1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello everyone, Molly here, Welcome back to 2 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: the fourth and final installment of the holiday reruns here 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: on Weird Little Guys. Instead of picking two random reruns 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: for the weeks of Christmas and New Year's I've used 5 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: this opportunity to run my favorite mini series of twenty 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: twenty five, the eight episodes I wrote back in the 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: spring about the international networks of right wing extremists who 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: were trying to hold onto apartheid in South Africa. Last week, 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: episodes one and two ran on Tuesday, episodes three and 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: four on the Thursday, and episodes five and six ran 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: on Tuesday, which makes this episodes seven and eight of 12 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: the series. Blood River originally ran on April seventeenth, and 13 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: Mission South Africa followed on May first. There was kind 14 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: of a ninth episode in the series, but it was 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: an afterthought and I didn't include it here. But when 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: I got back from my honeymoon a few weeks after 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: these episodes came out, I chased down one more loose end, 18 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: the American arms dealer who got in trouble for smuggling 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: guns to the groups we've been talking about in these episodes. 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: I just checked back in on him and he is 21 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: still suing that All you Can Eat Sushi Buffet in 22 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: Portland for asking him and his Doberman to leave the 23 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 1: restaurant after the dog put her nose in a chafing 24 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: dish of spring rolls. A bit of an anticlimactic retirement 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,199 Speaker 1: for a guy who used to run guns for fourig 26 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:41,559 Speaker 1: Nazi groups. I really think I could have just written 27 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: about this all year, just fifty episodes about the white 28 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: supremacists all over the world who couldn't let go of apartheid. 29 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: It turned out there was a lot more going on 30 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: there than I could have imagined. But this is where 31 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: I left it in May, and the final episode is 32 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: the one most badly in need of an update because 33 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: it ended in the present tense. The story was still 34 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: evolving as I was writing it, and it kept going 35 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: after I stopped. It may be something I have to 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: come back to for a full length episode for now, though, 37 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: Brent Bozell has been confirmed as the United States Ambassador 38 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: to South Africa and there is no new South African ambassador 39 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: to the United States. When I finished this series at 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: the end of April, there were rumors that the first 41 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: round of white South African refugees were on their way here, 42 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: and that group of around fifty did indeed arrive on 43 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: a chartered flight in May. A South African group claimed 44 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: in June that nine more refugees had arrived on a 45 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: commercial flight, but I can't find any official statement from 46 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: anyone about whether additional South Africans were ever brought over 47 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: from the BBC as recently as this week says. It's 48 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,959 Speaker 1: not clear how many, or if any, additional South Africans 49 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: have been resettled in the US after that first group 50 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: in May, but apparently people are still applying for refugee resettlement. 51 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: At the end of this episode, you'll hear about a 52 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: group called Americaners. Back in the spring, it was very new. 53 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: It was a hastily established organization, but claimed at the 54 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: time that they were assisting white South Africans who hoped 55 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:39,559 Speaker 1: to apply for refugee resettlement in the US. Well in September, 56 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: Americaners was formally brought on as a partner organization by 57 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: the US State Department, And as I'm writing this now, 58 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: a few days before Christmas, there is some news about 59 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: that the State Department outsourced the work of processing applications 60 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,119 Speaker 1: for refugee resettlement on site in South Africa. The official 61 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: implementation partners in that process are Church World Services, a 62 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: nonprofit based in Indiana, and Americannors, a limited liability company 63 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:15,839 Speaker 1: incorporated in Florida, but the actual work was being done 64 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: by RSC Africa, a company operated by that nonprofit, Church 65 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: World Services out of Kenya. In mid December, South African 66 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: authorities deported seven Kenya nationals working at the application processing center. 67 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: They had entered South Africa on tourist biasis and were 68 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: not legally allowed to work. The Americanor's website was pretty 69 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: bare bones when I looked at it back in April. Today, 70 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: now that they are an official implementation partner with the 71 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: US State Department, it's massive. There are pages and pages 72 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: of useful information for white South Africans looking to adjust 73 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 1: to life in America. There's a page explaining that it's 74 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: a common American custom to say hello to your neighbors, 75 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: and another page that lists everything you need to know 76 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,160 Speaker 1: about hiring a maid to clean your suburban American home. 77 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: A page about American demographics suggests that quote the Midwest's 78 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: homogeneity offers a familiar feel, and it specifically notes that 79 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: Nebraska is ninety percent white. The same page advises the 80 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: reader to use American census data to research prospective locations. 81 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 2: Quote. 82 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: Knowing Georgia is thirty two percent black helps you prepare 83 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: for diverse interactions considering they are moving from Africa. I 84 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: don't know why they would need to prepare. Nevertheless, relations 85 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: between the United States and South Africa are not getting better. 86 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: The President of the United States keeps doubling down on 87 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: white nationalist talking points about the white genocide conspiracy theory. 88 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: So I'm sure this is a story that I'll keep 89 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: coming back to, whether I like it or not. I'll 90 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: be back soon with more weird little guys in twenty 91 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: twenty six. On December sixteenth, nineteen fifty six, all over 92 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: South Africa, people gathered in city squares and event halls. 93 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: Children's choirs performed, congregations gathered to sing hymns, and whole 94 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: towns turned out to hear speeches from civic leaders and 95 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: church elders. They barbecued and picnicked. They made a whole 96 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: weekend of it, with parades led by mounted police and 97 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: festivals headlined by government officials all over the country. People 98 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: attending events in their own towns tuned in to hear 99 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: the Prime Minister's speech. In Krugersdorp, a judge addressing the 100 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: crowd in Jermyston urged Afrikaaners not to forsake God by 101 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: tolerating communism, saying quote, everywhere is the cry for equality 102 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: of whites and non whites, and everywhere it is fanned 103 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: by communism. In Freddorp, a speaker waxed poetic on the 104 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: noble character of their Dutch pioneer forefathers, saying quote, they 105 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: were neither conquerors nor oppressors. They always followed a determined 106 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: policy towards the barbarians. In Vadterfal, a member of parliament 107 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: gave a speech about the importance of apartheid, that it 108 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: was in fact a kindness allowing the races to live 109 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: and let live, retaining their racial identities by avoiding race 110 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: Mixing that speaker mc Botha would later help design and 111 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: implement the administration of the Bantustans. 112 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 3: Day. 113 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: He told the crowd that apartheid had a far more 114 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: positive outlook than something like segregation. In Kempton Park, theologian 115 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: Petrus Dryer warned that there could be no middle ground 116 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: economic integration. Inevitably leads to social integration, which always ends 117 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:24,679 Speaker 1: in blood mixing. Apartheid was still young in nineteen fifty six. 118 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: The system was still being constructed. Dryer predicted a complete 119 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: disappearance of the white race if the country failed to 120 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: quickly adopt total and complete apartheid. That celebration, the one 121 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: in Kempton Park, was presided over by festival chair William 122 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: Henry Huggett. He'd been the mayor of the city for 123 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: several years in the early fifties, and he was on 124 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: the board of his local branch of the National Party. 125 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 1: The newspaper write up about the event mentions him only briefly. 126 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: I couldn't even tell you if mister hugget gave a speech, 127 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: but I'm willing to bet that they're in the audience 128 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 1: listening to those warnings of impending racial annihilation. Was his daughter, 129 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: at twelve year old, Monica Huggett. I'm Molly Conger and 130 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: this it's weird, little guys. This is a story about 131 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: religious fervor. It's about myth and legend and racial holy war. 132 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,199 Speaker 1: It's a story of very modern bombings and treason convictions 133 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: and planned assassinations. But it's a story rooted in history, 134 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: So first, if you'll indulge me a bit of history. 135 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: December sixteenth is a significant day for South Africans. Today 136 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,679 Speaker 1: it's celebrated as Reconciliation Day, but it wasn't always a 137 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: day of peace. In nineteen sixty one, the newly formed 138 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: paramilitary Arm of the African National Congress m CONTO Wisizwey 139 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: announced their existence with a series of bomb blasts and 140 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: leaflets declaring, quote, the time comes in the life of 141 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: any nation where there remains only two choices, submit or fight. 142 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: That time has now come to South Africa. We shall 143 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: not submit, and we have no choice but to hit 144 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: back by all means within our power, in defense of 145 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 1: our people. In nineteen thirty, the South African Communist Party 146 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: held a nationwide protest encouraging black South Africans to publicly 147 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: burn their past books, the internal passports black people were 148 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: required to carry at all times. At a passbook burning 149 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,599 Speaker 1: rally in urban police attacked demonstrators, killing a and C 150 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: organizer Johannes and Kosi. In twenty twelve, a series of 151 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: police raids were carried out, rounding up four men accused 152 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: of treason and a plot to assassinate President Jacobsuma. And 153 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: the reason that all of these things happened on December 154 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: sixteenth is the same. It's the same reason those crowds 155 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: gathered in city squares all over the country in nineteen 156 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:35,079 Speaker 1: fifty six. Until the holiday was repurposed as Reconciliation Day. 157 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety five, it was celebrated as the Day 158 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: of the Vow. The holiday occupies a place of great 159 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: importance in the political ideology of the africaner nationalist. In 160 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,920 Speaker 1: the eighteen thirties, Dutch speaking settlers in the British controlled 161 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: colony at the Cape of Good Hope began migrating north 162 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: away from British rule. Of course, the land nor of 163 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: the British colony wasn't empty, and these exploratory missions often 164 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,439 Speaker 1: came into conflict with the African people whose land they 165 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: wanted to settle on. In eighteen thirty seven, one of 166 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: those bands of Dutch pioneers, known as the fore Trekkers, 167 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: set their sights on a bit of land in what 168 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: is now Kuasulu Natal. They approached the Zulu king dingane 169 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: An attempted to negotiate, stating a desire to live in 170 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: peace with the Zulu, but noting that they had been 171 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: victorious in prior conflicts with Zulu warriors. The negotiations did 172 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: not go well. Dinghane was understandably cautious in dealing with 173 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:44,079 Speaker 1: the fur Trekers. Earlier treks North had brought the settlers 174 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: into violent conflict with the indigenous people they encountered, and 175 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: their proposal just wasn't consistent with the way the Zulu lived. 176 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: The four Trekers wanted a written contract for ownership of 177 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: the land in perpetuity. Neither of these things were possible 178 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: in Zulu society. Theirs was an oral culture. There were 179 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: no written treaties or contracts, and their customs and laws 180 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: didn't allow for the permanent transfer of ownership of land 181 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: held by the king. In February of eighteen thirty eight, 182 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: a four record delegation led by Pete Retief met with 183 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: d Ghane to sign the treaty. There are conflicting accounts 184 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: as to whether this treaty was actually signed, but d 185 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 1: Ghane clearly had no intention of giving the Dutch settlers 186 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: any land. The entire delegation was led to a nearby 187 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: hillside and killed. There were retaliatory attacks and skirmishes throughout 188 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: the year, but the settlers spent most of eighteen thirty 189 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: eight regrouping. Farmers from the Cape Colony were called up 190 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: as reinforcements, and the bit of history that matters here 191 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: came at the end of the year, the Battle of 192 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: Blood River. December of eighteen thirty eight, Andres Pretorius led 193 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,440 Speaker 1: a caravan of fifty seven ox carts and four hundred 194 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: and sixty four trekker men into Zulu territory. The fort 195 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 1: Trekers were armed with guns, and the caravan had several cannons. 196 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: The battle began at dawn on December sixteenth. A surviving 197 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: member of the Zulu forces said their first charge was 198 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: mown down like grass by the musket fire. The Zulu 199 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: had an overwhelming numerical advantage, accounts very widely putting the 200 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: number at at least nine thousand, with some estimates ranging 201 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: as high as thirty thousand, but the fort Trekers had 202 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: a strong defensive position and they had artillery. By noon, 203 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: three thousand Zulu warriors were dead. The Fort Trekers had 204 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: not lost a single man in the Battle of Blood River. 