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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: apartheid

apartheid stories: 17 news summaries

 The Meaning of Caster Semenya 

Gender a more fluid concept than sports are prepared to handle

Nov 23, 09 1:43 PM CST
(Newser) - South Africa has rallied around Caster Semenya, but the IAAF still has no idea what to do with her—or the question of gender as a whole. Semenya’s case is particularly personal for South Africans. The country has an unusually high number of intersexed individuals, and apartheid left behind... More »

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gender • South Africa • athletics • hermaphrodite • apartheid • IAAF • track and field • Caster Semenya

MOVIE REVIEW

 Skin Has 'Poignant Power' 

Tale of black girl born to white parents taps apartheid's madness

Oct 30, 09 9:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - A true-life tale of the struggles of a dark-skinned girl born to white Afrikaners in '50s South Africa, Skin scored with critics, though some found it a bit too black-and-white.
  • Skin "serves as a stirring allegory for birthright and the assertion of one's identity in the face of
... More »

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South Africa • movie review • apartheid • women's issues • drama • Sophie Okenedo

Obituary

Anti-Apartheid Crusader Suzman Dead

Was one of few white South African pols to denounce segregation

Jan 1, 09 1:26 PM CST
(Newser) - Anti-apartheid icon Helen Suzman has died peacefully in her Johannesburg home, her daughter announced today. She was 91. Suzman served in South Africa’s parliament at a time when few whites criticized apartheid, and for 13 years was the only legislator to publicly do so. She was twice nominated for... More »

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obituary • South Africa • apartheid • Nelson Mandela • Helen Suzman

 Singer Makeba 
 Dies After 
 Concert 

MIriam Makeba collapses as she exits stage in Italy

Nov 10, 08 5:54 AM CST
(Newser) - The South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, known to many as “Mama Africa,” died today of an apparent heart attack, the New York Times reports. Makeba, who was 76, was exiled from South Africa in 1960. Her music was also banned from her home country in 1976... More »

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music • South Africa • apartheid • political activism

Interim Prez Takes Reins in South Africa

Motlanthe viewed as able to ease tensions within ruling party

Sep 25, 08 11:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Kgalema Motlanthe was sworn in as South Africa’s caretaker president today after winning three-quarters of a parliamentary ballot, the BBC reports. The left-leaning intellectual is seen as someone who can ease rifts between supporters of Jacob Zuma, head of the African National Congress party head, and former President Thabo... More »

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Africa • South Africa • Thabo Mbeki • apartheid • Nelson Mandela • Jacob Zuma • African National Congress • Kgalema Motlanthe

 Mandela Finally
 Removed From
 US Terror List 

US takes icon off terrorist watch list

Jul 2, 08 4:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is finally being removed from US terrorism watch lists, CNN reports. The 90-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was designated a terrorist because he battled against the old apartheid regime in South Africa. His name was never officially removed from the US lists until a... More »

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terrorism • John Kerry • State Department • South Africa • apartheid • Nelson Mandela • Nobel Peace Prize • African National Congress

 S. Africa Reclassifies
 Chinese as 'Black' 

Group can now benefit from post-apartheid equality programs

Jun 19, 08 11:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - South Africa's high court has decided Chinese people should be reclassified as black, the London Times reports. The country's 20,000 citizens of Chinese origin had complained that they were left out of programs aimed at reversing inequalities created under apartheid, despite having been discriminated against under white rule. A... More »

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South Africa • race relations • racial inequality • apartheid • Chinese

Opinion

Mugabe's Horrors Transcend Race

Yes, he's a black leader of an African nation; he's also a tyrant

Jun 14, 08 4:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - Once, Westerners cared about southern Africa. In the late 20th century, outraged Americans of all stripes spoke out against apartheid, an outpouring that ultimately helped liberate both South Africa and Zimbabwe. Now, Zimbabwe is under the thumb of another murderous tyrant—this time a black one—and the West remains... More »

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Africa • Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • apartheid • Zimbabwe elections

McCain and Obama Joust on Iran Threat, Divestment

Republican mocks plan to talk 'as if it were some sudden inspiration;' Dem hits back

