He was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors and killed by a fellow Board member in 1978. ITTL he won his State Assembly race of course but IOTL he lost and didn't hold office until well 1978
Blue Skies in Camelot (Continued): An Alternate 80s and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
This was a long time ago. Even before the AIDS panic homophobia remained common worldwide and sadly Milk paid the price.
What's even worse is that the man was punished but the punishment didn't even fit the crime. Hopefully ITTL with RFK in the presidency the AIDS epidemic is handled much more efficently and Homophobia doesn't get out of control
Hopefully, RFK handles AIDS better and doesn't pay any attention to the PMRC nonsense.
Parents Music Resource Center - Wikipedia
But I don't know about overall homophobia because RFK is religious.
PS: What is 'Candle in the Wind' by Elton John about ITTL, because Marilyn Monroe is alive?
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Not every religious person is homophobic. I know that's not what you're saying bringing up RFK's Catholicism but just because he's religious doesn't mean he holds prejudices views. I mean he may not be the most enlightened person when it comes to issues facing the LGBTQ community but he is a man who believes fervently in Human rights that every person be treated with dignity and I will go to my grave believing that he would be for gay rightsHopefully, RFK handles AIDS better and doesn't pay any attention to the PMRC nonsense.
Parents Music Resource Center - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
But I don't know about overall homophobia because RFK is religious.
PS: What is 'Candle in the Wind' by Elton John about ITTL, because Marilyn Monroe is alive?
All be it the right to exist and be legal. Anything beyond that simply isn't happening at that time.
What I meant is him being liberal for his time. He would definitely not demonize the gay community for the AIDS epidemic but he wouldn't go so far as legalizing gay marriage. Hopefully with this better treatment gay marriage becomes legal throughout the country by the 2000s ITTL.
As @JamesHunter said. Anything beyond homosexuality being decriminalized is unrealistic for the 80s
Oh okay I see my mistake. Yeah I think Bobby would scratch his head at gay marriage I mean later on I can see him going "What's the big deal." But ITTL I can still imagine at this point in time even the most liberal politician would not even be thinking about the idea of Same sex couples marrying but yeah hopefully by let's say 2005 ITTL gay marriage will be legal. Until then Bobby and all the others will need to help the community fight AIDS job discrimination, and just allowing people to be who they are without fear of judgement.
Mr. President, I know that we're still far off from the 1980 Pop Culture but I have a question and suggestion. IOTL, Barry Gibb collaborate with Barbra Streisand on making a duet song for "Guilty". ITTL, with Barbra Streisand already dead in 1969, what if we make him a duet with Olivia Newton-John instead? It might give us a new perspective since Barry Gibb is starting to write songs during this decade for other singers and musicians like "Islands in the Stream" for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "Heartbreaker" for Dionne Warwick, and "Chain Reaction" for Diana Ross.
I still do hope that the Bee Gees and Andy Gibb quickly recover from their music careers now that Disco and the 70's is already over. Their album Living Eyes later in 1981 was to make a distance from their falsettos that they've been doing between Main Course in 1975 and Spirits Having Flown in 1979, I do hope that it gets more praise and recognition ITTL because it's really good and show us that they can adapt to the music environment of the 80's. I've read that by 1988 IOTL, their youngest brother Andy Gibb is finally joining the Bee Gees months before his untimely death from his drug overdose at the age of just 30, and that was days after his birthday geniuses! ITTL, I hope he can finally overcome his addictions by getting into rehabilitation, he might get married again because I've heard his first marriage didn't last long, and he finally be with his older brothers for good. Now that we're in the 80's ITTL, I've heard that Michael Jackson got the inspiration for his album Thriller from the movie soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, and that's why he's friends with the Gibb Brothers. To repeat on what I've said here weeks ago, if The Beatles would reunite, along with Elvis Presley, and the Bee Gees, would collaborate with Jackson for his album Thriller in 1982 ITTL, it would make it shall we say "The Best of the Best" in the history of music. The stars are perfectly aligned for this one genius, who wouldn't pass this one?
Lastly, since I've mentioned Olivia Newton-John here genius, would she will make the movie Xanadu, along with the great Gene Kelly and Michael Beck? The Movie Soundtrack with the Electric Light Orchestra were I would say another classic. While the movie wasn't a hit, it later became a cult classic IOTL. I hope ITTL, they've done a better script, let the choreography remain because they've done great, and I know it's been associated with the elements of Disco now that it's already over.
