Dear Reader of South Africa Insight,
A Somber Gathering
This past Saturday, September 16, marked an important yet somber day in South Africa. Families, friends, and community members congregated at the Plaasmoorde Monument to pay tribute to the farmers who have been victims of violence. On this day, 53 new crosses were added to the monument—one for each white farmer killed in the last year. Of these, 39 had family members attending the ceremony. This brings the total number of crosses at the monument closer to the staggering figure of 3,000.
The ritual of adding new crosses to the Plaasmoorde Monument occurs annually. Each cross represents not just a life lost in a brutal attack, but a family shattered, a community broken. It is a way to ensure that these lives are remembered and that the conversation about farm murders in South Africa continues to be a part of the national and international discourse.
Media's Deafening Silence
However, the continuing silence from Western mainstream media outlets is alarming. While there has been no coverage of the recent ceremony at the Plaasmoorde Monument, it wasn't long ago that the EFF assembled 100,000 people to sing "Kill the Boer." The New York Times dismissed these anti-white incitements as "just a song," effectively minimizing the issue. Sentiments like these are pushing communities to the edge and making coexistence increasingly difficult.
The EFF, a coalition partner of the ANC, has been at the forefront of anti-farmer incitement. Their leader, Julius Malema, is notorious for inflammatory comments like "it's time to cut the throat of whiteness," and their gatherings often feature chants calling for the death of white farmers. Alarmingly, it was the EFF that initiated the idea of expropriating white farmers' land without compensation—a proposal that received the ANC's approval.
Contrast this with the South African Government's agenda of dispossessing white farmers of their land under the banner of "Expropriation without Compensation," ostensibly to redress historical wrongs. The ANC's justification? "Why compensate someone who has stolen your land?" they argue, disregarding the fact that many white families have been farming these lands for generations, dating back to the 1600s.
Currently, it's the farmers themselves, clinging to legal battles, who are the last bulwark against the ANC's plans for uncompensated land seizures. Should they lose, the ANC has the power to change the constitution to be able to proceed—leaving white farmers utterly unprotected.
The chilling echo here is Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, whose own land reform policies led to what can only be described as a genocide against white Zimbabweans.
The mainstream media and the South African establishment often downplay the significance of farm murders, choosing instead to subsume them under general crime statistics. They claim that these incidents are merely one form of crime among many and that white farmers are not disproportionately affected.
This dismissive attitude has led the civil rights organization Afriforum to take matters into their own hands. They have been tracking farm murders and have observed an increase in such attacks coinciding with Malema's incendiary gatherings.
We're living in an era marked by double standards and skewed narratives. It's crucial to bring these often ignored or concealed truths to light. Your attention to this issue, your discussions, and your support for balanced journalism can help tip the scales and break the cycle of silence and ignorance. In today's climate, it falls upon each of us to illuminate these issues and stand resolutely by truths that are often overshadowed or hidden.
Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the ceremony in person this year to provide coverage. Events like this make one reflect deeply on the past years and the challenges that lie ahead. I would like to conclude this note with a moment of silence to contemplate the dire situation faced by the white farming community in South Africa.
Sincerely,
Jonas Nilsson
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