Eugène Terre'Blanche

Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche (born January 31, 1941) is a Boer-Afrikaner who founded the white supremacist Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging during the apartheid era in South Africa.

Ancestry

The progenitor of the Terre'Blanche name ('white land' in French) in the region was a French Huguenot refugee named Estienne Terreblanche from Toulon (Provence), France, who arrived at the Cape in 1704. [cite book
title=Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud (The French People Who Made South Africa)
url=http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2841000869/171-8409492-3725063
author=Bernard Lugan
language=French
date=January 1996
isbn=2841000869] The Terreblanche name has generally retained its original spelling though other spellings include Terre'Blanche, Terre Blanche, Terblanche and Terblans.cite web
url=http://www.geocities.com/hugenoteblad/huguenots.htm
title=The Contribution of The Huguenots in South Africa
first=H.C.
last=Viljoen
publisher=The Huguenot Society of South Africa]

Eugene Terre'Blanche's grandfather fought for the Boer cause as a Cape Rebel in the Second Boer War, and his father was a lieutenant colonel in the South African Defence Force. Born in Ventersdorp, Terre'Blanche later became an officer in the South African Police, even being a Warrant Officer in the Special Guard Unit, who were assigned to members of the Cabinet.

Opposition to government policies

During the late 1960s, Terre'Blanche increasingly opposed what he called the "liberal policies" of B. J. Vorster, then Prime Minister of South Africa. In 1970, Terre'Blanche, with six other Afrikaners, founded the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, commonly known as the AWB. His oratorical skills earned him much support among the white right wing in South Africa; the AWB claimed 70,000 members at its height.

Terre'Blanche viewed the end of apartheid as a surrender to communism, and threatened full scale civil war if President FW de Klerk handed power to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress. When De Klerk addressed a meeting in Terre'Blanche's hometown of Ventersdorp in 1991, Terre'Blanche led a protest, and the Battle of Ventersdorp ensued between the AWB and the police, with a number of people killed.

In 1993, Terre'Blanche led an armed invasion of the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park while negotiations were in progress. [cite web|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/transition/gold_worldtrd.html|title=Goldstone Commission : Events at the World Trade Centre June 1993|accessdate=2007-04-22]

The AWB was defeated while invading Bophuthatswana to prop up the autocratic leader of the bantustan in 1994 and, subsequently, Terre'Blanche did not follow up on his earlier threats of war.cite web|url=http://www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/commissions/1998/tebbutt/contents.html|title=Tebbutt Commission|accessdate=2007-04-22]

Media image

Terre'Blanche and the AWB were seldom out of the media during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s. Terre'blanche's powerful oratory and apocalyptic images of race war often featured, with the image of heavily armed AWB members parading in uniform, sometimes hooded. However, this image of the rise of the far right was not the only image projected by the media, which increasingly ridiculed Terre'Blanche and his supporters. Terre'Blanche was lampooned in the 1991 documentary "The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife", directed by British filmmaker Nick Broomfield. A sequel by Broomfield, "His Big White Self", was first broadcast in February 2006.

In 1992, the AWB was beset by scandal when claims of an affair with journalist Jani Allan surfaced , with transcripts of their sexual relationship appearing in the South African press.cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/hamilton/article/0,,195616,00.html|title=Brief encounters|first=John |last=Sweeney|date=1999-12-19|publisher=The Observer] The media also had a field day after filming him falling off his horse during a parade in Pretoria.cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001954604_safrica12.html|date=2004-06-12|title=South Africa releases neo-Nazi chief|first=Ethan|last=Jameson|publisher=Associated Press]

Amnesty

Following the end of apartheid, Terre'Blanche and his supporters sought amnesty for the storming of the World Trade Centre, the 'Battle of Ventersdorp', and other acts.cite web
url=http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/amntrans/1999/99051011_klk_990510kl.htm
title=Amnesty Hearing
publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission
date=1999-05-10
accessdate=2007-01-04] cite news
url=http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/media/1999/9905/p990510a.htm
title=Terre'Blanche calls for De Klerk to answer at his amnesty hearing
date=1999-05-10
publisher=South African Press Association
accessdate=2007-01-04] Amnesty was granted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.cite web
title=Amnesty decision
url=http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/decisions/1999/ac990221.htm
publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission
accessdate=2006-10-11]

Conviction and prison sentence

On June 17, 1997 Terre'Blanche was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting a petrol station worker and the attempted murder of a farm worker. One of only three whites in the Rooigrond prison near Mafikeng, during his time in prison he became a born-again Christian and claims he has moderated many of his more racist views.cite news|url=http://www.dispatch.co.za/2005/08/27/SouthAfrica/blanch.html|title=Terre'Blanche tells of prison, his love for God and plans for AWB's future|date=2005-08-27|publisher=Dispatch] However, the AWB website still claims these court cases and other scandals involving him were fabricated by the 'Black Government and the left wing media'.cite web
url=http://www.awb.co.za/leier_e.htm
title=AWB Leader: Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche
publisher=AWB
accessdate=2007-01-04] Terre'Blanche was released on June 11, 2004.cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1235281,00.html
title=Terre'Blanche returns to a new world
publisher=The Guardian
date=2004-06-10
first=Rory
last=Carroll
accessdate=2006-01-04]

Today

In March 2008, the AWB announced the re-activation of the political party, for 'populist' reasons, citing the encouragement of the public. Reasons for the return are largely attributed to the electricity crisis, corruption across government departments and rampant crime. Throughout April 2008, Terre'Blanche was to be the speaker at several AWB rallies, encompassing Vryburg, Middelburg, Mpumalanga and Pretoria. cite web
url=http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20080330094319724C919954&set_id=
title=The return of Eugene Terre'Blanche
publisher=IOL
date=2008-03-30
] He has recently been calling for a “free Afrikaner republic” and has vowed to take his campaign to the UN and the International Court of Justice in The Hague in a bid to secure this. In Mid 2008, it was announced that the AWB Youth Wing would be launched, Terre'Blanche would be it's founding member. cite web
url=http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=785049
title=O volk! Terre Blanche is back again
publisher=Sunday Times
date=2008-06-15
]

References

ee also

*White nationalism

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5KVE7IN9E0 Speech by Terre'Blanche] at a rally of the Afrikaner weerstands beweging. The speech is part of a scene taken from the documentary "My beloved country" on [http://www.docsonline.tv DocsOnline] :search title, type 'beloved'.
* [http://www.dispatch.co.za/1997/12/13/page%2011t.htm AWB apologises for not fighting racism enough] - appearance before the TRC
* [http://therightperspectivepodcastblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/eugene-terreblanche-interview.html Eugene Terreblanche interview on "The Right Perspective"]