I still do hope that the Bee Gees and Andy Gibb quickly recover from their music careers now that Disco and the 70's is already over. Their album Living Eyes later in 1981 was to make a distance from their falsettos that they've been doing between Main Course in 1975 and Spirits Having Flown in 1979, I do hope that it gets more praise and recognition ITTL because it's really good and show us that they can adapt to the music environment of the 80's. I've read that by 1988 IOTL, their youngest brother Andy Gibb is finally joining the Bee Gees months before his untimely death from his drug overdose at the age of just 30, and that was days after his birthday geniuses! ITTL, I hope he can finally overcome his addictions by getting into rehabilitation, he might get married again because I've heard his first marriage didn't last long, and he finally be with his older brothers for good. Now that we're in the 80's ITTL, I've heard that Michael Jackson got the inspiration for his album Thriller from the movie soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, and that's why he's friends with the Gibb Brothers. To repeat on what I've said here weeks ago, if The Beatles would reunite, along with Elvis Presley, and the Bee Gees, would collaborate with Jackson for his album Thriller in 1982 ITTL, it would make it shall we say "The Best of the Best" in the history of music. The stars are perfectly aligned for this one genius, who wouldn't pass this one?
Lastly, since I've mentioned Olivia Newton-John here genius, would she will make the movie Xanadu, along with the great Gene Kelly and Michael Beck? The Movie Soundtrack with the Electric Light Orchestra were I would say another classic. While the movie wasn't a hit, it later became a cult classic IOTL. I hope ITTL, they've done a better script, let the choreography remain because they've done great, and I know it's been associated with the elements of Disco now that it's already over.
I didn't think about that but he could. I can imagine him visiting AIDS hospitals in the early days of the epidemic it would go a huge way to showing the community that he's there for them
Great suggestion. As a fan of Xanadu and it's soundtrack I would also like to see the movie made with the same cast and a better script.
And I wonder if any of your pop culture posts have or will mention Stephen King. Because the 80's were when his career really began to takeoff.
There was already a post about how the adaptation of The Shining went.
Xanadu will definitely be covered. As will King's career as we move forward. King is my all-time favorite author, so do not worry on that front.
Yep! TL;DR: Released about a year later than OTL after King refuses to let Warner Bros. have the rights unless Kubrick is not hired to direct. Warner Bros. then hires David Lynch, coming off the success of The Elephant Man and he directs a stellar version starring Jack Nance as Jack Torrance; Meryl Streep as Wendy; and a young Sean Astin as Danny.
Chapter 143
Chapter 143 - Off the Wall: A Look at Ethiopia & South Africa at the Dawn of the 1980s
Above: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (left) in the early 1970s; Flag of Imperial Ethiopia (right).
Above: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (left) in the early 1970s; Flag of Imperial Ethiopia (right).
“So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself
Groove, let the madness in the music get to you
Life ain't so bad at all
If you live it off the wall
Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall)
Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)” - “Off the Wall” by Michael Jackson
“We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.” - Halie Selassie
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela
Ethiopia was, in prehistoric times, the birthplace of modern humanity. It is also one of the oldest and most storied civilizations in the history of not just Africa, but the entire world. From its time as a seafaring, commercial juggernaut in antiquity, to its early adoption of Christianity, to its status as the lone nation in Africa which managed to (mostly) resist European colonization, Ethiopia has endured as a crucial player on the world stage.
The nation can trace the roots of its more or less contemporary form to the reign of Emperor Menelik II, which lasted from 1889 until his death in 1913. From his base in the central province of Shewa, Menelik set out to annex territories to the south, east, and west. These areas were inhabited by the Oromo, Sidama, Gurage, Welayta, and other peoples. Menelik achieved this with the help of Ras Gobana Dacche's Shewan Oromo militia, which occupied lands that had not been held since Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's war, as well as other areas that had never been under Ethiopian rule.
