Rubicon speech

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Excerpt from a manuscript of the speech with the eponymous formulation:
“I believe that we are today crossing the Rubicon. There can be no turning back. "

As Rubicon speech , English Rubicon speech or Afrikaans Rubicon-toespraak , the political speech is called, which the then South African President Pieter Willem Botha held on August 15, 1985 in the city hall of Durban during a meeting of the National Party of Natal Province . Topics were the by the apartheid called segregation incurred in South Africa economic and social problems as well as Botha's ideas to solve them.

The naming of the address goes back to a statement at the end: “I believe that we are crossing the Rubicon today. There can be no turning back. ”It was a metaphor referring to the crossing of the Rubicon River by Gaius Iulius Caesar with his troops in 49 BC. References and describes the crossing of a meaningful border, beyond which there is no turning back. In contrast to the meaning of this metaphor, however, Botha did not announce any substantial social reforms in the speech, which was broadcast live worldwide and thus did not meet the domestic and foreign policy expectations that had arisen beforehand.

As a result, there was turbulence on the financial and stock markets in South Africa and a further deterioration in socio-economic conditions. For this reason, the address is regarded as one of the greatest failures in Botha's political career and a formative event for the development of the country in the final phase of the apartheid era. In the context of South Africa's political history, the Rubicon metaphor has become synonymous with the individual and collective handling of the apartheid system.

The speech

History and context

The announcement of Botha's speech met with great interest both in South Africa and abroad, as it was expected to announce fundamental reforms to solve the country's social and economic problems that arose as a result of apartheid. Since Botha took office and increasingly since the beginning of the 1980s, this has included an intensification of the armed resistance of the African National Congress (ANC) in the form of attacks primarily on the infrastructure and state facilities, an increase in violent unrest in the townships and on Strikes and increasingly repressive police and military action against opponents of apartheid. In addition, international pressure intensified , leading to increased diplomatic isolation in the country and sanctions in the economic , cultural and sporting areas. The expectations that Botha would present proposals for reforms to solve these problems in his speech were based on previous statements by then Foreign Minister Roelof Frederik Botha in diplomatic circles and on speculation in the media based on excerpts from the manuscript that had been made available to the press.

Content and statements

The place where Botha gave the speech: Durban City Hall , built in 1910 in the Renaissance style , seat of the city administration, a library, a natural history museum and an art gallery

The approximately one-hour speech that Botha gave on the evening of August 15, 1985 in Durban City Hall to around 1,800 members of the National Party of the Natal Province was broadcast live by 33 foreign radio stations and watched by around 200 to 300 million people worldwide. In addition to the party members, representatives from foreign embassies were also present on site. Despite the Rubicon metaphor he used at the end of the day, Botha refused to accept almost all demands for substantial changes in the speech. Rather, he limited himself to the summary of previous measures of his government as well as to the indefinite announcement of recommendations, for the implementation of which he reserved the decision-making power. The most far-reaching of his proposals included the possibility of uniform South African citizenship and the retention of the homelands as part of South Africa, as well as the withdrawal of the controversial passport laws . Nonetheless, he called his remarks a “Manifesto for the future of our country” and assumed far-reaching consequences in the implementation of his ideas.

In contrast, he repeated the call he had previously announced in parliament to Nelson Mandela and the ANC to give up the armed struggle in order to achieve political goals as a prerequisite for Mandela's release. In addition, he refused to hold general and free elections with the participation of all residents of South Africa, nor did he make any promises regarding the re-admission of the ANC, which has often been demanded. With a raised index finger, he addressed all of the people and organizations he perceived as enemies of his government and the country, including the media, revolutionary movements in Africa , a communist conspiracy in the country and foreign interference in domestic affairs "I tell you: In your own interest, don't push us too far!" Referring to the pressure from abroad, he stated that the solution to South Africa's problems would be through South Africans, not foreigners, and emphasized: "We have never given in to external demands and will not do so now". A central argument by Botha was the statement that the view that South Africa would consist of a white minority and a black majority was "antiquated, simplistic and racist". Rather, he referred to the country as a “multicultural society”, as “a country of minorities - of white minorities and black minorities”, and emphasized the need to protect minorities, with which he expressed both his rejection of general elections and the creation of homelands reasoned.

