tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22450762662884788022024-03-19T00:55:58.880-07:00Republican Trekker Volk.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-18780128795913607942015-06-17T11:59:00.003-07:002018-08-01T01:54:56.721-07:00Not From The Cape Dutch Population Group. The Boer people arose on the Cape frontier from the Trekboers who were from the poorest members of the fledgling Cape colony established by the Dutch East India Company during the 1650s who could no longer cope within its "grindingly class conscious" control. An anti-Boer propagandist once erroneously asserted a while ago that the Boers "are Cape Dutch that trekked" but that is a demonstrable falsehood as the Boers developed up to five hundred miles away from the Cape Dutch. The author Oliver Ransford noted within Chapter one of The Great Trek that the Trekboers formed the nucleus of a new nation & experienced a minor population explosion thus cementing their distinction from the Cape Dutch population. The Trekboers started to trek away from Cape society early on in its life: during the 1670s on & emerged on the northern & eastern Cape frontier while the Cape Dutch were coalescing within the south western Cape region. Testament to this is the fact that both groups developed their own unique dialects from the lingua franca [ later called Afrikaans ] that was emerging at the Cape & spoken by all the population groups that emerged at the Cape. Further testament is the fact that both groups developed radically different outlooks. The Cape Dutch were pro Colonial / anti-independence oriented while the Boer people of the frontier on the other hand were the exact opposite: anti-colonial & independence oriented. The notion of republican independence on the Cape frontier during 1795 & then later more notably during the 19th cent beyond the Cape frontier across the Orange River in the wake of British Colonialism - would have been IMPOSSIBLE if the Boers were in fact just Cape Dutch that trekked. Simply because if it were the Cape Dutch that trekked they would have brought THEIR outlook into the frontier & would have been content for the Colonial power to claim the land they lived on as was the case with the British / Portuguese & German settlers of the 19th cent. The Cape Dutch were much more in tune with the Colonial outlook of the aforementioned 3 groups while the Boers' outlook was more in tune with the outlook of an anti-colonial indigenous group [ as the Boers had become ] who were tied to the land & bristled at being controlled at the hands of a Colonial power. <br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-24782189312723585402015-06-17T11:57:00.001-07:002015-06-17T15:25:49.740-07:00The Original Use of the Afrikaner Desigation. The term Afrikaner in current times is often horribly misunderstood & erroneously employed due solely to the mass indoctrination of the 20th cent - propagated by the Afrikaner Broederbond organization that acquired significant control - & the political propaganda that it was based on. The fact of the matter is that this term was appropriated during the latter half of the 19th cent by a Cape Dutch run organization & was then picked up by politicians who originally used the term Afrikaner as a term they used to describe ALL designated White citizens of South Africa who were loyal to South Africa regardless of the home language the citizens spoke. This definition of Afrikaner was widely employed until the 1930s. Politicians from Louis Botha to JBM Hertzog spoke openly of Afrikaans Afrikaners & English Afrikaners often simply calling them all just Afrikaners. Thus the term Afrikaner was not just used to describe the Cape Dutch & then later the numerically smaller Boer people - particularly during the 20th cent after they were conquered after the second Anglo-Boer War - but the term was originally ALSO used to describe the Anglophone population as well. There are 3 books that I am aware of that explicitly note this pertinent fact. <br />
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Those books are: The White Tribe of Africa from David Harrison. The Rise of Afrikanerdom from T Dunbar Moodie. Boerestaat from Robert van Tonder. The first two books are mixed bags as the authors have an overriding ignorance of the distinction between the Cape Dutch & the Boer people & the significance of this fact. The third book was authored by someone who was well ware of this distinction as he was a son of one of the Bitterenders who voted to continue fighting against the British during the second Anglo-Boer War. Robert van Tonder later became a notable activist in trying to secure self determination for his people - the Boer people - & began advocating for the restoration of the Boer Republics back in 1961 when the Dutch born usurper Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd established a nominal & false Republic of South Africa which further prevented the Boers from obtaining self determination.<br />
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Van Tonder spoke openly about the Boers being a distinct people from the so called Afrikaners since this political term had included the larger Cape Dutch population as well as initially the Anglophones. Today far too many people who are simply ignorant propagate the damaging but erroneous notion that the so called Afrikaners are from the Boers when the truth is that the Boers are the smallest segment [ the Cape Dutch are much larger & its leadership controls the entire population that ascribes to the Afrikaner identification ] of the arbitrary establishment imposed Afrikaner designation. This is a most significant fact when recognizing the salient fact that the Boer people will not be able to secure any authentic form of self determination so long as they are tethered [ politically ] to & claimed by the leadership / academics & personalities of the Cape Dutch population.<br />
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Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-44862549140310078832015-06-17T11:53:00.003-07:002015-09-21T16:04:56.506-07:00Map of the First Boer Republic. The first Boer Republic was established in 1795 out of the district of Graaff-Reinet followed a few months later when the district of Swellendam declared itself a republic. Both republics were later conquered after the British took control of the Cape from the Dutch power. A lot of folks often have no awareness of this important fact often erroneously presuming that the first Boer Republics arose during The Great Trek. This fact is important because it is a stark example demonstrating that the Boers have had a long running desire for independence in Africa while the Cape Dutch did not. I have mentioned these first Boer Republics before, but recently found a map outlining the areas where they were as someone made a map of the Graaff-Reinet & Swellendam districts during the era of Dutch / VOC rule up to 1795. These districts were on the Cape frontier where the Boers emerged [ from the Trekboers ] starting just a few decades after the initial arrival of the VOC at the Cape & where the Boer people lived until the Great Trek of the early to mid 19th cent took them across the Orange [ Gariep ] River & then the Vaal River. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszjv52Qg4_VIPKHZUILzstzL2E_2TytVTPDXbMpOI1zbG39flkuBwiWWFlgUYXPqZ-x9INKTC-4rMSCBiEkhypLJRWtar_ECgzUz2-r20qLIaJ78_C7usQRXQ1m7y6NtzB0XIfxK0skni/s1600/Kapkolonie_1795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhszjv52Qg4_VIPKHZUILzstzL2E_2TytVTPDXbMpOI1zbG39flkuBwiWWFlgUYXPqZ-x9INKTC-4rMSCBiEkhypLJRWtar_ECgzUz2-r20qLIaJ78_C7usQRXQ1m7y6NtzB0XIfxK0skni/s320/Kapkolonie_1795.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Map of the districts of the Cape colony under Dutch administration. The districts of the Cape frontier noted as red & blue would become the first Boer Republics in 1795 in opposition to Dutch rule. The Boer people of the Cape frontier were anti-colonial & independence oriented. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqxZxTny03N9MJRHfmhyphenhyphenp9Ru-nsPkzLjZzVQPCtZklxoQnM2G-i5zQ-lP1GCnYxyTqWaBVXYtsXQiZDqe1roEyZmSzUtnr-UhKnsJi0SfdVWgD2TtO_HWVi59wuxmb1Ww9df3TdCiDa0n/s1600/Dutch+National+Flag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqxZxTny03N9MJRHfmhyphenhyphenp9Ru-nsPkzLjZzVQPCtZklxoQnM2G-i5zQ-lP1GCnYxyTqWaBVXYtsXQiZDqe1roEyZmSzUtnr-UhKnsJi0SfdVWgD2TtO_HWVi59wuxmb1Ww9df3TdCiDa0n/s320/Dutch+National+Flag.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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The red / white & blue horizontal tri color flag was used for both republics of the Cape frontier. Most probably inspired by the flag of the Batavian Republic. For further reading: <a href="http://www.neultrasa.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-first-boer-republic.html"> The First Boer Republic. </a> The Boer people had a republican tradition before the arrival of the British Colonial Power. <br />
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Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-79183982668384719932013-06-17T23:47:00.001-07:002015-04-19T09:05:52.140-07:00The Boers Were Not Created With The Great Trek. The Boer people emerged from the Trekboers of the Cape frontier from the late 1600s & throughout the 1700s yet there appears to be a common misconception / erroneous assertion or pronouncement that the Boers got started during the Great Trek of the early to mid 19th cent. This assertion appears to be made by those who have a vested interest in denying the distinct ethnicity of the Boer people from the bulk of the so called Afrikaners. During the era of the Great Trek there was in fact not one monolithic Caucasian Afrikaans speaking group within the Cape. There was a bifurcation which occurred just a few decades after the initial establishment of the settlement by the VOC at the Cape when the poorest members of the society were forced to trek away after constant exasperation with the corrupt VOC administration. This nomadic Trekboer colony was the true origin of the Boer Nation. Not the Great Trek. <br />
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The folks in the western Cape region were often known as the Cape Dutch [ named by trekking Trekboers who were moving inland ] & whose heartland was in & around Cape Town but found up to Paarl & Stellenbosch. The Cape Dutch were pro Colonial with strong links to Europe who were loyal to the Colonial power & could not understand or relate to the Boers' desire for independence & self determination.<br />
