Tag: South Africa

camps
Boer prisoners awaiting transportation to prison camps. Boers wore mufti, whether soldiers or not. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
Selective Quotes: Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps

Selective Quotes: Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps

“Churchill on South Africa Prison Camps”: excerpt­ed from my essay for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the unabridged orig­i­nal, togeth­er with end­notes, and WSC’s com­plete let­ter to The Times, click here.

1. Same old, same old…

An Indi­an col­league writes:

I’ve noticed that the same accu­sa­tions about Churchill repeat­ed fre­quent­ly. Many writ­ers seem to recy­cle them on trust. Take for exam­ple a new anti-Churchill arti­cle which I think needs a thor­ough debunk­ing. In fair­ness to the author, it is not all bad; she con­cedes for instance that Churchill want­ed to use tear gas in Iraq, not poi­son gas.…

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Magnanimity
Kampala, 1907: Colonial Undersecretary Churchill and King Daudi Chewa II watching a Bugandan war dance. (Wikimedia Commons)
Winston Churchill, Magnanimity and the “Feeble-Minded,” Part 2

Winston Churchill, Magnanimity and the “Feeble-Minded,” Part 2

Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

Youthful discretions

Churchill was born into a world in which vir­tu­al­ly all Britons, from the Sov­er­eign to a Covent Gar­den gro­cer, believed in their moral supe­ri­or­i­ty. They preached it to their chil­dren. All learned that the red por­tions of the map showed where Bri­tan­nic civ­i­liza­tion had tamed sav­agery and cured pan­demics. Churchill’s asser­tions, espe­cial­ly as a young man, were often in line with this. And yet he con­sis­tent­ly dis­played this odd streak of mag­na­nim­i­ty and lib­er­tar­i­an impulse.

It was Churchill, the aris­to­crat­ic Vic­to­ri­an, who argued that Dervish ene­my in Sudan had a “claim beyond the grave…no less good than that which any of our coun­try­men could make.”…

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petition
Winston Churchill High School. May it long continue to produce civic minded young people as befits a distinguished name.
Petition Response to Churchill High School: Please Keep Your Name

Petition Response to Churchill High School: Please Keep Your Name

This is a reply to a July peti­tion to rename Win­ston Churchill High School, Bethes­da, Mary­land. Found­ed in 1964 as Potomac High School, its name was changed the fol­low­ing year to mark Sir Winston’s pass­ing. It is a dis­tin­guished school whose alum­ni include two sons of the late Jack Kemp, both of whom pur­sued their famous father’s sport. Jef­frey Allan Kemp (’77) was an NFL quar­ter­back; his broth­er Jim­my Kemp (’89) played in the CFL and is pres­i­dent of the Jack Kemp Foun­da­tion. State Sen­a­tor Cheryl Kagan (’79) serves in the Mary­land leg­is­la­ture.…

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Apartheid
South Africa in 1885 showing the array of contending jurisdictions. The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State were united in 1910. German Southwest Africa was seized in 1915 and administered by South Africa as a nominal fifth province until 1990, when it became Namibia. The British Protectorates, Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland, achieved independence in 1966-68 as Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (now Eswatini). Griqualand East and West were annexed by Cape Colony in 1878-80. Stella Land was annexed by the Transvaal (South African Republic) in 1884. Zululand was a British protectorate from 1887 to 1897, when it was absorbed by Natal. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Art of the Possible (2): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid, Mandela

The Art of the Possible (2): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid, Mandela

 Excerpt­ed from “Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid,” part 2 of an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, June 2020. For the com­plete text with end­notes, please click here. 

This arti­cle is ded­i­cat­ed to the mem­o­ry of Nel­son Man­dela (1918-2013), below with François Pien­aar after the Spring­boks won the 1995 Rug­by World Cup. (See videos at end of arti­cle.) Not only did he sup­port and inte­grate the nation­al sport; he com­bined Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfri­ka and Die Stem van Suid-Afri­ka as a joint nation­al anthem. His Churchillian mag­na­nim­i­ty was a mod­el for his time.…

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South Africa
South Africa, 1899. Gandhi (circled) with stretcher-bearers of the Indian Ambulance Corps, which he organized to support the British during the Boer War. Standing: H. Kitchen, L. Panday, R. Panday, J. Royeppen, R.K. Khan, L. Gabriel, M.K. Kotharee, E. Peters, D. Vinden, V. Madanjit. Middle Row: W. Jonathan, V. Lawrence, M.H. Nazar, Dr. L.P. Booth, M.K. Gandhi, P.K. Naidoo, M. Royeppen. Front Row: S. Shadrach, “Professor” Dhundee, S.D. Moddley, A. David, A.A. Gandhi. (South African photo, public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
“The Art of the Possible” (1): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid

“The Art of the Possible” (1): Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid

Excerpts from “Churchill, South Africa, Apartheid” an arti­cle for the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project, June 2020. For the com­plete text with end­notes, please click here. This arti­cle is ded­i­cat­ed to the mem­o­ry of Nel­son Man­dela (1918-2013), whose Churchillian mag­na­nim­i­ty was a mod­el for his time—and even more for ours.

Part 1: 1902-1909

In “Apartheid: Made in Britain,” Richard Dow­den argued that Britain not South Africa cost black South Africans their rights. His account is fac­tu­al as far as it goes, but there is more to say about Churchill’s effort to achieve jus­tice in South Africa.…

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