The final statement about the crossing of the Rubicon came from a draft on which Foreign Minister Roelof Frederik Botha, Justice Minister Hendrik Jacobus Coetsee and the Minister for Constitutional Affairs Jan Christiaan Heunis had worked. However, this bill also contained some concrete announcements, fitting this metaphor, of gradual changes such as the restoration of the civil rights of the African majority, negotiations with their leaders, including the ANC, and their participation in the government, and the abolition of all forms of discrimination . However, Pieter Willem Botha did not accept these suggestions, but instead had the draft largely rewritten by a close colleague. However, this representation was later denied by Botha, who rather accused his Foreign Minister of having deliberately increased international expectations of the speech in order to embarrass him. Records of the cabinet meetings in the days prior to August 15, 1985, like some other documents from Botha's reign, cannot be found in the relevant archives.

Effects

Socio-economic and political consequences

The exchange rate of the US dollar (USD) to one South African rand (ZAR) during 1985
Red: The month of August in which Botha gave the Rubicon speech

The speech, which was originally intended to curb the increasing criticism of the South African government's apartheid policy from the governments and the population of the western world , had far-reaching consequences for the further development of the country. Since Botha did not manage to meet the expectations placed on him in terms of domestic and foreign policy, both South Africa's diplomatic relations with other countries and the domestic economic and social situation deteriorated considerably. The value of the national currency against the US dollar and other currencies, which had stabilized from the beginning of 1985 after the continuous devaluation that had taken place since the early 1980s, plummeted as a result of the speech. Just one day later, the South African rand lost 20 percent of its value on the international financial markets , twelve days after the speech it had lost half of its value and reached a new record low against the US dollar.

In addition, there was a massive flight of capital as well as a lack of foreign investments and loans from foreign banks ; in August 1985 alone, US $ 400 million of foreign capital flowed out of South Africa. Most of the short-term retail loans expired in August and were not renewed after the speech. After the speech , the Chase Manhattan Bank , at that time one of the most important financial institutions for such loans on the South African financial market, announced that it would no longer grant loans to South African customers. This was seen as an expression of the bank's complete loss of confidence in the country's economy. Other banks such as Bankers Trust and Bank of America followed this step. Gerhard de Kock, the head of the South African central bank , sarcastically quantified the damage caused to the country by the speech in several million rand per word. As a result, on September 2, South Africa unilaterally suspended about half of its international payment obligations until December 30, 1985. This moratorium, which was close to bankruptcy , had long-lasting and serious consequences for the country's access to international financial markets in the years that followed. In addition, at the beginning of September, the so-called Financial Rand , a two-part exchange rate system for the local currency, was again introduced, resulting in restrictions on the export of foreign capital and currency exchange by the residents of the country. Stock trading was interrupted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from August 27 to September 2, 1985, for the first time since the nationwide crisis following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 . The South African rand only returned to its value from before the speech around 18 months after its crash; the loss in value caused by Botha's speech was used as a benchmark for similar price developments in the post-apartheid era.

In the year following the address, the country's government declared a state of emergency due to increasing internal tensions and protests . On January 31, 1986, Botha gave another speech at the opening of the South African parliament about his reform ideas, which is sometimes referred to as the second Rubicon speech or "Rubicon II", but did not produce any effects comparable to his speech of August 1985. In this address he proposed the inclusion of the black majority in a National Statutory Council and again announced the repeal of the passport laws. In addition, he offered the release of Nelson Mandela on the condition that in return the Soviet Union should release the exiled Russian physicist and dissident Andrei Dmitrijewitsch Sakharov and Angola release a captured South African soldier. While the passport laws were actually abolished in July 1986, Botha did not keep his promise regarding Mandela, although Sakharov's banishment was lifted in December 1986 and Angola also complied with his request. Exactly one year to the day after the first Rubicon speech, the United States Senate approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act , which had previously been passed by the House of Representatives . After a veto by the then American President Ronald Reagan , which was overruled by both chambers of congress , the law came into force in early October 1986 and resulted in extensive economic sanctions in the form of trade and investment restrictions. More than three years later, Botha's successor Frederik Willem de Klerk announced in front of parliament on February 2, 1990, among other measures, the readmission of the ANC and other organizations as well as the release of Nelson Mandela. For this address, with which he far exceeded the associated expectations and initiated the abolition of apartheid, the term De Klerk's Rubicon or Rubicon speech is occasionally used.