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The proto Afrikaans speaking folks of the northern & eastern Cape frontier were originally called Trekboers [ named after their trekking & nomadic lifestyle as pastoralists throughout the 1700s ] - a term that was soon shortened to Boer: were anti-colonial as well as fiercely independent & had cut all ties to Europe becoming self sufficient living as nomads in the harsh environment of the Cape frontier. Thus by the time the Great Trek had commenced: the Boer people had existed as a distinct contiguous people on the Cape frontier [ away from the Cape Dutch of the western Cape region ] for at least 150 years with their own customs & dialect. The Boers had already had their first overt freedom struggle in 1795 when they declared their first Boer Republics on the Cape frontier at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet during a revolt against the VOC. During the 1700s when numerous other new German immigrants came to the Cape: many of them settled directly onto the Cape frontier thus further shaping a distinct origin of the fledgling Boer population to that of the Cape Dutch population. <br />
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Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-24126876334946436562013-06-17T23:13:00.001-07:002013-07-01T21:22:49.265-07:00The Afrikaner Broederbond Control. The Afrikaner Broederbond was a semi-secret organization of Afrikaans speakers during the 20th cent which was modeled on Free Masonry that controlled just about anything of importance in South Africa. This organization played a strong role in subverting the long running struggle of Boer self determination & preventing the Boer Republics from being restored. The following are some excerpts further outlining the control they exerted. <br />
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Quote: [ The Broederbond ("Band of Brothers"), which is supposed to have been founded as an anti-British instrument in World War I, probably numbers about 4 000 members --- nobody knows for sure. Broderbonders include an astonishing percentage of teachers and Dutch Reformed ministers, almost certainly a majority of the present cabinet, and most particularly Dr. Verwoerd, who became Prime Minister 18 months ago after Strijdom's death. ]<br />
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From: Page 37. Life magazine April 1960.<br />
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[ books.google.ca/books?id=Kk8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq ]<br />
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Quote: [ You certainly know that our organization, a mixture of Afrikaner nationalism and free masonry, was in danger of petering out in the early 1920s... ] <br />
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The above quote / admission is from former Afrikaner Broederbond Chairman [ from the early 1930s ] L J Du Plessis within his notable 1960 letter of resignation. <br />
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Found at: [ http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0018-229X2010000200008&script=sci_arttext ]<br />
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Prime Minister J B M Hertzog stated in November 1935 that: there was no doubt that the secret Broederbond was nothing more than the HNP / the Purified National Party of D F Malan operating secretly underground, and the HNP is nothing more than the secret Afrikaner Broederbond operating in public. <br />
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Found at: [ http://www.africanhistory.about.com/od/glossarya2/a/def_AfrikanerBroederbond.htm ] <br />
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Quote: [ Afrikaans society and South Africa in general was dominated by a secret Afrikaans organization called the "Afrikaner Broederbond " (AB) or in English the "Brother Bond" since 1948, when the NP first came to power right up until the ANC came to power in 1994.<br />
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This secret organization which was founded by a group of die hard Afrikaners in 1918, worked much like the Freemasons "help each other" system and has over the years shaped and planned the destiny of South Africa long before these plans became public. The Broederbond ensured that its members, which at its height only totaled just over 12 000, were strategically placed in the civil service (virtually ever prime minister and cabinet member were AB men) and in the private sector so that any decisions it took would always translate into public policy. It was thus a very powerful organization, but with the advent of ANC rule it has of course shrunk in power dramatically.<br />
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With the split in the NP in 1982, a fierce battle was waged for control of the Broederbond between the pro-reformists and the anti-reformists. By carefully staging the final showdown in the Cape, PW Botha managed to clinch the struggle when Treurnicht could not get down to the meeting in time to argue his case. The Broederbond remained supportive of the NP. ]<br />
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From: Victory or Violence: The Story of the AWB of South Africa. Arthur Kemp. Chapter 3.<br />
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[ http://www.arthurkemp.com/awb/chap03.htm ]<br />
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The Afrikaner Broederbond exerted tremendous control. <br />
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Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-292182025382752212013-06-17T22:09:00.003-07:002013-07-01T21:24:30.389-07:00The Dialect of the Boer Nation. The dialect of the Boers was classified as Eastern Border Afrikaans by historians as that was the location where their particular dialect had developed during the 1700s... on the northern & eastern Cape frontier where the Boer people emerged from the nomadic Trekboers. This dialect was later taken to the region where the various Boer Republics were established [ & beyond ] during the era of the Great Trek. Also later taken to areas now known as Angola & Namibia during the Thirstland Trek. The following are quoted excerpts noting this distinct dialect. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBEEDjByMCunA3Xbds_rBj3cjH8C2LgMJYgWeg06LqV8LE7tg0r-75XOIewh4YD93B60MmN7WpqaRA-G328TV2hwn2bmYVPQ0axxm19QYU8-MP-J9_oUCYPzTPWLcs4N_tUFFc3OyvtGi/s1600/Trekboer+Afrikaans1.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBEEDjByMCunA3Xbds_rBj3cjH8C2LgMJYgWeg06LqV8LE7tg0r-75XOIewh4YD93B60MmN7WpqaRA-G328TV2hwn2bmYVPQ0axxm19QYU8-MP-J9_oUCYPzTPWLcs4N_tUFFc3OyvtGi/s320/Trekboer+Afrikaans1.bmp" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken from the Afrikaans Language Museum website.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The Afrikaans dialect of the Boers is in fact different to the Afrikaans dialect of the Capetonians thus is distinct to that as spoken by the Cape Dutch population. <br />
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Quote: [ Mr. van Tonder also distinguished the Cape Afrikaans from what he called Boeraans. ]<br />
<span id="goog_726611007"></span><span id="goog_726611008"></span><br />
Translated from: Boere vs. die Res.<br />
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Quote: [ Our language is Boeraans (a German speaks German, a Dutchman, speaks Dutch French speaks French and so on. How to talk a Boer then Afrikaans ??????? an Afrikaner speaks Afrikaans as the colored nation in the Cape. ] <br />
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Translated from the Boere Weerstands Beweging website at: [ http://www.boereweerstandsbeweging.co.za/index_files/Page316.htm] <br />
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Quote: [ From this, three main dialects emerged, Cape Afrikaans, Orange River Afrikaans and Eastern Border Afrikaans. The Cape dialect is mostly infused with the language spoken by the Malay slaves who worked in the Cape and spoke a form of broken Portuguese, the Orange River dialect developed with the influence of Koi languages and dialects developed in the Namakwaland and Griqualand West regions and the Eastern Border Afrikaans evolved from the settlers who moved East towards Natal from the Cape. ]<br />
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From: History Of The Afrikaans Language In South Africa at: [ nc.essortment.com/historyafrikaan_rqrs.htm ]<br />
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Quote: [ Towards the end of the nineteenth century, however, a political party known as the Afrikaner Bond had been started in the Western Cape. Its publication Die Afrikaner Patriot made a small and shaky beginning, read mainly by the less well-to-do rural readers whose home language was not Dutch but Afrikaans, sneeringly referred to as the patterjots by Dutch speakers.<br />
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Afrikaans was not a systematic language. Dialects differed widely — at the beginning of the century, for example, six dialects existed in the Cape province alone. Furthermore, Afrikaans had an unfavourable image for wealthy Boers. It was associated with both colour and class; the middle class regarded it as a kombuistaal — a ‘kitchen language’ to be used when addressing servants or farm labourers. Generally, the poorer the community, the more its Afrikaans differed from the ‘purer’ version spoken in the Western Cape. For example, the language spoken by the poorer peasants in Namaqualand caused concern:<br />
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In (this area) one finds the weakest Afrikaans. Ignored by Church and State, these people have been in constant contact with Griquas and Hottentots, who speak a low semi-barbaric form of Afrikaans. We must make a distinction between civilized Afrikaans and the language of the street, playground and servants. <br />
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Afrikaner intellectuals worked very hard to ‘clean up’ Afrikaans —they appropriated the language developed by the ‘coloured’ lower classes and claimed it as their own, ‘white’ language. They removed black and Malay as well as English influences; for example, many southern Nguni words, which had entered the dialect in the Eastern Cape, were replaced by Dutch words in the new dictionaries devised by teachers and academics, to reinforce the idea that Afrikaans was respectable and ‘white’. <br />
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On the Rand, where the dominant language of an industrial society was English, working-class Afrikaans was riddled with English-based words. For example, the Afrikaans Garment Workers Union magazine Klerewerker (which promoted the use of Afrikaans) adapted many words derived from English — they used words like ‘werkendeklas’, instead of ‘arbeidersklas’. They also included creative new uses of words, like brandsiek, which was used to describe a ‘scab’, a person who broke a strike by working. But these were lost as they arose out of working-class experiences, and were excluded from official recognition by the middle-class compilers of Afrikaans dictionaries, and magazine and book editors. ] End of quote. <br />