For his leadership, despite opposition from more traditional elements of society, Menelik II was heralded as a national hero. He had signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Italy in May 1889, by which Italy would recognize Ethiopia's sovereignty so long as Italy could control an area north of Ethiopia, which would come to be known as Eritrea. In return, Italy was to provide Menelik with weapons and support him as emperor. The Italians used the time between the signing of the treaty and its ratification by the Italian government to expand their territorial claims. This First Italo–Ethiopian War culminated in the Battle of Adwa on March 1st, 1896, in which Italy's colonial forces were defeated by the Ethiopians. During this same period, about a third of the population died in the Great Ethiopian Famine (between 1888 to 1892).
The early 20th century was then marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari). He came to power after Lij Iyasu was deposed, and undertook a nationwide modernization campaign from 1916 when he was made a Ras and Regent (Inderase) for the Empress Regnant Zewditu, and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire. Following Zewditu's death, on November 2nd, 1930, he succeeded her as emperor. The following year, Selassie promulgated Ethiopia’s first-ever constitution, modeled on that of Imperial Japan after the Meiji Restoration in that country. Though Ethiopia’s independence was interrupted by their defeat in a second war with Italy, this time led by Benito Mussolini and his fascist regime, following the entry of Italy into the Second World War, British forces, together with Ethiopian resistance fighters, liberated the country over the course of the East African Campaign. The country was briefly placed under British administration, then saw its independence restored by December of 1944.
Following the war, Ethiopia became a founding member of the United Nations. Seven years later, in 1952, the emperor orchestrated a federation with neighboring Eritrea. This was dissolved in 1962, when Ethiopia annexed the region outright, stirring much controversy and sowing the seeds for discontent that later escalated into the War of Eritrean Independence.
A Christian constitutional monarch who owed his continued rule to British assistance during World War II, Emperor Selassie became a natural ally of the West during the Cold War. At the same time, however, his country pursued a firm policy of decolonization in Africa, which was, at the start of the Cold War, still largely under European colonial rule. As the one African nation that was seen as having “resisted” European colonialism, Ethiopia was a natural choice to play a leading role in the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was established on May 25th, 1963, with its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Despite Ethiopia’s support for decolonization and national self-determination, however, these beliefs did not extend to Eritrea, which the emperor viewed as “natural Ethiopian territory” and the possession of which was seen as a “strategic imperative” because it granted access to a coast on the Red Sea, preventing the Empire from being landlocked.
Above: Emperor Haile Selassie leads First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy on a tour of Addis Ababa.
Selassie was also in no way universally beloved by his people.
On December 13th, 1960, while the emperor was on a state visit to Brazil, his Kebur Zabagna (Imperial Guard) staged an unsuccessful coup, briefly proclaiming Haile Selassie's eldest son Asfa Wossen as emperor. The regular army and police forces crushed the coup d'état. The coup attempt lacked broad popular support, was denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and was unpopular with the army, air force and police. Nonetheless, the effort to depose the emperor had support among students and the educated classes.
The coup attempt has been characterized as a pivotal moment in Ethiopian history, the point at which Ethiopians “for the first time questioned the power of the king to rule without the people's consent”. Student populations began to empathize with the peasantry and poor and advocate on their behalf. The coup also spurred the emperor to accelerate a program of reform, which was manifested in the form of land grants to military and police officials.
But the emperor knew that this was only the beginning of what he needed to accomplish, if he wanted to stabilize his country and protect his government moving forward.
Throughout the mid to late 1960s, Selassie sought to replace the historical tax system - rooted in feudal obligations - with a single, progressive income tax. This would, if enacted, severely weaken the nobility, who had historically been able to avoid paying most taxes, ala the Ancien Regime prior to the French Revolution. Selassie claimed that he was inspired to enact such a policy, at least in part, by American President Kennedy, who famously said, “Those who would make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable”.
The nobility were livid.
Even with significant alterations, the new tax law led to a revolt in Gojjam province. The emperor sent in the army to repress the revolt, which proved successful. Selassie knew, however, that resistance to the law would continue. Most of his advisors urged caution, and for his government not to enforce the tax, even if only temporarily. But the emperor was uncertain.
While of course, he did not want to be seen as a tyrant, enforcing his will at gunpoint, he also felt that if he backed down and repealed the new tax, he would be seen as weak-willed and vacillating. He reasoned that if he caved to the nobility and repealed the tax, then they would come to believe that they could defy the emperor and expect no meaningful consequences. This would make future attempts at reform more difficult, if not impossible.