205 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: There is, of course, no river with such a hideous name. 206 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: The battle was fought on the banks of the Encome River, 207 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: But on the day three thousand Zulu men were slain 208 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: in a matter of hours. The river is said to 209 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: have run red with their blood. That much is true. 210 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 1: The Battle of Blood River was fought on December sixteenth, 211 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty eight. The Day of the Vow, however, celebrates 212 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: a possibly apocryphal vow sworn by Andres Pretorius that if 213 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: God would deliver them a victory against the Zulu, their 214 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: descendants would forever keep that day as a holy sabbath. 215 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: They didn't, not until many decades later, anyway. Leonard Thompson, 216 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: an English historian who led Yale's Southern African Research program, 217 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: posits that the Day of the Vow is political mythology, 218 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: a piece of history that was resurrected and embellished when 219 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: it was politically expedient. There is some kernel of truth. 220 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: There is a contemporary count in the journals of Pretorius's secretary, 221 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: General jan Bantis, that one week before the battle, Pretorius 222 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: called his senior officers to his tent and asked them 223 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: to pray to God for victory, and he promised that 224 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: if they were victorious, he would build a church to 225 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: commemorate it and they did win, and he did build 226 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: that church, thus fulfilling the only portion of that promise 227 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: that we have any record of. For decades, white South 228 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: Africans did not keep December sixteenth as a holy sabbath. 229 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: An eighteen seventy seven text by a South African nationalist 230 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: theologian contains a history of the battle, but it makes 231 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: no mention at all of any vow or of divine intervention. 232 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: The story re emerged in the late eighteen hundreds amidst 233 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: the Boer Wars, and in eighteen eighty a ceremony was 234 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: held to renew the covenant, and in this ceremony they 235 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: tied the story of the four Trekker victory over Black 236 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: Africans to the present struggle for national identity against the 237 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: British Empire. There were sporadic celebrations of the holiday in 238 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 1: the last few decades of the nineteenth century, and the 239 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: story was evolving as a sort of founding myth. God 240 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: wanted the Africaner to have that land. God wanted whites 241 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: to conquer Black Africans. God gave the Africaner this land 242 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: because they were God's chosen people. When South Africa gained 243 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: independence in nineteen ten. One of the first acts of 244 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: Parliament was to make the Day of the Covenant a 245 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: national holiday. In nineteen thirty eight, at the celebration of 246 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: the one hundred year anniversary of the Battle of Blood River, 247 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: nationalist politician D. F. Milan addressed the crowd. He said 248 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: Blood River had decided the future of South Africa, that 249 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: it was to be a civilized Christian nation under the 250 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: authority of the white race. And now that moment, in 251 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, they were standing on the banks of 252 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: their own Blood River quote, seeing the dark masses gathering 253 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: around your isolated white race. A decade later, when Milan 254 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: was elected Prime Minister, he oversaw the implementation of apartheid. 255 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: You might be wondering at this point, why am I 256 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: telling you about this? What does this racist, fake holiday 257 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: have to do with the subject of our story, Monica 258 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: huggets Stone. It has everything to do with her. Her 259 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: belief in the vengeful racist god of Blood River is 260 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: central to the way she has lived her entire life. 261 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: She brings it up in almost every interview I could find. 262 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: In one podcast from twenty twenty one, she describes visiting 263 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: the site with her family as a child. To this day, 264 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: She believes that if the africaner renews that vow, their 265 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: God will guide their hand in slaughtering the enemies of 266 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 1: the white race, whoever they may be. 267 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 4: And this is what I'm clinging to, is that the 268 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 4: God of Blood treever is not dead, even if the 269 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 4: enemies all over the world, and might they not only black, 270 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 4: the white governments of the waste caused the fall of 271 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 4: South Africa and Rhodesia and the rest of the white 272 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 4: colonies in Africa. 273 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 5: And of course the jew has their hand in there. 274 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:38,400 Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely absolutely. 275 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 1: The constructed mythology around the importance of that day became 276 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: so central to africanternationalists ideology and identity that for decades 277 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,359 Speaker 1: there was no scholarship at all examining its historical roots. 278 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy nine, historian Flora's vent Yardsfeld was presenting 279 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: a conference paper at the University of Pretoria. He had 280 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: begun to question the historicity of the popular cultural narratives 281 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: about Blood River, and just as he approached the lectern 282 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 1: to present his paper, forty men burst into the lecture 283 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: hall and surrounded the professor. They emptied a tin of 284 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: hot tar over him and coated him in white feathers. 285 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: Those men were members of a group that had up 286 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: until that very moment operated entirely in secret. This was 287 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: their big public debut. The leader seized the microphone and 288 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:43,200 Speaker 1: announced himself. He was Eugene Terreblanche, leader of the Africaner 289 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: Resistance movement. He called Vinyardsfeld's paper blasphemous, an attack on 290 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: the sanctity and very essence of Africaner identity. Early on, 291 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:00,639 Speaker 1: in the process of figuring out who Monica huggets Stone was, 292 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,199 Speaker 1: I saw a very strange comment. I was reading a 293 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,399 Speaker 1: blog post about an internal schism within a modern day 294 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: African nationalist group called the Swedelanders. The blog was written 295 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:16,399 Speaker 1: by Adrian Snyman. We'll get to him in a minute, 296 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,240 Speaker 1: but in the comments under the post there was one 297 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: from Monica, posted in twenty twenty three, and she was 298 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: so sorry to see whites turning on each other instead 299 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 1: of focusing on the real enemy. And she ends this 300 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: rather long comment by saying, quote, the time is now 301 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: for the Boer people to stand together, to go on 302 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: their knees and beg forgiveness from our creator, the Great 303 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. We 304 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: have turned our backs on God and have the mistaken 305 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: idea that we ourselves are the saviors of the Boer people. 306 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: God has not abandoned us. He is waiting patiently for 307 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: the people to call upon him. Just as at Blood River, 308 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: he will answer again and give his children victory. And 309 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,960 Speaker 1: I didn't know what that meant, so I made a 310 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: note of it, and I moved on, And then I 311 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: saw it again in a YouTube comment just a few 312 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: months ago. She wrote, may the God of Blood River 313 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: be with his children and give us victory against his enemy. 314 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 1: And then I found a series of articles she wrote 315 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: for a rabidly anti Semitic Christian identity magazine between twenty 316 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: eleven and twenty seventeen. And they're all very strange. The 317 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 1: Bible verses she quotes are from a translation I'd never 318 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: heard of. It's not the King James or the New International. 319 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: It's something else, entirely, something called the Ferrari Fenton Bible. 320 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: He was apparently a British businessman who died in nineteen twenty, 321 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: and his translation is not well regarded by biblical scholars. 322 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: He was also briefly the head of the South African 323 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: Diamond Mining Corporation group, and he believed that British people 324 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 1: were the true Israelites. I didn't know the Farar fent 325 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: and Bible was even an option, but I guess if 326 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: you're a racist South African who believes white people are 327 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, it's the 328 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: perfect choice. In those articles, she predicts a coming race war, 329 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: she agonizes over what she calls satanic attacks on the 330 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:31,479 Speaker 1: Aryan race, and there at the end of pages of 331 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: apocalyptic rambling, she calls for a renewal of the vow 332 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: of Blood River and that blog. Monica's comment in twenty 333 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,439 Speaker 1: twenty three on that post about internal divisions within a 334 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: right Winging Africannor group preparing for a race war, Well, 335 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: that comment wasn't her only appearance on that site. In 336 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: twenty eleven, the blog's author, Adrian Snyman wrote a post 337 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 1: with the title thank you Aryan Nations, and the post 338 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: is a response to Monica Stone. She had written privately 339 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,440 Speaker 1: to Snyman to let him know that she would be 340 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: attending the Aryan Nations World Congress in September of twenty eleven, 341 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: and she'd be giving a speech about the white genocide 342 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: in South Africa. Snyman's post describes Monica as the only 343 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: female member of the Africaner Resistance movement to have ever 344 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: served time in prison for her involvement in the group, 345 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: and he urges his readers to email her their letters 346 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: of thanks so she can present them to the Aryan 347 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: Nations after her speech. And here's where things start to 348 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 1: go off the rails. Adrian Snyman, the author of that blog, 349 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: is a prolific writer. In his younger years, he worked 350 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 1: for a newspaper covering horse racing, and for decades he 351 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: cranked out dozens of novels under a variety of pseudonyms. 352 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 1: But by nineteen ninety he he'd found his calling interpreting 353 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:09,680 Speaker 1: the prophecies of Nicklaus van Rensburg. Nicholas van Rensburg was 354 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: born in eighteen sixty four on a farm in what 355 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: is now South Africa. He never learned to write, and 356 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: he only learned to read by sounding out the words 357 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: of the Bible. He died in nineteen twenty six. During 358 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: the Second Boer War. He was a close companion of 359 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: General Coups de la Rey. He was also allegedly a 360 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: prophet of God. I spent too much time trying to 361 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: parse the prophecies. I had trouble locating any actual, original 362 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: written versions of the prophecies. I don't want to see 363 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: interpretations of them. I want to see them, and I 364 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: looked for some original source for entirely too long before 365 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: I realized they don't exist. According to Snyman, Van Rensberg's 366 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: daughter Anna wrote down over seven hundred of her father's visions, 367 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: but the original handwritten books were lost at the time 368 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 1: of her death in nineteen eighty one. The family was 369 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: not in possession of any of those writings. It appears 370 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: he's based his books on a document written in nineteen 371 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: forty two. A man who had seen those original written 372 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: versions of the prophecies related them orally to another man 373 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: who wrote them down sixteen years after Van Rensburg died, 374 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:42,239 Speaker 1: and even that document was lost until Sniman received it 375 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety. There's no explanation of where it was 376 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: in between, or how he came to possess it. Very 377 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: unclear providence on these prophecies. There's no chain of custody 378 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: on the prophecies. Sniman has written so feverishly on the 379 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: subject for the last thirty five years. Almost everything I 380 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 1: can find about Van Rensburgh is written by him, and 381 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:12,480 Speaker 1: everything else relies on his work. There are some contemporary 382 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: accounts of some of Van Rensburgh's visions, but it's worth 383 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,400 Speaker 1: mentioning that the most spectacular examples of his predictions coming 384 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 1: to pass aren't ones I was able to find written 385 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: accounts of that date back to his lifetime, and the 386 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: interpretations of those prophecies that present possible modern occurrences as 387 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:37,920 Speaker 1: their fulfillment are almost universally written by fervent Race war enthusiasts, 388 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: people who really really want the prophecies to be true. 389 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 1: And the problem with prophecies that some people really really 390 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,359 Speaker 1: want to be true is that there will sometimes be 391 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: people who take matters into their own hands and try 392 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: to make them come true. Most of his visions are 393 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: entirely symbolic. Things like I saw a red bull and 394 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:10,439 Speaker 1: a gray bull fighting is interpreted by his followers as 395 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: an accurate prediction of World War I, or out of 396 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: the North, a speckled black ox appears. He is looking 397 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: in our direction. The earth in our country becomes desolate, 398 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 1: but in Europe it becomes pitch dark, and that is 399 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:30,360 Speaker 1: apparently a prediction of the Great Depression. According to Sneyman, 400 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: Van Reinzberg correctly predicted such events as every war of 401 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: the twentieth century, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Aids, the collapse 402 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: of the Soviet Union, the election of Margaret Thatcher, Princess 403 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: Diana's divorce, Princess Diana's death, and a nineteen ninety five 404 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: earthquake in Japan. As for the prophecies that haven't come true, 405 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: well maybe they just haven't come true yet. 406 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 5: In nineteen six he tells his friend boy Mussmann, there 407 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 5: will come a time when I will be once. 408 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:06,400 Speaker 4: Again in the news. 409 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: In those days I see we are still fighting amongst ourselves. 