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From: Afrikaner Nationalism Captures the State. Found at: [ http://www.home.intekom.com/southafricanhistoryonline/pages/specialprojects/Luli/Place-in-the-city/Unit4/unit4.htm ] <br />
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The excerpt notes some detail concerning the difference between the dialects as spoken in the Western Cape [ Cape Dutch dialect ] & in the Eastern Cape [ Boer dialect ] but also notes that some of those differences were lost to the standardization process of the early 20th cent when the Cape Dutch in effect began to impose a standardized version. <br />
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Quote: [ Mr. Kruger is a speech-maker of no mean ability. His addresses in the Volksraad are filled with good reasoning, homely similes, biblical quotations, and convincing argument. He speaks without preparation, indulges in no flights of oratory, but uses the simple, plain language that is easily understood by the burgher as well as the statesman. All his speeches are delivered in the Boer "taal," a dialect which bears the same relation to the Dutch language as "low" German does to "high" German. Generally the dialect is used by the Boers in speaking only, the pure Dutch being used in correspondence and official state papers. ]<br />
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From: Oom Paul's People. Found at: [ http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=hillegas&book=people&story=kruger&PHPSESSID=4b5bc75aadf1d59a6207f6fb8e12d9b3 ]<br />
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Quote: [ Those who stayed behind in the Cape became known amongst the independence minded Boers as the "Cape Dutch" - symbolizing their attachment to Europe. This group loyally supported any European colonial government, and vehemently opposed all attempts by the fledgling Boer population to break ties with the colonial governments. This group stood in strong opposition to the fledgling Boer population and differed with them on all levels - starting with their approach to colonialism and extending all the way through even to language. It is not widely known for example that there are for example marked accent and pronunciation differences between the Boers and the "Cape Dutch". ]<br />
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From : The Boers of Southern Africa. Arthur Kemp.<br />
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The Boers that emerged on African soil abandoned the various languages their ancestors spoke [ ie: High Dutch / Low German / French / Frankonish / Provencal / German / Portuguese etc. ] & adopted as well as helped create the emerging Afrikaans language that developed on African soil to the point of creating their own dialect. <br />
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Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-12944738774693366662012-05-15T23:16:00.001-07:002013-06-10T21:40:42.571-07:00Great Trek Was Not From Cape Town.There are some folks who often erroneously presume that the Great
Trek of the 19th cent was from Cape Town [ as noted by the author cited
in source # 17 of: The Cape Rebels Were Not Cape Dutch. ] when in fact
the Great Trek was virtually entirely from the Cape frontier where the Boer
population had developed at least 150 years prior. This confusion likely arises from the fact
that the centennial celebration of the Great Trek was organized to start
at Cape Town but that did not reflect the true history concerning the
matter. One of the main reasons for recreating the Great Trek as starting at Cape Town during
the centennial celebrations was no doubt to
foster a monolithic Afrikaner identity so as to cover up the distinct
Boer identity of the participants of the Great Trek. The Boer people of the frontier
were much more prone to trek [ & in fact had a long history of trekking ] due to their long standing anti-colonial
outlook & desire for independence & freedom on the
African continent. This outlook was not shared by the Cape Town & Cape Dutch population. <br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-69936333444400674542012-05-15T22:50:00.001-07:002012-05-19T19:39:53.025-07:00The Afrikaners Did Not Go On The Great Trek.The principle participants during the era of the Great Trek were the Boer people of the Cape frontier. The Boers emerged on the Cape frontier starting during the late 17th cent [ just a few decades after the initial arrival of the Dutch East India Company ] & trekked further inland throughout the 1700s. The Boers are the descendents of the Trekboers who settled into the Cape frontier region. The folks who would appropriate the term Afrikaner in a political context [ circa late 19th cent ] where then still known as the Cape Dutch during the era of the Great Trek & remained where they were during the Great Trek. <br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-12544342267829701862012-05-15T22:42:00.002-07:002012-05-19T19:36:46.402-07:00The RSA Was Not a True Republic.The Republic of South Africa declared on May 31 1961 was only
ever a republic in name alone thus a nominal republic as it maintained
the British Westminster system & turned the post of Governor-General into a
ceremonial State President. <br />
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[ The Constitution of the
Republic differed remarkably little from the Union Constitution. The
object of the exercise was to bring about a single political loyalty for
all White South Africans, not a new system. Nationalists hoped that the
English speakers would abandon their dual loyalty once they could no
longer look to Britain as a fatherland. ] From: Page 494. The Afrikaners: biography of a people. By Hermann Buhr Giliomee.<br />
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The
notable Boer Patriot Robert van Tonder left the National Party in 1961
over that party's betrayal of the Boer Republics [ & noted that the RSA was a threat to Boer identity ] & started
advocating for the restoration of the Boer Republics as the only measure
to ensure the survival of the Boer people / nation. <br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-44689494291259350092011-12-31T00:29:00.015-08:002012-05-15T22:36:43.830-07:00The Cape Rebels Were Not Cape Dutch.During the discourse on pointing out & exploring the distinct identity of the Boers from the Cape Dutch & thus from the bulk of the nomenclatured Afrikaner population: certain uninformed folks have ignorantly used the Cape Rebels as an erroneous example of a pro-Boer sentiment among the bulk of the Cape Dutch or to even go so far as to erroneously assert that there is "no difference" between the Boers & the Cape Dutch [ thereby betraying their total ignorance or agenda on the topic even further ] while totally forgetting that the vast majority of the Cape Rebels were from the Boer communities of the northeastern Cape frontier & that very few actual Cape Dutch ever joined up with the Cape Rebels as the Cape Dutch as a whole were much more aligned with the British Colonial Power. <br />
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While spending years looking into the history of the Boer people as well as the Cape Dutch & Afrikaner people in general by reading numerous books & articles: I have picked up on intricacies & events that were often not taught to people after the Afrikaner Broederbond began to rewrite the history of the Boers & co-opt them into a synthetic & artificial pan Afrikaans political movement which was aimed [ as part of its goal ] at securing control of the macro State of South Africa as created by the British with a British act of legislation.<br />
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Part of this agenda labeled all White Afrikaans speakers as "Afrikaners" & turned Boers retroactively into Afrikaners thereby denying the Boers the right to their own history & heritage & conditioned them to share it with a people who were not part of it & often opposed the aspirations of the Boers during the time frame in question. As the Boers were now arbitrarily within the political sphere made to be part of larger Cape Dutch population [ whose intellectuals began to propagate the term Afrikaner to describe themselves in the late 19th cent at a time when the Boers were mainly independent within their Boer Republics ]: the Afrikaner establishment was able to control the destiny of the smaller Boer people by simply implying that the Boers were now part of them instead of the distinct nation that the Boers had been since circa 1700 during the bifurcation period which led to the existence of the Trekboers on the expanding Cape frontier.<br />
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The following sourced article that I have composed demonstrates that the Cape Rebels were in fact mainly Boers & not Cape Dutch simply because the vast majority of those who became Cape Rebels were from the Boer people of the Cape frontier.<br />
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The Cape Rebels were mainly Boers from the northeastern Cape frontier who fought on the side of the Boer Republics which were located across the Orange River. As inhabitants of the Cape Colony they were British subjects therefore often paid a huge price for siding with their cousins of the republics. Those who were caught were often tried in court & executed as they were viewed as rebels to the Cape government. There is a glaring misconception promoted by some who assert that the Boers were part of the Cape Dutch population - but that is a gross distortion. The Cape Dutch population was larger than the Boer population but the Cape Dutch were the folks who inhabited the south western Cape region who coalesced into a community at a time [ circa 1700 ] when the Boers were becoming a distinct people on the Cape frontier which shaped them into a distinct people even further.<br />
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During the late 17th cent: the most impoverished folks who could not cope in Colonial society & who chaffed the most under VOC rule & who had the least tolerance for its autocratic rule [ 1 ] were compelled to trek inland into Africa & away from the western Cape region & consequently away from the population which the trekkers began to refer to as the Cape Dutch. [ 2 ] The trekkers who were moving away were in turn called Trekboers. [ 3 ] By the mid 1700s there arose two distinct White Afrikaans [ whom its speakers referred to as Dutch / die taal / Boeretaal etc. ] speaking groups in Southern Africa. [ 3 ] The largest group was centered in & around Cape Town up to Paarl & Stellenbosh & were often known as the Cape Dutch who were pro Colonial & had no desire for independence as they saw no reason to break with the Colonial power. The smaller group was nomadic & was very anti-colonial & had spread out over the expanding Cape frontier from Swellendam right up to the Sundays River & were initially known as Trekboers a term which was later shortened to Boer. [ 3 ] It was overwhelmingly from the Boer communities of the Cape frontier that the participants of the Great Trek were from [ 4 ] due to their long standing anti-colonial nature. Those folks were renown as Boers & those who left the Cape & trekked northwards were known as Trekkers. [ 5 ] <br />