Already known for his efforts toward modernization throughout his reign, Haile Selassie had come to understand that change was indeed the law of life. Whether the noble landowners liked it or not, Ethiopia could not remain a feudal empire indefinitely. It needed to change, to keep up with the times, and enter the modern world. He left the tax in place, and ordered units of the regular army to enforce the law. As expected, resistance by the landowners grew for a time, even escalating into armed revolt. But Selassie held firm. By the end of the decade, resistance to the tax dwindled. Combined with his prior land reforms, redistributing land and wealth away from the noble elite and toward the common people, Selassie slowly brought Ethiopia out of feudalism.
Simultaneously, student unrest became a regular feature of life in Ethiopia in the 1960s and 70s. Members of the country’s intelligentsia, especially academics who had studied abroad in certain corners of the world, returned home and spread left-wing ideologies, including communism. At the same time that the emperor was encountering difficulty with conservative members of court and the aristocracy on the right, he now also had to contend with growing discontent on the left. Much of the goodwill that the emperor had enjoyed with his subjects faded as a new generation came of age, one which had never known the yoke of Italian occupation. These younger Ethiopians saw their aging head of state not as a nationalist hero, but as a relic of a bygone era. The near-constant unrest and conflict between various ethnic and religious groups, as well as from the nobility, likewise bred resentment among the peasant population. A growing consensus was emerging among the population, the emperor had to go.
Sensing that these problems would not go away on their own, the emperor worked feverishly with his prime minister, Aklilu Habte Wold, to restore the public’s trust in the monarchy.
First, upon the recommendation of his economic advisors, the emperor enacted a law defending the rights of organized labor. This further frustrated the wealthy and emerging capitalist class. To prevent them from being totally alienated from his rule, Selassie did pass a number of reforms to liberalize the nation’s economy and begin the process of industrialization.
Another area which required significant reform was civil rights.
The emperor’s human rights record was, according to outside observers, decidedly poor. Civil liberties and political rights were low. The press was censored and tightly controlled. Political dissidents of any stripe faced imprisonment in deplorable prison conditions and even torture. That said, the emperor was famous for pardoning tens, or even hundreds of prisoners at a time in calculated displays of mercy. This record did not significantly alter his perception among the outside world, either. Abroad, the emperor was still regarded as a symbol of resistance to fascism.
The Imperial Ethiopian army committed a number of atrocities, most notably on the Eritrean separatists. This led to discontent among the rank and file soldiers, especially those of Eritrean descent. Desertion became a recurring problem; there were even mutinies that the army’s high command struggled to contain. As retribution, loyal soldiers committed a number of mass killings of hundreds of Eritrean civilians throughout the war. This, however, proved a bridge too far for the emperor. He ordered an investigation into these extrajudicial killings and some officials and officers were arrested.
This alone, however, would not be enough.
In February of 1974, four days of serious riots broke out in Addis Ababa. The riots, which were spurred by a sudden onset of inflation (due to the ripples of the 1973 oil shock) and the ongoing famine throughout the country, left five dead. In response, the emperor went on national television and announced price controls on gasoline, food, and other essential goods. This calmed the public. Meanwhile, the emperor also quietly agreed to a 50% wage hike for soldiers. Though the army still grumbled about cost of living increases, the concessions, along with the naming of Endelkachew Makonnen as prime minister, helped to avoid mass mutinies in the armed forces and avoid a general strike. Civil unrest would, however, remain a fixture of life in Ethiopia throughout the following year. All across the country, the people felt uneasy. Everyone waited for the other shoe to drop.
It finally did on August 28th, 1975, when, following complications from a routine medical examination, the emperor died of respiratory failure. He was 83 years old. Halie Selassie, the symbol of African independence and anticolonial resistance, was dead.
In accordance with the imperial constitution, fifty-nine year old Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen ascended to the throne, taking the regnal name Amha Selassie I. Recognizing that he was coming to power in an unstable country, already fighting an armed separatist movement in Eritrea, the new emperor immediately set to work securing his rule.
Above: The future Emperor Amha Selassie I, pictured here on the day of his investiture as crown prince of Ethiopia.
In order to secure his grip on power, Amha Selassie saw two paths that he could take.