410 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 2: And it is over, and we will have a black government. 411 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 3: Which is then that the Afrikaana's final and fiercest struggle 412 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 3: will begin. 413 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: According to Snyman's books, Ben Ronzberg had a vision in 414 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty five, six months before his death. The actual 415 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: text of this prophecy is word solid, something about a 416 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: goose coming out of a man's mouth, but it's interpreted 417 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: to mean that Van Rensburgh predicted that in the distant future, 418 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: a black man will be released from prison and that 419 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: man will attain power and under his rule the country 420 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 1: will be thrown into chaos, and at some point that 421 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: man will die a violent death, and on the eighth 422 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: day after his death, the day he is buried, a 423 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: civil war will begin. By his own account, Sneiman started 424 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: interpreting the prophecies in nineteen ninety. He published his first 425 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: book on them in nineteen ninety two, but the earliest 426 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: writing I could actually get my hands on is from 427 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five, So I can't tell you if Sneiman 428 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: always believed that this particular prophecy was about Nelson Mandela 429 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: and his release from prison in nineteen ninety and his 430 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: election as president in nineteen ninety four. But that's his 431 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: interpretation now, and this particular prophecy has inspired at least 432 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: two attempts to force it to come true. In late 433 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: two thousand and two, a white supremacist terrorist organization calling 434 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: itself the Booramagh set off a series of bombs in Soeto, 435 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: outside of Johannesburg. They targeted a mosque, a Buddhist temple, 436 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: an airport, a gas station, and railways, and those bombs 437 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: went off after the first round of arrests earlier that year. 438 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: After the wave of bombing, the group emailed newspapers taking 439 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: responsibility for the attacks. They demanded the release of the 440 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: Boramag members who'd already been arrested, but it warned that 441 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't just lower ranking members of the group that 442 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: people should be worried about. Interfering with the mission of 443 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: the Boramagh was a challenge to the God of the 444 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: Blood River. If their demands weren't met, another wave of 445 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: bombings would commence. On December sixteenth, the day of the vow, 446 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: those bombings did not come to pass. Police responded to 447 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: the emails by raiding ninety four properties and arresting eleven 448 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: more Boromac members. Intriguingly, some of the homes that were 449 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: raided that day belonged to men we've encountered elsewhere in 450 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: this story. There were police raids at the home of 451 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: Baron Streidem the White Wolf, who went on a shooting 452 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: spree in nineteen eighty eight, and at the home of villem. Rata, 453 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,959 Speaker 1: the former Rhodesian military officer who commanded the German mercenaries 454 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: at Radio Pratoria in nineteen ninety four. Africana Resistance Movement 455 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: member Mani Merits and Pete Rudolph, the leader of the 456 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: Order Borofolk at one of these homes, though none of 457 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: the reporting specifies whose police found a list of names 458 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: of the detectives who'd been investigating the boramac. The trials 459 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: took over a decade, with testimony from over two hundred people. 460 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,640 Speaker 1: In the end, twenty three members of the group received 461 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 1: prison sentences of varying lengths between five and three thirty 462 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,720 Speaker 1: five years. The ringleader, Mike Detoy, was the first South 463 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: African to be convicted of treason by the post apartheid government, 464 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 1: and because the cases spent eleven years in court, we 465 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: know a lot about them. At the group's first meeting, 466 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 1: members took the vow of blood River. They carried copies 467 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: of the vow pasted into a little book at all times, 468 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:29,520 Speaker 1: and they gave each other code names like Rottweiler and motherfucker. 469 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: After they swore their allegiance to God and each other, 470 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: the leader of the group gave each man a single 471 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: nine millimeter bullet. In later testimony, a member said quote 472 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 1: he said, there was no turning back now. Anyone turning 473 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: back will be shot, and if you knew somebody would 474 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: betray you, you had to make sure. He was shot. 475 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: In October of two thousand and two, former President Nelson 476 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: Mandela was scheduled to travel to Limpopo for a ceremony 477 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,080 Speaker 1: opening a new school. BOROMAC members placed a large bomb 478 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: on the side of the road they knew he would 479 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: have to travel to get there, and stretched a trip 480 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,800 Speaker 1: wire across it. They were hiding in the bushes waiting 481 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,399 Speaker 1: to watch the former president get blown to bits when 482 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: they heard the helicopter. They'd failed. Had Mandela not taken 483 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,960 Speaker 1: a helicopter at the last minute instead of traveling the 484 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,280 Speaker 1: final leg of his journey by car, the bomb almost 485 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:34,359 Speaker 1: certainly would have killed him, and this they believed would 486 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:39,719 Speaker 1: trigger Van Rensburgh's prophecies of a race war. Both their 487 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: own testimony and documents recovered in the police raids show 488 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: their dedication to the Van Rensburg prophecies. A lot of 489 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:50,080 Speaker 1: their planning documents just don't make sense at all without 490 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: the context of the prophecies. One plan presupposes, without explanation, 491 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: that the violence will simply begin when a mob of 492 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: black people engage and violent midnight attacks in Johannesburg. That's 493 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:08,720 Speaker 1: an extremely unlikely and unexplained scenario in the real world, 494 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: but it is something that does incite an unstoppable wave 495 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: of violence. In some of Sneman's interpretations of the prophecies, 496 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: their planning documents also fixate on the idea of amassing 497 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: their forces in a small town called Prisca. There's no 498 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,920 Speaker 1: political or tactical advantage to being in Prisca, but the 499 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: town is mentioned more than twenty times in one of 500 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: Sneiman's books. Van Rensburg had a vision that a miracle 501 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: would occur in Prisca, that in their hour of need, 502 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: the Boers would receive much needed help from abroad. In 503 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: the prophecies, the white africaner is armed for the final 504 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: struggle in Prisca when German guns arrive. It's very important 505 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:01,359 Speaker 1: in the prophecies these German guns. The guns must come 506 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:06,920 Speaker 1: from Germany. And that's so interesting. I mean, the prophecies 507 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,840 Speaker 1: are a jumbled mess and a lot of it doesn't 508 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:15,360 Speaker 1: mean anything. They're mostly about bulls fighting and white horses 509 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:20,280 Speaker 1: on hillsides and chickens running east. But the German guns 510 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: are quite concrete, and I wonder if that was on 511 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:29,120 Speaker 1: anyone's mind. In nineteen ninety three, when Monica Huggett started 512 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:34,839 Speaker 1: hosting German mercenaries in her home, maybe it's a coincidence 513 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: that those Germans were the ones smuggling in the guns 514 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: they hoped to use in the race war back then 515 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,560 Speaker 1: hard to say. Over the course of the Boromag trials, 516 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:53,480 Speaker 1: witnesses testified to almost unbelievable plots that the group never 517 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,239 Speaker 1: had a chance to carry out. Members testified that they'd 518 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:01,280 Speaker 1: considered stoking racial tension by carrying out terrace attacks intended 519 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,880 Speaker 1: to appear as though the perpetrators had been Jewish or Muslim. 520 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 1: One early plan involved shooting down an American passenger plane, 521 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,520 Speaker 1: but that was scrapped because it was likely to kill 522 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:16,480 Speaker 1: white people. A police informant who'd infiltrated the group testified 523 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,719 Speaker 1: that one member claimed his American contacts in the Ku 524 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: Klux Klan could help them create a poison to put 525 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,800 Speaker 1: in the water supply. Another member set on the stand 526 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,839 Speaker 1: that they'd planned to poison oranges and then leave them 527 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: on the streets of Soweto where black people might pick 528 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,919 Speaker 1: them up and eat them. When the guilty verdicts were read, 529 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: Pete Rudolph stood up in the gallery and yelled in Afrikaans, 530 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: we shall overcome. How odd to see Pete Rudolph misbehaving 531 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,640 Speaker 1: in the gallery twice so many years apart. It was 532 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,279 Speaker 1: a few episodes ago now, but thirty three years before this, 533 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty, it was Pete Rudolph who stood and 534 00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 1: applauded as the vict Commando bombers were led into the 535 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: court room. But during the trials, thirteen of those defendants 536 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: took a unorthodox approach to their defense. They challenged the 537 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: court's jurisdiction to even try them at all, claiming that 538 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: due to irregularities in the nineteen ninety two referendum and 539 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety four election, the current government was illegitimate 540 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: and the post nineteen ninety four constitution was not binding. 541 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,359 Speaker 1: The government's position was, of course, that the nineteen ninety 542 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:35,759 Speaker 1: two referendum had authorized the government to negotiate a new constitution. 543 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: That referendum, for the record, asked the question do you 544 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:44,720 Speaker 1: support continuation of the reform process which the state president 545 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: began on two February nineteen ninety and which has aimed 546 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 1: at a new constitution through negotiation, And that referendum passed 547 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: with sixty nine percent of voters saying yes. Here's Monica's 548 00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:00,880 Speaker 1: men memory of that election. 549 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 5: Just for fun, I mean. I remember my niece was 550 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,920 Speaker 5: about three four years old. We walked into the voting 551 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 5: booths and she little as she was gay. It's the 552 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 5: Nazi salute, and she said, my daddy is voting. 553 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 4: No. 554 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: The BORAMAG defendants were unsuccessful, obviously, but they did try 555 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,480 Speaker 1: to subpoena South Africa's last apartheid president, DEFW De Clerk, 556 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: I guess, in an attempt to prove that the government 557 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 1: didn't legally exist, and after the verdicts were in some 558 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,640 Speaker 1: right wingers blamed to Clerk if he hadn't ended apartheid, 559 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:44,280 Speaker 1: none of this would have happened in the first place. 560 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,120 Speaker 1: A press release from Andres Breidenbach, leader of the far 561 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,239 Speaker 1: right party HNP and chairman of a group called the 562 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:58,080 Speaker 1: bor Afrikaner Volksfrad, attacked to Clerk. The press release read, 563 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 1: in part, each of the those sentences as yours personally, 564 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: because you are the real trader who subjugated our people 565 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: to a hostile power with cunning in deceit, and further 566 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,840 Speaker 1: down the page he continues that you have not created 567 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 1: any git through which the poor African or people can 568 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,759 Speaker 1: escape from this dispensation in a constitutional manner. Shows your 569 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:22,479 Speaker 1: evil intent against our people. News reports at the time 570 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,799 Speaker 1: say the press release was issued via his Facebook page, 571 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:30,200 Speaker 1: but I couldn't dig it up there. No, Unfortunately, I 572 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: found it on Stormfront. I can't believe I'd never noticed before, 573 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:39,200 Speaker 1: but the internet's oldest running Nazi message board has an 574 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: entire subsection where all the posts are in Afrikaans. In 575 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: a two thousand and nine dissertation by Inez Mary Stephanie 576 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 1: at the University of the vit Varsrand, the author makes 577 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 1: a claim that I believe but I can't find anywhere else. 578 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:01,240 Speaker 1: She writes that in the mid nineties, the Africaner Resistance 579 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 1: movement didn't have their own website. I mean, it was 580 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 1: the nineties, how many people knew how to make a website. 581 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,800 Speaker 1: But instead of the group just not having a website, 582 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:19,360 Speaker 1: American clansman Don Black, Stormfront's webmaster, hosted their online presence 583 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:27,080 Speaker 1: for them. What a strange and fascinating intersection. But back 584 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,359 Speaker 1: to the press release. I wouldn't have bothered to tell 585 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,960 Speaker 1: you Andreas Breytenbach's name if that was his only appearance 586 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: in this story. There's already too many guys I know. 587 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 1: But it's not no, because he had friends overseas two 588 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,040 Speaker 1: and he was in Washington, d C. In September of 589 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:52,640 Speaker 1: twenty twelve. I can't blame you if you've forgotten why 590 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:57,400 Speaker 1: that's interesting. It's been a long story. It was in 591 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,399 Speaker 1: September of twenty twelve that Monica hugg at Stone led 592 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 1: that tiny gaggle of Aryan Nations members on a march 593 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:08,280 Speaker 1: through DC. It was her second attempt at getting public 594 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:12,200 Speaker 1: attention for her South Africa project, raising awareness for the 595 00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 1: white genocide of the Africaner. But what if it was 596 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: something else. A month before that rally, the front page 597 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: story in d Africaner, the newspaper for the far right 598 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:31,400 Speaker 1: party HNP, said that their chairman Andres Breitenbach had decided 599 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:36,080 Speaker 1: that there would be a march in America the following month, quote, 600 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,960 Speaker 1: a march will be held in America next month. This 601 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:47,439 Speaker 1: action stop genocide was initiated by the HNP. So maybe 602 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 1: there was some other march against white genocide somewhere in 603 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,400 Speaker 1: the United States in September of twenty twelve, as possible, 604 00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: I guess, But this was the only one in Washington, DC. 605 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,719 Speaker 1: That's where Andres Breytenbach was the week of Monica's Aryan 606 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: Nation's rally at the Capitol. I can't find him in 607 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:11,120 Speaker 1: any of the photos, but that same party newspaper uses 608 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 1: a photo of Monica at her rally to illustrate their 609 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: story about Breytenbach delivering a letter to the ambassador in 610 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:24,359 Speaker 1: Washington that same week. Maybe something is lost in translation here, 611 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,239 Speaker 1: but the article appears to conclude with this statement. The 612 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,279 Speaker 1: group of local protesters was also encouraged by the fact 613 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:37,680 Speaker 1: that their spokesman, mister Andres Breytenbach, gave an interview to 614 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:42,359 Speaker 1: the media at the embassy, and Monica obviously saw and 615 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:46,120 Speaker 1: had no issue with the wording of this article because 616 00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:49,359 Speaker 1: it was proudly posted to the Arian Nation's website, which 617 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 1: is where I found it. But it gets even stranger. 