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The fact of the matter is that it was not until the 1930s when Afrikaner Broederbond historians began re-writing [ 6 ] the history that the Boers of the era were called Voortrekkers in retrospect as that act was part of the Afrikaner's attempt at co-opting the history of the Boers in order to promote a State based teleocratic agenda which was inimical to Boer self determination. The insinuation behind the deft promotion of the term Voortrekker was to imply that those Boers who trekked were "pioneers" for a macro mythological "Afrikaner" group when in reality it was mainly Boers who trekked [ who were 500 miles separated from the Cape Dutch & rarely interacted with them ] as the Cape Dutch did not share the Boer outlook of wanting independence. Those Trekkers [ later called Voortrekkers ] soon established various Boer Republics north of the Orange River two of which were internationally recognized. [ 7 ]<br />
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Therefore by the time of the second Anglo-Boer War there had LONG since been established two distinct Caucasian Afrikaans speaking groups. Indeed even since a century to 150 years before the Great Trek. Even the term "Afrikaans speaking" is presumptive because it was Cape Dutch intellectuals who coined the term Afrikaans to describe the macro language which developed at the Cape since the 17th cent. [ 8 ] The Boers were not the ones who coined the term Afrikaans as they simply referred to their dialect as die taal [ 9 ] or Boeretaal. The Boer dialect was distinct from the Cape Dutch dialect & historians have classified the Boers' dialect as Eastern Border Afrikaans [ 10 ] after the region where they & their dialect were formed.<br />
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Therefore those who refer to the Cape Boers as being part of the Cape Dutch are either ignorant of history or are perpetuating a fraud in order to marginalize the existence of the Boer people. [ 11 ] Claiming that the Boers are part of the Cape Dutch is tantamount to claiming that the Acadians are part of the Quebecois or that the Canadians are part of the Americans or that the Moldovans are part of the Romanians or that the Serbs are part of the Croatians. The Boers struggled to survive on the harsh Cape frontier in the face of danger [ 12 ] & paid for their distinct identity which they carved out on the Cape frontier in blood & sacrifice therefore erroneously & ignorantly accusing them of being part of the Cape Dutch is an insult & shows callous disregard to why the Boers ever arose in the first place. [ 13 ] The Cape Dutch looked down on the Boers & never understood why the Boers wanted freedom [ 14 ] in Africa as they could not understand why anyone would want to be independent from the Colonial power.<br />
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The Cape Rebels were overwhelmingly from the Cape frontier [ 15 ] & even often from the same towns [http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/great-trek/great-trek1.htm ] that the Voortreekers were from [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysn6UGFxBmc&feature=related ] thereby demonstrating that the Cape Rebels were Boers not Cape Dutch. There was a lot of Cape Rebel activity at Colesberg near the border with the OVS Republic. Authors have noted how the Boers failed in trying to get the Cape Dutch inhabitants of the western Cape to rise up against Britain during the second Anglo-Boer War. That was because as authors like Mordechai Tamarkin have noted [ within the book: Cecil Rhodes and the Cape Afrikaners ] the Cape Dutch were generally content with British rule. While much smaller numbers of Cape Dutch did join up with the Cape Rebels - the fact of the matter is that a lot of Cape Dutch were on the side of the British & were fighting AGAINST the Boers. [ 16 ] Therefore the erroneous contention that the Cape Boers were part of the Cape Dutch simply adds insult to injury. This misunderstanding is compounded further when some folks erroneously assert that the Great Trek was from Cape Town [ 17 ] [ probably confusing the centennial commemoration of the Great Trek which did start at Cape Town which at that point had been co-opted & run by Afrikaners & led by a Cape Dutch Afrikaner politician named D F Malan ] instead of the Cape frontier [ or then known as the eastern provinces of the Cape ] as some folks appear to be totally ignorant of the towns & communities of the Cape frontier which was settled & populated by the Boer people - not by the Cape Dutch.<br />
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Notes.<br />
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1. Quote: [ The rise of an expanding settler society fueled tensions between free burghers and the VOC. Free burghers criticized the autocratic powers of the local VOC administration, in which the governor had full control and the settlers had no rights of representation. They denounced the economic policies of the VOC that fixed the prices at which settlers could sell their agricultural products. They called attention to the corrupt practices of VOC officers, who granted themselves prime land and then sold their own crops at higher prices to the company. Above all, they complained about the VOC's failure--at least in their eyes--to police the frontier boundaries and to protect the settlers' crops and herds from Khoikhoi and San raiders. ]<br />
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From: Library of Congress Country Studies.<br />
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Found at: [ lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0017) ]<br />
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2. Quote: [ When the White population at the Cape split over the colonial issue - as detailed above, those who wanted to escape colonial rule migrated away from the Cape, while those who had no nationalistic zeal and who wished to keep their links with Europe stayed behind. These people who stayed behind were all Dutch citizens, and when the British occupied the Cape, were perfectly happy to become loyal British citizens.<br />
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Those who stayed behind in the Cape became known amongst the independence minded Boers as the "Cape Dutch" - symbolizing their attachment to Europe. This group loyally supported any European colonial government, and vehemently opposed all attempts by the fledgling Boer population to break ties with the colonial governments. This group stood in strong opposition to the fledgling Boer population and differed with them on all levels - starting with their approach to colonialism and extending all the way through even to language. It is not widely known for example that there are for example marked accent and pronunciation differences between the Boers and the "Cape Dutch".<br />
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The vehemence with which the Cape Dutch opposed the Boer population was underlined when the Boers were excommunicated from the Cape Dutch Reformed Church when they moved away form the Cape.<br />
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This group of Cape Dutch settlers therefore always opposed the Boers' drive for independence and anti-colonialism, and, along with the British settlers, were the true colonial masters of Southern Africa, while the Boers always tried to get away from this mentality and state of affairs. ]<br />
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From: The Boers of Southern Africa. Arthur Kemp.<br />
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Found at: [ web.archive.org/web/20060717091306/http://www.arthurkemp.com/whoaretheboers.htm ]<br />
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3. Quote: [ These early Dutch farmers were joined by other Europeans and their populations grew. The Dutch East India Company imported slaves from Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar and other parts of the Dutch Empire to work on large plantations close to Cape Town. The seminomadic Dutch farmers expanded their settlement further from the Cape and came into conflict over land with local African populations. Their contact with the local Dutch government became more and more tenuous and most of them lived hard rural lives, moving farmsteads frequently, and quite independent of government and education. By 1745 they were known as Trekboers, which means "wandering farmers," a term which was later shortened to Boers. They were unaware of the changing politics in Europe. ]<br />
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From Bowdoin College.<br />
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Found at: [ http://www.bowdoin.edu/cbbaway/CapetownSA/CTGeneralinformation.html ]<br />
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4. The Boers who left the Cape during the era of the Great Trek came from towns like: Grahamstown / Uitenhage / Swellendam / Graaff-Reinet / Somerset East & Cradock.<br />
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5. Noted throughout the article: History of South Afrfica of History World at: [ http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=orl ]<br />
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6. Quote: [ When the Afrikaner Broederbond 's National Party won the elections, and took over the governance of South Africa from 1948 and launched the system of apartheid, the first thing they did was to completely rewrite the Boers' history. Suddenly, all the accomplishments of the Boers became 'Afrikaner' accomplishments.<br />
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The Boer Women's Monument in Bloemfontein, erected in memory of the murdered Boer women and children who died in the British concentration camps written about so eloquently by British pro-Boer campaigner Emily Hobhouse, even became the Afrikaner Women's Monument - a truly vile insult to their memory. The Voortrekker Monument is described in terms which honour the memory of Afrikaners -- not the Boers who had actually undertaken the Great Trek. ]<br />
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From: Boer, Afrikaner Or White - Which Are You? By Adriana Stuijt.<br />
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Found at: [ http://www.rense.com/general56/boerafrikanerorwhite.htm ]<br />
