Satire is Impossible Today - Chinese South Africans now black

[Niccolo and Donkey]

Chinese South Africans now black (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7461099.stm)

BBC

June 18, 2008


The High Court in South Africa has ruled that Chinese South Africans are to be reclassified as black people.

It made the order so that ethnic Chinese could benefit from affirmative action policies, aimed at improving living standards for black people.

The Chinese Association of South Africa took the government to court, saying its members had been discriminated against.

An estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese live in South Africa.

The association said their members often failed to qualify for business contracts and job promotions because they were regarded as whites.

The association said Chinese South Africans had faced widespread discrimination during the years of apartheid when they had been classified as people of mixed race.

The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and the Employment Equity Acts were designed to eradicate the legacy of apartheid which left many black people impoverished.

The laws give people classed as blacks, Indians and coloureds (mixed-race) employment and other economic benefits over other racial groups.

The Black Economic Employment concept was initiated by the governing ANC to help previously disadvantaged individuals - to start their own businesses or become part of existing companies - thus redressing the country's historic inequalities.

Whites still on top

Our correspondent says the ruling provides clarity for corporations in South Africa on the rights of their Chinese staff - who were declared "coloured" under apartheid but are generally regarded as white today.

An example cited in court papers includes an oil company that disqualified Chinese citizens from getting a slice of its biggest empowerment transaction to date.

The company says the group is not catered for in the Black Economic Empowerment codes.

Another example includes a Chinese national who was refused an opportunity to buy shares from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange two years ago.

None of the three government departments cited as respondents in the court case opposed the application.

A study released last month revealed that white South Africans still earn around 450% more than their black counterparts, 14 years after the end of apartheid.

[Niccolo and Donkey]

I found a racial map of South Africa here (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/south_africa_racial_1979.jpg) but it's too large to post.

First this:

The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and the Employment Equity Acts were designed to eradicate the legacy of apartheid which left many black people impoverished.

The laws give people classed as blacks, Indians and coloureds (mixed-race) employment and other economic benefits over other racial groups.

The Black Economic Employment concept was initiated by the governing ANC to help previously disadvantaged individuals - to start their own businesses or become part of existing companies - thus redressing the country's historic inequalities.

....and then how affirmative action contorts itself all out of shape:

Our correspondent says the ruling provides clarity for corporations in South Africa on the rights of their Chinese staff - who were declared "coloured" under apartheid but are generally regarded as white today.

An example cited in court papers includes an oil company that disqualified Chinese citizens from getting a slice of its biggest empowerment transaction to date.

The company says the group is not catered for in the Black Economic Empowerment codes.

In a multiethnic polity such as South Africa, there are really only two choices:

1. completely toss away all racial designations and therefore toss away all affirmative action, making each person totally equal to the next in regards to the law

2. breakdown the state into cantons a la Switzerland that are highly autonomous in which each canton best represents a particular constituency (which is why I posted the link at the top of this post).

A third option would be partition, but that would be quite messy.

Now, the first option would naturally be deemed unfair and "racist" because it would be considered failing to address the effects of Apartheid. The present condition creates a situation in which some are favoured and some are left behind, leading to this silly situation of "Black Chinese".

The second option would be rejected as a failure of multiculturalism and since multiculturalism is now a god alongside democracy, it's also a non-starter.

So South Africans are left with a situation in which Chinese are now Black people and are therefore a step ahead of the whites (who still predominate economically).

Comedy.

[Hachiko]

This isn't world-breaking news; according to the NUJ, the Chinese of Britain and Ireland are to be considered Black as well.

[Niccolo and Donkey]

This isn't world-breaking news; according to the NUJ, the Chinese of Britain and Ireland are to be considered Black as well.

NUJ? Never heard of them.

[Hachiko]

NUJ? Never heard of them.

http://www.presswise.org.uk/display_page.php?id=648

Guidelines ratified by the National Union of Journalists (UK and Ireland) for all its members to follow when dealing with race relations subjects.

Black can cover people of Arab, Asian, Chinese and African origin. Ask people how they define themselves.

[Transcendentally Challenged]

A court on Wednesday issued a landmark ruling classifying Chinese South Africans as black, making them eligible for benefits for those discriminated against under the former apartheid regime.

The ruling from the Pretoria high court came after the Chinese Association of South Africa (CASA) challenged their exclusion from laws aimed at redressing economic imbalances under white-minority rule, which ended in 1994.

CASA argued that Chinese citizens continue to be marginalised under the country's black economic empowerment and affirmative action legislation.

