2.10.2004

 

(White) Flights of Fancy
From the MotherJones.com blog:

Over at the National Review's The Corner, John Derbyshire entertains some far-fetched ideas about South Africa:

...the rumor mill in South Africa says that when Mandela dies (he's 85) there will be a general massacre of whites. Mandela seems to be aware of the rumors. South African whites are aware of them too, and all sorts of preparations are being made. Is there such a thing as a self-fulfilling rumor?

His source? A questionable story from the often-questionable right-wing news site WorldNetDaily. Without naming a single source, WND breathlessly relates a hodge-podge of scare stories about how Mandela's death will lead to "70,000 armed black men" going on a rampage and a "Communist plot" to depose Thabo Mbeki.

A quick search of the South African media proves the story to be bunk. A recent article by the South African Press Association shows why: the rumors originated with a white supremacist group called Boeremag. This revelation came out during the trial of 18 Boeremag members accused of murder, treason, terrorism, and sabotage. According to police, the accused obsessed about racial conspiracy theories when they weren't plotting to overthrow South Africa's democratic government. The WND dispatch is suspiciously similar the SAPA story– its references to "70,000 armed black men" and the so-called "communist plot" against Mbeki match the SAPA piece almost verbatim.

Just to show what it's talking about, here are excerpts from the WorldNetDaily story and the SAPA story that apparently inspired it:

WND: "White slaughter in South Africa? Plans made to conduct campaign of genocide after Mandela's death"
"While former South African President Nelson Mandela, 85, scoffs at rumors of ill health, plans are being made by the nation's Communist Party to slaughter all whites in the country upon his death, G2B sources say.

One of the operations planned entails 70,000 armed black men "being transported to the Johannesburg city center within an hour" in taxicabs to attack whites.

The plans are variously dubbed "Operation Vula," "Night of the Long Knives," "Operation White Clean-up," "Operation Iron Eagle" and "Red October campaign."

Operation "Our Rainy Day" was to be carried out after the death of Nelson Mandela and would have entailed blacks being transported to the largest cities in taxis.

The assailants were expected to "take over" fuel points and massacre whites. The attacks would lead to a coup.

Sources say most blacks in the country are aware of the plans. When racial disputes occur, blacks often tell whites, "Wait until Mandela dies.” [...]

The Red October campaign is allegedly a Communist plot to oust President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki would be replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa.

"I was starting to think I was going nuts!" said another white South Africa resident. "'Operation Uhuru' or 'Operation White Clean-up' is definitely no rumor. I spoke to someone who told me that some blacks in Zimbabwe have also confirmed that this 'event' will take place. My cousin stays on a farm in Mpumalanga, not too far from Johannesburg. A black police officer in that district told his white colleague that they are going to kill us like flies, and there is nothing we can do about it. And that they also don't care if we know."


SAPA: "Massacre of whites key to Boeremag coup plot"
[Boeremag defense lawyer Harry] Prinsloo put it to [police infiltrator Johan] Smit that operations such as Operation White Clean-up, Operation Vula, Night of the Long Knives, Operation Iron Eagle and the Red October campaign had formed the subject of discussions at some of the meetings.

Operation Eagle, he said, would have been carried out by the defence force and entailed 70 000 armed black men being transported in taxis to the Johannesburg city centre to kill whites.

Our Rainy Day would have been carried out after Mandela's death and entailed armed blacks being transported to the big cities, taking over fuel points and killing whites.

The Red October campaign was allegedly a communist plot to oust President Thabo Mbeki and to massacre whites and Vula was aimed at ousting Mbeki and replacing him with Cyril Ramaphosa.

Note to American right-wingers: gotta be more careful before you accept ideas from racist South African nuts at face value...

posted by daudi • link: Tuesday, February 10, 2004