One would be to maintain absolute imperial authority, to duplicate the delicate balancing act his father had employed early in his reign, keeping the various competing factions worried about each other more than they were the emperor and the court. Due to the civil unrest and attempts at reform that Amha’s father had made in the last few years of his own reign, the new emperor’s power base was limited to: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (whose influence seemed to wane with each passing year); the landed aristocracy (who hoped that the new monarch might reverse some of the land reforms begun under his father); Western-educated bureaucrats and technocrats; and (largely thanks to their pay raises), the military. The primary opponents to his regime were ethnic nationalists in the outlying provinces and young radicals and junior officers in the capital - Addis Ababa.
The other would be to continue down his father’s latter-day path: reform. By most accounts, the new emperor’s outlook was considerably more liberal than his father’s had been. He believed that if he sought to deliver peace and stability to the nation, then he needed to delegate his power, to divest it into civil institutions, rather than centralize it further. He spent the first year or so of his reign persuading his senior military officers to see things from this point of view, and to support the idea of a transitioning Ethiopia toward a more democratic, constitutional monarchy. Amha Selassie would compare the reforms he sought as “moving away from the Meiji Japanese model and toward something like the contemporary British one”.
As the Eritrean insurgency raged on near the coast, and civil unrest continued at a low, rolling boil through the autumn of 1975, the emperor set to work on his political reforms. He passed a number of amendments to the empire’s constitution, which included a bill of rights, protecting the right to free speech, freedom of conscience in religion, and other guarantees - including a law against discrimination based on ethnicity. Though the student movement was not entirely satisfied with these reforms, the changes did serve to soften, at least somewhat, the calls for revolution coming from the universities.
While Islamic fundamentalism, imported from some parts of the Middle East, would continue to foment sectarian conflict in Ethiopia, and while ethnic differences would continue to sow resentment, for the time being, at least, the country’s intelligentsia was mollified. Price controls on essential goods remained in effect for the next few years, as His Majesty’s government sought a more permanent solution to the nation’s shortages of food and fuel.
The government also prepared for its first ever elections to a new legislature - the Federal Assembly - which were scheduled to take place in 1978. Those elections saw a broadly nationalist coalition of liberals, conservatives, and moderate socialists/social democrats elected to power. Though Ethiopia would continue to face many challenges over the next years and decades, the new emperor seemed to have prevented his country from falling to what many had feared - rule by military coup or communist revolution. Ethiopia would eventually grow into a regional and middle power, though that was still many years in the making.
…
Above: Flag of South Africa since 1928 (left); a sign stating that a beach is for use “by whites only”, a clear example of the racial policy of “Apartheid” (right).
Beginning in 1948, the Union and later Republic of South Africa formalized a system of racial discrimination and segregation known infamously the world over by the Afrikaner word Apartheid - meaning “apartness”. Through this system, the country’s white minority (mostly the descendents of Afrikaner and British colonists) held political and economic dominance over and severely restricted the civil and political rights of the country’s black majority.
Between 1960 and 1990, the African National Congress and other mainly black opposition political organizations were banned. As the country’s ruling National Party cracked down on black opposition to apartheid, most leaders of ANC and other opposition organizations were either killed, imprisoned, or went into exile.
Despite this, increasing local and international pressure on the South African government, as well as the realization that apartheid could neither be maintained by force forever nor overthrown by the opposition without considerable suffering (and likely, a bloody civil war), eventually led both sides to the negotiating table. The Tripartite Accord, which brought an end to the South African Border War in neighboring Angola and Namibia, created a window of opportunity for a negotiated settlement.
To that end, Harry Schwarz, the leader of the liberal-reformist wing of the United Party, met with Gatsha Buthelezi, Chief Executive Councillor of the black homeland of KwaZulu on January 4th, 1974. Together, they signed a five-point plan for racial peace in South Africa, which came to be known as the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith.
The declaration articulated that “given South Africa's position on the global stage and the internal dynamics of community relations, we believe it is essential to embrace certain fundamental principles for the economic, social, and constitutional advancement of our nation.” It advocated for inclusive negotiations involving all segments of the population to formulate constitutional proposals emphasizing equal opportunities for everyone, followed by the establishment of a Bill of Rights. The document proposed that the federal concept provided the most suitable framework for implementing these changes and underscored the imperative of achieving political transformation through non-violent means.