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7. Quote: [ The Republic was now in possession of a Convention, which from the nature of its provisions seemed to promise a peaceful future. In addition to Great Britain it was recognized in Holland, France, Germany, Belgium, and especially in the United States of America. The American Secretary of State at Washington, writing to President Pretorius on the 19th November, 1870, said: " That his Government, while heartily acknowledging the Sovereignty of the Transvaal Republic, would be ready to take any steps which might be deemed necessary for that purpose. " ]<br />
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C W van der Hoogt. The Story of the Boers. Page 96. [ www.outspan.com/books/boers/boers04.htm ]<br />
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8. [ http://www.rsa-overseas.com/historical-sites/afrikaans-language-monument-afrikaanse-taalmonument-and-museum.htm ] The reverend S J Du Toit his brother D F Du Toit & Gideon Malherbe of the Western Cape started the Society of True Afrikaners in 1875: an Afrikaans language rights movement which started to get Afrikaans recognized.<br />
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9. Professor Wallace Mills.<br />
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Quote: [ - Afrikaans (at the time almost always referred to as ‘die Taal’—the Language) was a spoken, not a written language. ]<br />
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Found at: [ stmarys.ca/~wmills/course322/11Afrikaner_natm.html ]<br />
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10. Afrikaans Language Museum. Eastern Border Afrikaans.<br />
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Quote: [ Eastern Border Afrikaans has its roots in the farming community that moved further and further from the Cape. A large number of residents in the Cape were Dutch [Note: High Dutch ] speaking and they made up part of the farmers that moved away from the Cape. At the end of the 18th century this group settled on the East Border and they lived a very secluded life and spoke their own type of Afrikaans until well into the 19th cent. ]<br />
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Found at: [ www.museums.org.za/afrtaal/English/o3.htm ]<br />
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11. The Boers have only ever been a minority of the total White Afrikaans speaking population.<br />
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12. Quote: [ The Boers' self confidence in their military prowess in the first half of the 19th century stemmed from the robust, often dangerous lives they led daily on the frontiers of civilization. ]<br />
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From: Micheal Barthorp. The Anglo-Boer Wars. Page 9.<br />
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13. The Boers arose as a people due to the impoverished folks who left the western Cape region starting in the late 17th cent.& began trekking inland & were originally known as Trekboers. Thus the Boer people would never have arose were it not for those impoverished forebears who wanted to get away from Colonial society & Dutch rule.<br />
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Quote: [ Impoverished whites living at the fringes of colonial society also had few options, but these included the real possibility of dropping out of its grindingly class-conscious constraints. Many just packed up their wagons and rolled out into the interior, where they lived by the gun, either hunting game or taking cattle from the Khoi by force. Beyond the control of the Dutch East India Company, these nomadic trekboers began to assume a pastoral niche previously occupied by the Khoi. By the turn of the nineteenth century, trekboers had penetrated well into the Eastern Cape, pushing back the Khoi and San in the process. Not that the indigenous people gave up without a fight. As their lives became disrupted and living by traditional means became impossible, the Khoisan began to prey on the cattle and sheep of the trekboers. ]<br />
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From: [ http://www.hostelbookers.com/guides/south_africa/106447 ]<br />
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14. Kemp notes: [ This group of Cape Dutch settlers therefore always opposed the Boers' drive for independence and anti-colonialism, and, along with the British settlers, were the true colonial masters of Southern Africa, while the Boers always tried to get away from this mentality and state of affairs. ]<br />
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From: The Boers of Southern Africa. Arthur Kemp.<br />
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Found at: [ web.archive.org/web/20060717091306/http://www.arthurkemp.com/whoaretheboers.htm ]<br />
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15. The Anglo-Boer War Museum web site notes on its Cape Rebel page the following: [ These were Afrikaans speaking Colonials from the Cape Colony who joined the Boer Forces because of familial and cultural ties. They came from all over the Cape Colony e.g from Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Somerset East and Middelburg. ] Found at: [ http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/pow/cape-rebels.php ] Note that the towns mentioned are all within the Cape frontier & even the same towns where the Voortrekkers were from during the era of the Great Trek.<br />
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16. Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio noted this himself during the first interview that he did with an American shortwave radio program called The Right Perspective found at: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6yo6adPSQY ]<br />
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17. Noted by authors like Thomas W. Hazlett within an article found at: [ http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html ] who not only does not realize that the Great Trek was from the Cape frontier - not Cape Town - but even tragically confuses & conflates the Boers with the Afrikaners & does not realize that most Boers of the frontiers did not own slaves as pointed out by Professor Wallace Mills & the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Afrikaner Broederbond created mythology is so pervasive that even Westerners often parrot the erroneous conflation of Boers with the Cape Dutch as both groups were later arbitrarily lumped under the ambiguous Afrikaner designation.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-40874089295983541232010-11-05T22:37:00.001-07:002010-11-16T18:56:38.031-08:00The Boers are not of Dutch Descent.There is a common misconception that the Boer people are Dutch descendents when in reality there are comparatively few actual Dutch roots as they are an amalgamation of German / Frisian / Danish & French Huguenot origin. Uniformed folks will often point to the numerous Dutch surnames as supposed proof of the Dutch roots of the Boers while forgetting that the VOC respelled most surnames to conform to a Dutch spelling. This even affected numerous French surnames as well ie: Villion was changed to Viljoen / Jourdan was changed to Jordaan / Pinard was changed to Pienaar / Cronier was changed to Cronjé / Gauch was changed to Gouws etc. Though quite a lot of French names did retain their original spelling. For example: Joubert / Du Toit / Roux / Du Plessis / Marais / Naudé / Vivier. etc. The Boer people are not descended from any single ethnic group which was brought out to the Cape as they are a composite & amalgamation of the various groups which merged into distinct Afrikaans speaking successive groups. The impoverished folks who began to trek into the Cape frontier [ about 35 years after the VOC first arrived at the Cape ] were the ancestors of the Boer people / nation. This occurred long before the arrival of the British Colonial power.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-7134308189457320382010-11-05T22:16:00.000-07:002010-11-05T22:36:03.346-07:00The Boers Are Distinct From the Afrikaners.The distinct nature of the Boer people from the bulk of the Cape Dutch descended Afrikaners is recognized among honest academic circles.<br /><br />Quote: [ The majority of the original white settlers, known as Cape Dutch, or in frontier regions Boers, maintained a nominal loyalty to the Dutch Reformed Church. ] From: Christianity in Southern Central Africa Prior to 1910.<br /><br />The frontier Boers themselves recognized themselves as distinct from the Cape Dutch.<br /><br />Quote: [ Trekboers certainly recognised the differences in language, religion, etc. between themselves and the British; they had certainly developed a way-of-life and a set of values that were distinctive, but they were also significantly different from people of Dutch descent in the western province areas of the Cape. The latter regarded the Trekboers as rather wild, semi-barbarous frontiersmen and the sense of common identity was limited and incomplete. The westerners followed the Trek with interest and probably with a good deal of sympathy, but they certainly did not see the trekkers as the saviours of some mystical Afrikaner ‘nation’. ] From: Professor Wallace Mills. The Great Trek.<br /><br />Though it turns out that there was not a lot of "sympathy" for the Great Trek by the Cape Dutch as they could not understand why the Boers would want to trek "away from civilization" but they must have realized that the conditions were especially rough for the frontier Boers who were facing the brunt of the constant "frontier wars" & the arbitrary policies of the British Colonial power.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-52256795681390640752010-11-05T21:59:00.000-07:002010-11-05T22:15:10.807-07:00The RSA was Result of Foreign Legislation.The macro State known as South Africa [ composed out of two British Colonies & two former Boer Republics ] did not exist prior to the 20th cent as it was created by an act of British legislation which was passed in the British Parliament.