618 00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:57,759 Speaker 1: Breytenbach wasn't the only South African who paid a visit 619 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:02,880 Speaker 1: to the Aryan Nations in September of twenty That same month, 620 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:06,239 Speaker 1: a man named Hein Boonsire took a trip to the 621 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:10,520 Speaker 1: United States. When he was arrested for treason three months later, 622 00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: it was revealed in court that he'd been trying to 623 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:16,239 Speaker 1: secure funding from the Aryan Nations and the ku Klux Klan. 624 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,680 Speaker 1: Buonsire and three others, Johann Prinslou, John Martin kiv and 625 00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:27,719 Speaker 1: Mark Trollop were arrested on December sixteenth, twenty twelve, the 626 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,520 Speaker 1: day of the vow and the day they had planned 627 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:35,960 Speaker 1: to assassinate South African President Jacob Zuma. The charges against 628 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,879 Speaker 1: Boonsire were dropped in August of twenty thirteen, and after 629 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,799 Speaker 1: a psychiatric evaluation. John Martin Kievy was committed to a 630 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:48,280 Speaker 1: state hospital. Mark Tarlop pled guilty to conspiracy, and Johann 631 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:53,760 Speaker 1: Princelou was found guilty of treason after a trial. So legally, 632 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,400 Speaker 1: can I tell you that hein Buonsire was soliciting funding 633 00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:02,759 Speaker 1: for terrorism? No, I can't. He wasn't convicted of any 634 00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: crime in connection to the plot. But the plot was real. 635 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:10,200 Speaker 1: It was real enough that Johann Prinsley was convicted of 636 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: treason and Buonsire did make two trips to the United 637 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:19,080 Speaker 1: States to connect with right wing groups, one just months 638 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 1: before his arrest. Early reporting about his arrest explicitly states 639 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,680 Speaker 1: that the twenty twelve trip had been an effort to 640 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,960 Speaker 1: secure financial backing from American extremist groups. But I was 641 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 1: puzzled about the economics of such a trip. I mean 642 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:38,880 Speaker 1: guns aren't cheap, sure, but what's the return on investment 643 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:42,560 Speaker 1: in terms of ammunition when you're looking at booking international travel. 644 00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:48,759 Speaker 1: But it's possible they needed money for more than just weapons. 645 00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:55,200 Speaker 1: Buonsire was buying land, a lot of it in Prisca. 646 00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:59,400 Speaker 1: There is a post from the year before his arrest 647 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:03,040 Speaker 1: a website for believers in the Free Afrikaner movement. It's 648 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:06,279 Speaker 1: a collection of white South Africans who want an independent state, 649 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 1: and the post name's Buonsire's real estate company, Hausenberg Development Cooperative, 650 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,360 Speaker 1: as one of two companies allowing people to purchase shares 651 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:21,200 Speaker 1: in a large tract of land to facilitate white resettlement. 652 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:40,000 Speaker 1: Later reporting from investigative journalism outlet Amapungani says Boonsire's company 653 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 1: website was in twenty twelve quote in the process of 654 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:48,640 Speaker 1: purchasing thirty thousand hectares of farmland in Prisca. But I 655 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,359 Speaker 1: can't find any follow up as to whether or not 656 00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:54,280 Speaker 1: he ever successfully purchased the land for his white enclave. 657 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 1: During his trip to the United States in twenty twelve, 658 00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:03,440 Speaker 1: he appeared on episodes of one right wing podcast and 659 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:07,080 Speaker 1: made a single appearance on a wildly fringe anti Semitic 660 00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:10,880 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory show. I spent the better part of the 661 00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,640 Speaker 1: day trying to dig up audio of any of those episodes, 662 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:19,800 Speaker 1: but they seem to be lost to time. Amapungane reported 663 00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:23,600 Speaker 1: in twenty twelve that in one episode, Buonsire said, I 664 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:25,279 Speaker 1: think we can assume that within the next six to 665 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,440 Speaker 1: eight months, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a 666 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:30,560 Speaker 1: full scale civil war in South Africa. It's a low 667 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:32,800 Speaker 1: level war that's being waged against us, and at some 668 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:35,040 Speaker 1: point any group of people or a nation would stand 669 00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,919 Speaker 1: up and say enough is enough. In the reporting about 670 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:43,960 Speaker 1: Boonsire's American connections, it's mentioned that he'd visited once before, 671 00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,439 Speaker 1: but no details are provided. It seemed like that first 672 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,760 Speaker 1: trip might remain a mystery until I found an open 673 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:55,080 Speaker 1: letter Boonsire himself wrote in twenty thirteen after his charges 674 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:58,799 Speaker 1: were dropped. In that letter, he reveals that he'd been 675 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 1: publishing online for years under the pseudonym Heinrich Zeman, and 676 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,640 Speaker 1: there is a bit of writing online in Afrikaans under 677 00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,440 Speaker 1: that name, much of it published by the Pro African 678 00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:15,600 Speaker 1: or Action Group. But I found one essay in English, 679 00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:18,920 Speaker 1: the beast tells the almost entirely fictional story of the 680 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:22,880 Speaker 1: author's grandparents falling victim to the ongoing white genocide in 681 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:27,640 Speaker 1: South Africa. They are victims of these infamous farm murders, 682 00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:31,560 Speaker 1: hacked to death in their beds by machete wielding black men, 683 00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:36,200 Speaker 1: and he writes in gory detail about the couple's beloved dog, 684 00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:40,120 Speaker 1: dismembered by the attackers as he gave his life trying 685 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:46,880 Speaker 1: to protect his masters. It's gruesome, it's almost pornographic in 686 00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,760 Speaker 1: its description of the author discovering that the dog's final 687 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,160 Speaker 1: act was tearing the throat out of one of the 688 00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:58,839 Speaker 1: black attackers. It was published in twenty eleven by American Renaissance, 689 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:04,640 Speaker 1: supremacist magazine run by Jared Taylor. Taylor's website notes that 690 00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,879 Speaker 1: the author attended the American Renaissance Conference in twenty ten, 691 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:10,920 Speaker 1: an event that was headlined by a speaker from the 692 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:16,000 Speaker 1: Belgian fascist group Flams Belong, the successor organization to Flams Block, 693 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:19,720 Speaker 1: the neo Nazi organization that coordinated the movement of stolen 694 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:25,839 Speaker 1: guns and mercenaries to South Africa and the nineties Bundsaire's 695 00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:28,560 Speaker 1: piece was included in a collection of essays published by 696 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:31,520 Speaker 1: American Renaissance in twenty twenty, and the book has a 697 00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:36,800 Speaker 1: forward by Jared Taylor himself. I will do some episodes 698 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:40,680 Speaker 1: on Jared Taylor one of these days. He's had an 699 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:44,560 Speaker 1: enormous influence on American white supremacist thought over the last 700 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:49,160 Speaker 1: forty years. His annual conference has for decades now been 701 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,440 Speaker 1: a real who's who of the international extreme right. I 702 00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:58,839 Speaker 1: went once years ago. I mean I couldn't get inside, obviously, 703 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,560 Speaker 1: I just outside in a park somewhere in Tennessee, and 704 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:04,560 Speaker 1: all I got from my trouble was pepper sprayed and 705 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,879 Speaker 1: trampled by some cops. For the average person, I would 706 00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,920 Speaker 1: guess the only time you've encountered Jared Taylor's name in 707 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:16,880 Speaker 1: the news was back in twenty fifteen. He was the 708 00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:20,160 Speaker 1: spokesman for the Council of Conservative Citizens when they had 709 00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:23,640 Speaker 1: to make a series of public statements after the Charleston 710 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: church shooting. Dylan Rufe's manifesto made it quite clear that 711 00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:33,000 Speaker 1: he'd been radicalized by the Council of Conservative Citizens, specifically 712 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:37,319 Speaker 1: their publications on black crime, and that's what convinced him 713 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:42,319 Speaker 1: that white people were being treated unfairly. Their website set 714 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:44,719 Speaker 1: him down the path that ended the lives of nine 715 00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:48,319 Speaker 1: people whose only crime was welcoming a stranger into their 716 00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:56,480 Speaker 1: Bible study. Like I said, Boonsire's charges were dropped when 717 00:50:56,480 --> 00:50:59,000 Speaker 1: he was arrested. In twenty twelve, he was removed as 718 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,840 Speaker 1: the head of a newly for political party, the Federal 719 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:06,440 Speaker 1: Freedom Party, after its founder was arrested for treason. It 720 00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:10,040 Speaker 1: obviously struggled a bit, and it rebranded as Front National 721 00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,800 Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen, and then rebranded again as the African 722 00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:18,000 Speaker 1: her Self Determination Party in twenty twenty. I can't tell 723 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:20,240 Speaker 1: if Boonsi is still active and the party he started 724 00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:22,239 Speaker 1: seems like it would be kind of hard to go 725 00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:26,080 Speaker 1: back to canvassing for elections when you've already considered triggering 726 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:29,800 Speaker 1: a prophecy by blowing up the president. But people can change. 727 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:36,360 Speaker 1: I don't know. In September of twenty twelve, Monica hugget 728 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:38,000 Speaker 1: Stone was in touch with the leader of the far 729 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:42,799 Speaker 1: right party HNP and a man accused of treason. She 730 00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,280 Speaker 1: led a tiny Arian nation's rally at the United States 731 00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:50,160 Speaker 1: Capital and then she left. She had been living in 732 00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:53,320 Speaker 1: the United States since two thousand after marrying Jim Stone, 733 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:57,359 Speaker 1: a retired sports news broadcaster living just outside New Orleans. 734 00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:00,880 Speaker 1: Federal Election Commission filings show that Jimstone was on the 735 00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:04,160 Speaker 1: payroll for David Duke's nineteen ninety six Senate run, but 736 00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:08,680 Speaker 1: the campaign didn't amount to much. Jim was apparently the 737 00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,840 Speaker 1: campaign press secretary and director of media relations. But the 738 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:15,480 Speaker 1: only news story I can find that looks like it 739 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:18,680 Speaker 1: was placed by a press secretary is the one announcing 740 00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:21,600 Speaker 1: he'd been hired for the position, So maybe he wasn't 741 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:25,600 Speaker 1: very good at it. Jim Stone passed away in early 742 00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:29,640 Speaker 1: twenty twelve, and in twenty thirteen, the now widowed Monica 743 00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:33,600 Speaker 1: Stone sold their home in Mandavie, Louisiana, and returned to 744 00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:38,759 Speaker 1: her hometown of Kempton Park in South Africa. Back in 745 00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,759 Speaker 1: South Africa, she operates a charitable organization called the Living 746 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:45,360 Speaker 1: Waters Foundation, and interviews in recent years always include a 747 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:50,680 Speaker 1: request for donations. She helps orphans, you see, but only 748 00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:54,760 Speaker 1: white ones. She's quite meticulous about it. In twenty fifteen, 749 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:58,480 Speaker 1: a fellow South African neo Nazi recommended donating to Monica's charity, 750 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:04,040 Speaker 1: writing on his blog quote, She's a hardcore national socialist. 751 00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:08,799 Speaker 1: She only gives money to white children. If she gives 752 00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:11,480 Speaker 1: money to someone and she later sees them helping non whites, 753 00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:14,880 Speaker 1: then she cuts off the monies. I went with her 754 00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:17,680 Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen to visit an orphanage in Pretoria, the 755 00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:19,640 Speaker 1: only one run by a white woman who was doing 756 00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,879 Speaker 1: it only for white children. But when Monica later found 757 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:26,000 Speaker 1: out that the woman was also helping blacks, she cut 758 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:32,240 Speaker 1: off all donations, which I agree with batman Ian Lamprecht 759 00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:35,520 Speaker 1: was arrested in twenty twenty one for violating a court 760 00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:39,239 Speaker 1: order to stop harassing a Jewish professor, but that's neither 761 00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,920 Speaker 1: here nor there. I can't quite nail down the specifics, 762 00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:45,320 Speaker 1: but it seems Yan and Monica had a falling out 763 00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:49,000 Speaker 1: some time after twenty fifteen, but for the most part 764 00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:53,799 Speaker 1: in a movement constantly ripped apart by personal feuds and 765 00:53:53,880 --> 00:53:58,560 Speaker 1: power struggles and accusations of betrayal, I can't find a 766 00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:03,080 Speaker 1: single bad word about Monica Huggets. I scraped together every 767 00:54:03,320 --> 00:54:06,520 Speaker 1: existing record of her involvement in white supremacist groups from 768 00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:09,320 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, when she first met Eugene tare Blanche, 769 00:54:09,840 --> 00:54:15,360 Speaker 1: through the present day, covering nearly fifty years, intersecting with 770 00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:20,320 Speaker 1: multiple bombing campaigns, international arms smuggling rings, and attempted coups. 771 00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:23,440 Speaker 1: She turned state's witness against her own boyfriend in nineteen 772 00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:30,319 Speaker 1: eighty And I dug through dozens of ancient blogs in 773 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:34,520 Speaker 1: multiple languages, and I can't find a single Nazi with 774 00:54:34,560 --> 00:54:37,200 Speaker 1: a bad word to say about her. And I think 775 00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:43,480 Speaker 1: that's a first. There's always beef somewhere. I will have 776 00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:45,279 Speaker 1: to circle back at some point to talk about the 777 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:49,840 Speaker 1: Swede Lenders, maybe another time. There are more recent African 778 00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:53,600 Speaker 1: nationalist group founded in the early two thousands, and they 779 00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:58,120 Speaker 1: publicly shy away from being associated with obvious neo Nazi imagery, 780 00:54:59,120 --> 00:55:03,480 Speaker 1: but the group is explicitly and completely centered around the 781 00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:09,200 Speaker 1: Van Rensburg prophecies. They exist to prepare their members for 782 00:55:09,239 --> 00:55:13,400 Speaker 1: the coming race war and spoiler alert in case I 783 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:16,719 Speaker 1: don't get back to the Swede Lenders anytime soon. Their spokesman, 784 00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,560 Speaker 1: Simon Roche, spent most of the summer of twenty seventeen 785 00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:23,520 Speaker 1: traveling the United States, including attending the Unite the Right 786 00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:27,800 Speaker 1: rally here in Charlottesville, and back in that time period, 787 00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:29,400 Speaker 1: they got into a little bit of hot water in 788 00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:33,440 Speaker 1: the movement. There were allegations that Simon Roche had been 789 00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:37,239 Speaker 1: pocketing donations from other white nationalists. It was a bit 790 00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:40,719 Speaker 1: of a scandal, and in twenty eighteen he appeared on 791 00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:43,719 Speaker 1: an American neo Nazi podcast to address the issue, and 792 00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:46,200 Speaker 1: at some point during the show he was ambushed by 793 00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:49,239 Speaker 1: Jan Lamprecht, who is a rival of his, and it 794 00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,520 Speaker 1: got a little heated and it was a very lengthy, 795 00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:56,320 Speaker 1: uncomfortable interview. But at the end of all that, Simon 796 00:55:56,400 --> 00:56:00,239 Speaker 1: Roche still spoke glowingly of Monica, calling her some with 797 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:04,560 Speaker 1: an impeccable reputation and recommending that if after all of this, 798 00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:07,960 Speaker 1: you're still not comfortable donating to the Swedelanders, you should 799 00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:08,800 Speaker 1: donate to Monica. 