Reception and historical classification

Frederik de Klerk (left), Botha's successor in the office of President from 1989, in January 1992 with Nelson Mandela (right), whose release he had ordered two years earlier

Botha's speech was due to its consequences already at that time considered a serious failure and resulted in particular in the business press of the country calls for his resignation to Botha. For example, Stephen Mulholland, editor of the South African business paper Financial Mail , described Botha as "crazy" according to the memories of a journalist. The newspaper sharply criticized his appearance under the headline “Leave now” and compared him to that of a poor magician who would be embarrassing even for children at a birthday party. In addition, she published an analysis of Botha's body language by a psychiatrist under the heading "P W Botha: a psychiatrist writes" , which was extremely critical with regard to his personality and resulted in Botha's threat of legal action. The day after the speech, an editorial appeared in the financial newspaper Business Day , calling for Botha's resignation if he had nothing better to offer than the speech. The country's two main business associations, Die Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut and South African Federated Chamber of Industries , issued a joint statement expressing their disappointment that Botha had not been more specific in his speech about reforms and reconstruction of the country.

The African National Congress sharply criticized the address in a press release distributed the following day by then ANC President Oliver Tambo in exile in Lusaka . He condemned the rulers in South Africa as a "clique of yesterday's racists, narrow-minded reactionaries and bloodthirsty fascist mouths, who would pay no attention to anyone but themselves," and described apartheid as "not reformable" and the Charter of Freedom and the ANC's strategy as the " only practicable and accepted by the majority of the people ”. In the opinion of Dave Steward, at that time a high-ranking employee of the South African Foreign Ministry and later advisor to Frederik Willem de Klerk, the address was characterized by an absolute lack of understanding of contemporary political communication . Botha, whose face dominated the television images and whose appearance therefore seemed intimidating and was perceived as defiant and sometimes aggressive, misunderstood the importance of his address for the entire South African society and for the world public with the choice of words and content oriented towards his party members. According to Chester Crocker , Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the US State Department during President Ronald Reagan's tenure and responsible for his policy towards South Africa, Botha "fell into the Rubicon instead of crossing it". South African Foreign Minister Roelof Frederik Botha called the address to media representatives a speech he could certainly live with and said that he agreed with President Botha's view that it was "a historic event". In later memoirs, however , he described this press conference as "one of the most difficult moments" of his life. Before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission , he testified on October 14, 1997 that he had written the section with the Rubicon metaphor and some reform promises not mentioned by President Botha later, and described the effect of the speech on the international community as well as many South Africans as "a bucket full of cold water in the face".

Frederik Willem de Klerk, who succeeded Botha as South African President four years to the day after the speech, described the speech as "disastrous" during his testimony before the Commission in August 1998. According to Robin Renwick , who later became the British High Commissioner in South Africa, the speech marked the day on which the apartheid government and finally lost its credibility, the political, economic and diplomatic action. In a similar way, the South African political scientist Hermann Giliomee called the address “a turning point at which the country's white rulers failed at the turnaround”. The speech was also personally one of the most formative events of Botha's career, as it triggered the most important crisis of his presidency and marked the beginning of his political retreat. The journalist David Beresford described the speech in the British daily newspaper The Guardian in an obituary after Botha's death as his “greatest misstep”. Due to the reception and the effects of the speech, it went almost unnoticed that Botha announced far-reaching reforms in August and September 1985 at further congresses of the NP in the other three provinces of the country. At the party meeting in the Cape Province, he announced that all social groups and communities in the country should receive adequate political representation up to the highest level of government. In addition, he rejected apartheid insofar as this would mean the dominance of one group over another, the exclusion of a group from the formation of political will and discrimination on the basis of racist principles. According to Jan Christiaan Heunis, the proposal for the black majority to participate in power was the most important of the points the lack of which in the Rubicon speech had contributed to its reception. It is not known why Botha distributed his announcements, with which he promised a clear reorientation of government policy in their overall statement, over several addresses, and whether tactical or party-political considerations might play a role here.