<br /><br />Quote: [ The South Africa Act passed by the British Parliament in 1909 merged the self-governing British colonies of the Cape, Natal, Orange River and the Transvaal into the Union of South Africa, a dominion within the British Commonwealth. The Act, which served as the Union's constitution until 1961, established a parliamentary regime along the lines of the Westminster model, composed of a directly elected House of Assembly and an indirectly elected Senate. ] <a href="http://www.electionresources.org/za/system"> The Republic of South Africa Electoral System. </a><br /><br />This foreign legislation effectively created an artificial macro State in Southern Africa which joined the conquered Boer Republics with the British ruled Cape & Natal Colonies which had earlier annexed Xhosaland & Zululand in the 19th cent. & wherein most of the non-Boer descended Afrikaner population was living in the Western Cape region. Therefore what this foreign imposed legislation did was to cobble together an artificial mega State structure which lumped the various diverse peoples under a single administration for the first time ever. In other words the creation of this state reversed the natural independent status of various peoples & it imposed a blocking mechanism against the self determination which was expressed by many of its peoples prior. The natural tendency of its peoples [ & peoples in general ] is to gravitate towards independence & self determination which was stunted & reversed when the British imposed an artificial macro State based on an imperial model & then recruited members of the local White population to administer it with their government as a surrogate Colonial ruler on behalf of the British power.<br /><br />This act was the direct result of the friction which later followed [ the State rulers prevented both Boer self determination / Boer Republics restoration & Bantu political petitions for control of macro State ] as the newly empowered White regimes were reluctant to give up control of the macro State [ with later modifications as per the Bantu homeland independence policies ] they were recruited to administer as their general White constituent population were often concerned about inherently becoming an oppressed demographic minority within a universal suffrage based macro State. The British power elite appeared to have used this unfolding political machination to great success as it later gave them the opportunity to reclaim South Africa under the covert guise of the post Apartheid regimes who are financed & propped up by them. After all the British went to great lengths to set up & impose the macro State of South Africa - even to the point of killing off 50 % of the Boer child population in concentration camps during the British war to conquer the Boer Republics.<br /><br />Therefore it stands to reason that the British would not just simply walk away from the region [ as the Republic of South Africa has only ever existed in name alone ] nor cede true executive control over to any local peoples of the region. This was confirmed with the basic premise of the South African Act of 1909 being incorporated & thus perpetuated into the various Constitutions of South Africa thereby perpetuating the very state apparatus executive control mechanism [ which perpetuated Apartheid in the past & the neo Apartheid of the present ] which works against the various peoples' desire for ethnic group or nation based self determination. Thus the various Constitutions have retained the centralization of power.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-53752845825362357942010-05-17T21:55:00.001-07:002010-07-21T21:31:59.397-07:00Not an Apartheid Era Flag.<span style="font-family:georgia;">The following is how the CBC web site describes the Vyfkleur flag. [ More on the <a href="http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za%5Eboer.html#5k"> Vyfkleur flag here. </a> ] An unmistakable Boer pre Apartheid era flag dating from the second Anglo-Boer War. A man [ no doubt a proud Boer ] holds up the Vyfkleur in the following photo taken recently outside of court & posted on the web page in question but the CBC then engages in bad journalism by calling the flag he holds "an Apartheid era flag" thus totally distorting the true meaning of the flag & long struggle for Boer self determination. Notice the caption under the photo in question. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh30P2CsXCNvBYhB8WWbjqUwXvVnaw6QCVoXXK8mHMWB1BrM50s-1dZNAoA5qnPfHvQL2dNorBDEzaAm_xhdJc87jphWqc4-HixYX99AHoWpOMj70TgmnFPGryMpo0M7tyNHXk1jGOIHf5I/s1600/Flag+Lied+About1.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh30P2CsXCNvBYhB8WWbjqUwXvVnaw6QCVoXXK8mHMWB1BrM50s-1dZNAoA5qnPfHvQL2dNorBDEzaAm_xhdJc87jphWqc4-HixYX99AHoWpOMj70TgmnFPGryMpo0M7tyNHXk1jGOIHf5I/s320/Flag+Lied+About1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460594657847242738" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is just proof positive that the Western media are lazy journalists at best or are propagandizing distorters at worst. Perhaps a combination of both. I guess no one should be surprised that none other than the CBC: the Canadian public broadcaster has labeled the Vyfkleur quote: "an Apartheid era flag". I doubt they even know that the flag in the photo in question is even called a Vyfkleur [ five colour ] yet alone that it was adopted long before the establishment of Apartheid. For those who might not know [ that's you CBC! ] the Vyfkleur is not & can not possibly be "an Apartheid era flag" because it was a flag adopted during the second Anglo-Boer War by Boer Commandos who were fighting <b> against </b> Colonialism [ ie: the forces which later <b> adopted </b> Apartheid ] & for their freedom & self determination within their half century old internationally recognized independent Boer Republics. The Vyfkleur flag was a distinct & clever combination of the national flags of the then two Boer Republics [ remove the the vertical bar within the left portion of the flag & you have the upper left portion of <a href="http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za-o.html"> the Orange Free State Vierkleur </a>flag ] remove the horizontal orange bar & you have <a href="http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za-trans.html"> the Transvaal Vierkleur </a>flag ] which were fighting for their survival against Britain. This era of course was <b> long </b> before the Apartheid era. The Vyfkleur flag was also later adopted by the BWB in the past & its members often wore the flag on the upper region of their right shirt sleeves but it was originally designed as a war flag by the fighting Boer Commandos during the second Anglo-Boer War. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/09/f-rfa-mcguffin.html">Link to full hit piece article here. </a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Neither is it surprising that the CBC totally distorts & distracts from the topic. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-21097765497611642672009-11-30T22:09:00.001-08:002014-03-13T23:35:13.066-07:00Population of the Boer Nation.The Boer population is estimated at around 1.5 million out of a total White Afrikaans or Afrikaner population of about 3.5 million. <a href="http://www.pology.com/article/051213.html"> This article from about 5 years ago </a> lists this number. The fact that the Boer population is the smaller segment of the White Afrikaans population demonstrates that the Boers are marginalized under any umbrella macro designation [ like Afrikaner ] referring to White Afrikaans speakers in general & as such any attempts the actual Boer people make from time to time to find self determination is often erroneously even maliciously labeled as an "extremist" segment of a non existent monolithic population which was a technique started with the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 [ ie: it was a Boer movement not an Afrikaner one ] & continued up to the present. Just imagine the obvious absurdity of asserting that Canadians are "extremist" for exercising [ or even seeking to pursue ] self determination outside of the context of the bulk of the North American population.<br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-83527089519642722662009-07-17T21:03:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:23:56.681-07:00The Cape Frontier: birth place of the Boer Nation.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgTS9039PbbZNFUdPP0l72RpfsF6HGhSivh69Hn_rsUKIgIc0nEP5u650LOuCKwyaK0NANoQgDieKIIaGDyB1eVhSTu3mNK3oYfccwdtbwhwwci8ExZz0Ysfp9lxc8QhG6m4l31vwyyku/s1600-h/Cape_Swell.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 122px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgTS9039PbbZNFUdPP0l72RpfsF6HGhSivh69Hn_rsUKIgIc0nEP5u650LOuCKwyaK0NANoQgDieKIIaGDyB1eVhSTu3mNK3oYfccwdtbwhwwci8ExZz0Ysfp9lxc8QhG6m4l31vwyyku/s200/Cape_Swell.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359654010762003026" border="0" /></a>The Boer people are often presumed to be "Europeans" & are also often conflated with the Cape Dutch Afrikaners but in fact the Boer people were not born in Europe nor were they born among the Cape Dutch but in fact the Boer people were born on the Cape frontier. When a number of the poorest members of the Caucasian folks at the Cape began to trek northward & eastward during the late 1600s & all throughout the 1700s they became the earliest migrating pastoralists who left the towns of Cape Town / Stellenbosch / Franschhoek & Paarl & were soon called Trekboers named after their nomadic & pastoral lifestyle they adopted in order to survive on the harsh Cape frontier. The Cape frontier consisted of everything to the north & Paarl & to east of Stellenbosch right up to the Brak & Sundays Rivers. The Boers developed their own language on the frontier which historians have classified as Eastern Border Afrikaans or Cape Frontier Afrikaans. Further evidence of where the Boer people germinated. The Cape frontier was the crucible which created the Boer Nation. The town of Swellendam which was established in 1745 was the first town the Dutch East India Co. set up within the Cape frontier in an attempt at controlling the Boers & this town would be one of the first Boer Republics established in 1795 when a number of the frontier Boers declared republics & rebelled against the Dutch power. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></p>Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-50253432274642977912009-03-07T06:17:00.000-08:002012-05-27T20:49:04.747-07:00Generals but not Boer Generals.During the discourse on South African history it is often asserted [ erroneously ] that Boer Generals ran South Africa from the time it was created until the late 1940s but this is a total canard because those asserting such have simply just not looked into the background of the so called "Boer" Generals. Louis Botha was a Boer but both JBM Hertzog & Jan Smuts were not Boers as they were not from the Boer communities but were from the Cape Dutch community of the Western Cape long before they moved into the then Boer Republics & later fought as Generals on the Boer side. A lot of different nationalities from around the world fought on the side of the Boer Republics but this does not then mean that they were "Boer" combatants. This is an important point because as they were both part of the Cape Dutch people: they brought THEIR worldview to the table when in power & not that of the conquered & subjugated Boers. Louis Botha was the only actual Boer General who ever ran South Africa - though he too did so on behalf of the British & Cape Dutch power.<br />
