<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">'It's not the end of Afrikaans'</h1>
<span id="spnDate" class="">2016-06-29 08:52</span>
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<div class=""><h5 id="Relatedheader" class="">Related Links</h5></div>
<ul><li class=""><a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/up-stellenbosch-dark-day-for-afrikaans-speakers-says-ff-plus-20160624">UP, Stellenbosch: 'Dark day for Afrikaans speakers', says FF Plus</a></li><li class=""><a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/dropping-of-afrikaans-at-ufs-violates-constitution-afriforum-20160620">Dropping of Afrikaans at UFS violates Constitution - AfriForum</a></li></ul>
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<p class=""><img src="http://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/1165/84f01307c83447058fb8511990ff1f05.jpg" id="imgProfile1" class="" title="Melanie Verwoerd"></p><p>Melanie Verwoerd </p><p>Last
week the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch decided to change
their language policies. Both will be switching to English as the main
medium of instruction, with Stellenbosch retaining Afrikaans if
requested by enough students. </p><p>Predictably, there is great
unhappiness amongst some (and I want to emphasise some) Afrikaners about
this move. In Rapport this week, one of the six Council members who
walked out in protest gave a lengthy interview to Hanlie Retief. John
Theron declared that he has now become an activist for Afrikaans - a
“language terrorist”. I'm not sure what that means and I find it rather
troubling, especially coming from a lawyer who is trained to measure his
language. There are many other things I found deeply unsettling about
that interview, but what really got my blood boiling was his reference
to “my people” - referring to Afrikaners.</p><p><strong>I love Afrikaans</strong><br></p><p>For
the record, let me make it clear: I am Afrikaans and I love Afrikaans.
It is the language of my heart and of my dreams. I grew up in a typical
Afrikaner household during apartheid, where my beloved grandmother could
find nothing good to say about English, or those who spoke it. “The
only good thing the English ever did was bring hot water bottles and tea
to South Africa,” was her favourite saying - and she meant it. My
father deducted pocket money if we used an Anglicism, and the works of
Louis Leipoldt would be our bedtime stories. Despite living in Ireland
for 14 years, I raised my children in Afrikaans, and we speak only
Afrikaans at home. </p><p>But let me be equally clear: I don't want to
be included as part of “my people” when Afrikaners say that. For me, "my
people" embrace all the amazing people of all races and cultures I have
come across over many years, some of whom became my closest friends.
Despite language, race and cultural differences, I have a lot more in
common with them than I have with the majority of Afrikaners.</p><p>I am
also a graduate of the University of Stellenbosch. I did my bachelors,
honours and masters degrees there. I was on campus from the mid-80s to
early-90s, during which time Stellenbosch was unashamedly the cradle of
Afrikaner nationalism, providing the intellectual and theological
underpinning for apartheid.</p><p>After a short break abroad I returned
to the university in the early 90s. Little had changed, apart from a
small, very vocal group of left-wing students who fought passionately
against the university authorities on many issues.</p><p><strong>An unwelcoming and unhappy place</strong><br></p><p>In
the pre-1994 era of white panic, the university moved swiftly to
orchestrate the passing of The University of Stellenbosch (Private Act)
1992 through the last white Parliament. Section 18 of that Act
entrenched Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. Many marches and
other protest actions were held. It seemed clear as daylight that this
was more than an attempt to keep Afrikaans safe: it was also an attempt
to entrench whiteness by keeping black students out. The authorities
argued lamely that it was not a race issue and that Coloured and Indian
parents would like to see their children studying in Afrikaans – a point
still argued today. The obvious rebuttal was that in practice the
majority of students in this country would still be excluded. </p><p>Stellenbosch
is thankfully not the place it used to be – at least not in its
statutes and governance. But 21 years later, as we saw from the <em>Luister</em> documentary, Stellenbosch is still an unwelcoming and unhappy place for many students who are not Afrikaans. </p><p>The
point is that language isn’t just a way of communicating. With it come
cultural practices, history, and even sometimes political ideology. As
one of the Rhodes-must-fall students told me: “My first week at
Stellenbosch, the social in the residence was a ‘sokkie’ (a dance
popular with Afrikaners). The next week it was a ‘sokkie’ and the third
week and so it went on. I don’t mind ‘sokkie’ but could they not have
mixed it up a bit? As African students we were never able to integrate
into social life”. </p><p>The message of the (mainly) black students at
Stellenbosch and the other historically white campuses around South
Africa is that they feel alienated with no sense of belonging. They do
not feel heard or even seen and are tired of being “accommodated” rather
than being legitimately and integrally part of the student body. </p><p>Then
there is also the overt racism that exists. The shocking fact is that
many of the white “born frees” of this country are as racist as those
who were on campus in the pre-1994 years. </p><p><strong>Equal the playing field</strong></p><p>Of
course racism is not unique to university campuses. It is endemic in
our society. But it appears to be a far too big a problem at the
historically white universities and together with the sense of
alienation felt by so many black students it is creating a very
explosive and dangerous environment. It is equally true that the
language policy change per se will not deal with the racism. But it will
take away the sense of “we were here first” and “we are kindly
accommodating you non-Afrikaans speaking people”.</p><p>It will equal
the playing field a bit more and it will bring down some of the barriers
of otherness. At a recent workshop on redefining Afrikaner culture at
Wits, I asked one of the Rhodes must fall students from UP, whether it
would not be better to have multi-lingual policy – so bring in more of
the African languages. “No, that will only create more barriers, between
Sotho’s, Xhosa, Zulu’s etc. We are not against Afrikaans. We want
inclusivity and equality. And the only way we can see that happen, is to
have English for all of us,” she said.</p><p>In the Rapport interview,
Johan Theron argues that “many Afrikaner young people are so ashamed
about the history, so punch drunk because of all the accusations and
insults and comments that they don’t want to get a degree in a country
where they are not ensured of work. They therefore go for the easy way
out. And that is English”.</p><p>From my perspective there is a lot that
we should be ashamed of in our history and frankly from what I can see
on social media the Afrikaner young people are often the ones doing the
punching and insulting. </p><p><strong>Faith in my language</strong></p><p>However,
there are many young Afrikaners, who have a strong sense of where they
come from, with a healthy recognition of the sins of their fathers and
thus their responsibility to make things right in the future. They
accept that it includes changes to hurtful policies such the
universities’ language policies. They are modern, global citizens who
love South Africa and believe that they have a future here. And they
still love Afrikaans and want to raise their children in their mother
tongue.</p><p><a name="_GoBack"></a></p><p>Those young people are
part of who I call “my people”, because ultimately they understand that
our country requires far more complex thinking and a resistance to
pulling lager and simple pro- and anti- positions.</p><p>I do not believe that the 22<sup> </sup>June
was the beginning of the end of Afrikaans as some prominent Afrikaners
will have us believe. I have far more faith in my language. I saw with
my children, who were educated in English, that if the language is
spoken at home, the language will continue to thrive. </p><p><em>*Melanie Verwoerd is a former ANC MP and South African Ambassador to Ireland.</em></p><p><em><a href="http://www.news24.com/Columnists/MelanieVerwoerd/its-not-the-end-of-afrikaans-20160629">http://www.news24.com/Columnists/MelanieVerwoerd/its-not-the-end-of-afrikaans-20160629</a><br></em></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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