Washington has no basis to make claims of genocide against progressive governments in Africa
Geopolitical Analysis
Judging from repeated statements made by United States President Donald Trump related to the African continent and its people, it was not surprising when he openly attacked with falsehoods the Republic of South Africa for carrying out genocide against white Boer farmers.
Already early in the current administration, the South African Ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, was declared persona non grata by the State Department under Marco Rubio and consequently forced to leave Washington, D.C.
After receiving a hero’s welcome when he returned to South Africa, the ambassador was unrepentant for voicing his views on the character of the U.S. administration. The South African constitution drafted after the democratic breakthrough of 1994 which brought President Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) to power, prohibits institutional racism. Comparing this contemporary history of South Africa to the U.S. illustrates the contested aspects of constitutional law which have never come to grips with the principles enunciated in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments along with the various Civil Rights Bills and Executive Orders passed intermittently from 1863 to 1968.
At present the administration of Trump represents the retrogressive trends within U.S. politics and law. The campaign to revoke any advances or policies which uphold the rights of oppressed peoples in the U.S. are designed to heighten the centuries-long legacy of national oppression and economic exploitation. Trump has carried out these measures largely through executive orders signed in the oval office. He also engages in threats against migrants, legal immigrants, particularly those from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
Therefore, the MAGA Republican White House has no basis for describing any state in Africa as “racist and genocidal” when the U.S. has never apologized or agreed to make amends for the horrendous periods of enslavement, de jure segregation, domestic colonialism and neo-colonialism. African Americans and Latin Americans even today are disproportionately the victims of state repression including police terrorism and mass incarceration.
The anti-apartheid struggles of the South African people have been a great inspiration to other oppressed nations. African Americans have been in solidarity with the national liberation movements of the African National Congress (ANC), Southwest Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) and others for decades. There are tremendous historical parallels between the racism and national oppression meted out in North America and that of Southern Africa.
Consequently, the administration’s complete disrespect for the South African people who overcame institutional racism and national oppression is indicative of Trump and the constituency he represents in the U.S. Although the transformation process in South Africa is far from over and there are tremendous debates taking place over key issues, the political culture is far more vibrant than the atmosphere now prevailing in the U.S. where even the objective study of the actual history of the country is being outlawed in many states.
The White House has concocted narratives saying that elite private universities such as Harvard should have their tax-exempt status rescinded if the higher educational institutions will not allow its faculty, staff and students to be interrogated on their political views related to anti-racism, Palestine solidarity, climate change and gender equality. Research grants from the federal government agencies dealing with healthcare and science have been suspended by the White House.
South African-born businessman Elon Musk had been given access to state institutions without any authorization from Congress to terminate civil servants, shutter offices and eliminate programs which serve millions domestically and internationally absent any deliberation or formal approval by the House of Representatives, the Senate or federal courts. Although Musk left as director of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the overall ideological slant of the administration has not shifted.
Peddling Lies and Distortions to Undermine the Global South
In an effort to reset relations between Pretoria and Washington, President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House in May. His arrival took place in the immediate aftermath of the transporting of dozens of Afrikaners (Boers) to the U.S. at the aegis of Trump claiming to be refugees from the genocide imposed by the ANC-led Government of National Unity (GNU).
A GNU was established after the national elections of 2024 where the ruling ANC did not receive more than 50 percent of the votes. Within the confines of the South African Constitution and electoral regulations, unity administrations can be set up.
The ANC received by far the largest bloc of votes with approximately 40 percent. The next highest vote getter was the white-dominated Democratic Alliance (DA) which gained 21 percent of the votes. These two parties, although far apart ideologically coming from two distinct political traditions within South African history, agreed to form a unity government along with eight other parties.
Members of other parties within the GNU were represented in the Ramaphosa delegation to Washington. The presence of the GNU delegation made Trump out to be delusional by advancing this false genocide narrative.
In fact, the video shown by Trump was of a rally of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) whose leaders were expelled over a decade ago from the ANC Youth League. The EFF refused to join the GNU after being asked by President Ramaphosa and the ANC leadership. It was the EFF chanting slogans from the era of the South African armed struggle prior to the transitional process between 1990-94.
The EFF won eight percent of the vote in the 2024 national elections. This represented a downturn in their electoral support.
Ramaphosa attempted to point out to the Trump cabinet and the corporate media at the White House that EFF was a small minority party. He went on to say that the South African Constitution allows for the formation of alternative parties and they are guaranteed freedom of speech.
This flies in the face of the political culture the MAGA Republicans are creating in the U.S. where federal court orders are routinely defied by the White House and the interests of millions within the country and internationally are ignored. Students, intellectuals and activists are being rounded up and deported from the U.S. for their political views on Palestine liberation, decrying the real genocide taking place in Gaza which has been clearly documented by the United Nations, unbiased media outlets and many humanitarian agencies.
The real motivation of the Trump White House is to retaliate against the South African people for their solidarity with the Palestinians. It was the Ramaphosa government in late 2023 which took the State of Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial body within the United Nations. Later in January 2024, the South African government received a favorable ruling from the ICJ saying that their claims that the Zionist regime had violated the Genocide Convention of 1948 were plausible.
South Africa’s history of fighting racism and settler-colonialism coupled with its unconditional solidarity with the Palestinians, represents a threat to the imperialist system. The Israeli regime is indispensable to the dominance exerted by Washington and Wall Street over West Asia and North Africa.
Any state, political party and mass organization exposing the link between Zionism and imperialism will be attacked by the White House and Congress. The movement on the campuses for full disclosure and divestment from financial interests involved with the Zionist state has been ruthlessly attacked by both the previous administration of President Joe Biden and the existing Trump White House and Congress.
Yet, Tel Aviv and Washington along with their UK and European Union (EU) allies continue to funnel warplanes, bombs, intelligence infrastructure, trade and diplomatic cover to the genocide being conducted against 2.5 million Palestinians. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed with many others injured, traumatized and displaced.
Racist Trump Foreign Policy Must be Condemned Internationally
By waging political, ideological and military warfare against the anti-racist and anti-colonial forces throughout the world, the U.S. is demonstrating its growing weaknesses related to international affairs. A greater consolidation of regional groupings such as BRICS, the Nonaligned Movement, the African Union, Group of 77 Plus China; New Development Bank (NDB), etc. prefigures the coming shift in global influence and dominance.
These blocs constitute in excess of 80 percent of the world’s population. The economic and political interests of these groupings do not align with Washington, London and Brussels.
The anti-immigrant stance of the administration is designed to continue the popular notion that “America is a white man’s country.” Despite the rising population of people of color within the geographic confines of the U.S., the current domestic and foreign policies are based upon the imperatives of maintaining the status-quo.
These contradictions can only be resolved through the independent organization and mobilization of the workers and oppressed in the U.S. The efforts on the part of the administration to aggravate already existing racial tensions should not be allowed to stall the inevitable struggle between the ruling class and the proletariat.