The designation of the speech as "Rubicon" speech (English Rubicon speech ) already found a few years later, and prior to the end of apartheid into political parlance in South Africa. In the context of the country's political history, phrases such as “retreating from the banks of the Rubicon” or “crossing the Rubicon” have become synonymous with the individual and collective handling of the apartheid system and its abolition. For example, the titles of the documentaries Across the Rubicon (1987) and Have You Heard From Johannesburg? The Other Side Of The Rubicon (2008), dealing with apartheid, referring to this metaphor. In the 2007 feature film Goodbye Bafana , the plot of which is based on the memoirs of the prison warden James Gregory, thematizes his relationship with Nelson Mandela, one scene shows a short excerpt from a television broadcast of the Rubicon speech.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 2
  2. ↑ a b Dries Van Heerden: How history will treat PW Botha . In: Mail & Guardian online . Article dated November 2, 2006
  3. ^ A b Alan Cowell: Botha rules out wide concessions to black demands. In: The New York Times . Edition of August 16, 1985, p. 1
  4. ^ A b Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 35
  5. ^ A b c d Leo Barnard, Jan-Ad Stemmet in: Journal for Contemporary History. 27 (1) / 2002, pp. 119-135
  6. ↑ See manuscript of the speech under Text of PW Botha's Rubicon Speech August 15 1985 , p. 17
  7. ↑ See manuscript of the speech under Text of PW Botha's Rubicon Speech August 15 1985 , p. 19
  8. ↑ See manuscript of the speech under Text of PW Botha's Rubicon Speech August 15 1985 , p. 20
  9. ↑ Patti Waldmeir, New Brunswick 1998, p 55
  10. ↑ a b Patti Waldmeir, New Brunswick 1998, p. 54
  11. ^ Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 32
  12. ↑ Christelle Terreblanche: Missing PW documents mystery . In: Sunday Tribune . Edition of November 5, 2006, p. 5
  13. ↑ Exchange rate data : Economagic.com: Economic Time Series Page , South Africa / US Foreign Exchange Rate: South African Rand to One US Dollar . Retrieved March 2, 2009
  14. ↑ a b c d e Laurence Harris: South Africa's External Debt Crisis. In: Third World Quarterly. 8 (3) / 1986. Taylor & Francis, pp. 793–817, ISSN  0143-6597 (especially section From Rubicon Speech To Debt Freeze , pp. 797/798)
  15. ^ A b Jeff Rubin: Challenging Apartheid's Foreign Debt. In: Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Alternative Information & Development Center, Cape Town 1997
  16. ^ A b c Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 38
  17. ↑ Jannie Rossouw, Vishnu Padayachee: An analysis of inflation from a central banking perspective: The South African experience since 1921. Working Paper No 50, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2008, ISBN 978-1-86840-661-6 , p 18
  18. ↑ John Barratt, Cambridge 1990, p. 324
  19. ^ The economy and the amazing disappearing edge . In: In Touch. Ernst & Young, February 2002 newsletter; Nedbank Treasury Monthly Currency Insights October 20, 2008 . Retrieved March 8, 2009.
  20. ^ A b Mark Orkin: Sanctions Against Apartheid. New Africa Books, Cape Town 1989, ISBN 0-86486-091-9 , p. 276
  21. ^ South African History Online : A short history of pass laws in South Africa.Retrieved March 5, 2009
  22. ^ Library of Congress : HR 4868 (Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act). Retrieved March 3, 2009
  23. ↑ Address by the State president Mr FW De Klerk, DMS, at the opening of the second session of the ninth parliament of the Republic of South Africa ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 5, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fwdklerk.org.za
  24. ^ Mark Orkin: Sanctions Against Apartheid. New Africa Books, Cape Town 1989, ISBN 0-86486-091-9 , p. 224
  25. ↑ Peter Wilhelm: Obituary: P W Botha 1916-2006. A peculiar man ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / secure.financialmail.co.za archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Financial Mail ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / secure.financialmail.co.za archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Obituary dated November 10, 2006
  26. ↑ Questions & Answers. Too Rough for a Sophisticated Publication  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Submission: Dead Link / secure.financialmail.co.za  In: Financial Mail ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / secure.financialmail.co.za archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Interview with Stephen Mulholland on November 5, 1999
  27. ↑ Response to PW Botha's 'Rubicon' Speech ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ANC press release from August 16, 1985  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.anc.org.za
  28. ^ A b Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 36
  29. ↑ John Dumbrell: American Foreign Policy: Carter to Clinton. Series: American History in Depth. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 1997, ISBN 0-31-216395-9 , p. 105
  30. ^ Alistair Boddy-Evans: Biography of PW Botha, Apartheid Era President. Part 3 . In: About.com . Article accessed March 3, 2009
  31. ^ Truth and Reconciliation Commission : De Klerk says he was unaware of poison allegations before TRC . Press release from August 25, 1998
  32. ^ Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 36; Author's reference to Robin Renwick: Unconventional Diplomacy in Southern Africa. Macmillan, London 1997, p. 110
  33. ↑ David Beresford: 'Great crocodile' of apartheid dies at 90 In: The Guardian, November 1, 2006, p. 18
  34. ^ A b Hermann Giliomee in: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008, p. 24
  35. ^ Rubicon speech. In: Gwyneth Williams, Brian Hackland: The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Southern Africa. Routledge, London 1988, ISBN 0-415-00245-1 , p. 226
  36. ↑ Internet Movie Database : Across the Rubicon (1987) Retrieved March 6, 2009
  37. ↑ Internet Movie Database : Have You Heard from Johannesburg ?: The Other Side of the Rubicon (2008) Retrieved March 6, 2009

