The Beloved Country

THE DISTINGUISHED Irish historian, Professor Roy Foster, once described most people involved in writing Irish history as either "boosters" or "begrudgers". Let me say that in my view there are also "in-betweeners". As a columnist in this esteemed journal I must declare I'm an inbetweener - both as a general rule and out of consideration for its readership. But I lapse into strong attacks on the begrudgers when they're venal, corrupt or just nasty about South Africa.

As a country that had elevated race to be the central feature of the political and legal landscape - ensuring scores of laws governed lives, and especially African lives, from the cradle to the grave - we haven't done so badly in marginalising the spectre of racism.

Internationally, the balance of forces has changed. Countries that collaborated with apartheid SA - occasionally on the ground of supporting their "kith and kin" - have seen the faces of their inhabitants change from what EM Forster tellingly described as pinko-grey to a more multi-racial complexion.

Look at the football teams of Europe, the fashion models of New York and even the athletic teams of the Gulf States. There we see faces of colour - the new euphemism for blacks.

But there's a small voice in the background from a formidable historian, Dr WEB du Bois, who warns me his famous statement in 1900 that "the problem of the 20th Century is the problem of the colour line" has extended its reach to the 21st Century. Begrudgers today may find the cause of their begrudgery in the skin colour of the objects of their scorn.

There are two reasons for my anger with such begrudgers. The first was the treatment of the winner of the 800m, Caster Semenya, at the recent Berlin World Athletics Championships. We haven't yet recognised her dignity and what one overseas journalist described as the way she behaved with "incredible class" after the behaviour of the International Amateur Athletics Federation in Berlin following her victory and the boorishness of some of her fellow athletes.

What continues to bother me is whether the IAAF would have allowed such crass behaviour by its senior officials if Ms Semenya had come from Europe or the United States and if her complexion bore more resemblance to EM Forster's colour scheme.

And I must confess I found the behaviour of our politicians who greeted Ms Semenya at the airport quite offensive. She's not just a black athlete: she's also a human being and should have been treated accordingly. Her own calmness and dignity made a welcome contrast.

I don't wish to shout "racism" as a populist war cry. There are enough buffoons who have created tension at home recently. One such example of inflammatory behaviour is the cry that "minorities" are playing a disproportionate role in economic governance structures. Rightly, we must reject the call for a national debate on race on such number-counting assumptions.

But it's not populism to condemn as offensively racist the decision of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board on the application by Brandon Huntley for asylum in Canada.

A group of South African academics of all races have rightly protested against Huntley's picture of white South Africans as a victimised minority persecuted by a vengeful and racially vindictive black majority.

The Canadian board's ruling accepted not only Huntley's excuse as to why he wouldn't contact our police to report the attacks on him - "because of his white skin" - but also Government's "inability and unwillingness" to protect him.

It's not the lack of logic in the board's decision that's alarming but the racial stereotyping of a society where the majority are Africans. Because Huntley would "stand out" therefore he was a victim worthy of protection. Du Bois will not turn in his grave. He would understand the sentiments of the board very clearly.