800 00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:13,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, let me ask you this, are there other groups 801 00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:15,759 Speaker 3: that you think are reputable that are doing good work 802 00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:18,759 Speaker 3: in South Africa that if anybody has questions about the 803 00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:22,000 Speaker 3: If there are people who have questions about the integrity 804 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:25,680 Speaker 3: of Sidelanders, who would they want to support instead of you? 805 00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:32,040 Speaker 6: I would recommend that they support somebody like Monica Stone, 806 00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 6: a very distinguished, decent lady who has fought for white nationalism. 807 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:39,759 Speaker 6: She's probably a bit too right wing for me, but 808 00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:42,160 Speaker 6: she's a marvelous human being. 809 00:56:46,200 --> 00:56:49,640 Speaker 1: So she's a bit two right wing for the race 810 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:53,600 Speaker 1: war guy, but she's a marvelous human being, he says. 811 00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:58,520 Speaker 1: She's eighty one years old now, and she spent her 812 00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:03,759 Speaker 1: entire life in the orbit of assassins and mercenaries and 813 00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:08,480 Speaker 1: war criminals and bombers and rapists and torturers and terrorists 814 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:10,719 Speaker 1: and death squad leaders and just run of the mill 815 00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:15,760 Speaker 1: neo Nazis with fantasies of racial holy war. Her religion 816 00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:21,200 Speaker 1: is quite literally one of blood. Her god is the 817 00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:32,240 Speaker 1: vengeful God of Blood River. This story is over the 818 00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:35,360 Speaker 1: part of it that was in the past anyway, but 819 00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:40,080 Speaker 1: I can't move on without making the consequences clear. This 820 00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:45,400 Speaker 1: is still happening. We'll leave Monica huggets Stone behind at 821 00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:52,560 Speaker 1: long last, because she was just the backstory. No. Now 822 00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:55,880 Speaker 1: we live in a world where these once fringe ideas 823 00:57:56,600 --> 00:57:59,840 Speaker 1: are front page news at outlets with White House presport. 824 00:57:59,880 --> 00:58:05,800 Speaker 1: And now, in twenty twenty five, the President of the 825 00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:09,920 Speaker 1: United States wants to welcome as refugees these people with 826 00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:14,640 Speaker 1: their apocalyptic visions of race war and mass extermination, these 827 00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:32,000 Speaker 1: people who worship the god of the Blood River. In 828 00:58:32,040 --> 00:58:35,320 Speaker 1: February of twenty twenty five, the President of the United 829 00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,560 Speaker 1: States announced first by social media and then by executive 830 00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:44,360 Speaker 1: order that a white nationalist conspiracy theory is now official 831 00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:49,240 Speaker 1: foreign policy. No longer relegated to racist message boards and 832 00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:53,320 Speaker 1: poorly attended rallies, the idea that white South Africans are 833 00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:59,480 Speaker 1: being violently persecuted is now center stage. In the months 834 00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:04,240 Speaker 1: since the administration has doubled down on this stance, foreign 835 00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:08,040 Speaker 1: aid to South Africa has been suspended, their ambassador has 836 00:59:08,040 --> 00:59:12,560 Speaker 1: been expelled, and now State Department officials have begun interviewing 837 00:59:12,600 --> 00:59:15,640 Speaker 1: white South Africans who have applied for refugee resettlement in 838 00:59:15,640 --> 00:59:21,400 Speaker 1: the United States. Apartheid ended in South Africa thirty one 839 00:59:21,520 --> 00:59:25,360 Speaker 1: years ago, but it turns out some of the same 840 00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:28,320 Speaker 1: people who fought tooth and nail to keep it back 841 00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:37,640 Speaker 1: then are still around and they haven't stopped fighting. I'm Mollikonger, 842 00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:59,320 Speaker 1: and this is weird. Little guys, you know. I don't 843 00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:04,080 Speaker 1: like kurrent events. I really prefer to root around the 844 01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:06,960 Speaker 1: past and piece together the odds and ends of the 845 01:00:06,960 --> 01:00:10,760 Speaker 1: life and crimes of someone who's done hurting other people. 846 01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:15,320 Speaker 1: I had a great time writing five episodes about Dennis Mahon, 847 01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:19,200 Speaker 1: a man whose career as a white supremacist activist span decades. 848 01:00:20,720 --> 01:00:23,960 Speaker 1: But when it came time to write a follow up episode, 849 01:00:24,160 --> 01:00:26,920 Speaker 1: I hated to have to tell you that, even though 850 01:00:26,960 --> 01:00:30,160 Speaker 1: Dennis will almost certainly die before he finish his prison sentence, 851 01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:32,840 Speaker 1: the one he got for sending a bomb to the 852 01:00:32,840 --> 01:00:38,720 Speaker 1: diversity office in Scottsdale, Arizona, the current political climate finished 853 01:00:38,760 --> 01:00:44,040 Speaker 1: what he started. Republican politicians did what he couldn't do 854 01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:48,440 Speaker 1: with that bomb, and they closed that office. And we 855 01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:53,200 Speaker 1: find ourselves in something of a similar position now. These 856 01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:56,959 Speaker 1: last few episodes have been a wild, sprawling narrative about 857 01:00:57,000 --> 01:01:00,280 Speaker 1: white supremacist terrorism in South Africa in the final years 858 01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:03,680 Speaker 1: of apartheid, and I've learned a lot of history that 859 01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:06,640 Speaker 1: I'd never been exposed to before, and I've really enjoyed 860 01:01:06,680 --> 01:01:10,000 Speaker 1: digging my way out of some of these unexpected rabbit holes. 861 01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:14,160 Speaker 1: But it would be irresponsible of me to tell you 862 01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:17,480 Speaker 1: such a long story and then leave you thinking that 863 01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:21,280 Speaker 1: it was over, that it ended in nineteen ninety four, 864 01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:25,240 Speaker 1: that when apartheid ended, the international networks of right wing 865 01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:31,160 Speaker 1: extremists who'd done unspeakable things in its defense just faded away. 866 01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:35,280 Speaker 1: Because they didn't and they don't always need guns and 867 01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:40,200 Speaker 1: bombs to get what they want. So we'll end this 868 01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:46,280 Speaker 1: mini series where we started it the White House back 869 01:01:46,320 --> 01:01:49,240 Speaker 1: in February. When I started down this path, I had 870 01:01:49,280 --> 01:01:53,120 Speaker 1: just read the executive Order, the one titled addressing the 871 01:01:53,160 --> 01:01:57,240 Speaker 1: Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa. In the 872 01:01:57,240 --> 01:02:00,160 Speaker 1: week that order was signed, Trump had offered some insight 873 01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:02,400 Speaker 1: into what was going on in his head in this 874 01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:04,080 Speaker 1: post on truth social. 875 01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:11,040 Speaker 7: South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of 876 01:02:11,080 --> 01:02:15,280 Speaker 7: people very badly. It's a bad situation that the radical 877 01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:18,640 Speaker 7: left media doesn't want to so much as mention. A 878 01:02:18,800 --> 01:02:22,960 Speaker 7: massive human rights violation at a minimum is happening for 879 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:26,400 Speaker 7: all to see. The United States won't stand for it. 880 01:02:26,640 --> 01:02:30,520 Speaker 7: We will act also. I will be cutting off all 881 01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:34,320 Speaker 7: future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of 882 01:02:34,360 --> 01:02:36,600 Speaker 7: this situation has been completed. 883 01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:43,840 Speaker 1: And that episode back in February goes into more detail 884 01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:48,800 Speaker 1: about what he's getting at here. South African President Cyril 885 01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:54,360 Speaker 1: Ramaposa had recently signed the Expropriation Act into law. There's 886 01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:57,640 Speaker 1: a lot of misinformation and fear mongering built around a 887 01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:03,360 Speaker 1: very tiny kernel of truth in there. As a quick refresher, 888 01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:08,920 Speaker 1: the Expropriation Act does allow the Government of South Africa 889 01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:13,640 Speaker 1: to expropriate land. That part's true, but only under certain 890 01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:19,600 Speaker 1: specific conditions. And it is fundamentally not really that different 891 01:03:19,640 --> 01:03:22,480 Speaker 1: from what we call eminent domain here in the United States, 892 01:03:23,600 --> 01:03:25,400 Speaker 1: and that's a power that was given to our government 893 01:03:25,400 --> 01:03:29,200 Speaker 1: by the Fifth Amendment. There's no racial component to it. 894 01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:33,560 Speaker 1: Nobody's terrorizing white farmers. There's no language at all in 895 01:03:33,600 --> 01:03:40,120 Speaker 1: the Expropriation Act about race. I spent probably too long 896 01:03:40,680 --> 01:03:43,480 Speaker 1: trying to look for clues that would help me guess 897 01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:47,840 Speaker 1: why he made that post on truth Social on February 898 01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:52,920 Speaker 1: twod Sometimes you can see a really clear direct line 899 01:03:53,560 --> 01:03:56,400 Speaker 1: which means something the president says or it does or 900 01:03:56,800 --> 01:04:00,640 Speaker 1: posts online. And the Fox News segment that he had 901 01:04:00,720 --> 01:04:04,800 Speaker 1: just been watching and that episode from back in February 902 01:04:05,040 --> 01:04:07,240 Speaker 1: makes what I think is a pretty good case for 903 01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:09,800 Speaker 1: how Trump's ideas about what's going on in South Africa 904 01:04:09,880 --> 01:04:12,480 Speaker 1: were formed back when he posted about it for the 905 01:04:12,520 --> 01:04:17,000 Speaker 1: first time in twenty eighteen, and back in twenty eighteen, 906 01:04:17,560 --> 01:04:20,280 Speaker 1: he tweeted about South African land reform for the first 907 01:04:20,360 --> 01:04:24,320 Speaker 1: time about forty five minutes after he heard about it 908 01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:28,880 Speaker 1: on an episode of Tucker Carlson. But on February second, 909 01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:32,960 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, he made that truth social post while 910 01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:35,560 Speaker 1: he was sitting on Air Force one en route to 911 01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:40,240 Speaker 1: DC after a weekend golfing in Florida. His public schedule 912 01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,840 Speaker 1: for that day doesn't give us much, but he did 913 01:04:43,840 --> 01:04:47,600 Speaker 1: post several times that evening about Fox News host Mark Levin, 914 01:04:48,520 --> 01:04:50,720 Speaker 1: and he posted an old clip from Levin's show, and 915 01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:53,960 Speaker 1: he reposted one of Mark's old posts, and he posted 916 01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:58,160 Speaker 1: in all caps. Watched Mark Levin tonight on Fox News 917 01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:02,680 Speaker 1: eight pm Eastern Great Show, and Livin's show that evening 918 01:05:02,840 --> 01:05:05,120 Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have touched on the issue of South Africa, 919 01:05:06,040 --> 01:05:08,000 Speaker 1: So honestly, I couldn't tell you how the idea got 920 01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:09,880 Speaker 1: into his head that night, after a long day on 921 01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:15,160 Speaker 1: the golf course, he posted it around six nineteen pm, 922 01:05:15,440 --> 01:05:17,480 Speaker 1: and then forty minutes later, as he's sitting on the 923 01:05:17,520 --> 01:05:22,400 Speaker 1: tarmac after the plane landed, he reposted it. And as 924 01:05:22,400 --> 01:05:25,160 Speaker 1: he's leaving for the White House, a reporter asked him 925 01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:26,000 Speaker 1: about the post. 926 01:05:29,160 --> 01:05:31,360 Speaker 8: So, on Pritzoto, you said that you were going to 927 01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:33,280 Speaker 8: touch it from South Africa? 928 01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:36,440 Speaker 9: Were you planned to cut eight across other African nations? 929 01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:39,480 Speaker 8: In white South Africa, only South Africa. Terrible things are 930 01:05:39,480 --> 01:05:46,480 Speaker 8: happening in South Africa. The leadership is doing some terrible things, 931 01:05:46,680 --> 01:05:47,439 Speaker 8: horrible things. 932 01:05:47,480 --> 01:05:50,680 Speaker 10: So if that's under investigation right now, we'll make a 933 01:05:50,720 --> 01:05:54,080 Speaker 10: determination and until such time as we find out what 934 01:05:54,200 --> 01:05:58,560 Speaker 10: South Africa is doing. They're taking away land, they're confiscating land, 935 01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:02,880 Speaker 10: and actually doing things that are perhaps far worse than that. 936 01:06:06,560 --> 01:06:09,040 Speaker 1: The far worse than that at the end of his 937 01:06:09,160 --> 01:06:12,280 Speaker 1: remarks is almost certainly a reference to his belief in 938 01:06:12,320 --> 01:06:16,920 Speaker 1: the white genocide conspiracy theory, that false narrative that white 939 01:06:16,920 --> 01:06:21,280 Speaker 1: farmers in South Africa are being murdered in enormous numbers. 940 01:06:22,160 --> 01:06:25,560 Speaker 1: And later that same week, in February of twenty twenty five, 941 01:06:26,520 --> 01:06:29,480 Speaker 1: Donald Trump signed the executive order cutting off aid to 942 01:06:29,520 --> 01:06:33,760 Speaker 1: South Africa. It also directed DHS and the State Department 943 01:06:33,880 --> 01:06:39,000 Speaker 1: to quote promote the resettlement of African or refugees escaping 944 01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:45,240 Speaker 1: government sponsored race based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation, 945 01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:50,720 Speaker 1: and so, in conjunction with his other executive orders ones 946 01:06:50,760 --> 01:06:56,600 Speaker 1: that suspended all other refugee resettlement operations, this now puts 947 01:06:56,640 --> 01:06:59,040 Speaker 1: white South Africans in a class all of their own. 948 01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:04,120 Speaker 1: They're the only people on Earth, who are so persecuted, 949 01:07:04,680 --> 01:07:08,560 Speaker 1: who are suffering so terribly that they are deserving of 950 01:07:08,600 --> 01:07:13,400 Speaker 1: assistance from the United States. And the executive order ignited 951 01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:16,520 Speaker 1: a flurry of activity on the right, both in the 952 01:07:16,600 --> 01:07:20,720 Speaker 1: United States and in South Africa. Far right talking heads 953 01:07:20,800 --> 01:07:24,120 Speaker 1: rushed to book South African guests, and one man in 954 01:07:24,120 --> 01:07:29,360 Speaker 1: particular was very happy to oblige. In the last two months, 955 01:07:30,080 --> 01:07:34,120 Speaker 1: Ernst Rutz has made the rounds. He's been interviewed by 956 01:07:34,160 --> 01:07:38,920 Speaker 1: Ben Shapiro, Matt Gates, Tucker Carlson, Jack Bestobic, and Jordan Peterson. 957 01:07:39,800 --> 01:07:43,080 Speaker 1: He's been on YouTube lives and shows that only exist 958 01:07:43,160 --> 01:07:46,919 Speaker 1: on Twitter. Somehow, he made an appearance on a show 959 01:07:46,960 --> 01:07:51,200 Speaker 1: hosted by Rinaldo Grause, a South African YouTuber whose political 960 01:07:51,200 --> 01:07:54,680 Speaker 1: career was stopped dead in its tracks last summer. Just 961 01:07:54,760 --> 01:07:58,440 Speaker 1: days after he was elected to parliament, his own parties 962 01:07:58,440 --> 01:08:02,480 Speaker 1: stripped him of membership after of him calling for the 963 01:08:02,640 --> 01:08:08,440 Speaker 1: murder of all black people, and he used both the 964 01:08:08,480 --> 01:08:11,640 Speaker 1: American racial slur that you're probably familiar with and a 965 01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:17,840 Speaker 1: South African equivalent. And Roots also gave an interminably long 966 01:08:17,960 --> 01:08:22,280 Speaker 1: interview to a benign sounding website called the White Papers 967 01:08:22,400 --> 01:08:27,040 Speaker 1: Policy Institute, but As it turns out, the woman interviewing 968 01:08:27,120 --> 01:08:31,360 Speaker 1: him has a long history of affiliation with neo Nazi groups, 969 01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:37,280 Speaker 1: and Ernst roots may sound familiar to you. In twenty eighteen, 970 01:08:37,360 --> 01:08:39,960 Speaker 1: he visited the United States in his capacity as the 971 01:08:40,040 --> 01:08:46,479 Speaker 1: deputy CEO of the Africaner nationalist group Afroforum. He met 972 01:08:46,520 --> 01:08:50,320 Speaker 1: with federal government officials and right wing think tanks. Notably, 973 01:08:50,400 --> 01:08:53,599 Speaker 1: he spent a day at the Heritage Foundation, took meetings 974 01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:58,200 Speaker 1: with staffers for Ted Cruz, and during that visit, he 975 01:08:58,280 --> 01:09:01,960 Speaker 1: appeared on an episode of The Talker Carlson Show back 976 01:09:01,960 --> 01:09:05,560 Speaker 1: when it was actually on TV, back when it was 977 01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:11,920 Speaker 1: appointment television for the president. And you might think that 978 01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:16,559 Speaker 1: Ernst Rutz would have nothing but praise for Trump's executive order. Right, 979 01:09:16,680 --> 01:09:19,680 Speaker 1: He's finally getting this message out, someone in power, is 980 01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:25,000 Speaker 1: finally talking about this epidemic of white farmers being murdered 981 01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:30,439 Speaker 1: in South Africa, and he is He's grateful for that, sure, 982 01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:35,040 Speaker 1: but he doesn't think Trump's proposed solution is the right one. 983 01:09:36,479 --> 01:09:38,200 Speaker 1: Here's what he said when he sat down with Tucker 984 01:09:38,240 --> 01:09:39,680 Speaker 1: Carlson at the end of February. 