This declaration marked a historic agreement, representing the first instance of acknowledged collaboration between black and white political leaders in South Africa who affirmed these core principles. The endorsement of a commitment to peaceful methods for achieving political change came at a time when neither the National Party nor the African National Congress was actively seeking peaceful resolutions or engaging in dialogue. The proclamation was hailed by the English-speaking press as a significant breakthrough in race relations within South Africa. Subsequently, it garnered support from various chief ministers of black homelands, including Cedric Phatudi (Lebowa), Lucas Mangope (Bophuthatswana), and Hudson Ntsanwisi (Gazankulu).
Despite considerable support from black leaders, the English speaking press and various liberal figures, however, the declaration saw staunch opposition from the National Party, the Afrikaans press and the conservative wing of Harry Schwarz's United Party. These factions and others prevented the momentum from the declaration of faith from beginning any serious movement toward reform.
Throughout this same period, South Africa increasingly became a pariah state to the rest of the world.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the United States spoke out little against the apartheid regime, in part because its own policies of racial segregation would make any complaints made by the US seem hypocritical. In part, this was also because the US felt at the time that they needed South Africa as an ally against “global communism”. The Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 changed the political calculus for America, however. As did the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. With America finally getting its act together on equality, the Kennedy administration felt comfortable in joining much of the world in condemning continuing apartheid policy from Pretoria. US policy shifted somewhat once again under the Romney and Bush administrations. Utilizing what Secretary of State Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger referred to (rather repulsively) as “the tar baby option”, the United States began to once again strengthen ties to white-minority regimes in southern Africa. Nixon and Kissinger claimed that such a move was made in adherence to their belief in realpolitik, and told American liberals that the only way to help the black majorities living in these countries was to “do business” with their governments and try to improve their material conditions. This policy continued until late 1976, when President Bush was defeated by Mo Udall in the 1976 presidential election. Udall sought to return American foreign policy’s focus to promoting human rights and thus, South Africa was condemned once again. Many in Pretoria had hoped fervently for a Republican victory in the 1980 election. Ronald Reagan was, after all, a loyal supporter of the South African government which he referred to as a “bulwark” against communism. But Robert Kennedy’s victory meant at least four more years of pariah status.
To “protect” itself from what it saw as an increasingly “hostile” world, South Africa sought deterrence. If possible, they wanted the ultimate deterrent: nuclear weapons. To acquire this, Pretoria partnered with another state that frequently found itself in the center of controversy, albeit for very different reasons - Israel.
On September 22nd, 1979, an unidentified flash of light was detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite near the South African territory of Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Africa and Antarctica. Officially, the cause of this flash would be listed as “unknown” by the US government, but virtually all independent researchers believe that the flash was caused by a nuclear explosion - an undeclared joint test of nuclear weapons - carried out by South Africa and Israel.
The implications of a potentially nuclear armed South Africa - even as Pretoria ramped up its involvement in the ongoing civil war in Angola - were terrifying to say the least. During their transition meetings, held throughout November, December, and January of 1980-1981, President Udall stressed to President-Elect Kennedy the necessity of “keeping a damn close eye on South Africa.” Kennedy - a staunch critic of apartheid during his time in his brother’s administration and later, the Senate - agreed wholeheartedly.
…
Above: Nelson Mandela, the man who, perhaps more than any other, would come to symbolize the movement against apartheid in the minds of the West (left); the logo for the African National Congress (right).
First imprisoned in June 1964 for speaking out against the apartheid regime, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela spent most of the next twenty years serving what was supposed to be a life sentence. Along with his co-accused, Mandela was sent to the prison on Robben Island. Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was held in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet by 7 feet, with a straw mat on which to sleep. Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight. At night, he worked on his LLB degree, which he obtained from the University of London through a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was initially classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, meaning that he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.
Though he attended Christian Sunday services, Mandela also studied Islam. He also learned Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the country’s white, non-English speaking community. Representatives of various states and organizations from around the world met with Mandela throughout his time in prison. These included British Labour Party politician (and later prime minister) Denis Healey, as well as various liberal members of the South African Progressive party. His mother visited him shortly before her passing in 1968. Mandela was not allowed to attend her funeral. His wife and children were seldom allowed to see him either, as they were often regularly imprisoned for political activities (real or imagined) themselves.
