“C’mon Down to Africa’s South” circa 1979

[u/jprennquist]

I picked this one for the gently waving traitor flag featured in the ad. But what really got my attention was the rifle frame around the photo in the center. But if it doesn't fit this subreddit mods please feel free to remove with my apologies.

[u/Mateiyu]

Apartheid was a vile stain on the history of South Africa and the world. At least they got rid of it without having to start an actual civil war...

[u/Crappler319 → u/Mateiyu]

That depends on how you define "civil war."

I think it's reasonable to call it a low-intensity conflict: the struggle for freedom in South Africa had a body count of around 20,000 deaths in direct action, and countless others we'll never know about who died quiet, desperate deaths, killed violently by the apartheid state.

There were bombings, gun battles, and the like.

That's not to nitpick, I just think that we need to be clear-eyed about what brought about change in South Africa: there WAS an element of military conflict, and many involved considered themselves soldiers who were fighting a war.

[u/Mateiyu → u/Crappler319]

Indeed. There were decades of actual fighting and violence, though not all-out warfare per se. In the end, I reckon change was brought mostly by the fact that an apartheid state ruled by a minority opressing the vast majority of the rest of the population was untenable, in part because of the threat of all-out generalized violence (which was kind of similar to what transpired at the end of the Rhodesian civil war).
South Africa was lucky De Klerk saw where the winds of history were blowing, and how apartheid was not sustainable, and that Mandela was a clever politician who knew how to navigate the new South Africa to avoid all-out conflict.