Suidlanders

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Formation2006; 18 years ago (2006)
FounderGustav Zietsman Müller
TypeCivil defence organisation; right-wing[1] ethnonationalist white Afrikaner survivalist group
PurposeEmergency evacuation of white citizens in a state of nationwide anarchy
Membership (2018)
130,000 claimed[2]
LeaderGustav Müller
Spokesperson
Simon Roche
WebsiteAfrikaans: suidlanders.co.za
English: suidlanders.org

The Suidlanders (English: Southlanders) is a South African right-wing[1][3][4] ethnonationalist[5] Afrikaner survivalist group whose ideology is based on the prophecies of Boer Siener van Rensburg.[6][7] The group believes that a race war or general civil war, sometimes referred to as "Uhuru" or the "Night of the Long Knives",[8][9][10][11] is coming in South Africa. They anticipate an eventual collapse of infrastructure, and advocate and plan for an evacuation of white South Africans from major cities in the event of a race war.[12][13] Their leader is Gustav Müller.[12] The group has claimed success in raising global awareness of the alleged threat,[14] following a 2017 tour to the United States by spokesperson Simon Roche,[15] and has also taken credit for an offer by Australian government minister Peter Dutton to preferentially grant refugee visas to white South African farmers.[16]

History and beliefs[edit]

The Suidlanders were formed in 2006 by Gustav Müller, who still heads the organisation.[17][18] Müller is quoted in a video recording of 28 May 2016 as saying "My actual calling (vocation) is to bring the Boer people back to God."

The Suidlanders' activity increased after the murder of Eugène Terre'Blanche, an Afrikaner nationalist. Although the murder did not trigger massive social unrest, it did spread concern among far-right organisations and some conservative groups in South Africa.[13]

The Suidlanders currently claim to be a civil organisation that is close to illegal in their own country.[18] The group explicitly distances itself from neo-Nazi organisations, though they take credit for propagating the white genocide conspiracy theory.[16]

The Suidlanders say that they are loosely inspired by the prophecies of Siener van Rensburg, a peasant farmer who served as a spiritual adviser to several Boer military leaders during the Second Boer War. They believe van Rensburg predicted a massive civil insurrection that would lead to an alleged race war in South Africa. The group believes that a state of anarchy is coming to South Africa as a result of the revolutionary speeches by Marxist African leaders calling for action against the minority in the country supported by policies to be implemented against the minority under the banner of redress.[19]

In the wake of Nelson Mandela's death, the Suidlanders estimated the "revolution risk" in South Africa as 50 per cent, and said it would be a great time to "go on holiday",[20][21][22] a coded statement involving the prophesied "Uhuru" or "Night of Long Knives", when blacks would allegedly kill whites in South Africa.[8][9]

Leadership and management[edit]

The Suidlanders is led by an executive council composed of Louis de la Gey, Bertus Schwan and Ben van Rensburg. Their public face is Simon Roche.[23][24]

They have received donations from a variety of far-right and white Nationalists: the neo-confederate League of the South, Identity Evropa founder Nathan Damigo, and American Vanguard. They also received $40,000 on FreeStartr, the defunct alt-right Patreon alternative.[25] The Suidlanders conduct training in all aspects of civil defence throughout the year.[26] The training includes logistics and operations, control of refugees, first aid, firearms training, and communication.[27][28]

White genocide[edit]

Main article: White genocide conspiracy theory § South Africa

The Suidlanders took credit for increasing minimising severity of racially-based hate crimes. They believe anti-white racism to be imminent; also claiming credit for increasing coverage of the issue by figures such as Katie Hopkins, and for an offer by Australian former cabinet minister Peter Dutton to resettle white South Africans as refugees. However, the Suidlanders spokesman Simon Roche rejected the idea, as the Afrikaners from South Africa.[16][13]

Popular culture[edit]