Both laws benefit the country's black, Indian and mixed-race communities.

Patrick Chong, CASA leader, described the ruling as a victory.

"Under the apartheid rule we were classified as coloured - a term used to describe a mixture of black and white race," he said.

Click here!



"After the democratic government came into power, our status was no longer recognised as coloured, so we were in between."

The organisation has pressed the government on the matter since 2000 in order to seek clarity on their racial classification.

The dawn of the new democratic government in South Africa saw the passing of legislation such as the black economic empowerment and employment equity act, which seeks to redress the economic and social imbalances under apartheid.

The measures have afforded blacks access to discounted share schemes offered by large companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The schemes excluded the participation of the Chinese.

Under affirmative action policy, blacks are also given preference for top business positions.

"We have unjustly suffered a second round of unfair discrimination by not being sure of our status under the two acts," added Chong.

According to CASA, South African citizens of Chinese descent make up less than 10 000 of the country's 47 million population.

Like their racial classification, the early arrival of Chinese in the country has been unclear.

Karen Harris, a historian based at the University of Pretoria, said the history of South Africa's Chinese population was scantly recorded.

She has pinned down their first arrival in the 1650s, as labourers for Dutch settlers in the Cape area.

Other groups arrived later to work in the mines of Johannesburg after the discovery of gold in 1886.

The South African War between 1899-1902 forced many Chinese to move away from what is now Johannesburg to coastal towns such as Port Elizabeth and East London.

But the largest concentration of Chinese remains in the Johannesburg region.

"The Chinese have suffered discrimination long before the introduction of the country's discriminatory laws. They have always been kept on the periphery of the country's social landscape," said Harris.

In his book "All Under Heaven", Darryl Accone described fellow South Africans of Chinese descent as classified non-white in the old South Africa but not deemed previously disadvantaged in the new.

Sipho Seepe, an academic who specialises in African issues, said the Chinese's low profile was in part to blame for the predicament.

"The Chinese have always existed in their own small close-knit communities, but that does not justify denial for recognition," said Seepe.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20080618155538895C661431

[Count Sudoku]

I found a racial map of South Africa here (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/south_africa_racial_1979.jpg) but it's too large to post.

The second option would be rejected as a failure of multiculturalism and since multiculturalism is now a god alongside democracy, it's also a non-starter.

In that case why was Kosovo allowed to separate from Serbia?

The only sensible thing for the whites would have been to carve out a white only country in the sw before letting the savages have the rest.

[Niccolo and Donkey]

In that case why was Kosovo allowed to separate from Serbia?

To expand NATO and the EU and to punish Serbia.

[Transcendentally Challenged]

In that case why was Kosovo allowed to separate from Serbia?

The only sensible thing for the whites would have been to carve out a white only country in the sw before letting the savages have the rest.

The US became a hostage of its own proclaimed principles, which now interfere with any sane foreign policy, which presupposes at least a certain degree of hypocrisy, ingratitude and doubletalk.

But if you try to play a saint, your allies might expect you to live up to their expectations.

[Count Sudoku]

To expand NATO and the EU and to punish Serbia.

Is Kosovo going to join NATO?

[Niccolo and Donkey]

Is Kosovo going to join NATO?

Eventually. The Americans have a 99 year lease on Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.

http://www.swiftview.com/~ormilmuseum/pictures/bondsteel.jpg

[klipgeit]

In that case why was Kosovo allowed to separate from Serbia?

The only sensible thing for the whites would have been to carve out a white only country in the sw before letting the savages have the rest.
Now the beauty of all things.
The Japanese were classified as white.(for economic reasons)
The Chinese may have been classed as nonwhite(coloured),but they profited from the Apartheid "regime".
As a matter of fact they were pro Apartheid in the economic sense.
They never went for jobs in this country, they were tradesman(small shops) on every street corner.Besides that....they stuck to their own group.

Unfortunately the whites did not carve their only country,that is, they had the Freestate and Transvaal as their main provinces.
The Cape was from the beginning a mixed group and the Apartheid laws were more or less adhered to.
A number of whites had their "knippie"(fokkie fokkie) in the locations. Some of the coloured women looked so white,that they were classified as white.
The homeland concept was a good idea turning out bad.
The tribes were allocated to their land,and it was fertile land too.
The "presidents" in those homelands were as crooked as the present govt is.
All the money allocated by the government to these homelands went into their own pockets in stead of improving the tribes. The ANC has yet to develop these homelands.
Xenophobia is really a tribal and an economic fight(do not take my job)
The South African African sees himself as a "whiter" shade of brown :rofl: