South African (Black) Nationalist Ideologies and Resistance Movements

Abstract

A major thrust of the decentralization policy was the politicization of the ethnic, which was usually the ideological backbone of the native’s resistance against the settlers. The ethnic as a “territorial parameter of indigenous defense” had to be broken. If native resistance was to be broken, then it had to start with this ideological backbone, for the ethnic represented an unconscious, imaginary community, a platform on which the natives could muster a common resistance. When the ethnic is broken, the people are broken. It is in this state of affairs that the apocalypse gives hope, offering meaning, empowerment, and unity of purpose. In times of despair, a message of hope unites a conquered people. When the life of a people becomes terrible and poverty stricken, the apocalypse has always looked good.¹ The apocalypse symbolizes hope in this time of despair as the people’s consolation is pinned on the messianic figure. As their life becomes unbearable, “revolution” would become desirable. One of the ways of creating a revolution is by creating the ideal of Apocalypse, a messianic figure who embodies the people’s hope. In Hebraic religions, we see such great icons of hope represented by the prophets and patriarchs with a resounding hope of a messiah. In Christianity specifically, this hope is expressed in the Parousia, the Second Coming of Jesus the “Christ.”² The lot of most conquered people hinges on this hope, which inspires revolutionary millennialism.