A group of Suidlanders featured in season 1, episode 7 of David Farrier's Dark Tourist.[29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "SA conservative group takes credit for increased 'white genocide' awareness". News24. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. ^ "South Africas's Suidlanders brace for race war". Pretoria News. 23 November 2018.
  3. ^ Gedye, Lloyd (23 March 2018). "White genocide: How the big lie spread to the US and beyond". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  4. ^ Ward, Justin (23 August 2018). "The dangerous myth of 'white genocide' in South Africa". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  5. ^ Staff (18 December 2018). "AfD-Politiker in Südafrika: Schießtraining mit Rassisten" [AfD Politician in South Africa: Shooting Practice With Racists]. tagesschau.de (in German). ARD. Retrieved 5 April 2019. Nach Einschätzung von Gareth Newham vom südafrikanischen Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria handelt es sich bei den "Suidlanders" um einen Zusammenschluss von völkischen Rassisten: "Ihre Ideologie ist die Überlegenheit der weißen Rasse", sagte Newham. "Ihr einziger Existenzgrund ist die angebliche Verteidigung gegen die Schwarzen. Man kann sie eindeutig als rassistische völkische Organisation beschreiben. [According to Gareth Newham of the South African Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, the "Suidlanders" constitute an association of populist Racists: "Their ideology is the survival of the white race," says Newham. "Their singular reason for existing is to supposedly defend against blacks. One can clearly describe them as a racist populist organization"]
  6. ^ WW3: Germans, Boers, Race War, Suidlanders, Simon Roche, Siener Van Rensburg & Adriaan Synman, retrieved 24 August 2018
  7. ^ Weiner, Sophie. "Trump Thrills White Nationalists With Tweet About South African Farms". Splinter. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b Serino, Kenichi (11 December 2013). "30 miles and a world away, a more fractured response to Mandela". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved 5 April 2019. Pretorious was expressing a long-held belief among some Afrikaners, particularly a fringe organization known as Suidlanders, of "Uhuru," or "the night of long knives," when blacks will kill whites in South Africa following the death of Mandela.
  9. ^ a b Myburgh, Johannes (25 December 2013). "Right-Wing South Africans Still Fear 'Racial Apocalypse' After Mandela's Death". Business Insider. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 5 April 2019. In South Africa, right-wing prophesies that Nelson Mandela's death will be followed by a racial apocalypse refuse to be quashed by events. Ever since the mostly peaceful transition to majority rule in 1994, right-wing South Africans have claimed the moment would spell an end to reconciliation and unleash untold bloodshed. So engrained was the idea of a "Night of the Long Knives" that it even seeped into mainstream thinking. Some plotted elaborate evacuation plans, radio programmes discussed whether it was remotely possible and one journalist even visited a town where whites would supposedly gather before fleeing, just in case anyone turned up.
  10. ^ de Wet, Phillip (7 May 2012). "The carefully hidden face of online racism". The M&G Online. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  11. ^ "They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  12. ^ a b Schneider, Victoria (7 November 2013). "Is the white-right in South Africa a threat?". Al Jazeera.
  13. ^ a b c Gedye, Lloyd. "White genocide: How the big lie spread to the US and beyond". The M&G Online. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  14. ^ Gedye, Lloyd (23 May 2018). "White genocide: How the big lie spread to the US and beyond". The M&G Online. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Far-right activists are teaming up with white supremacists to exploit South African politics". Media Matters for America. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  16. ^ a b c "SA conservative group takes credit for increased 'white genocide' awareness". News24. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Gustav Zietsman Müller - Suidlanders". Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  18. ^ a b Thamm, Marianne (17 May 2018). "The imperative of challenging the 'white genocide' and land expropriation narrative abroad". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  19. ^ Haynes, Gavin (10 May 2018). "The Race War Preppers Behind South Africa's 'White Genocide' Meme". Vice News. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  20. ^ de Wet, Phillip. "Mandela's death - apocalypse any second now, surely". Retrieved 5 April 2019. In the next five months, the Suidlanders said, the risk of large-scale violence, the "revolution risk", is 50/50. This, it said, is a great time to "go on holiday". The euphemism is not a subtle one.
  21. ^ Myburgh, Johannes (25 December 2013). "Right-Wing South Africans Still Fear 'Racial Apocalypse' After Mandela's Death". Business Insider. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 5 April 2019. On [Mandela's] death, the radical organisation the Suidlanders (Southlanders) suggested that members go "on holiday" to safe havens, but stopped short of calling for an evacuation.
  22. ^ Schneider, Victoria (7 November 2013). "Is the white-right in South Africa a threat?". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  23. ^ Powell, Anita (7 June 2019). "Right Wing Rises in Rainbow Nation". Voice of America News. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  24. ^ Bartlett, Kate (12 May 2019). "Meet the Suidlanders: South Africa's white nationalists prepping for a genocide doomsday in the rainbow nation". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  25. ^ Eyes on the Right (22 April 2018). "Suidlanders Spokesman Simon Roche Has Deep Ties To White Supremacist Groups". Angry White Men. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  26. ^ Bartlett, Kate (12 May 2019). "Meet the Suidlanders: South Africa's white nationalist doomsday preppers". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  27. ^ "Suidlanders website, article on training". 31 May 2016.
  28. ^ McKenzie, David; Swails, Brent (November 2018). "They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  29. ^ Levitt, Jessica. "Netflix show features white Afrikaner group preparing for 'revolution'". Times LIVE. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
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