'Allegations of apartheid' have been made,
informally, against societies beyond
South Africa in the years since the international condemnation of the now dismantled
South African Apartheid system. Activists and political theorists have adopted the term "apartheid" to describe other perceived social or political
discrimination. Apartheid has been used in compound phrases coined to compare actual or alleged forms of
segregation, discrimination or disparity to South African Apartheid.
History
The term 'apartheid' (meaning ''separateness'' in
Afrikaans) referred to a system of segregation used in South Africa between 1947 and 1994 and "
Separate Development", the political program of the now defunct
National Party of South Africa.
As a result of international attention and widespread opposition to the apartheid system in South Africa the concept of the
crime of apartheid was developed internationally and recognized in 1973 by the United Nations in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
[1] "As such, apartheid was declared to be a
crime against humanity, with a scope that went far beyond South Africa. While the crime of apartheid is most often associated with the racist policies of South Africa after 1947, the term more generally refers to racially based policies in any state."
[2] In light of South African Apartheid being dismantled by the end of 1993, legal scholars discussed whether the convention could be invoked by other victimized
indigenous peoples.
[3] The U.N. again defined the crime in the 2002
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the treaty establishing the
International Criminal Court.
[4]
Alternate uses
Activists and political theorists have adopted the term apartheid to describe other social or political discrimination.
The term apartheid has been used in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict to allege systematic discrimination against
Palestinians by
Israel; see ''
allegations of Israeli apartheid''. In France the word apartheid has been used to describe the
social situation in the French suburbs where Arab immigrants are not integrated with the general French population and live with inferior social services and housing.
[Silverstein, Paul A. & Tetreault, Chantal."Postcolonial Urban Apartheid", Civil Unrest in the French Suburbs, November 2005, Social Science Research Council, June 11, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2007.]["The truth is that certain French citizens are treated as second-class citizens, if not the leprous members of the national community. Their children are sent to ghetto schools and taught by inexperienced teachers, they are crammed into inhumane public housing developments, and they are confronted with an essentially closed job market. In short, they live in a bleak, devastated universe. France is disintegrating before our eyes into socio-economic communities, into territorial and social apartheid. The rich live in their own ghettos. Institutionalized racism is a daily reality." Follath, Erich. Tariq Ramadan on the crisis in France, ''Salon.com'', November 16, 2005.] Social apartheid in Brazil has been used to describe the
social segregation of the poor (who are mostly dark-skinned) from wealthier classes.
[5]
Other countries whose practices have been compared to apartheid include
Australia for its
White Australia policy and treatment of
aborigines,
[6][7] Bosnia and Herzegovina,
[8] Canada for its treatment of native peoples,
[9] [10] the
People's Republic of China in regards to the
Hukou pass system for peasant population,
[Luard, Tim. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4424944.stm "China rethinks peasant 'apartheid'"], ''BBC News'', November 10, 2005.] as well as
Tibet.
[11] Cuba has been accused of practicing
tourist apartheid,
[12] India for its
caste system which has been described as a "hidden apartheid,"
[13] Jordan for its nationality law which excludes Jews from citizenship
[14] and its two-tiered citizenship system in general,
[15] New Zealand for allegedly giving preferential treatment to
Maoris,
[16][17] Pakistan,
[18] Puerto Rico,
[19]
[20] the
Baltic states of the former
Soviet Union,
[21][22][23] the
Crimea,
[24] Sri Lanka,
[25] as well as the proposed state of
Tamil Eelam,
[25]
and the
United Kingdom.
["Blair: Guantánamo is an anomaly", ''The Guardian'', February 17, 2006.]
Muslim countries accused of
gender apartheid (see below) include
Afghanistan,
[27] Iran,
[28] Malaysia,
[29] and
Saudi Arabia.
["In 'From the Valley of the Chador,' Jan Goodwin (1994) discusses 'gender apartheid' in Saudi Arabia, unmasking a phenomenon that, she argues, has long been thought of as a 'personal problem' and revealing it to be a political issue that deserves attention from the international human rights community." Hanigsberg (1997), p. 76.]
Subtypes
The word "apartheid" has been used in compound phrases coined to compare actual or alleged forms of segregation, discrimination or disparity to South African apartheid.
Terms such as "Islamic apartheid", "Muslim apartheid" or "
religious apartheid" have been used to describe discrimination against non-Muslims in Muslim countries.
[30] [31] [32] [33][34] "
Gender apartheid" (or "sexual apartheid") has been used to describe
sexual segregation and
discrimination against women[35][36], particularly
sexual segregation in Islamic countries.
[37] The term "sexual apartheid" has also been used to describe discrimination against gays and lesbians.
[38][39]
"
Global apartheid" has been used by advocates for the developing world, including
President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, to describe what they believe is an "international system of minority rule"
[40] and the disparity between a minority of the world's population in developed countries and the rest of the world.
[41]
Disparities between rich and poor in various countries has been described as
social apartheid,
urban apartheid or economic apartheid, particularly in countries where the poor are more likely to have darker skin than the rich
[42] or in European countries to describe the disparity and perceived ghettoization of Muslim immigrants.
[43]
The lack of access of many of the world's poor to clean water has been called "water apartheid"
[44] while the government of Iran has used the term "nuclear apartheid" to denounce international attempts to stop
the country's nuclear program.
[45] [46]
Countries whose practices have been compared to apartheid
★
Afghanistan
★
Australia
★
Brazil
★
Bosnia and Herzegovina
★
Canada
★
China
★
Cuba
★
France
★
French Algeria
★
★
Iran
★
Israel
★
Jordan
★
Malaysia
★
Pakistan
★
Puerto Rico
★
Saudi Arabia
★
Sri Lanka
★
United Kingdom
★
United States
See also
★
Racial segregation
★
Sex segregation
★
Religious segregation
★
Crime of apartheid
References
1. International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of ''Apartheid'' United Nations
2. The International Law Commission of the United Nations, , Jeffrey S., Morton, University of South Carolina Press, 2000,
3. Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy, , Jason S., Abrams, Oxford University Press, 2001,
4. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 2, Article 5 United Nations
5. Ladle, Jane. ''Insight Guides: Brazil'', American Map, 1999, p. 76.
6. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/177.html
7. http://www.jcu.edu.au/aff/history/articles/limb.htm
8. Steele, JonathanToday's Bosnia: a dependent, stifled, apartheid regime. ''The Guardian'', November 11, 2005.
9. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/apartheid/stories/introduction.html
10. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/magic/mt3.html
11. United States Congressional Serial Set, United States Government Printing Office, 1993, p. 110.
12. ° "One of the most disconcerting aspects of contemporary Cuba is the government's creation of exclusive 'foreigner-only' tourism zones where Cuban nationals aren't welcome. Effectively, there are two Cubas, a reality that reeks of something akin to tourism apartheid, as many observers have noted."[ http://www.frommers.com/destinations/cuba/3173020876.html A Cultural Primer: Tourist Apartheid & Jineterismo], Frommer's Travel Guide to Cuba, 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
13. http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_09/uk/doss22.htm
14. [ http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rsd/rsddocview.html?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=3ae6b4ea13 ]
15. Citizenship and the State: A Comparative Study of Citizenship Legislation in Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, , Uri, Davis, Garnet & Ithaca Press, 1997,
16. "In the 1950s and 1960s the National government occasionally talked of abolishing the Maori seats. Some politicians described special representation as a form of 'apartheid', like in South Africa." [ http://www.elections.org.nz/study/history/maori-vote.html "History of the Vote: Māori and the Vote"], Elections New Zealand website, April 9 2005. Retrieved November 3, 2006.
17. [ http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0006/S00307.htm "Better Economics But Socially 'Racial Apartheid'"], ''Scoop'', Jun 15, 2000.
18. [1]
19. US Congressman Urging Independence for PR Lives Paradox
20. http://www.finalcall.com/perspectives/who_is_black07-10-2001.htm
21. Apartheid in Latvia (1996)
22. Apartheid with Baltic flavor (2004)
23. Latvia discontinues Russian language education in schools (2003)
24. "Soft Apartheid" is flourishing in Crimea (2006)
25. The Devolution Law of Sri Lanka "A Critique", Australian Centre for Sri Lankan Unity, publication no. 25b.
26. The Devolution Law of Sri Lanka "A Critique", Australian Centre for Sri Lankan Unity, publication no. 25b.
27. [ http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Diana/afghanwomen.htm Women in Afghanistan], Women's Human Rights Resource Programme, University of Toronto Bora Laskin Law Library.
28. Phyllis Chesler, "[ http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/articles.php?article=gender_apartheid.htm Islamic Gender Apartheid]", ''FrontPageMagazine.com'', December 16, 2005
29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.stm
30. See, e.g., http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/12/islams_apartheid.html
31. http://catholicinsight.com/online/culture/printer_691.shtml
32. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article589708.ece
33. http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Article.aspx?id=275
34. http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa96357.000/hfa96357_0.HTM
35. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,580180,00.html
36. http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1978/v34-4-article6.htm
37. Phyllis Chesler, "Islamic Gender Apartheid", ''FrontPageMagazine.com'', December 16, 2005
38. http://www.petertatchell.net/discrimination/discrimination%20-%20sexual%20apartheid.htm
39. http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/site/id/3927/title/CIVIL_PARTNERSHIPS_BILL_DOES_NOT_END_SEXUAL_APARTHEID.html
40. http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/08/26/summit.opening.glb/
41.
★ Global Apartheid by Salih Booker and William Minter in ''The Nation'', July 9 2001
★ Global Apartheid resources from the Africa Action website.
★ Global Apartheid in the Twenty-First Century by Manning Marable.
★ Global Apartheid Continues to Haunt Global Democracy by Charles Mutasa
★ Global Village or Global Apartheid from the from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
42. Charles Murray. The advantages of social apartheid. US experience shows Britain what to do with its underclass – get it off the streets. The Sunday Times. April 3, 2005.
43. Michel Collon. Racism and Social Apartheid. French Suburbs: 10 Questions. Global Research, November 22, 2005.
44. Lyon, David. "UN urges end to 'water apartheid'", ''BBC News'', November 9, 2006.
45. Iran rejects nuclear ‘apartheid’, Aljazeera, December 26, 2005.
46. Iran blasts 'nuclear apartheid', News24.com, November 30, 2005.