They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'

They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'

They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'

They're prepping for a race war. And they see Trump as their 'ray of hope'

Late on August 22, US President Donald Trump launched into some trademark Twitter diplomacy. After apparently watching a segment on Fox News, the President felt moved to instruct Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “closely study the South African land farm seizures and expropriations and large scale killing of farmers.”

Newsroom editors scratched their heads. State Department officials scrambled.

The South African government, which had spent months gingerly navigating the Trump presidency, swiftly hit back. Officials called the tweet “unfortunate” and “divisive” and hauled in the US Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires for a dressing down.

South Africa is engaged in an intense debate about equitable land ownership and righting the wrongs of a racist past. The government wants to allow land expropriation without compensation in some cases.

But why, after barely touching on African issues during his administration, had the American president chosen to focus on a domestic debate in South Africa?

And, more importantly, how had the fate of a few thousand white South African farmers become a regular feature on Trump’s favored Fox News?

The ‘genocide’ online

South Africa has become a twisted meme for the far right online. A favorite for extreme right-wingers like Katie Hopkins, a British provocateur, and Laura Southern, a Canadian alternative media personality, who have developed a substantial following.

There is no shortage of extreme voices on South Africa. Posts about white genocide and land grabs are everywhere on Facebook or YouTube.

Spend a little time, though, in this alternative media universe, and the name of one South African will keep cropping up: Simon Roche.

Roche is ubiquitous, doing interviews with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and ultra-right media like Red Ice, or appealing directly to his followers on social media from an overstuffed leather couch.

“Hello I’m Simon Roche. We represent the white people of South Africa, who are presently being told that they can expect to see a genocide against them,” says Roche in a fundraising post. The video has more than 800,000 views.

He is the public face and a leader of the Suidlanders, roughly translated from Afrikaans as Southerners or South Landers. The Suidlanders believe South Africa is heading toward a brutal race war where whites will be targeted by blacks.

Their members come from across the country, and from a cross-section of society. They are farmers, business people, and suburbanites, organized into more than 30 districts across the country. What unites them is their race -- they are exclusively white -- and their genuine belief in their founder’s doomsday prophecy.

The Suidlanders are planning for the evacuation of their members to rural South African refugee camps they will set up.

“I don’t think it is racism. I don’t get up in the morning hating black people”

Simon Roche, a leader of the Suidlanders

There is a key distinction between the Suidlanders and South Africa’s khaki-clad hate groups of the past like the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) or Boeremag that focused on aggressive nationalism.

The Suidlanders cast themselves as victims and they push that myth far beyond South Africa’s shores.

“The online strategy and propaganda of the Suidlanders uses the same tactics as terrorist groups for recruiting members,” says an official of a South African intelligence agency who is not authorized to talk publicly.

The Suidlanders claim their membership is now more than 130,000 strong. That figure is most likely inflated, says our source, but something impossible to verify since they do not keep membership lists.

The South African government is concerned enough, though, to have undercover agents embedded inside the group, according to the source.

Ultra-right-wing groups have always had some appeal to fringe elements in South Africa. The ongoing land debate has given oxygen to the myth of white victimization like never before.

Source: edition.cnn.com