‘The Involvement of the State Had to Be a Secret’: The Impact of Vrye Weekblad and Weekly Mail Exposés on the Apartheid Government and its Conservative Apologists in the United States

IF 0.4 3区 历史学 Q1 HISTORY
Bryan Trabold
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT In its final stages, the apartheid government in South Africa sought to promote an image that it was committed to reform and that it represented the only entity in the country capable of containing ‘black-on-black’ violence. At the same time, it created death squads and supported black counter-revolutionary forces to weaken the African National Congress. For the government’s strategy to work, it was essential that the violence it was using and fomenting remain hidden. Conservatives in the United States served as a willing accomplice of the apartheid government throughout its existence and particularly during this time period. This article examines two exposés published in South Africa: the Vrye Weekblad revelations about the death squads in 1989 and the Weekly Mail articles about the apartheid government’s support for Inkatha in 1991. These exposés, often viewed as separate, distinct stories, are connected in two meaningful ways. First, these newspapers, which reached small readerships in South Africa, published stories that would subsequently be featured in major newspapers in the United States. Secondly, by revealing the apartheid government’s use of covert violence, these exposés undermined the image it was cultivating and the policies it was pursuing to remain in power and, in the process, refuted every claim made by conservatives in the US.
“国家的介入必须是一个秘密”:《周末报》和《每周邮报》对美国种族隔离政府及其保守派辩护者的影响
摘要在南非种族隔离政府的最后阶段,它试图宣传一种致力于改革的形象,即它代表了该国唯一能够遏制“黑人对黑人”暴力的实体。与此同时,它成立了敢死队,并支持黑人反革命势力削弱非洲人国民大会。为了使政府的战略发挥作用,政府使用和煽动的暴力必须隐藏起来。美国的保守派在种族隔离政府的整个存在过程中,特别是在这段时间里,都是其心甘情愿的帮凶。这篇文章考察了在南非发表的两篇文章:1989年《Vrye Weekblad》对敢死队的揭露,以及1991年《每周邮报》关于种族隔离政府支持因卡塔的文章。这些展览通常被视为独立、独特的故事,以两种有意义的方式联系在一起。首先,这些报纸在南非的读者人数很少,它们发表的故事随后会在美国的主要报纸上刊登。其次,通过揭露种族隔离政府使用秘密暴力的行为,这些揭露破坏了它正在培养的形象和它为继续执政而推行的政策,并在这个过程中驳斥了美国保守派的每一个说法。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
37
期刊介绍: Over the past 40 years, the South African Historical Journal has become renowned and internationally regarded as a premier history journal published in South Africa, promoting significant historical scholarship on the country as well as the southern African region. The journal, which is linked to the Southern African Historical Society, has provided a high-quality medium for original thinking about South African history and has thus shaped - and continues to contribute towards defining - the historiography of the region.
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