Jun 2, 08 3:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain smacked Barack Obama on Iran today, telling a pro-Israel lobbying group the Democrat wanted to meet with “the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism … as if it were some sudden inspiration.” As the Republican proposed to lead a world divestment campaign echoing that against South... More »

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Iran • Barack Obama • John McCain • apartheid • AIPAC

 Thousands Protest
 South African Violence 

Largest newspaper calls for president to step down for failure to stop killing

May 25, 08 6:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - Thousands of South Africans marched through Johannesburg yesterday to protest anti-immigrant rampages that have claimed at least 50 lives. Carrying placards comparing the violence to apartheid, marchers brought traffic to a standstill, Reuters reports. The action was organized by labor unions and churches. The nation's largest newspaper today called for... More »

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Africa • mob • apartheid • ethnic violence • Souh Africa

 High Court OKs Apartheid Cases 

Claims against big corporations can proceed in federal court

May 12, 08 7:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - Apartheid victims can sue corporations that dealt with South Africa’s government before 1995, the Supreme Court said today. But the judges did not render a decision, as four of the nine recused themselves, likely due to personal stock holdings. The claims seek $400 billion from companies including Exxon, Citigroup,... More »

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Exxon • Citigroup • General Motors • South Africa • apartheid • US Supreme Court

'Urine Stew' Vid Sparks Furor
in S. Africa

Anti-integration students force-fed
black workers vile soup

Feb 28, 08 1:19 PM CST
(Newser) - South Africans have reacted with outrage and violence to a homemade video showing white college students forcing black employees to eat dirty meat and soup mixed with urine. The four Afrikaners, who don't disguise their faces, made the video to protest racial integration at the formerly all-white University of the... More »

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South Africa • race relations • apartheid • University of the Free State • Afrikaners • human rights violations

Mbeki Likely
to Lose ANC Leadership

Controversial Zuma predicted to defeat
prez for party helm

Dec 13, 07 10:39 AM CST
(Newser) - With only three days to go until the African National Congress meets to choose a new leader, South African President Thabo Mbeki looks set to lose his position at the top of his party and might be forced to retire before the end of his term. Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's highly... More »

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South Africa • Thabo Mbeki • apartheid • Jacob Zuma • African National Congress

Rhodesian
PM Ian Smith
Dies at 88

Broke from Britain and defended white minority rule for 15 years

Nov 20, 07 9:47 PM CST
(Newser) - Ian Smith, the Rhodesian leader who unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965 and defended white rule for 15 tumultuous years, died today at 88. Seen as a symbol of  African colonial-era racism, Smith was unrepentant during his lifetime, arguing that what is now Zimbabwe suffered more under the tenure... More »

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Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • independence • obituary • South Africa • colonialism • apartheid • Britain • Ian Smith • Rhodesia

Economist: No To South Africa Sports Quotas

Athletic affirmative action ‘mocks’ merit in racially mixed nation

Oct 25, 07 5:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - The World Cup-winning South African rugby team shouldn’t be saddled with racial quotas, says the Economist: It’s exactly the wrong kind of affirmative action and would “mock the principle of merit.” One might think, the piece allows, the South African case would be the ultimate argument... More »

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South Africa • athlete • affirmative action • rugby • apartheid

In the Ashes of Apartheid, a Shopping Mall

Mandela marks opening of huge mall in once-
impoverished Soweto

Sep 27, 07 3:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nelson Mandela cut a ribbon today to mark the opening of a massive shopping mall in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that was the center of the struggle against apartheid, and his own home before he went to prison. The Maponya Mall, with 200 shops and an eight-screen theater, is the... More »

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South Africa • apartheid • Nelson Mandela • mall • Soweto • Johannesburg • Maponya Mall

(Newser) - After pleading guilty, five former security officials in South Africa received suspended jail sentences today for their involvement in a bizarre, apartheid-era murder plot. Onetime law and order minister Adriaan Volk and four others admitted they had tried to kill Frank Chikane, a priest and anti-apartheid activist, in 1989 by... More »

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murder • hate crime • South Africa • trial • racism • civil rights • apartheid • Adriaan Volk • Frank Chikane

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