985 01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:44,880 Speaker 11: On one part of it says that they will grand 986 01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:48,120 Speaker 11: refugee status to Africanas if they want to go to 987 01:09:48,200 --> 01:09:51,320 Speaker 11: the US, which I don't think in all fainness. We're 988 01:09:51,360 --> 01:09:55,320 Speaker 11: really grateful for the public stance taken by the US, 989 01:09:55,400 --> 01:09:58,040 Speaker 11: and in a certain sense they haven't gone far enough. 990 01:09:58,680 --> 01:10:00,400 Speaker 11: But in a certain sense I didn't. I think the 991 01:10:00,920 --> 01:10:04,760 Speaker 11: granting of refugee state is much of a solution. Some 992 01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:08,080 Speaker 11: people will take that up. But that's why I told 993 01:10:08,080 --> 01:10:10,120 Speaker 11: you the story of the Battle of Blood River and 994 01:10:10,160 --> 01:10:14,360 Speaker 11: the vow we are culturally very very attached to South Africa. 995 01:10:16,960 --> 01:10:20,439 Speaker 1: And here he is telling Jordan Peterson the same thing 996 01:10:21,200 --> 01:10:22,080 Speaker 1: a few weeks later. 997 01:10:24,960 --> 01:10:26,880 Speaker 11: That's why I'm so grateful that we spoke about the 998 01:10:26,960 --> 01:10:31,439 Speaker 11: history part at first. Is our concern is that if 999 01:10:31,479 --> 01:10:35,480 Speaker 11: we just leave the country, our culture dissolves and our 1000 01:10:35,560 --> 01:10:39,519 Speaker 11: communal identity dissolves and we become Americans or whatever, and so. 1001 01:10:39,479 --> 01:10:44,120 Speaker 12: Well, plus the entire country descends into lawlessness, chaos and 1002 01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:47,120 Speaker 12: everyone dies. Yep, right, because if all the white South 1003 01:10:47,160 --> 01:10:51,439 Speaker 12: African farmers leave, that's one hundred percent what will happen. 1004 01:10:55,479 --> 01:10:59,479 Speaker 1: Ernst Rutz is a nationalist. He doesn't want to leave 1005 01:10:59,520 --> 01:11:03,760 Speaker 1: South He isn't being persecuted for his whiteness. He just 1006 01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:07,640 Speaker 1: misses the days when white minority rule meant the persecution 1007 01:11:07,760 --> 01:11:13,280 Speaker 1: of everyone else. And in both those interviews, Ruts spoke 1008 01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:15,720 Speaker 1: at some length about the importance of the Day of 1009 01:11:15,760 --> 01:11:19,800 Speaker 1: the Vow, about the covenant between God and the Africaner 1010 01:11:19,920 --> 01:11:25,439 Speaker 1: granting them that land they can't leave. Men like Ernst 1011 01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:27,719 Speaker 1: Roots are still standing on the banks of the Blood 1012 01:11:27,800 --> 01:11:31,200 Speaker 1: River waiting for God to sweep all the Africans out 1013 01:11:31,240 --> 01:11:36,120 Speaker 1: of their way, and ahead of that whirlwind press junket. 1014 01:11:36,160 --> 01:11:40,280 Speaker 1: In February and March, Ernst Ruts actually resigned from his 1015 01:11:40,320 --> 01:11:44,000 Speaker 1: position as head of the Afrikaner Foundation, and that was 1016 01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:47,400 Speaker 1: an initiative under the umbrella of the africanner interest group, 1017 01:11:47,640 --> 01:11:52,320 Speaker 1: the Solidarity Movement, and Ruts says that he hadn't officially 1018 01:11:52,360 --> 01:11:57,200 Speaker 1: worked for Afroforum since twenty twenty three, but Afroform and 1019 01:11:57,320 --> 01:12:02,160 Speaker 1: the Africaner Foundation are both just part of the Solidarity movement. 1020 01:12:02,200 --> 01:12:05,920 Speaker 1: These are just facets of the same organization, and so 1021 01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:08,840 Speaker 1: now in February of twenty twenty five, he no longer 1022 01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:12,080 Speaker 1: works for any of these organizations. He no longer works 1023 01:12:12,080 --> 01:12:16,639 Speaker 1: for Solidarity at all, because it was Roots who got 1024 01:12:16,640 --> 01:12:18,719 Speaker 1: the organization into some pretty hot water. 1025 01:12:21,760 --> 01:12:25,160 Speaker 11: Well, they're saying that we've the organizations that I was 1026 01:12:25,200 --> 01:12:27,400 Speaker 11: involved with at the time of committed treason, that we've 1027 01:12:27,400 --> 01:12:28,439 Speaker 11: been charged for treason. 1028 01:12:28,640 --> 01:12:30,680 Speaker 1: E've been charged with treason? Yeah for what. 1029 01:12:31,400 --> 01:12:33,920 Speaker 11: For speaking well, among others, for me speaking with you 1030 01:12:34,280 --> 01:12:37,360 Speaker 11: about what's happened as treason? Yeah, because it's bad mouthing 1031 01:12:37,439 --> 01:12:38,040 Speaker 11: your country. 1032 01:12:41,200 --> 01:12:45,040 Speaker 1: I mean, we've all made mistakes at work, but I 1033 01:12:45,080 --> 01:12:49,080 Speaker 1: can't imagine making such a mess of things that somebody 1034 01:12:49,080 --> 01:12:53,280 Speaker 1: gets charged with treason. And he's watering that down a 1035 01:12:53,280 --> 01:12:53,760 Speaker 1: little bit. 1036 01:12:53,920 --> 01:12:54,120 Speaker 3: Right. 1037 01:12:54,560 --> 01:12:58,240 Speaker 1: The accusation isn't just that he's bad mouthing the country. 1038 01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:01,200 Speaker 1: I'm sure it's legal in southfi forget to say negative 1039 01:13:01,240 --> 01:13:05,679 Speaker 1: things about the nation. But almost immediately after Trump announced 1040 01:13:05,720 --> 01:13:08,880 Speaker 1: that he was cutting off aid to South Africa, a 1041 01:13:08,960 --> 01:13:14,200 Speaker 1: lot of South Africans blamed Afro Forum. Members of Umkonto 1042 01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:16,840 Speaker 1: was Sisway rallied outside of the police station in Cape 1043 01:13:16,880 --> 01:13:19,799 Speaker 1: Town and announced that they were filing a criminal complaint 1044 01:13:19,800 --> 01:13:25,040 Speaker 1: against Affro Forum, accusing them of treason. And just a 1045 01:13:25,080 --> 01:13:26,880 Speaker 1: quick note for those who aren't up to date on 1046 01:13:26,960 --> 01:13:32,200 Speaker 1: their South African current events, I wasn't kanto a. Sisway 1047 01:13:32,280 --> 01:13:35,720 Speaker 1: is now its own political party. It does share a 1048 01:13:35,800 --> 01:13:38,479 Speaker 1: name with the group that functioned as the paramilitary arm 1049 01:13:38,520 --> 01:13:41,800 Speaker 1: of the African National Congress during the last decades of apartheid, 1050 01:13:42,400 --> 01:13:44,679 Speaker 1: but as of a few years ago, it is a 1051 01:13:44,720 --> 01:13:45,599 Speaker 1: political party. 1052 01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:52,560 Speaker 13: So just for clarity, the MK Party vehemently condemns the 1053 01:13:53,320 --> 01:13:57,720 Speaker 13: trees and us actions of Afri Forum, which has deliberately 1054 01:13:57,800 --> 01:14:01,720 Speaker 13: lobbied foreign powers to ed a game the sovereignty and 1055 01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:06,639 Speaker 13: economic interests of South Africa. Their betrayal is nothing less 1056 01:14:06,680 --> 01:14:11,240 Speaker 13: than an act of economic sabotage, a direct assault on 1057 01:14:11,360 --> 01:14:13,160 Speaker 13: our nation's independence. 1058 01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:21,519 Speaker 1: For many South Africans, it was obvious Trump didn't come 1059 01:14:21,600 --> 01:14:24,479 Speaker 1: up with this idea on his own. There is a 1060 01:14:24,640 --> 01:14:29,599 Speaker 1: straight line between afrofums trips to the United States, their 1061 01:14:29,600 --> 01:14:34,000 Speaker 1: appearances in American right wing media, their collaboration with American 1062 01:14:34,040 --> 01:14:39,320 Speaker 1: think tanks, their English language propaganda videos targeting American audiences 1063 01:14:39,360 --> 01:14:44,559 Speaker 1: on American platforms, and the end result, which was this 1064 01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:49,360 Speaker 1: shift in US foreign policy. Even President Ramaposa has gone 1065 01:14:49,360 --> 01:14:53,880 Speaker 1: on record blaming Afroform and Solidarity for spreading the lies 1066 01:14:53,920 --> 01:14:58,439 Speaker 1: about South Africa that led to Trump's executive order. He 1067 01:14:58,520 --> 01:15:02,280 Speaker 1: called the group unpatriotic in remarks before the National Assembly 1068 01:15:02,320 --> 01:15:02,799 Speaker 1: in March. 1069 01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:08,280 Speaker 9: Fact whether that is treason US or not is a 1070 01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:13,320 Speaker 9: matter not Obviously our law enforcement agencies need to look 1071 01:15:13,360 --> 01:15:17,200 Speaker 9: at the National Prosecuting Agency needs to look at that. 1072 01:15:17,720 --> 01:15:21,400 Speaker 9: But I take a dim view, in fact, a very 1073 01:15:21,520 --> 01:15:26,960 Speaker 9: negative view of what has ensued as they run around 1074 01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:32,040 Speaker 9: the world bed mouthing their own country and putting their 1075 01:15:32,080 --> 01:15:36,920 Speaker 9: country into distribute, not by things that are happening, but 1076 01:15:37,240 --> 01:15:38,600 Speaker 9: by misinformation. 1077 01:15:42,320 --> 01:15:46,000 Speaker 1: The matter has been confirmed to be under investigation, but 1078 01:15:46,080 --> 01:15:48,880 Speaker 1: there has been no decision announced by the National Prosecuting 1079 01:15:48,880 --> 01:15:53,680 Speaker 1: Authority as to whether the case will proceed. When Ramaposa 1080 01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:57,320 Speaker 1: gave those remarks on March eleventh, twenty twenty five, he 1081 01:15:57,479 --> 01:16:00,960 Speaker 1: wasn't just talking about Eric's rutz going on. Tucker Carlson 1082 01:16:02,280 --> 01:16:05,080 Speaker 1: Roots had in fact already resigned from Solidarity by the 1083 01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:08,400 Speaker 1: time he returned to the US this year. But in 1084 01:16:08,479 --> 01:16:12,360 Speaker 1: late February, a delegation from Solidarity paid a visit to 1085 01:16:12,400 --> 01:16:16,160 Speaker 1: the United States. They posted quite a few videos of 1086 01:16:16,200 --> 01:16:20,559 Speaker 1: themselves outside various government buildings in Washington, d C. They 1087 01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:24,200 Speaker 1: posted some videos of them standing in lobbies of government buildings, 1088 01:16:24,240 --> 01:16:27,879 Speaker 1: and one photo that appears to show the delegation touring 1089 01:16:27,920 --> 01:16:33,080 Speaker 1: the White House with visible visitors badges. There are no 1090 01:16:33,160 --> 01:16:35,400 Speaker 1: photos of any members of the delegation that I could 1091 01:16:35,439 --> 01:16:40,559 Speaker 1: find that show them with any actual US policymakers, but 1092 01:16:40,640 --> 01:16:42,479 Speaker 1: they did take a couple of selfies in front of 1093 01:16:42,520 --> 01:16:47,200 Speaker 1: a sign that says Committee on Foreign Affairs. One photo 1094 01:16:47,320 --> 01:16:50,880 Speaker 1: was taken outside the office of Senator Christopher Coons, a 1095 01:16:50,920 --> 01:16:53,280 Speaker 1: member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and its 1096 01:16:53,320 --> 01:16:58,759 Speaker 1: Africa and Global Health Policy subcommittee. Their press releases about 1097 01:16:58,760 --> 01:17:02,519 Speaker 1: this visit don't names, but they claimed to have met 1098 01:17:02,520 --> 01:17:05,519 Speaker 1: with senior officials within the Trump administration during their visit. 1099 01:17:06,960 --> 01:17:09,559 Speaker 1: There's no direct claim made that they met with the 1100 01:17:09,600 --> 01:17:14,000 Speaker 1: President himself, although one of them did post a cartoon 1101 01:17:14,120 --> 01:17:18,559 Speaker 1: style drawing of the group that features a cartoon Trump 1102 01:17:18,640 --> 01:17:20,840 Speaker 1: standing with them in front of the White House, and 1103 01:17:21,400 --> 01:17:24,120 Speaker 1: that has perhaps meant to insinuate that they were able 1104 01:17:24,120 --> 01:17:28,160 Speaker 1: to secure an audience with the president. But one member 1105 01:17:28,160 --> 01:17:31,600 Speaker 1: of the delegation posted something that is more interesting to 1106 01:17:31,680 --> 01:17:35,799 Speaker 1: me than a selfie at the Capitol Building. On February 1107 01:17:35,840 --> 01:17:41,080 Speaker 1: twenty seventh, Jako Kleinhans wrote Day three in Washington, d C. 1108 01:17:42,120 --> 01:17:47,160 Speaker 1: Who influences US government policy A complex network of individuals, organizations, 1109 01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:50,679 Speaker 1: and governmental and non governmental structures worked daily to develop 1110 01:17:50,760 --> 01:17:54,680 Speaker 1: US government policy. Recent policy decisions on the relationship with 1111 01:17:54,720 --> 01:17:57,200 Speaker 1: South Africa have been developed by a few key players 1112 01:17:57,200 --> 01:18:01,800 Speaker 1: at influential organizations, together with policy specialists in the White 1113 01:18:01,840 --> 01:18:05,720 Speaker 1: House and Congress. The Solidarity Movement delegation currently visiting the 1114 01:18:05,840 --> 01:18:09,040 Speaker 1: USA met on day three with several of these influential 1115 01:18:09,080 --> 01:18:12,439 Speaker 1: people with whom we have forged good relationships over the 1116 01:18:12,520 --> 01:18:17,639 Speaker 1: past few years, to discuss a way forward. And underneath 1117 01:18:17,680 --> 01:18:22,120 Speaker 1: this wall of text posted in Afrikaans is a selfie. 1118 01:18:23,479 --> 01:18:26,760 Speaker 1: Visible in the photo behind Yako is the entrance to 1119 01:18:26,800 --> 01:18:31,360 Speaker 1: the offices of the Heritage Foundation. That conservative think tank 1120 01:18:31,479 --> 01:18:35,120 Speaker 1: is not, as far as I can tell, publicly commented 1121 01:18:35,200 --> 01:18:39,120 Speaker 1: on the recently serviced allegations that they worked closely with 1122 01:18:39,240 --> 01:18:43,120 Speaker 1: South African military intelligence to craft propaganda campaigns during the 1123 01:18:43,160 --> 01:18:47,400 Speaker 1: latter years of apartheid. South African news outlet The Daily 1124 01:18:47,439 --> 01:18:51,320 Speaker 1: Maverick did take extra care to note in their article 1125 01:18:52,080 --> 01:18:55,400 Speaker 1: that the Heritage Foundation has made no legal challenge to 1126 01:18:55,479 --> 01:18:58,040 Speaker 1: the twenty twenty one book by a former South African 1127 01:18:58,080 --> 01:19:02,719 Speaker 1: policeman who claims that former Heritage Foundation president Edwin Fulner 1128 01:19:03,680 --> 01:19:08,760 Speaker 1: was often consulted for advice high South African intelligence operatives 1129 01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:14,280 Speaker 1: who ran the governments apartheid disinformation campaigns, and if you 1130 01:19:14,320 --> 01:19:16,879 Speaker 1: can remember all the way back to the first episode 1131 01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:21,240 Speaker 1: in this series, the first time Trump tweeted about South Africa, 1132 01:19:21,760 --> 01:19:25,720 Speaker 1: he was watching Tucker Carlson interview a policy analyst from 1133 01:19:25,720 --> 01:19:32,960 Speaker 1: the Heritage Foundation. Just something to mull over, I guess, 1134 01:19:35,880 --> 01:19:38,439 Speaker 1: and whoever it was that the delegation was able to 1135 01:19:38,479 --> 01:19:41,880 Speaker 1: meet with at the White House, that person received an 1136 01:19:41,880 --> 01:19:46,080 Speaker 1: official memorandum from Solidarity, and they also posted that document 1137 01:19:46,120 --> 01:19:50,600 Speaker 1: to their website. Much like Ernst Rutz, they're grateful to 1138 01:19:50,640 --> 01:19:53,760 Speaker 1: the Trump administration for raising awareness about the plight of 1139 01:19:53,800 --> 01:19:58,280 Speaker 1: the white South African but they too want the United 1140 01:19:58,280 --> 01:20:01,519 Speaker 1: States to use its power to pressure South Africa to 1141 01:20:01,600 --> 01:20:05,200 Speaker 1: bend to the will of whites, rather than simply offering 1142 01:20:05,240 --> 01:20:08,720 Speaker 1: those aggrieved white South Africans the opportunity to settle in 1143 01:20:08,720 --> 01:20:12,960 Speaker 1: the United States. Much of the text of his memorandum 1144 01:20:13,120 --> 01:20:17,120 Speaker 1: reads pretty transparently as an attempt to smooth over the 1145 01:20:17,160 --> 01:20:23,080 Speaker 1: whole treeson situation. They emphasize repeatedly that they do not 1146 01:20:23,640 --> 01:20:28,000 Speaker 1: support Trump's decision to cut off humanitarian aid, and they 1147 01:20:28,120 --> 01:20:31,719 Speaker 1: urge Washington not to suspend the African Growth and Opportunity Act. 1148 01:20:32,439 --> 01:20:36,120 Speaker 1: A US law that allows some African nations, including South Africa, 1149 01:20:37,080 --> 01:20:42,240 Speaker 1: tariff free access to US markets. And as much as 1150 01:20:42,280 --> 01:20:47,760 Speaker 1: they appreciate Trump's offer to take Africaners as refugees, they 1151 01:20:47,800 --> 01:20:52,799 Speaker 1: want to stay. One section of the memo reads, although 1152 01:20:52,800 --> 01:20:55,920 Speaker 1: individuals may qualify for a resettlement program, the majority of 1153 01:20:55,920 --> 01:20:59,760 Speaker 1: Africaners will still remain in South Africa. During the past 1154 01:20:59,800 --> 01:21:03,760 Speaker 1: the three years, Africaners have begun to establish cultural infrastructure 1155 01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:06,360 Speaker 1: in South Africa so that we can still live here 1156 01:21:06,400 --> 01:21:09,080 Speaker 1: freely and safely in order for us to make a 1157 01:21:09,080 --> 01:21:12,680 Speaker 1: sustainable contribution toward the country and all its people. This 1158 01:21:12,840 --> 01:21:15,120 Speaker 1: is being done under the banner of the Solidarity movement, 1159 01:21:15,560 --> 01:21:20,760 Speaker 1: with Solidarity and Afrofum being the largest organizations. Security structures, 1160 01:21:20,840 --> 01:21:25,400 Speaker 1: social structures, job structures, training structures, and cultural structures have 1161 01:21:25,479 --> 01:21:28,800 Speaker 1: been established. All of this is being done without state 1162 01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:33,040 Speaker 1: support and at the bottom of that section they make 1163 01:21:33,120 --> 01:21:38,800 Speaker 1: several recommendations. They recommend the United States should, instead of 1164 01:21:38,800 --> 01:21:44,320 Speaker 1: offering refugee resettlement, offer direct aid to these Africaner communities 1165 01:21:44,800 --> 01:21:50,960 Speaker 1: quote to assist with community infrastructure protecting Africaners. This includes 1166 01:21:51,040 --> 01:21:55,200 Speaker 1: security structure, social structures, job structure, training structures, and infrastructure 1167 01:21:56,040 --> 01:22:01,920 Speaker 1: to settle africaners in vulnerable places in a Hanson traded manner. 1168 01:22:03,240 --> 01:22:06,840 Speaker 1: So they're saying they want help moving all of the 1169 01:22:06,840 --> 01:22:11,120 Speaker 1: white people to a place in South Africa. Still they 1170 01:22:11,120 --> 01:22:13,120 Speaker 1: don't want to leave South Africa, but they need help 1171 01:22:13,160 --> 01:22:16,719 Speaker 1: moving all of the white people into a concentrated place. 1172 01:22:16,840 --> 01:22:22,360 Speaker 1: So a place that's all white. And that sounds kind 1173 01:22:22,360 --> 01:22:27,719 Speaker 1: of like a mini ethno state, a folkstot, if you will, 1174 01:22:28,600 --> 01:22:32,840 Speaker 1: an island of apartheid and a sea of integration, and 1175 01:22:32,880 --> 01:22:39,000 Speaker 1: that does in fact already exist. And here's where I 1176 01:22:39,040 --> 01:22:43,519 Speaker 1: have to confess something to you. I overlooked something in 1177 01:22:43,560 --> 01:22:47,800 Speaker 1: retrospect pretty obvious. Remember I said a few minutes ago 1178 01:22:47,840 --> 01:22:50,920 Speaker 1: that Ernst Rutz had resigned from his position with Solidarity 1179 01:22:51,640 --> 01:22:53,360 Speaker 1: and his trip to the United States in March of 1180 01:22:53,400 --> 01:22:59,639 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five was totally separate from this delegation. Well 1181 01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:03,519 Speaker 1: might not have actually been that separate. I mean they 1182 01:23:03,520 --> 01:23:07,080 Speaker 1: flew here separately, they were here during different weeks, and 1183 01:23:07,160 --> 01:23:11,479 Speaker 1: they claimed to be from separate organizations. Roots was here 1184 01:23:11,479 --> 01:23:15,439 Speaker 1: in the United States with Used Stridum, the current CEO 1185 01:23:15,600 --> 01:23:20,120 Speaker 1: of Urania, a white separatist community in South Africa's Northern 1186 01:23:20,120 --> 01:23:26,000 Speaker 1: Cape province, Yako Kleinhans, the International Liaison for Solidarity, who 1187 01:23:26,120 --> 01:23:30,400 Speaker 1: was here with that other delegation. He used to be 1188 01:23:30,439 --> 01:23:33,920 Speaker 1: the CEO of Rania. He and his family lived there. 1189 01:23:35,120 --> 01:23:38,240 Speaker 1: His wife, Magdalene, was featured in a Guardian article about 1190 01:23:38,240 --> 01:23:42,120 Speaker 1: the community in twenty nineteen. She runs the call center 1191 01:23:42,160 --> 01:23:47,639 Speaker 1: in Irania that recruits members and solicits donations. So they're 1192 01:23:47,680 --> 01:23:52,240 Speaker 1: the same people. The Venn diagram is a circle. They 1193 01:23:52,280 --> 01:23:56,000 Speaker 1: present slightly different public faces. I mean, Solidarity was allowed 1194 01:23:56,040 --> 01:23:59,320 Speaker 1: into the White House while the delegation officially from Irania 1195 01:23:59,400 --> 01:24:02,120 Speaker 1: was stuck doing it events like Wine Wednesday at the 1196 01:24:02,120 --> 01:24:06,640 Speaker 1: New York Young Republicans Club. But it's sort of like 1197 01:24:06,720 --> 01:24:10,040 Speaker 1: how sometimes the name brand ketchup and the store brand 1198 01:24:10,080 --> 01:24:12,920 Speaker 1: ketchup are made at the same factory and they just 1199 01:24:13,000 --> 01:24:17,280 Speaker 1: package them in different bottles. The two groups traveled the 1200 01:24:17,400 --> 01:24:21,280 Speaker 1: United States separately a few weeks apart. They met with 1201 01:24:21,320 --> 01:24:25,040 Speaker 1: slightly different crowds and marketed the message ever so slightly differently. 1202 01:24:26,040 --> 01:24:29,080 Speaker 1: But ultimately what they want is for the United States 1203 01:24:29,120 --> 01:24:32,679 Speaker 1: to officially recognize their three point five square mile whites 1204 01:24:32,760 --> 01:24:36,679 Speaker 1: only town of three thousand people as an autonomous state. 1205 01:24:39,400 --> 01:24:43,160 Speaker 1: And in February, while that first delegation, the one from Solidarity, 1206 01:24:43,200 --> 01:24:46,960 Speaker 1: was in Washington, d C. An American neo Nazi group, 1207 01:24:47,120 --> 01:24:52,799 Speaker 1: posted photos of their trip to South Africa. A regional 1208 01:24:52,880 --> 01:24:57,000 Speaker 1: chapter within the Active Club Network visited Urania quote to 1209 01:24:57,040 --> 01:25:00,800 Speaker 1: gain a deeper understanding of how whites can form intention communities. 