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<br />Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-53447042348912773482009-03-07T06:04:00.001-08:002009-03-07T06:11:35.339-08:00Verwoerd was not a Friend of the Boer Nation.The following is the video version of the previous post.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0iOTlIi9hMs&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0iOTlIi9hMs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />During an interview with the Right Perspective radio program: Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio noted that the Dutch born architect of the Separate Development phase of the Apartheid laws: Hendrik Verwoerd was not a friend of the Boer Nation as he was interested in amalgamating the region under an economic sphere & scuppered the restoration of the Boer Republics.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-21247932263955400912009-03-07T05:43:00.000-08:002009-03-07T05:49:33.582-08:00The Boers Were Not Racial Imperialists.During the course of the 20th cent a number of mythologies were promoted recasting the humble insular Boers as neo-imperialists driven by a racial based worldview when in fact the Boers were always anti-imperial [ hence the root of their republicanism ] & were often in alliances with other local tribes or groups. While many Boers of the era could be considered to have had paternalistic racial views they were far from the racial chauvinists in the western sense as sometimes depicted. The following is a relevant excerpt from Colonial South Africa & the Origins of the Racial Order.<br /><br /><tt> <ul><br /><br />Throughout the subsequent decades, it was (very anti-humanitarian) <b> British settlers, and not Boers, who developed a rhetoric of racial and cultural superiority to justify ongoing imperial subversion </b> of the Xhosa. Boers increasingly resented this imperial militarization of the frontier districts, proved unwilling military conscripts, and even on occasion <b> showed some fellow feelings towards the African Chiefdoms. </b> Certainly when new frontiers of imperial aggression were opened up north of the Orange during the brief period of British rule there at mid century, Boer and Sotho <b> were to throw in their lot together quite openly at crucial junctures against the British presence. </b><br /><br />But the Trek cannot be said to have been motivated by a desire to conquer and subjugate. If anything, as that prominent (Boer) frontiersman born and bred, Andries Stockenström, pointed out, Boers were indifferent, if not hostile, to the acquisitive machinations of British settlers and rogue governors bent on military expansion. As Stockenström wrote, '<b> The theory which makes the black irreclaimable savages, fir only to be exterminated, like the wolves, was not of Boer origin' - implying ( correctly ) that explicitly racist notions about the Xhosa and other African peoples were a British innovation. </b><br /><br />The predominant ideology of the colonial frontier was thus decidedly predicated on the ideal of racial exclusiveness. <b> But this did not imply that subjugation of the great mass of African farming peoples encountered beyond the Khoisan frontiers was either a practical possibility or even a desired ideal. </b> This is were the earlier liberal interpretation breaks down. The power, the desire, the need to impose racial supremacy on a sub continental scale at the level of the state and its institutions was <b> an impulse that had other origins at other historical junctures. White supremacy as a total system of hegemony and subjugation grew from the centers of power - meaning (in the main) centers of imperial power - outwards, and not the other way round. It was not on isolated frontiers that such an ideal took root. </b> </ul> </tt> <div align="right"><br /><br />From the author Timothy Keegan. Chapter: Dutch Beginnings: pages 35 & 36. </div><br /><br />This salient fact contradicts the erroneous assertion often made that the Boers were somehow responsible for the institutionalization of racial policies which later emerged under the British controlled macro State of South Africa which in fact marginalized the actual Boer people in the process as they were now just a minority section of the general macro White population.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-66269976075617324492009-03-07T05:34:00.000-08:002009-06-23T19:09:52.095-07:00Racism of Boers was Paternalistic not Chauvinistic.Westerners have often erroneously presumed that the Boers are racial chauvinists [ due mainly from the decades long propaganda of their British & other enemies ] when in fact they are not. This was even pointed out by non other than a left leaning Afrikaans blogger named Wessels at his Mhambi blog of which one of his articles on the topic is re-posted below. The paternalistic racism of some Boers is not in the same league as the harsh chauvinistic form of Western racism which often gets overlooked in the West.<br /><br /><tt> <ul> December 23, 2006.<br /><br />Myths and misunderstandings: South African white racism.<br /><br />Mhambi is regularly struck at how the British (and probably most Westerners) misunderstand South Africa racism. I just started a new job, and over a boozy Chistmas lunch, a new colleague told me of his lovely visit to South African shores.<br /><br />He had a lovely time but was gob smacked when he visited Sun City, playing a round of Golf on the famous course. It was not the fact that there are real crocodiles in the water hazards that shocked him. It was a sign "No caddies past this point" - on the border of a crocodile infested pit.<br /><br />For a start he did not use a caddie, that smacking too much of white-michief-type colonialism. In South Africa caddies are almost exclusively black. But the sign left him incredulous. "How could this racist sign still be up there, a few years after apartheid ended??" he asked me, clearly exasperated.<br /><br />Mhambi gave a well practised sheepish laugh. What to say? First off, I was not sure he and I saw it the same way. I certainly was not shocked.<br /><br />I deduced that he must think that white golf players send their caddies into crocodile infested pits to fetch their racist bwanas balls - hence the sign. And then he said as much. "How racist is that?!!" he asked rhetorically.<br /><br />I laughed even more, now my embarrassment was tinged with sadness.<br /><br />To me one could detect signs of racism in the sign, but of a different ilk to the one that had just been spotted and caused such disgust.<br /><br />The sign was directed at caddies, and not players who commanded them. The caddies were not mere automatons with no power to decide where they could go.<br /><br />In fact, the caddies probably scour the golf course on their own for abandoned balls, to sell them at a discount to players.<br /><br />They have a reckless disregard for the dangers of this particular course - hence the sign. That's how I saw it, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. But I kept this to myself.<br /><br />But my colleague can just not imagine that a caddie would want to try and get a ball in such a dangerous place.<br /><br />The Sun City golf course management and myself could. But for him, it was easy to imagine whitey golfers sending powerless caddies to their deaths.<br /><br />Does this misunderstanding tell us anything more profound?<br /><br />Yes. White South African racism, and in particular Afrikaans racism is of a paternalistic kind: It's a - our blacks that we can't trust to look after themselves - kind of racism. That is the racism this signs speaks of, and it is often mistaken for another more BNP / National Front / Klu Klux Clan - Western kind of racism.<br /><br />Does it matter? Of course. Any lawyer will tell you that the intention of an offender is essential in determining the severity of the crime. </ul> </tt><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mhambi.blogspot.com/search?q=paternalistic+"> Article found at this link. </a> From: the Mhambi blog.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-44962489835102977162009-03-07T05:25:00.000-08:002014-03-13T23:34:51.708-07:00The Dialect of the Boers was Removed.The dialect of Afrikaans as developed by the Boers has not been in official use since the early part of the 20th cent due to the fact that it was removed from the public sphere around 1921 including from the Parliament. Theuns Cloete of Boerevolk Radio noted this during an interview with The Right Perspective shortwave / internet radio program in December of 2007. Historians have classified the dialect spoken by the Boers as Eastern Border Afrikaans which was named after the eastern Cape region where the Boers & this dialect of Afrikaans developed. It is also interesting to note that the Boers did not give the name Afrikaans to the general / macro lingua franca language of the general southern western African region as the term Afrikaans was originally given to this language [ of which there are numerous dialects & spoken by numerous groups ] by the Cape Dutch intellectuals [ who started the propagation of the term Afrikaner stemming from the laguage ] of 1875 who started a language rights movement in order to get the language official recognition as a distinct language at a time when most of the Boers were independent in their internationally recognized Boer Republics & only ever referred to their Afrikaans dialect as "die taal" [ the language ] or Boeretaal. Update: A number of Boers today even call their dialect Boeraans since Afrikaans is the name of a general language with numerous dialects spoken by a diverse array of groups & the largest segment of White Afrikaans speakers are those from the Cape Dutch. <br />
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This further demonstrates a difference in dialect with that as spoken by the Cape Dutch of the Western Cape. <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=689598"> This article from the Times </a> on the Boer Diaspora living in Argentina - who have been there since 1903 descendets of Bitterenders who did not want to live under British domination - notes that the Boers there speak an "older form of Afrikaans" when in fact the correct interpretation is that they speak the unadulterated Boer version as their language was unaffected by the political changes taking place in the then new macro State of South Africa which was inherited by the more numerous Cape Dutch & the consequent predominance of their Afrikaans dialect.<br />
