Martie Bester
http://www.screenafrica.com/page/news/film/1575296-A-film-called-Orania#.UnsqH6Mo5eM
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/orania-film-review-48703.html
http://www.orania-film.de/main%20GER.html
http://vimeo.com/40233232
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2306687/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania_(film)
Here are some other links about Orania:
http://www.orania.co.za/english/wie-is-ons/geskiedenis/
http://danielcuthbert.com/the-afrikaner
www.skyscrapercity.com/archive/index.php/t-361682.html
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