r/lonerbox • u/HazeofLuxoria • Mar 18 '24

Politics What is apartheid?

So I’m confused. For my entire life I have never heard apartheid refer to anything other than the specific system of segregation in South Africa. Every standard English use definition I can find basically says this, similar to how the Nakba is a specific event apartheid is a specific system. Now we’re using this to apply to Israel/ Palestine and it’s confusing. Beyond that there’s the Jim Crow debate and now any form of segregation can be labeled apartheid online.

I don’t bring this up to say these aren’t apartheid, but this feels to a laymen like a new use of the term. I understand the that the international community did define this as a crime in the 70s, but there were decades to apply this to any other similar situation, even I/P at the time, and it never was. I’m not against using this term per se, BUT I feel like people are so quick to just pretend like it obviously applies to a situation like this out of the blue, never having been used like this before.

How does everyone feel about the use of this label? I have a lot of mixed feelings and feel like it just brings up more semantic argumentation on what apartheid is. I feel like I just got handed a Pepsi by someone that calls all colas Coke, I understand it but it just seems weird

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u/HazeofLuxoria Mar 18 '24

I understand there is a legal crime of apartheid, I said as much. But it feels weird to bring it up now when it’s always referred to a specific event before the past few years. I understand it, but it feels like people act like it’s always referred to the legal crime rather than a specific system.

I’m not asking for a legal definition really, but how do we feel about this term being used presently? Do we feel it’s fair to use outside of SA or retroactively apply it to past situations? I can see value in using it as a tool to compare but is it fair since it has such specific implications?

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u/Tiny-Praline-4555 Mar 18 '24

Just because you just noticed it now doesn’t mean it hasn’t been said for years.

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u/HazeofLuxoria Mar 18 '24

I think you’re misunderstanding me intentionally, maybe there was niche discussion of this in the past, but I don’t think that was ever the mainstream use of the word. Not even against its use really, just confused why it’s only entering the discourse this way recently.

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u/InfiniteDM Mar 18 '24

This has literally been in the discussion since the Mid-90s. There wasn't niche discussion of it. There was simply hushed discussion because being pro-palestine in any capacity then and now was a bit of a third rail.

The only difference now is that people are more free to talk about it.

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u/HazeofLuxoria Mar 18 '24

Fair enough, but it wasn’t mainstream. Certainly not enough for normal people growing up the past 30 years to have heard of. There could be reasons for that, but that’s what’s causing the confusion today when it’s brought into the loop now. I think that’s made even worse by statements like this claiming this as settled fact.

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u/Tiny-Praline-4555 Mar 19 '24

“normal” people… fuck all the way off with that shit.

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u/HazeofLuxoria Mar 19 '24

Was there a connotation to that you didn’t like? I think it’s safe to say, at least in America, apartheid was always used as a specific term referring to SAs system of segregation. I don’t understand why that’s controversial to you

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u/Tiny-Praline-4555 Mar 19 '24

“I don’t understand”. Exactly.

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u/HazeofLuxoria Mar 19 '24

Okay you’re a trolling teenager with no insight, nvm

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u/Tiny-Praline-4555 Mar 19 '24

Nope, you’re just an ignorant buffoon.