Eventually, his conditions improved somewhat.
By the late 60s, Mandela was given trousers to wear, rather than just shorts. Games were permitted amongst the prisoners, and the quality of food and medical care within the prison improved. By 1975, he’d become a class A prisoner, allowing him access to a greater number of visitors and letters. Desmond Tutu, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and other anti-apartheid leaders on the outside engaged with him in regular correspondence. That same year, he began work on an autobiography that he sent (unpublished) to London along with his correspondence course work. When the authorities discovered his writings, they revoked his privileges to study his LLB course for four years. Mandela took up gardening and reading to fill his time while he waited.
Renewed international interest in Mandela’s plight came in 1978, when he celebrated his sixtieth birthday. After he received a number of honorary degrees and other awards, Mandela’s status became a focal point of discussion and debate surrounding apartheid around the world. A journalist named Percy Qoboza created and spread the slogan, “Free Mandela!” which began to appear on billboards, t-shirts, and placards across the world, especially among college students and other activists. This sparked an international campaign that eventually led the United Nations Security Council to call for his release.
Initially, the Pretoria government refused. They claimed that Mandela’s organization - the African National Congress or ANC - was a “terrorist organization sympathetic to communism” and that it needed to continue to be suppressed. This stance was echoed by former vice president Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail in 1980; Robert Kennedy appeared principled by contrast, defending Mandela and joining the calls for his release, alongside now British prime minister Denis Healey. After Kennedy was elected President of the United States in November of 1980, P.W. Botha and the rest of the Pretoria government began hearing alarm bells ringing loud and clear.
To try and appease the government’s critics, both foreign and domestic, (and in a desperate plea to forestall further economic sanctions on his country) Botha undertook a series of constitutional reforms, beginning in early 1981. He legalized interracial marriage and miscegenation, both of which had been strictly banned for the last thirty-three years. Likewise, the ban on multiracial political parties was lifted (though the ANC and other civil rights parties remained illegal). Limited political rights were granted to so called “Coloureds” and “Indians”, though not to “blacks”. Botha also became the first leader of South Africa to authorize back channel contacts with Mandela and other leaders of the ANC. As international pressure on South Africa mounted, with both the United States and Soviet Union refusing to sell the country arms, so too did internal civil unrest increase among the black population. Botha hoped that these early contacts with Mandela and others would allow the government in Pretoria to “tamp down” any potential unrest before it spread into open rebellion or armed civil war.
Mandela agreed that the transition away from apartheid needed to remain peaceful. But he felt discouraged by what he saw as Botha’s “superficial” and “anemic” approach to reforming their country. He pressed Botha for more change, more quickly.
But Botha was carrying on a delicate balancing act of his own.
Even these reforms, rejected as meager by opponents of apartheid, went too far for a group of National Party hardliners, led by former Education Minister Andries Treurnicht. In 1982, this group of rabid white supremacists broke away to form the Conservative Party. At the same time the reforms did not even begin to meet the demands of the opposition. In the face of rising discontent and violence, Botha refused to cede political power to blacks and imposed greater security measures against anti-apartheid activists. Botha also refused to negotiate with the ANC.
Increasingly at odds with opposition from both the left and the right, Botha grew defiant and paranoid. In the summer of 1982, he delivered what would come to be known as the “Rubicon speech”, in which he blamed the unrest gripping South Africa on “communist agitators” from outside nations. It was clear that even with the world largely united against him and the continuance of apartheid, neither Botha nor the backward, barbaric system he represented would go down without a fight.
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: A Special Pop Culture Update
Glad Ethiopia won't have it's major famine it did in our '80's. Curious if our world's Botha was as bad as this version of him.
Hell yeah! It’s time for Africa!Chapter 143 - Off the Wall: A Look at Ethiopia & South Africa at the Dawn of the 1980s
Above: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (left) in the early 1970s; Flag of Imperial Ethiopia (right).
Oh hey! It’s the Kentucky Fried Politics quote!
This chapter was great! It was good to see that Ethiopia will be better off and I hope that Apartheid ends earlier here ITTL, atleast by a few years at the bare minimum.