One Settler, One Bullet was a rallying cry and slogan originated by the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), during the struggle of the 1980s against apartheid in South Africa. The slogan grimly parodied the African National Congress's slogan 'One Man, One Vote', which eventually became 'One Person, One Vote'. It is not to be confused with the controversial protest song "Dubul' ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer).
History
editThe slogan was never officially endorsed by the PAC but often used by party members during rallies. After the dismantling of apartheid in 1994, PAC officials have repeatedly distanced themselves and the party from the slogan and called it a "war cry from its armed wing" incompatible with its "current reconcillatory stand".[1]
By 1991, when the fight against apartheid neared its end, PAC General Secretary Benny Alexander attempted to redefine a settler: he called it a white or Asian person participating in the oppression of indigenous people. He classified people into three groups, "indigenous" people, Whites and Asians whose sole allegiance is to the nation and who have no home elsewhere, and "settlers".[2]
However, even after 1991, grassroots sympathizers of the PAC at times interpreted the slogan as a call for attacks on whites in general and certain attacks on whites, such as the 1993 killing of US Anti-Apartheid activist Amy Biehl, were seen as directly motivated by the slogan.[3]
In October 1999 during the funeral of former APLA soldier Sibusiso Madubela, the perpetrator of the 1999 Tempe military base shooting, which was targeted against whites, PAC supporters chanted the slogan. The funeral attendees were fired upon by police and three were injured.[4]
In 2015, student activist group Rhodes Must Fall and other affiliated movements revived the slogan by chanting "One Settler One Bullet" at rallies at the University of Cape Town and by statements on social media.[5]
Variants
edit- "Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer" - competing slogan reportedly originated by Peter Mokaba of the ANC at the April 1993 funeral of assassinated South African Communist party leader Chris Hani.[6]
- "One Merchant, One Bullet" - used by People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, an Islamist vigilante group in post-apartheid South Africa. ("Merchant" refers to drug dealers.)
References
edit- ^ "BCCSA Judgement : SABC – News Item – Apla Cadres". Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa. 1999. Archived from the original on 12 November 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
- ^ Adam, Heribert; Moodley, Kogila (1993). "Psychological Liberation". The Opening of the Apartheid Mind: Options for the New South Africa. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520081994. Retrieved 14 June 2007 – via UC Press E-Books Collection.
- ^ "Truth and reconciliation commission - Amy Biehl amnesty hearings". Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. 8 July 1997. Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "The Legacy Of Apartheid: More Violence At a Funeral". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 3 October 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
- ^ "Rhodes statue removed in Cape Town as crowd celebrates". BBC News. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ Schönteich, Martin; Boshoff, Henri (March 2003). "The Extreme White Right: A Security Threat?". 'Volk' Faith and Fatherland, The Security Threat Posed by the White Right. ISS Monograph Series. Vol. 81. Institute for Security Studies. ISBN 978-1-919913-30-8. Archived from the original on 10 September 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2007.