With at least two white farmers murdered each week in South Africa, and Al-Qaeda threatening to “blow up” the upcoming World Cup games, white supremacists there are on the defensive.
Nazi salutes and swastikas were the order of the day at the funeral of the latest white farmer murder victim, white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche. Founder and head of the AWB party that seeks an independent white South African republic, Terreblanche was buried in his hometown on Friday, six days after being hacked to death by two black farm workers.
Terreblanche's AWB flag features a black swastika-like emblem in a white seal on a red background, not unlike the Nazi flag. Among the hundreds of mourners were many who gave the Nazi salute, were dressed in AWB uniform, and even threatened revenge.
“None of us are safe,” farmer Jan van der Merwe told local media. “White farmers are always been murdered in this country, but now they have killed our leader, there must be consequences.”
With only nine weeks until the start of the World Cup, mourners said they fear the worst. “[This government] cannot even protect those of us who live here," one said, "so how can they guarantee the safety of hundreds of thousands of football fans? There will be bloodshed and then people of the world will know what we have to face every single day of our lives.”
Al Qaeda Threatens Mass Attack
The threat is not only from blacks, but also from Muslim terrorists. A statement from Al Qaeda published online on last week read: “How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators. When the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing.”
“It is not that we don't like the blacks,” one AWB member told The Mail. “It is just that we want to be apart from them. We have our God and our ways, and they have their ancestors and the things that are important to them. God did not want us to be mixed like this. It is not a coincidence that Oom Gene [Terreblanche] died at Easter. He died so that we may be saved - so that God will give us our own homeland at last, so that the Afrikaners may be alone..."
One pastor among the crowd said that some ten years ago, “a war was declared on the white man in the country and nobody has done anything about it.” Another woman wailed that “it doesn’t matter who you are; if your skin is white, they [the blacks] will kill you.”
Terreblanche, a fervent opponent of black rule, and no friend to other minorities, was released from prison in 2004 after serving time for beating a black man nearly to death.
South Africa's Jews
The Jewish community in the country peaked in the 1970s, with close to 120,000 people. Nearly a third emigrated in the following two decades, and 10,000 Israelis moved in. Currently, the population is around 75,000 – nearly a quarter in Cape Town, and most of the remainder in Johannesburg, which features many Kosher restaurants and Jewish religious centers.
A poll conducted in late 2006 found that 79 percent of the South African Jewish community said they were "very likely" to stay in South Africa – as compared with 42 percent of those surveyed eight years earlier. Today, the impression is that the older generation is set on remaining, while many younger Jews have their sights turned towards Israel. A long-standing campaign in the South African Jewish community urges its members to "go home or stay home," i.e., to either move to Israel or remain in South Africa, and not leave for other countries.