1210 01:25:02,520 --> 01:25:05,520 Speaker 1: During the first week of March, the delegation from Solidarity 1211 01:25:05,560 --> 01:25:07,439 Speaker 1: finished out their trip in the United States with a 1212 01:25:07,520 --> 01:25:13,720 Speaker 1: visit to California. Specifically, they went to Los Angeles. More specifically, 1213 01:25:13,800 --> 01:25:16,960 Speaker 1: they had lunch with Joel Pollock, the editor at large 1214 01:25:17,000 --> 01:25:21,439 Speaker 1: of the far right rag Breitbart. After lunch, Pollock tweeted 1215 01:25:21,439 --> 01:25:25,200 Speaker 1: a photo captioned just had lunch at a kosher restaurant 1216 01:25:25,200 --> 01:25:29,120 Speaker 1: owned by Steven Spielberg's mom with four gentlemen from afroform 1217 01:25:29,200 --> 01:25:33,080 Speaker 1: Slash Solidarity. The South African government is investigating them for 1218 01:25:33,160 --> 01:25:36,120 Speaker 1: treason for the crime of sharing their views of Americans. 1219 01:25:37,040 --> 01:25:43,519 Speaker 1: The treason was delicious, okay, Joel, not to nitpick, and 1220 01:25:43,600 --> 01:25:50,679 Speaker 1: first of all, super cringe, but Steven Spielberg's mom is dead, LEEA. Adler, 1221 01:25:50,800 --> 01:25:54,320 Speaker 1: Spielberg's mother did open the restaurant The Milky Way in 1222 01:25:54,360 --> 01:25:58,160 Speaker 1: Los Angeles in nineteen seventy seven, but the restaurant closed 1223 01:25:58,200 --> 01:26:02,200 Speaker 1: after her death in twenty seventeen. Her children reopened the 1224 01:26:02,240 --> 01:26:05,920 Speaker 1: restaurant in twenty nineteen. So it is still the same 1225 01:26:06,000 --> 01:26:09,479 Speaker 1: restaurant in the same place, but it isn't owned by 1226 01:26:09,479 --> 01:26:13,000 Speaker 1: a woman who's been dead for eight years. But it's 1227 01:26:13,040 --> 01:26:15,679 Speaker 1: probably much more important that you know one other fact 1228 01:26:15,720 --> 01:26:19,559 Speaker 1: about this lunch. At the time, in the first week 1229 01:26:19,560 --> 01:26:23,240 Speaker 1: of March of twenty twenty five, Joel Pollock was widely 1230 01:26:23,280 --> 01:26:26,719 Speaker 1: believed to be Trump's pick from ambassador to South Africa. 1231 01:26:28,040 --> 01:26:32,080 Speaker 1: There'd been no official public nomination, but Pollock was out 1232 01:26:32,120 --> 01:26:34,400 Speaker 1: there telling people that and going on the news in 1233 01:26:34,479 --> 01:26:39,479 Speaker 1: South Africa to that effect. And after lunch, Yacho Klein 1234 01:26:39,560 --> 01:26:43,599 Speaker 1: Hunts from Solidarity reposted that picture and offered his full 1235 01:26:43,600 --> 01:26:49,439 Speaker 1: throated endorsement of Pollock's appointment as ambassador. But barely two 1236 01:26:49,520 --> 01:26:53,160 Speaker 1: weeks after that lunch, Joel Pollock's chances of getting that 1237 01:26:53,280 --> 01:26:58,439 Speaker 1: job dropped to mere zero. Things were already a little 1238 01:26:58,479 --> 01:27:02,040 Speaker 1: dicey for him, considering he'd been publicly calling for sanctions 1239 01:27:02,080 --> 01:27:07,040 Speaker 1: against President Cyril Ramaposa personally specifically because of South Africa's 1240 01:27:07,040 --> 01:27:10,920 Speaker 1: continued opposition to the genocide and Gaza. But the nail 1241 01:27:10,920 --> 01:27:14,400 Speaker 1: in the coffin really seems to have been his direct 1242 01:27:15,000 --> 01:27:19,680 Speaker 1: personal involvement in the expulsion of South Africa's ambassador to 1243 01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:26,439 Speaker 1: the United States. On March fourteenth, twenty twenty five, the 1244 01:27:26,560 --> 01:27:31,880 Speaker 1: United States of America expelled a foreign diplomat. This sort 1245 01:27:31,880 --> 01:27:35,840 Speaker 1: of thing happens from time to time. Article nine of 1246 01:27:35,880 --> 01:27:39,799 Speaker 1: the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations establishes a pretty broad 1247 01:27:39,840 --> 01:27:43,840 Speaker 1: authority for this quote. The receiving state may, at any time, 1248 01:27:43,880 --> 01:27:46,920 Speaker 1: and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending 1249 01:27:46,920 --> 01:27:48,960 Speaker 1: state that the head of the mission or any member 1250 01:27:48,960 --> 01:27:52,439 Speaker 1: of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata. 1251 01:27:54,720 --> 01:27:58,280 Speaker 1: It wasn't uncommon during the Cold War, usually after allegations 1252 01:27:58,280 --> 01:28:02,200 Speaker 1: of espionage, whether real or imagined, and it can be 1253 01:28:02,240 --> 01:28:04,840 Speaker 1: a way for a country to send a political message 1254 01:28:05,360 --> 01:28:08,080 Speaker 1: to say to a country, we're kind of upset with 1255 01:28:08,120 --> 01:28:12,280 Speaker 1: you right now, even if the diplomatic staff themselves haven't 1256 01:28:12,320 --> 01:28:17,000 Speaker 1: done anything wrong. Several countries expelled Syrian diplomats in twenty 1257 01:28:17,040 --> 01:28:21,479 Speaker 1: twelve in response to the murder of civilians Inhala. In 1258 01:28:21,479 --> 01:28:25,280 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, President Aragon declared diplomats from ten countries 1259 01:28:25,640 --> 01:28:29,439 Speaker 1: persona non Grata and Turkey after those countries governments had 1260 01:28:29,479 --> 01:28:33,799 Speaker 1: called for the release of an imprisoned Turkish activist. Several 1261 01:28:33,840 --> 01:28:37,320 Speaker 1: Israeli diplomats were expelled from Britain and Australia in twenty 1262 01:28:37,360 --> 01:28:41,240 Speaker 1: ten after both countries discovered that Israel had used forged 1263 01:28:41,320 --> 01:28:45,800 Speaker 1: British and Australian passports to carry out assassinations in Dubai. 1264 01:28:47,080 --> 01:28:50,360 Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, the US ambassador to Ecuador was expelled 1265 01:28:50,800 --> 01:28:54,760 Speaker 1: after Wikiliks revealed that she believed President Korea had been 1266 01:28:54,800 --> 01:28:58,559 Speaker 1: aware of corruption within his police force. In the United 1267 01:28:58,600 --> 01:29:04,200 Speaker 1: States responded by expelling Ecuador's ambassador in return. And sometimes 1268 01:29:04,200 --> 01:29:07,439 Speaker 1: it's not even political. The decision may be the result 1269 01:29:07,520 --> 01:29:11,240 Speaker 1: of personal misconduct by a member of the diplomatic staff. 1270 01:29:12,400 --> 01:29:16,439 Speaker 1: With some rather specific exceptions, ambassadors and their staff have 1271 01:29:16,560 --> 01:29:21,480 Speaker 1: diplomatic immunity. They can't be prosecuted, but they can be expelled. 1272 01:29:22,439 --> 01:29:25,120 Speaker 1: So for example, in twenty seventeen, New Zealand had to 1273 01:29:25,160 --> 01:29:27,760 Speaker 1: expel an American diplomat after the man got into some 1274 01:29:27,840 --> 01:29:32,320 Speaker 1: kind of violent physical altercation and the American government refused 1275 01:29:32,320 --> 01:29:34,840 Speaker 1: to waive his diplomatic community so that he could be prosecuted. 1276 01:29:36,360 --> 01:29:39,720 Speaker 1: In twenty twelve, the Philippines expelled the Panamanian diplomatic used 1277 01:29:39,760 --> 01:29:44,040 Speaker 1: of rape. Honestly, a lot of the examples of this 1278 01:29:44,200 --> 01:29:48,320 Speaker 1: that I found were related to lower level embassy staff 1279 01:29:48,439 --> 01:29:52,479 Speaker 1: who got drunk, got a dui, got into fights, or 1280 01:29:53,160 --> 01:29:56,960 Speaker 1: committed some kind of sex crime. There have also been 1281 01:29:57,640 --> 01:30:00,439 Speaker 1: more than a few cases of diplomatic use used of 1282 01:30:00,560 --> 01:30:05,920 Speaker 1: using their position to facilitate drug trafficking. So it does happen. 1283 01:30:07,080 --> 01:30:11,000 Speaker 1: It doesn't even seem particularly rare, especially if you're including 1284 01:30:11,040 --> 01:30:15,240 Speaker 1: these examples of lower level embassy staff who maybe got 1285 01:30:15,280 --> 01:30:20,000 Speaker 1: in a bar fight, but it doesn't usually happen. By tweet, 1286 01:30:21,400 --> 01:30:26,800 Speaker 1: let's work backwards. At four forty two pm Eastern Time. 1287 01:30:27,280 --> 01:30:31,599 Speaker 1: On March fourteenth, twenty twenty five, Secretary of State Marco 1288 01:30:31,680 --> 01:30:36,800 Speaker 1: Rubio tweeted South Africa's ambassador to the United States is 1289 01:30:36,880 --> 01:30:40,680 Speaker 1: no longer welcome in our great country. Ibrahim Rasul is 1290 01:30:40,720 --> 01:30:44,040 Speaker 1: a race baiting politician who hates America and hates Potus. 1291 01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:47,479 Speaker 1: We have nothing to discuss with him, and so he 1292 01:30:47,600 --> 01:30:52,240 Speaker 1: is considered persona non growd up. That last bit is 1293 01:30:52,280 --> 01:30:54,840 Speaker 1: in all caps, which is why I had to yell it, 1294 01:30:55,960 --> 01:30:59,120 Speaker 1: and for the record, on that read, I did pronounce 1295 01:30:59,240 --> 01:31:03,439 Speaker 1: Ibra Hume Rusul's name Ibrahim Razul, which is his name. 1296 01:31:04,000 --> 01:31:10,960 Speaker 1: But in this I guess official State Department tweet, Marco 1297 01:31:11,040 --> 01:31:18,080 Speaker 1: Rubio did misspell his name as Emrahim Rascoul, so take 1298 01:31:18,120 --> 01:31:22,559 Speaker 1: that as you will. But Rubio's tweet included a link 1299 01:31:22,680 --> 01:31:26,840 Speaker 1: to a Breitbart article, the headline of which is South 1300 01:31:26,840 --> 01:31:31,080 Speaker 1: African Ambassador Ibrahim Razul Colan Trump is leading global white 1301 01:31:31,120 --> 01:31:37,599 Speaker 1: supremacist movement. The article, written by Joel Pollock, had gone 1302 01:31:37,640 --> 01:31:41,880 Speaker 1: up earlier that same day. Article might not be the 1303 01:31:41,960 --> 01:31:44,840 Speaker 1: right word for it. I don't know what you call 1304 01:31:45,320 --> 01:31:49,599 Speaker 1: what appears on Breitbart's website, but Pollock only actually wrote 1305 01:31:50,439 --> 01:31:55,400 Speaker 1: six sentences in the original piece, but those sentences frame 1306 01:31:55,520 --> 01:31:59,760 Speaker 1: the actual content. It's a video clip accompanied by a 1307 01:31:59,760 --> 01:32:03,479 Speaker 1: trescript of the video of statements made by South African 1308 01:32:03,479 --> 01:32:07,520 Speaker 1: Ambassador Ibrahim Russell during a webinar hosted by the Mapungubwe 1309 01:32:07,600 --> 01:32:11,240 Speaker 1: Institute for Strategic Reflection, a South African think tank just 1310 01:32:11,280 --> 01:32:13,000 Speaker 1: called MISTRA for short. 1311 01:32:16,160 --> 01:32:23,440 Speaker 2: What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency 1312 01:32:24,280 --> 01:32:31,320 Speaker 2: those who are in power by mobilizing a supremacism against 1313 01:32:31,400 --> 01:32:36,679 Speaker 2: the incumbency at home. And I think i've Illustrated abroad 1314 01:32:36,760 --> 01:32:37,280 Speaker 2: as well. 1315 01:32:40,720 --> 01:32:44,240 Speaker 1: He was speaking to a small group of academics and 1316 01:32:44,360 --> 01:32:47,360 Speaker 1: rasoul Is talking about the ways in which American politics 1317 01:32:47,360 --> 01:32:52,519 Speaker 1: have changed. He later explained to a reporter, my remarks 1318 01:32:52,560 --> 01:32:57,000 Speaker 1: were speaking to South African intelligentsia, intellectuals, political leaders, and 1319 01:32:57,040 --> 01:33:00,280 Speaker 1: others to alert them to a changed tradition in the 1320 01:33:00,360 --> 01:33:02,360 Speaker 1: United States that the old way of doing business with 1321 01:33:02,400 --> 01:33:03,760 Speaker 1: the US was not going to work. 1322 01:33:05,439 --> 01:33:05,519 Speaker 2: Now. 1323 01:33:05,600 --> 01:33:08,760 Speaker 1: I watched most of that webinar. I'm not gonna lie 1324 01:33:08,800 --> 01:33:10,120 Speaker 1: in his two hours long I didn't watch all of it. 1325 01:33:10,200 --> 01:33:13,479 Speaker 1: I watched most of that webinar, but I watched all 1326 01:33:13,560 --> 01:33:17,720 Speaker 1: of the parts where Ibrahim Razula speaking, and nothing he 1327 01:33:17,840 --> 01:33:24,320 Speaker 1: said felt shocking to me. He wasn't being hysterical or hyperbolic. 1328 01:33:25,040 --> 01:33:28,800 Speaker 1: He's not tearing his hair and gnashing his teeth. He 1329 01:33:28,880 --> 01:33:31,400 Speaker 1: had some interesting observations about the way the white South 1330 01:33:31,400 --> 01:33:35,320 Speaker 1: African functions as a rhetorical dog whistle for white victimhood 1331 01:33:35,400 --> 01:33:40,720 Speaker 1: within Trump's narrative. But he didn't say anything wild. He's 1332 01:33:40,760 --> 01:33:44,600 Speaker 1: not calling for violence or talking about radical shifts in policy. 1333 01:33:45,840 --> 01:33:51,120 Speaker 1: He's a diplomat, right. He was just making correct observations 1334 01:33:51,160 --> 01:33:54,560 Speaker 1: about the political climate that it is his job to navigate, 1335 01:33:56,320 --> 01:34:02,160 Speaker 1: but those remarks, with Joel Pollock's sixth sentence commentary made 1336 01:34:02,200 --> 01:34:06,960 Speaker 1: their way to Marco Rubio within hours, and by that afternoon, 1337 01:34:07,479 --> 01:34:11,320 Speaker 1: Rubio had declared Rasoul persona nograda and ordered him to 1338 01:34:11,400 --> 01:34:16,720 Speaker 1: leave the United States. When Rozoul arrived home in South 1339 01:34:16,720 --> 01:34:21,080 Speaker 1: Africa on March twenty third, he issued a statement He's 1340 01:34:21,120 --> 01:34:25,320 Speaker 1: standing by what he said about the Trump administration, and 1341 01:34:25,400 --> 01:34:29,320 Speaker 1: his four page statement has some real bangers. It goes 1342 01:34:29,360 --> 01:34:33,559 Speaker 1: pretty hard as far as diplomatic statements go. Quote, when 1343 01:34:33,680 --> 01:34:36,880 Speaker 1: we have been the victims of apartheid and saw how 1344 01:34:36,880 --> 01:34:40,920 Speaker 1: it cannot tolerate free speech and independent judiciary or even 1345 01:34:41,000 --> 01:34:45,200 Speaker 1: peaceful dissent, then we can smell the birth of chauvinism 1346 01:34:45,240 --> 01:34:49,320 Speaker 1: globally since the fear it engenders, hear its words and 1347 01:34:49,479 --> 01:34:54,839 Speaker 1: see its signs. And Rasoul says that quote. In meetings 1348 01:34:54,840 --> 01:34:57,800 Speaker 1: with Senators and congress members, and in the weekly forums 1349 01:34:57,880 --> 01:35:00,960 Speaker 1: we addressed of think tanks and businesses soociations, and in 1350 01:35:01,040 --> 01:35:05,120 Speaker 1: the few meetings with the administration, we were forced to 1351 01:35:05,160 --> 01:35:09,720 Speaker 1: discuss seriously how africaners could be refugees in the USA. 1352 01:35:10,439 --> 01:35:13,760 Speaker 1: While A and C leaders are threatened with personal sanctions. 1353 01:35:14,560 --> 01:35:17,280 Speaker 1: We had to avoid arguing how there was a genocide 1354 01:35:17,280 --> 01:35:21,320 Speaker 1: in Israel. But diplomacy is not the art of lying. 1355 01:35:22,479 --> 01:35:25,480 Speaker 1: It is the art of telling the truth gently and constructively. 1356 01:35:27,920 --> 01:35:30,560 Speaker 1: Pollack sees on one line of that statement, in particular, 1357 01:35:31,160 --> 01:35:34,799 Speaker 1: a parenthetical mention of an anonymous participant in the webinar, 1358 01:35:35,320 --> 01:35:40,120 Speaker 1: who Razoul calls one ex South African anti intellectual hatchetman 1359 01:35:40,280 --> 01:35:44,519 Speaker 1: hiding under a pseudonym, and that's obviously a reference to 1360 01:35:44,680 --> 01:35:50,760 Speaker 1: Joel Pollock. Rasoul is implying that Pollock himself not only 1361 01:35:50,840 --> 01:35:56,160 Speaker 1: joined that webinar alive, but participated in it without disclosing 1362 01:35:56,200 --> 01:36:00,800 Speaker 1: his name or affiliation, and in this case his affiliation 1363 01:36:00,920 --> 01:36:06,040 Speaker 1: would be editor of American conservative website brightbart dot com 1364 01:36:06,760 --> 01:36:11,280 Speaker 1: and also current contender for American Ambassador to South Africa. 1365 01:36:12,960 --> 01:36:15,960 Speaker 1: Because during the Q and A portion, the moderator read 1366 01:36:16,000 --> 01:36:20,240 Speaker 1: submitted questions out loud, and when he did so, he 1367 01:36:20,320 --> 01:36:23,600 Speaker 1: read the question asker's name, and when the question was 1368 01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:28,080 Speaker 1: from a reporter, the name of the outlet. The very 1369 01:36:28,120 --> 01:36:32,960 Speaker 1: first question though, was from anonymous. 1370 01:36:34,840 --> 01:36:38,280 Speaker 14: First, because I like to start with something funny, an 1371 01:36:38,360 --> 01:36:42,840 Speaker 14: anonymous comment for Ambassador to Soul Ambassador to Szool's analysis 1372 01:36:42,840 --> 01:36:45,679 Speaker 14: of the US may be correct. However, he's doing South 1373 01:36:45,720 --> 01:36:48,559 Speaker 14: Africa and no service by speaking this way. His job 1374 01:36:48,640 --> 01:36:51,479 Speaker 14: is to represent South African interests in Washington, not to 1375 01:36:51,520 --> 01:36:53,880 Speaker 14: be a left wing militant ambassador to Soul. 1376 01:36:57,560 --> 01:37:00,799 Speaker 1: Now, can I tell you for sure that that question 1377 01:37:00,920 --> 01:37:04,040 Speaker 1: was submitted by Joel Pollock. Of course not, but that 1378 01:37:04,080 --> 01:37:06,800 Speaker 1: appears to be what Ibrahim Rasoul is implying in his 1379 01:37:06,880 --> 01:37:12,000 Speaker 1: statement that he believes that Pollock tweeted a screenshot of 1380 01:37:12,000 --> 01:37:16,519 Speaker 1: that portion of the statement and said ex Ambassador Ibrahim 1381 01:37:16,600 --> 01:37:19,639 Speaker 1: Ruscoul believes he was done in by a spy. Good 1382 01:37:19,760 --> 01:37:23,360 Speaker 1: luck hunting. I watched his remarks on YouTube after they 1383 01:37:23,400 --> 01:37:28,120 Speaker 1: had been publicly available at Miestra's channel for hours. Is 1384 01:37:28,160 --> 01:37:31,160 Speaker 1: in competence and defense to defamation in South African law. 1385 01:37:33,600 --> 01:37:37,280 Speaker 1: So Pollack is in this tweet insinuating that he could 1386 01:37:37,360 --> 01:37:43,160 Speaker 1: sue Ibrahim Rescoul for defamation for implying that Pollock was 1387 01:37:43,160 --> 01:37:47,719 Speaker 1: in the webinar. I don't know anything about South African law, 1388 01:37:48,080 --> 01:37:51,120 Speaker 1: but I don't think in an American court a claim 1389 01:37:51,160 --> 01:37:53,760 Speaker 1: of defamation would hold up because he didn't actually say 1390 01:37:53,840 --> 01:37:58,920 Speaker 1: Joel Pollock's name. I guess if Joel Pollock identifies publicly 1391 01:37:59,479 --> 01:38:03,360 Speaker 1: as an anti intellectual hatchet man. He's welcome to make 1392 01:38:03,360 --> 01:38:07,240 Speaker 1: that argument in court. But I digress, because back to 1393 01:38:07,280 --> 01:38:11,599 Speaker 1: his actual claim. He's saying he wasn't in the webinar live. 1394 01:38:12,000 --> 01:38:15,880 Speaker 1: He watched the replay on YouTube hours after the event ended. 1395 01:38:17,320 --> 01:38:21,479 Speaker 1: And the problem with that is that it isn't true. 1396 01:38:21,760 --> 01:38:26,240 Speaker 1: The webinar was live. You could pre register and participate 1397 01:38:26,280 --> 01:38:28,840 Speaker 1: in the Zoom meeting, or you could just watch it 1398 01:38:29,160 --> 01:38:33,080 Speaker 1: live on YouTube. And the event was from ten am 1399 01:38:33,240 --> 01:38:37,879 Speaker 1: to noon Johannesburg time, and that means that it started 1400 01:38:37,920 --> 01:38:41,519 Speaker 1: at four am here on the East Coast and one 1401 01:38:41,600 --> 01:38:46,680 Speaker 1: am in California, which is where Joel Pollack lives. And 1402 01:38:46,720 --> 01:38:50,320 Speaker 1: I'm reasonably certain he was indeed in California that day 1403 01:38:51,360 --> 01:38:54,200 Speaker 1: because the night before he posted a photo of the sunset, 1404 01:38:54,880 --> 01:38:57,280 Speaker 1: and that morning he posted a photo of the sun rise, 1405 01:38:58,760 --> 01:39:01,600 Speaker 1: and both photos were posted at the time that the 1406 01:39:01,640 --> 01:39:04,479 Speaker 1: sun rose and set in the part of California where 1407 01:39:04,479 --> 01:39:09,640 Speaker 1: he lives, and there are visible palm trees. So when 1408 01:39:09,720 --> 01:39:12,960 Speaker 1: Joel Pollock tweeted the link to his article at eight 1409 01:39:13,040 --> 01:39:18,120 Speaker 1: forty five am Eastern Time, that's five forty five am 1410 01:39:18,240 --> 01:39:21,559 Speaker 1: where he lives, and the source code for the web 1411 01:39:21,600 --> 01:39:23,880 Speaker 1: page shows that the article went live at eight thirty 1412 01:39:23,880 --> 01:39:28,520 Speaker 1: five am Eastern. Again, that's five thirty five am Pacific, 1413 01:39:29,600 --> 01:39:32,719 Speaker 1: and that's two and a half hours after the event ended. 1414 01:39:34,040 --> 01:39:37,640 Speaker 1: Those six sentences didn't take two hours to write, but 1415 01:39:37,680 --> 01:39:40,840 Speaker 1: he would have had to download the entire video, cut 1416 01:39:40,840 --> 01:39:44,160 Speaker 1: the sections he wanted to post, transcribe those sections, and 1417 01:39:44,560 --> 01:39:49,920 Speaker 1: get everything onto the website. The other problem, though, is 1418 01:39:49,960 --> 01:39:52,080 Speaker 1: not how long it would have taken to cut the clips. 1419 01:39:53,240 --> 01:39:56,519 Speaker 1: It's that he could not have watched a two hour 1420 01:39:56,640 --> 01:40:01,200 Speaker 1: video and then written the article if he didn't start 1421 01:40:01,240 --> 01:40:06,360 Speaker 1: watching the video until quote hours after the event ended 1422 01:40:06,680 --> 01:40:11,200 Speaker 1: and the final video was available for playback online. An 1423 01:40:11,200 --> 01:40:13,160 Speaker 1: op ed written by the director of the think tank 1424 01:40:13,200 --> 01:40:17,160 Speaker 1: that hosted the event takes aim at Pollock, arguing that 1425 01:40:17,240 --> 01:40:19,599 Speaker 1: it was no accident that his article made its way 1426 01:40:19,640 --> 01:40:23,640 Speaker 1: to the White House so quickly. Quote Russeul has been 1427 01:40:23,760 --> 01:40:27,680 Speaker 1: articulating these views and other interactions with US audiences. The 1428 01:40:27,720 --> 01:40:30,360 Speaker 1: difference in this case is that Joel Pollack at Breitbart 1429 01:40:30,400 --> 01:40:34,000 Speaker 1: News himself, campaigning to be US Ambassador in South Africa, 1430 01:40:34,760 --> 01:40:40,560 Speaker 1: selectively quoted from Russeul's presentation deliberately to incite the US administration. 1431 01:40:44,200 --> 01:40:48,240 Speaker 1: But Joel Pollock got what he wanted, kind of. He 1432 01:40:48,280 --> 01:40:52,280 Speaker 1: got Ibrahim Russell expelled from the United States, got him fired. 1433 01:40:53,320 --> 01:40:56,400 Speaker 1: Ibrahim russeul isn't the ambassador to the United States anymore. 