Prue Leith Quotes
I grew up in a very white, privileged, old-fashioned society in South Africa and went to a boarding school run by nuns.
Leith, Prue. Relish: My Life on a Plate. Quercus, 2012.
The upper socioeconomic classes are generally less rascist then the lower classes in the United States as well as England and South Africa. The counter argument given by the lower classes are that the upper classes have the money to insulate themselves from the negative aspects of desegregation and the lower class whites have to bear the brunt of desegregation. However, in South Africa, the English of all socioeconomic classes were far less enthusiastic about apartheid then were the Boers. The latter were farmers who wanted the land; the former were traders who could succeed even of the Blacks had their land and were given political rights.
Description of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in the 1730’s
The Boers were lower class, uneducated, farmers from Holland who came to South Africa before the English did. They were at the bottom of the Dutch socioeconomic ladder. Unlike the English who were interest in establishing a trading colony, the Boers just wanted to own and farm the land and use blacks as slave or cheap labor. The Dutch Government and Trading companies lost interest in South Africa as there were much more profitable parts of the world, and they felt no obligation to the Boers whom they were glad to be rid of. So the Boers found themselves having to follow the British laws and rules of the British Colonial Office. Slavery was outlawed, and Blacks could be educated and become citizens under British law. They could own land, and contest the right of the Boers who had settled in some uninhabited land and some that was owned by Black tribes. The Blacks outnumbered the whites in general and the Boers, and there were educated Blacks who “outclassed” the still relatively uneducated Boers. So the Boers, fighting for their “way of life” set up their own area in Southern Africa and claimed independence. But Blacks claimed that it was their land and looked to the British to exercise English law. The Boer war ensued. Although the Boers lost the war, the bred at a much faster rate than the English, many of whom did not even have their families in South Africa. By the end of WWII, the Boer white majority controlled the government and kept the majority Blacks from voting and having full citizenship rights. They dominated Apartheid South Africa until the Black Revolutionists obtained control and although Black and white relations are better in South Africa than most countries, the extemeist Boers and most militant Blacks are in political, but not violent, conflict. Churchill and the British have always perceived themselves as being caught in the middle between the Boers and the Blacks.
The power structure of England and the English administrators of South Africa were strong advocates of racial equality at the beginning of the 19th century. They insisted on equal administration of law. However the Boer white population could think of nothing more absurd. In a sense the Boers were much like the Southern Whites at the same time. The South African government however could not enforce its equality policies in the rural area – the majority of South Africa at the time. When democracy and self rule came to South Africa, the racially moderating force of the English was minimized and the majority of South Africans wanted a racially segregated society. Apartheid resulted.
The Boers, the early Dutch settlers to South Africa were a “scurvey lot” who were very uneducated, narrow minded, and insular. They eventurally esterminated whole tribes of Blacks, caused the Boer War, and operated the disasterous apartheid era of South Africa. But the early Dutch governors of South Africa had great trouble with the Boers as well. See {583928} & {583928} for English similar assessments.
Gahdhi’s early career was in South Africa. What makes this quotation very interesting is that it shows Ghandi---one of the great disciples of brotherhood and equality of all men---had a period when he was outraged that Indians would have Blacks (Kaffirs) located in their neighborhood. It illustrates the personal transition that he made from prejudiced, parochial advocate for a particular ethnic group to an advocate and spokesman for all mankind.
Prudence Margaret Leith, CBE is a British-South African restaurateur, chef, caterer, television presenter/broadcaster, businesswoman, journalist, cookery writer and novelist. She is Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She was a judge on BBC Two's Great British Menu for eleven years, before joining The Great British Bake Off in March 2017, replacing Mary Berry, when the television programme moved to Channel 4.
