Hard Right: The New White Power in South Africa - Softcover

Van Rooyen, Johann

9781850438182: Hard Right: The New White Power in South Africa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1850438188 ISBN 13: 9781850438182

Publisher: I. B. Tauris, 1994

What are the roots, policies and strategies of the small but potent far-right movement in the turbulent field of South African politics? Does this disruptive element in South Africa's struggle to establish a multi-racial democracy have any real power?

Afrikaner ethno-nationalism is the driving force of the rightwing and the author examines the concept of an Afrikaner "fatherland" to guarantee ethnic homogeneity and protection from domination by other ethnic groups. The right wing traces its origins from militant Afrikaner nationalism in the 1930s, the fascist Afrikaner movement of the 1940s and the apartheid policies after 1948.

The author examines the danger of all-out civil war, the role of the extremist groups like the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), the relations with the Inkatha Freedom Party and the possibility of a white homeland as South Africa moves along the difficult and bloody path to democracy in the 1990s.

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About the Author:

Johann van Rooyen was born South Africa in 1960. After school in Cape Town he studied Law at the University of Stellenbosch, followed by two years in the South African Navy. He resumed his studies in 1984 at the University of Cape Town in the field of political studies and obtained his Doctorate in 1992. He lectured and guest-lectured for a short while at Rhodes University and UCT before relocating to Ontario, Canada in 1992. There he continued with his research and in 1994 he published Hard Right - South Africa's New White Power (IB Tauris Publishers, London) and contributed chapters in Democratic Nation-building (HSRC Publishers, Pretoria) and in Election '94 South Africa (David Phillip Publishers, Cape Town).

Van Rooyen returned to South Africa with his family in 1996 where he entered the business world. He published his latest book, The New Great Trek (Unisa Press, Pretoria) in September 2000, a culmination of four years of part-time research, his observations of the post-apartheid South Africa and his own experiences abroad. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where he owns and operates his own business.

Review:

Best and most comprehensive study to date of the travails of the Afrikaner right in the face of majority rule. -- R.W. Johnson, January 1, 1994

Exhaustively researched, well-written, brimming with new perceptions...it is outstanding. -- Stanley Uys, 1 March 1994

Most exhaustive study of the white right yet published...(His)exploration of Afrikaner paramilitary groups, a real tour de force. -- The Times Literary Supplement, London, April 1, 1994

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