1434 01:40:58,000 --> 01:41:01,160 Speaker 1: It's a bit of a monkey's pause situation for Joel Pollock, 1435 01:41:01,240 --> 01:41:05,440 Speaker 1: though the whole affair ended up ruining his own ambitions 1436 01:41:05,479 --> 01:41:09,800 Speaker 1: of becoming an ambassador. Within days of all this going down, 1437 01:41:10,439 --> 01:41:14,280 Speaker 1: Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighter's party vowed that they would 1438 01:41:14,320 --> 01:41:17,720 Speaker 1: block Pollock from entering South Africa at all if he 1439 01:41:17,760 --> 01:41:21,439 Speaker 1: was appointed ambassador, and they said that they could ensure 1440 01:41:21,520 --> 01:41:26,600 Speaker 1: President Ramaposo wouldn't accept the appointment. A presidential spokesman was 1441 01:41:26,640 --> 01:41:29,640 Speaker 1: a little more diplomatic about this, but they did go 1442 01:41:29,720 --> 01:41:33,160 Speaker 1: on the record that the President was concerned about the 1443 01:41:33,200 --> 01:41:37,640 Speaker 1: possibility of Pollock being appointed ambassador because quote, he is 1444 01:41:37,680 --> 01:41:41,400 Speaker 1: engaged in a very divisive and very damaging manner towards 1445 01:41:41,400 --> 01:41:46,800 Speaker 1: South Africa and South Africa related issues. By March twenty six, 1446 01:41:47,200 --> 01:41:50,200 Speaker 1: just twelve days after Pollock's post cost Ambassador to School 1447 01:41:50,200 --> 01:41:53,760 Speaker 1: his job, it was clear that he'd cost himself the 1448 01:41:53,800 --> 01:41:58,240 Speaker 1: ambassador's job too. Trump boasted on truth Social that he 1449 01:41:58,280 --> 01:42:01,920 Speaker 1: would be nominating Brent Bozell as the United States Ambassador 1450 01:42:01,920 --> 01:42:14,000 Speaker 1: to South Africa. Brent Mozelle is not a better choice. 1451 01:42:14,800 --> 01:42:18,400 Speaker 1: There's a lot of history behind that name, especially considering 1452 01:42:18,439 --> 01:42:21,519 Speaker 1: he shares it with his father, Leo Brent Mozell the Second. 1453 01:42:22,680 --> 01:42:26,440 Speaker 1: He was William F. Buckley's best friend and Joseph McCarthy's 1454 01:42:26,520 --> 01:42:30,120 Speaker 1: speech writer. And then there is of course his son, 1455 01:42:30,320 --> 01:42:33,720 Speaker 1: Leo Brent Bozell the fourth, who was convicted of five 1456 01:42:33,760 --> 01:42:36,200 Speaker 1: felonies before getting pardoned along with all of the other 1457 01:42:36,280 --> 01:42:40,040 Speaker 1: January six rioters. And we can't get into all that 1458 01:42:40,840 --> 01:42:44,720 Speaker 1: not today. The thing you might be interested to know 1459 01:42:44,920 --> 01:42:49,439 Speaker 1: about Leo Brent Mozell the Third is that he pretty 1460 01:42:49,560 --> 01:42:54,240 Speaker 1: actively opposed the idea of ending apartheid, and not just 1461 01:42:54,280 --> 01:42:57,840 Speaker 1: as a casual private opinion. This wasn't an ugly thought 1462 01:42:57,880 --> 01:42:59,680 Speaker 1: he was having at home by himself. 1463 01:43:00,320 --> 01:43:00,360 Speaker 4: No. 1464 01:43:01,080 --> 01:43:03,840 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty seven he was the head of the 1465 01:43:03,920 --> 01:43:08,439 Speaker 1: National Conservative Political Action Committee, and in that capacity he 1466 01:43:08,560 --> 01:43:11,280 Speaker 1: signed on as a coalition partner for a group called 1467 01:43:11,720 --> 01:43:16,320 Speaker 1: the Coalition Against a n C Terrorism, and that year 1468 01:43:16,400 --> 01:43:19,320 Speaker 1: the group hosted a summit to oppose a meeting between 1469 01:43:19,320 --> 01:43:22,680 Speaker 1: the US Secretary of State and Oliver Tambo, who was 1470 01:43:22,760 --> 01:43:25,080 Speaker 1: at the time the leader of the African National Congress. 1471 01:43:26,560 --> 01:43:30,599 Speaker 1: And speakers at the summit that they held included policy 1472 01:43:30,640 --> 01:43:35,400 Speaker 1: analysts from groups like the Heritage Foundation. They also brought 1473 01:43:35,439 --> 01:43:40,920 Speaker 1: in a South African political activist named John Gogotya. Gogatya 1474 01:43:41,040 --> 01:43:44,519 Speaker 1: was the founder and leader of a political organization in 1475 01:43:44,560 --> 01:43:49,880 Speaker 1: South Africa. It was allegedly a group of black moderates 1476 01:43:49,920 --> 01:43:55,599 Speaker 1: who opposed multi racial democracy. Gogotya actually made several trips 1477 01:43:55,600 --> 01:43:58,920 Speaker 1: to the United States to lobby against US sanctions on 1478 01:43:58,960 --> 01:44:03,360 Speaker 1: the apartheid regime. He did turn out to be employed 1479 01:44:03,360 --> 01:44:09,600 Speaker 1: by South African military intelligence, but you probably already guessed that. 1480 01:44:09,600 --> 01:44:13,040 Speaker 1: That same year, nineteen eighty seven, Bozell produced a series 1481 01:44:13,080 --> 01:44:16,559 Speaker 1: of television commercials urging Americans to write to the White 1482 01:44:16,600 --> 01:44:21,479 Speaker 1: House to express their support for the Nicaraguan contras. Before 1483 01:44:21,479 --> 01:44:24,800 Speaker 1: the commercials were released, Bozell attended a screening of the 1484 01:44:24,880 --> 01:44:29,839 Speaker 1: videos with his special guest, Death Squad leader Adolfo Calero. 1485 01:44:31,880 --> 01:44:36,000 Speaker 1: So there's definitely some baggage there for Bozell. The South 1486 01:44:36,040 --> 01:44:39,000 Speaker 1: African Party that he was calling terrorists in nineteen eighty 1487 01:44:39,040 --> 01:44:44,639 Speaker 1: seven holds the presidency right now. Cyril Ramaposa, the current 1488 01:44:44,680 --> 01:44:48,160 Speaker 1: President of South Africa, was one of the African National 1489 01:44:48,200 --> 01:44:54,680 Speaker 1: Congress's negotiators during the talks that ended apartheid. While there 1490 01:44:54,720 --> 01:44:57,880 Speaker 1: was some public uncertainty as to whether Ramaposa would admit 1491 01:44:58,000 --> 01:45:01,560 Speaker 1: Pollock as an ambassador, I haven't seen any speculation that 1492 01:45:01,600 --> 01:45:06,360 Speaker 1: the President would refuse to accept Bozell. But honestly, once 1493 01:45:06,400 --> 01:45:09,919 Speaker 1: Trump posted that online that he was going to nominate Bozell, 1494 01:45:11,000 --> 01:45:12,320 Speaker 1: there was not a lot of follow up to that, 1495 01:45:12,520 --> 01:45:15,320 Speaker 1: so I guess we'll have to wait and see if 1496 01:45:15,320 --> 01:45:21,880 Speaker 1: he's even confirmed. Because among the countless problems created every 1497 01:45:21,960 --> 01:45:26,160 Speaker 1: day by the current administration is this lack of follow up. 1498 01:45:27,200 --> 01:45:29,800 Speaker 1: It seems like every day the President just fires off 1499 01:45:29,840 --> 01:45:33,400 Speaker 1: some half baked demand that doesn't really have any clear 1500 01:45:33,600 --> 01:45:38,240 Speaker 1: force of law or plan for implementation, and maybe some 1501 01:45:38,360 --> 01:45:41,000 Speaker 1: government office is working on implementing the new policy, and 1502 01:45:41,560 --> 01:45:45,960 Speaker 1: maybe they aren't. It's hard to say. That Executive order 1503 01:45:46,000 --> 01:45:48,800 Speaker 1: back in February called for the Secretary of State and 1504 01:45:48,840 --> 01:45:54,200 Speaker 1: the Secretary of Homeland Security to prioritize humanitarian relief, including 1505 01:45:54,240 --> 01:45:57,759 Speaker 1: admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program 1506 01:45:58,439 --> 01:46:02,240 Speaker 1: for Africanners, and then a month later on March seventh, 1507 01:46:02,280 --> 01:46:06,559 Speaker 1: he posted on truth Social any farmer with family from 1508 01:46:06,600 --> 01:46:09,559 Speaker 1: South Africa seeking to flee that country for reasons of 1509 01:46:09,600 --> 01:46:12,520 Speaker 1: safety will be invited to the United States of America 1510 01:46:12,880 --> 01:46:18,160 Speaker 1: with a rapid pathway to citizenship. This process will begin immediately. 1511 01:46:20,160 --> 01:46:22,559 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, the website for the US Embassy 1512 01:46:22,560 --> 01:46:26,880 Speaker 1: in South Africa posted a very generic set of FAQs 1513 01:46:27,360 --> 01:46:31,800 Speaker 1: about the refugee admissions program, but it doesn't have any 1514 01:46:31,800 --> 01:46:37,320 Speaker 1: information specific to this program or any particular timeline. It 1515 01:46:37,400 --> 01:46:40,080 Speaker 1: just directs those who are interested in inquiring about the 1516 01:46:40,120 --> 01:46:43,280 Speaker 1: program to send a message to a State Department email 1517 01:46:43,280 --> 01:46:50,120 Speaker 1: address Pretoria PRM info, and the PRM there is the 1518 01:46:50,160 --> 01:46:54,479 Speaker 1: abbreviation for the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, 1519 01:46:54,760 --> 01:46:58,080 Speaker 1: so at the very least we know the State Department 1520 01:46:58,120 --> 01:47:01,559 Speaker 1: set up an email address for this and a few 1521 01:47:01,600 --> 01:47:04,479 Speaker 1: days after that page went up, The New York Times 1522 01:47:04,520 --> 01:47:07,800 Speaker 1: reported that they had obtained documents outlining a plan that 1523 01:47:07,880 --> 01:47:12,400 Speaker 1: the administration was calling Mission South Africa, and phase one 1524 01:47:12,439 --> 01:47:15,839 Speaker 1: of the plan was already under way. The State Department 1525 01:47:15,880 --> 01:47:20,280 Speaker 1: had dispatched teams to convert vacant office space in Pretoria 1526 01:47:20,360 --> 01:47:23,000 Speaker 1: for use by US officials who are going to go 1527 01:47:23,080 --> 01:47:26,600 Speaker 1: over there and review the over eight thousand applications that 1528 01:47:26,640 --> 01:47:31,160 Speaker 1: had already been received. And in last week, on April 1529 01:47:31,240 --> 01:47:35,559 Speaker 1: twenty fourth, Reuters reported that US refugee officers had in 1530 01:47:35,600 --> 01:47:39,559 Speaker 1: fact flown to Pretoria to begin interviewing the applicants whose 1531 01:47:40,000 --> 01:47:44,320 Speaker 1: applications were successfully reviewed, and they report that at least 1532 01:47:44,400 --> 01:47:48,960 Speaker 1: thirty Afrikaners who had applied for refugee resettlement have had 1533 01:47:49,000 --> 01:47:51,800 Speaker 1: their applications approved. 1534 01:47:51,960 --> 01:47:52,720 Speaker 7: The sources are. 1535 01:47:52,680 --> 01:47:56,439 Speaker 1: All unnamed, and the White House and the Embassy declined 1536 01:47:56,439 --> 01:48:00,519 Speaker 1: to comment. Anonymous Department of Homeland Security and playes told 1537 01:48:00,560 --> 01:48:04,040 Speaker 1: Reuters that applicants who claim to have been persecuted by 1538 01:48:04,080 --> 01:48:10,000 Speaker 1: black South Africans had gained preliminary approval. Another employee told 1539 01:48:10,000 --> 01:48:13,000 Speaker 1: the outlet, I imagine some will be denied, as we 1540 01:48:13,040 --> 01:48:16,560 Speaker 1: do in all cases, but I think there is administrative 1541 01:48:16,600 --> 01:48:23,360 Speaker 1: pressure to approve these. The article is careful to note 1542 01:48:23,439 --> 01:48:28,720 Speaker 1: that they attempted to and were unable to verify the 1543 01:48:28,720 --> 01:48:31,400 Speaker 1: stories of persecution that were shared with them by several 1544 01:48:31,439 --> 01:48:35,120 Speaker 1: of the applicants, and the article ends with a quote 1545 01:48:35,120 --> 01:48:38,760 Speaker 1: from the only person who gave their name, a woman 1546 01:48:38,800 --> 01:48:44,320 Speaker 1: named Katya Biden. Biden works with a very newly formed 1547 01:48:44,439 --> 01:48:49,559 Speaker 1: organization called Americaners. According to their website, their mission is 1548 01:48:49,600 --> 01:48:53,480 Speaker 1: to assist South Africans in navigating this process and successfully 1549 01:48:53,479 --> 01:48:57,400 Speaker 1: moved to the United States as refugees. The homepage has 1550 01:48:57,439 --> 01:49:01,840 Speaker 1: a very helpful set of FAQs your basics like do 1551 01:49:01,920 --> 01:49:05,080 Speaker 1: I need a visa? Do I need a lawyer? And 1552 01:49:05,080 --> 01:49:06,880 Speaker 1: they say no on both of those, you don't need 1553 01:49:06,880 --> 01:49:10,120 Speaker 1: that It's going to be easy. They assure the reader 1554 01:49:10,160 --> 01:49:12,599 Speaker 1: that of course you can take your pets with you. 1555 01:49:13,320 --> 01:49:15,760 Speaker 1: The job market is great there, and you don't need 1556 01:49:15,800 --> 01:49:22,320 Speaker 1: any vaccinations. My favorite question, though, is will I have 1557 01:49:22,520 --> 01:49:28,120 Speaker 1: to prove persecution? And the answer is no, you don't 1558 01:49:28,160 --> 01:49:34,120 Speaker 1: have to prove it. Quote no, you don't. This requirement 1559 01:49:34,240 --> 01:49:37,919 Speaker 1: only occurs when an individual slash group initiates the refugee 1560 01:49:37,960 --> 01:49:41,360 Speaker 1: status request where the circumstances in the problem country are unknown. 1561 01:49:42,240 --> 01:49:44,519 Speaker 1: In the South Africa case, the US is not only 1562 01:49:44,560 --> 01:49:48,320 Speaker 1: aware of the racial prejudice towards minorities, but President Trump 1563 01:49:48,439 --> 01:49:52,800 Speaker 1: himself has laid out the case to that effect. So 1564 01:49:52,880 --> 01:49:55,720 Speaker 1: there you have it. This is the most obvious and 1565 01:49:55,840 --> 01:49:58,519 Speaker 1: clear cut case of persecution that has ever existed in 1566 01:49:58,600 --> 01:50:04,160 Speaker 1: human history. People who are fleeing active genocides, active war 1567 01:50:04,280 --> 01:50:08,400 Speaker 1: zones have to do this. But if you're a white 1568 01:50:08,400 --> 01:50:11,479 Speaker 1: person in South Africa, it's very obvious that you are suffering, 1569 01:50:11,520 --> 01:50:16,920 Speaker 1: so don't even bother. And the site assures prospective refugees 1570 01:50:16,960 --> 01:50:21,719 Speaker 1: that this program isn't just for farmers, even though Trump 1571 01:50:21,720 --> 01:50:24,400 Speaker 1: seems to have been motivated by the twin boogeymen of 1572 01:50:24,760 --> 01:50:29,720 Speaker 1: farm murders and farm seizures, issues that even if they 1573 01:50:29,760 --> 01:50:35,519 Speaker 1: were real, would only affect farmers, but the site assures 1574 01:50:35,520 --> 01:50:40,519 Speaker 1: the reader that all Africaners are eligible. Guidance from the 1575 01:50:40,520 --> 01:50:47,080 Speaker 1: administration has been muddled and rare and contradictory. In several 1576 01:50:47,080 --> 01:50:50,760 Speaker 1: of his comments, Trump is definitely using the word farmers, 1577 01:50:52,000 --> 01:50:55,440 Speaker 1: but in the Executive Order he does use the word Afrikaners. 1578 01:50:56,800 --> 01:50:59,720 Speaker 1: A statement from a State Department official used the language 1579 01:51:00,120 --> 01:51:04,439 Speaker 1: descendants of settlers being abused by the government, and a 1580 01:51:04,520 --> 01:51:09,679 Speaker 1: State Department document just says disfavored minorities. And it sounds 1581 01:51:09,720 --> 01:51:14,479 Speaker 1: like everyone is just trying to avoid saying white people. 1582 01:51:17,080 --> 01:51:19,640 Speaker 1: And I guess that's good news for Katya Beeden, that 1583 01:51:19,720 --> 01:51:23,519 Speaker 1: woman who works for the Americaners website. She was wearing 1584 01:51:23,600 --> 01:51:25,880 Speaker 1: a make America Great Again hat when she showed up 1585 01:51:25,920 --> 01:51:29,920 Speaker 1: at the embassy for her interview, But she isn't a farmer. 1586 01:51:30,920 --> 01:51:35,240 Speaker 1: According to her personal website, she is a self love coach. 1587 01:51:36,560 --> 01:51:39,400 Speaker 1: For just two hundred dollars an hour, you can call 1588 01:51:39,479 --> 01:51:43,360 Speaker 1: Katya on Zoom for a one on one faith based 1589 01:51:43,479 --> 01:51:48,760 Speaker 1: trauma recovery session to heal from your toxic relationships. It's 1590 01:51:48,800 --> 01:51:52,519 Speaker 1: audio only, though, she is not going to turn on 1591 01:51:52,560 --> 01:51:55,439 Speaker 1: the camera, not even if you buy the twenty dollars 1592 01:51:55,479 --> 01:52:01,120 Speaker 1: twelve week Self Love Journey mentoring package. Aside from Biden, 1593 01:52:01,880 --> 01:52:04,759 Speaker 1: everyone Reuter spoke to declined to be named in the article, 1594 01:52:05,680 --> 01:52:07,559 Speaker 1: so it's hard to sort out how many people went 1595 01:52:07,600 --> 01:52:11,439 Speaker 1: in for interviews, what their stories are if they're all 1596 01:52:11,520 --> 01:52:15,720 Speaker 1: sincere But I did find one woman on Facebook who 1597 01:52:15,760 --> 01:52:19,280 Speaker 1: has been posting in multiple groups for Africaners interested in 1598 01:52:19,320 --> 01:52:22,920 Speaker 1: moving to the United States, and she actually started posting 1599 01:52:22,960 --> 01:52:25,639 Speaker 1: about this a few days before The New York Times 1600 01:52:25,640 --> 01:52:29,000 Speaker 1: broke the story that US officials had begun conducting the 1601 01:52:29,040 --> 01:52:32,559 Speaker 1: interviews in Pretoria. So I'm inclined to believe she is 1602 01:52:32,680 --> 01:52:35,240 Speaker 1: talking about a real thing that happened, because she couldn't 1603 01:52:35,280 --> 01:52:38,639 Speaker 1: have pulled this from the news. So a few days 1604 01:52:38,680 --> 01:52:43,520 Speaker 1: before that story broke. A woman named Anna Lee posted, Hi, everybody, 1605 01:52:44,080 --> 01:52:46,320 Speaker 1: my husband and I just finished our preliminary interview with 1606 01:52:46,400 --> 01:52:49,680 Speaker 1: the US Embassy in Pretoria. From what I understand, the 1607 01:52:49,720 --> 01:52:52,879 Speaker 1: interviewers were delegates SLASH, representatives of the Bureau of Population 1608 01:52:52,960 --> 01:52:56,280 Speaker 1: Refugees in Migration US Department of State just sent to 1609 01:52:56,320 --> 01:52:58,600 Speaker 1: South Africa for this week's interviews, traveling back to the 1610 01:52:58,720 --> 01:53:02,479 Speaker 1: US tonight. She stated in our invitational email that this 1611 01:53:02,560 --> 01:53:06,160 Speaker 1: interview was to collect information on individual's experience, not for 1612 01:53:06,240 --> 01:53:10,160 Speaker 1: official application. She was very polite, asked us a few 1613 01:53:10,160 --> 01:53:15,519 Speaker 1: basic questions, then spent most of the ninety plus minutes asking, listening, 1614 01:53:15,600 --> 01:53:19,639 Speaker 1: and typing our life experiences and instances where SLASH when 1615 01:53:19,680 --> 01:53:23,479 Speaker 1: we were affected, deprived, persecuted, or wronged due to our race. 1616 01:53:24,640 --> 01:53:27,639 Speaker 1: A lot of detail was asked. Most of the focus 1617 01:53:27,680 --> 01:53:32,439 Speaker 1: was on these specific experiences, and she goes on to 1618 01:53:32,479 --> 01:53:34,800 Speaker 1: say that she doesn't have much more information, but she 1619 01:53:34,920 --> 01:53:36,840 Speaker 1: was told that she'll hear from Homeland Security in the 1620 01:53:36,880 --> 01:53:40,320 Speaker 1: coming weeks and that officers from the US Refugee Admissions 1621 01:53:40,400 --> 01:53:46,599 Speaker 1: program will be arriving in South Africa sometime soon. Unnily 1622 01:53:46,680 --> 01:53:50,479 Speaker 1: and her husband do not appear to be farmers. Her 1623 01:53:50,520 --> 01:53:53,960 Speaker 1: husband is a real estate agent. They have several adult children, 1624 01:53:54,000 --> 01:53:56,519 Speaker 1: and they appear to be financially secure enough to enjoy 1625 01:53:56,560 --> 01:54:01,360 Speaker 1: the occasional international vacation. But I think it's really interesting 1626 01:54:01,800 --> 01:54:05,960 Speaker 1: that she noted how fixated that State Department employee was 1627 01:54:06,640 --> 01:54:13,040 Speaker 1: on collecting anecdotes about white persecution. They spent most of 1628 01:54:13,120 --> 01:54:16,240 Speaker 1: that hour and a half long interview trying to get 1629 01:54:16,240 --> 01:54:21,519 Speaker 1: them to talk about times where they'd experienced anti white racism. 1630 01:54:21,600 --> 01:54:25,479 Speaker 1: And then just last week, on April twenty fifth, Katya Beden, 1631 01:54:26,040 --> 01:54:30,559 Speaker 1: that employee of the Americaners Network, tweeted that the first 1632 01:54:30,640 --> 01:54:34,040 Speaker 1: South African families approved for resettlement in the United States 1633 01:54:34,920 --> 01:54:40,040 Speaker 1: will arrive here quote next week, which, if she's telling 1634 01:54:40,080 --> 01:54:42,920 Speaker 1: the truth, would mean that they could already be here 1635 01:54:43,160 --> 01:54:46,920 Speaker 1: as you're listening to this. The administration has still not 1636 01:54:46,960 --> 01:54:50,920 Speaker 1: offered any clear explanation of how the process works or 1637 01:54:51,440 --> 01:54:55,240 Speaker 1: if it's already underway, So it's possible she's making that 1638 01:54:55,360 --> 01:54:57,840 Speaker 1: up to keep people hopeful, to keep them going to 1639 01:54:57,880 --> 01:55:02,600 Speaker 1: her Website's equally possible that the Trump administration plucked a 1640 01:55:02,640 --> 01:55:06,680 Speaker 1: couple of the most racist families in South Africa and 1641 01:55:06,800 --> 01:55:09,320 Speaker 1: just put them on a plane to Georgia or something 1642 01:55:10,440 --> 01:55:16,320 Speaker 1: we don't know will Trump follow through on any part 1643 01:55:16,400 --> 01:55:22,000 Speaker 1: of this hard to say there is so much more 1644 01:55:22,120 --> 01:55:25,960 Speaker 1: to say about this story, especially because turns out it 1645 01:55:26,000 --> 01:55:29,160 Speaker 1: isn't over. But I know this story has been going 1646 01:55:29,200 --> 01:55:32,040 Speaker 1: on for too long because I'm starting to recognize the 1647 01:55:32,120 --> 01:55:36,560 Speaker 1: words when I open a web page that's in Afrikaans. 1648 01:55:37,920 --> 01:55:41,480 Speaker 1: I had imagined a much tidier ending to this story, 1649 01:55:41,680 --> 01:55:44,920 Speaker 1: one that I poured two months and more than fifty 1650 01:55:45,000 --> 01:55:48,480 Speaker 1: thousand words into. But to be quite honest with you, 1651 01:55:49,400 --> 01:55:52,360 Speaker 1: I watched way too much Trucker Carlson this week, and 1652 01:55:52,400 --> 01:55:54,320 Speaker 1: I'm trying to have a wedding in a couple of days. 1653 01:55:55,560 --> 01:55:58,160 Speaker 1: I won't be back with brand new, full length episodes 1654 01:55:58,160 --> 01:56:00,520 Speaker 1: for the next two weeks, but I am going to 1655 01:56:00,560 --> 01:56:03,040 Speaker 1: try to get something together so that there's something for 1656 01:56:03,080 --> 01:56:05,360 Speaker 1: you on your feed while I'm gone, so you won't 1657 01:56:05,400 --> 01:56:09,680 Speaker 1: miss me too much. So be good to each other, 1658 01:56:11,000 --> 01:56:14,520 Speaker 1: and please don't do anything that's going to make you 1659 01:56:14,560 --> 01:56:25,920 Speaker 1: one of my weird Little guys. Weird Little Guys is 1660 01:56:25,920 --> 01:56:29,000 Speaker 1: a production of the Poolsoe Media and iHeartRadio. It's research, written, 1661 01:56:29,000 --> 01:56:32,160 Speaker 1: and recorded by me Mollie Conger. Our executive producers are 1662 01:56:32,200 --> 01:56:35,040 Speaker 1: Sophie Lichterman, and Robert Evans. The show is edited by 1663 01:56:35,040 --> 01:56:37,880 Speaker 1: the wildly talented Rory Gigan. The theme music was composed 1664 01:56:37,880 --> 01:56:40,440 Speaker 1: by Brad Dickert. You can email me at Weird Little 1665 01:56:40,480 --> 01:56:43,280 Speaker 1: Guys Podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely read it, 1666 01:56:43,320 --> 01:56:46,360 Speaker 1: but I probably won't answer. It's nothing personal.