Similarities between South Africa's election in 1948 and ours of this year are spooky. Prior to that election, blacks and whites got along in that country. Blacks could vote, own property, join labor unions, and otherwise enjoy the rights of every citizen.
Then in 1948 one party ran on pure prejudice. It resurrected the concept of making South Africa a white ruled nation, by putting all blacks, mixed, colored, Asians, in enclosed states. The segregationist National Party's election platform stressed that apartheid would preserve a market for white employment in which nonwhites could not compete.
Based on their electoral system, and based on the economic advantage that blacks would provide as free labor in rural areas, and based on there being more rural districts than urban districts, the rurals won by 5 votes. And lost the popular vote by OVER 11%...
As in our nation, this one was run on racism. It propelled a party that had been out of power since the nation's founding, into a majority ruling entity.
If 5 short years, almost all the laws passed which created the South Africa we thought we always knew, were levied.
Some may ring familiar bells to you if you have been reading post-election after November 8th.
It started first with the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, in 1949, which outlawed marriage between Europeans and non-Europeans...;
The following year sexual intercourse between different races was banned.
In 1950, the National government passed the Population Registration Act, which categorized every South African by race, and subsequently required people to carry with them at all times a card stating their racial identity.
Group Areas Act of 1950, however, was the core of apartheid in South Africa. The act marked off areas of land for different racial groups, and made it illegal for people to live in any but their designated areas
The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (originally introduced as the Unlawful Organizations Bill) - The Act was introduced in an attempt to curb the influence of the CPSA and other formations that opposed the government's apartheid policy.
The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 created separate government structures for blacks and whites and was the first piece of legislation to support the government's plan of separate development
Bantu Education Act, 1953 - established an inferior education system for Africans based upon a curriculum intended to produce manual laborers and obedient subjects.
Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, 1959 - This Act forced different racial groups to live in different areas. Only a small percentage of South Africa was left for black people (who comprised the vast majority) to form their 'homelands’. Like the Group Areas Act, this act also got rid of 'black spots’ inside white areas, by moving all black people out of the city. This Act caused much hardship and resentment. People lost their homes, were moved off land they had owned for many years and were moved to undeveloped areas far away from their place of work
As you either may remember or well guess, all attempts to stop this massive change, failed. Despite the guilty party being in arrears on the popular vote. They had the power to pass legislation and that is exactly what they did.
It remained in place until 1994, when prime minister De Clerk and Nelson Mandela worked together and abolished it.
it originally was challenged in court. The court struck it down. The legislature then tired to expand and pack the court, which was struck down as well. The legislature voted to expand the Senate from 49 to 89 and packed all those seats with segregationists, voted on the act, then immediately shrank itself back to its original members. That wound up bypassing the Constitutional requirement requiring 3/4ths of legislature to make constitutional changes. It was held on appeal by a stacked court.
I feel i do not need to make the connections for you on how these are being manifested by the Trump team in public this very day. if you read this, you already know.
Therefore I wish to steer towards how to prevent it happening here. Human civilization has faced many such coups. Some succeed. Some fail. Looking over history a quick generalization manifests itself upon its reader. Those where such policies fail to take root, are societies where the population is fired up and ready to go, and does not let it happen.
That is it.
It is actually quite simple. They will try their hardest to get it passed and they will, as long as we don't try harder than they do and succeed at preserving the status quo. IF we try anything less than as hard as they try, we lose.
It really depends on our nations’ humanity. Will at least 60 % of our citizenry stand up and say no to registering Muslims, registering Mexicans, registering Dissenters? To get any retreat out of this team being placed in office, one will need to turn at least part of their voting block against them. Pressure from their own ranks is the only pressure they feel.
Which means, become anything but silent. Be vocal. Write letters. Pick up the phone. We need data banks calling as we had for elections. We need to call red states and explain the consequences in economic terms how registering any sub-group, or all of them, will destroy our economy...
We will win if we can get public opinion to line up against the Alt-Right. If we can't, then all other attempts are useless.
What our friends tell us who live in nations under autocrats, is to expect to be hit with a daily horror. They come so fast you tend to give up. We just finished an election. We have organizational mailing lists after the last election which can be used to daily alert at least 25% of our nation to each new horror on the day it happens. Our job as citizens will be to actually open those emails, and contact those it says.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Staying non-activists will be how we lose it...