literature

  • Hermann Giliomee : Great Expectations: Pres. PW Botha's Rubicon Speech of 1985. In: New Contree. A Journal of Historical and Human Sciences for Southern Africa. 55/2008. Department of History of the North-West University, pp. 1-40, ISSN  0379-9867 .
  • Leo Barnard, Jan-Ad Stemmet: PW Botha's Rubicon Speech of August 15, 1985: A River too Wide and a Bridge too Far. In: Journal for Contemporary History. 27 (1) / 2002. Department of History of the University of the Free State, pp. 119-135, ISSN  0258-2422 .
  • PW Botha responds: Don't push us to far. In: Thomas A. Moriarty: Finding the Words: A rhetorical History of South Africa's Transition from Apartheid to Democracy. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport 2003, ISBN 1-56-750668-2 , pp. 18-23.
  • To the Rubicon, and Beyond. In: Patti Waldmeir: Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1998, ISBN 0-8135-2582-9 , pp. 39-57.
  • John Barratt: Reaction to Rubicon. In: South Africa's Foreign Policy: The Search for Status and Security, 1945–1988. Series: Cambridge Studies in International Relations. Volume 11. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, ISBN 0-521-38876-7 , pp. 320-326.
  • Rubicon speech. In: Gwyneth Williams, Brian Hackland: The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Southern Africa. Routledge, London 1988, ISBN 0-415-00245-1 , p. 226.
  • Albrecht Hagemann: Small history of South Africa. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-45949-8 , pp. 93-95.
  • From Botha to De Klerk - the turning point of 1989. In: Stephan Kaussen: From apartheid to democracy. The political transformation of South Africa. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-531-14112-0 , pp. 118-123.

Web links

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 13, 2009 in this version .