Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
The new constitutional dispensation which came into being in 1994 rendered the Afrikaner people politically powerless in a numerically black dominated one-man-one-votewinner-takes-all system. In the face of a state policy bent on nation building and averse to minority rights, the need for a strategy to recapture their right to self-determination arises. Self-determination may vary from corporate/cultural rights to internal autonomy, to complete political independence in a sovereign territorial state. With selfdetermination in one form or another as objective, the next question is whether the Afrikaner has the will to survive. The Afrikaner is a divided people and the will to reassert itself seems dormant. However, there are increasing signs of a reawakening nationalism. Part of a strategy for selfdetermination should therefore be directed at reviving and mobilising the Afrikaner's will and ethnic patriotism. Economic empowerment is also necessary as part of the means to enforce its will and achieve its objectives.
Strategy is largely based on values. An analysis of African and Western orientated Afrikaner values reveals serious differences in, inter alia, reality, economic and religious perceptions. This can become a motivating force for reasserting Afrikaner self-determination. Strategy entails imposing one's will on an adversary. No strategy is needed where there is no resistance or opposition. There are a variety of options for exerting coercion in order to force the opposition to comply with a freedom movement's demands for self-determination. A number of options can be proffered. Not all are equally appropriate or politic. Circumstances should dictate the choice. Some of these options are: The so-called soft option. This entails convincing the opponent that it would be also in his own interest to accede to the freedom movement's demands and, conversely, to his detriment to oppose those demands. The psychological or propaganda option, using methods of psychological persuasion to undermine the opposition's morale and encourage one's own people. It also serves to mobilise international opinion . which is becoming more sympathetic to ethnic demands for self-determination. The cybernetic option, utilising information technology and cyberspace as a weapon against the opposition and to enhance one's own organisation and empowerment. Physical violence as used by revolutionary forces, urban guerillas and other terrorists. This could be counter productive because innocent people are often targeted and even killed. These options may be exercised individually or in conjunction with each other.