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Westerners often have a one dimensional view of Afrikaans & often even view it as a colonial export when in fact the language is a homegrown product of many diverse influences which took shape entirely on African soil when the various people brought there by the VOC from Europe & Asia [ who were brought as slaves ] developed a lingua franca out of necessity in order to communicate among themselves. While Afrikaans did develop from the High Dutch dialect [ not form Netherlands Dutch ] spoken by the Germanic peoples of northern Europe [ mainly in modern day Germany & Denmark ] who were sent to the Cape as servants of the VOC: strong influences from Malay / Portuguese / French / German & Khoi have shaped it into a distinct language of its own with a number of various dialects some of which have died out. There are 3 main dialects of Afrikaans. West Cape Afrikaans spoken in the Western Cape / Northern Cape Afrikaans - of which Orange River Afrikaans is a part of - spoken by the Griquas & the remaining Khoisan people / Eastern Cape Afrikaans spoken by the Boers of the eastern Cape frontier & their descendents. The Boer dialect of Afrikaans has not quite disappeared but was overshadowed by the Cape Dutch originated dialect.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-63559753094436045682009-01-05T23:53:00.000-08:002009-02-13T14:39:24.611-08:00The Boers Are Not Afrikaners.This gets complicated but the Boer people are in fact a distinct cultural group who are not part of the bulk of those who were labeled Afrikaners despite the fact that the Boers were among the first to be considered African before the descendents of the Cape Dutch took the term Afrikaner for themselves then later forced the Boers into this term to the detriment of their unique identity which was formed on the Cape frontiers away from the Cape Dutch / Afrikaners. While a number of modern Boers also often refer to themselves as Afrikaners & often justify it by noting that its definition is: African - the problem with this term is that it marginalizes the Boers & puts them under the domination of the more dominant Cape Dutch descended Afrikaners. The term Afrikaner obscures the fact that the Boerevolk are a distinct & independent nation which gets marginalized when lumping them in with those who are not part of their particular nation.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-12432790707272505732009-01-05T23:44:00.000-08:002009-06-23T19:01:27.432-07:00The Adoption of the OVS Vierkleur Flag.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR5JRsNDIFgJYTGbLT4YeaW2H0sF7nVEzmMrHbB4pjoPt1hlCtghao5ieny4xs-ptUYwNU4HsXvAp03ruKIdivYu4TRI3am23bzUVMHoFxyAXOoOI20PAMj9138PcqROZZdgVIIgeVRMRp/s1600-h/OFS_5.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 96px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR5JRsNDIFgJYTGbLT4YeaW2H0sF7nVEzmMrHbB4pjoPt1hlCtghao5ieny4xs-ptUYwNU4HsXvAp03ruKIdivYu4TRI3am23bzUVMHoFxyAXOoOI20PAMj9138PcqROZZdgVIIgeVRMRp/s320/OFS_5.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288084668841745282" border="0" /></a>The Orange Free State Vierkleur flag was adopted on Feb 23 1857 on the third anniversary of the Orange Free State Republic. The flag was designed in 1856 but was not adopted until 1857 due to conflicting proposals for the coat of arms. This flag served as the national flag of the Orange Free State until the conclusion of the second Anglo-Boer War. The red / white & blue horizontal tri colour flag in the canton recalls the tri colour which was used for the first Boer Republics at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet in 1795 on the Cape frontier. The overall design of the OVS Vierkleur flag is loosely based on the national flag of the United States of America as the Constitutions of the two major Boer Republics were based on those of the United States & France. The Orange Free State Republic flag is notable within the popular De La Rey video noting the Bitterender phase of the second Anglo-Boer War.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-10612585688382714332009-01-05T23:33:00.000-08:002009-02-13T14:28:10.575-08:00The Adoption of the Natalia Republic Flag.<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BlP9AksyCwKjRZZpoU5pMtNy1v7x12IzuT8ItbZ-f4z8L4604c2h0mrrJ1Qc8OQ5yaQ0r_5lTHFWGErgrk4abq6OC3U347hM17y8HSJOLFOFaSDaZ8QfY-1zScJJmVfTzoRrIZ1W24hF/s1600-h/Natalia+Republic1.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 101px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BlP9AksyCwKjRZZpoU5pMtNy1v7x12IzuT8ItbZ-f4z8L4604c2h0mrrJ1Qc8OQ5yaQ0r_5lTHFWGErgrk4abq6OC3U347hM17y8HSJOLFOFaSDaZ8QfY-1zScJJmVfTzoRrIZ1W24hF/s320/Natalia+Republic1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283249256558872098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">The Natalia Republic flag was adopted on December 24 1839. The Natalia Republic was a short lived Boer Republic established close to a year after the Battle at Ncome River. The Republic was later annexed by Britain in 1843 & most of the Boers there then trekked into the Transvaal & Transorangia where other Boers were establishing themselves. The first few minutes of the following video mentions this flag including a number of other 19th cent Boer Republican flags which are located in the Cenotaph Hall under the Heroes Hall at the Voortrekker Monument.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><center style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lw02p5UqBYY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lw02p5UqBYY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZDwDs8LQmgUb3PMIRcPag4jqM_B3ee5JsWq-7Tb8CYwzU0ongpvXE23-miudyI3nkwjsdDcO1Yh4Ylj3SQ41Nuavi3OIhfLSMx7V5SFU71rI7EtxCHYHCxKJGFERbng0UPweSz3gw488/s1600-h/Voort+Flags1.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZDwDs8LQmgUb3PMIRcPag4jqM_B3ee5JsWq-7Tb8CYwzU0ongpvXE23-miudyI3nkwjsdDcO1Yh4Ylj3SQ41Nuavi3OIhfLSMx7V5SFU71rI7EtxCHYHCxKJGFERbng0UPweSz3gw488/s320/Voort+Flags1.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283252078272413458" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The above picture shows the Natalia Tri Colour at the Right.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></center>Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245076266288478802.post-11756068782166868142009-01-05T23:19:00.001-08:002009-02-13T14:24:32.512-08:00The Adoption of the Vierkleur Flag.The renown Transvaal Vierkleur flag of the old Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek - also called the Transvaal Republic - was adopted on this date Jan 6 1857. The same date as the birth of the ZAR itself which was then just composed out of the former Potchefstroom Republic joined with the Rustenburg district as the Zoutpansberg Republic & the Lydenburg Republic [ despite a prior agreement] were yet to join. Note: The Lydenburg Republic joined the ZAR in 1860 & the Zoutpansberg Republic joined the ZAR in 1863. Marthinus Pretorius [ the son of the famous Andries Pretorius & for which the later capital of the ZAR was named ] was sworn in as the first President of the ZAR on this date as well.<br /><br />The Transvaal Vierkleur [ four colour ] flag was designed by a Dutch Reverend named Di<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ziMc6Dcpd2BPJ29cy-4IAs_gJvD9110Hl9LlOLLatApe3rIiKwxoAfPRxY2Ag8JfV7pi6SUDk5w5vRISrjg8ATd-1g4ZjlXC6Vo8swAF-o9lwSiPJT2h3XnzlL7dnlTGWO7FGb55oIwv/s1600-h/Transvaal3.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 105px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ziMc6Dcpd2BPJ29cy-4IAs_gJvD9110Hl9LlOLLatApe3rIiKwxoAfPRxY2Ag8JfV7pi6SUDk5w5vRISrjg8ATd-1g4ZjlXC6Vo8swAF-o9lwSiPJT2h3XnzlL7dnlTGWO7FGb55oIwv/s200/Transvaal3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288077858032835154" border="0" /></a>rk van der Hoff & its red / white & blue horizontal tri colour motif recalls the first Boer Republican flag used at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet in 1795 - during the time of the first Boer Republics - as well as the flag of van der Hoff's homeland of Holland. The ZAR Vierkleur flag was first raised at Potchefstroom. The Vierkleur was temporarily discontinued as the national flag of the ZAR from October 1874 until May of 1875 when Thomas Francois Burgers was President due to his dislike of the Vierkleur. The flag of the old Potchefstroom Republic was used instead during this brief time frame - but the Vierkleur was restored as the national flag of the ZAR by the Volksraad when President Burgers was abroad.<br /><br />The Potchefstroom Republic flag was based on the Saltire flag used by the Voortrekkers who followed Hendrik Potgieter & was also used at the Winburg <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KfdsCUc_G_VRa8-IBnTn1LzAaesa3ZkPCoABynzffofZmS2qXrtHsi3uAZXhJxMr-s1UnlNhyphenhyphenRMOTVSRGBm5Z-ZqoLe_ooDssloGJh-IhtJt8UtpRJFCVkpAG4cTxWJ_ropTVgoYWrMk/s1600-h/Potchef.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 145px; height: 97px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KfdsCUc_G_VRa8-IBnTn1LzAaesa3ZkPCoABynzffofZmS2qXrtHsi3uAZXhJxMr-s1UnlNhyphenhyphenRMOTVSRGBm5Z-ZqoLe_ooDssloGJh-IhtJt8UtpRJFCVkpAG4cTxWJ_ropTVgoYWrMk/s320/Potchef.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288079408659219586" border="0" /></a>Republic as well as the later Zoutpansberg Republic. The main difference being that the Potchefstroom Republic flag [ as well as the one briefly used by the ZAR ] had a white border around the red saltire on the dark blue background thus adhering more to heraldic customs. This flag though was retained as the Presidential flag.<br /><br />The Vierkleur flag was once again discontinued when Britain annexed the Transvaal Republic in 1877 but made a comeback again in 1880 when the local Boers rebelled against British rule thus starting the first Anglo-Boer War of which the Boers won & regained the independence of the ZAR in 1881 with the Pretoria Convention. Though Britain retained control of its foreign policy but that too later changed when the ZAR regained its full independence in 1884 with the signing of the London Convention.<br /><br />The Transvaal Vierkleur [ as well as the OVS Vierkleur pictured at right ] became a very <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvrsrhvr50DoGpjrD2iOLZptnWr22USFJm68thdt7DUtOsnYynu6eAMZD6UY-GOeB2Wcex0R3ROfxv9Dsy29o8MvxvLGadc_b4gTgT_SdIskMfzUVyEinQJLP1TM6dEYEjSbMWyY8kn6I/s1600-h/OFS_5.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 96px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvrsrhvr50DoGpjrD2iOLZptnWr22USFJm68thdt7DUtOsnYynu6eAMZD6UY-GOeB2Wcex0R3ROfxv9Dsy29o8MvxvLGadc_b4gTgT_SdIskMfzUVyEinQJLP1TM6dEYEjSbMWyY8kn6I/s320/OFS_5.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288079706156290210" border="0" /></a><br />important symbol to the Boerevolk during the second Anglo-Boer War as a symbol of resistance to British Colonial oppression in which close to 50 % of the Boer child population died in the concentration camps. Due to those circumstances the flag has taken on added significance other than just an old Boer Republican flag & is still flown by many today representing a nation which was almost wiped out but flies as proof of the continued existence of the Boer Nation.Ron.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17024475980439398317noreply@blogger.com2