How Trump\u2019s USA Welcomes South Africa\u2019s Far-Right Extremists<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For weeks, we investigated \u2013 conducted interviews, analyzed documents, traced networks. The picture that emerged was a disturbing one: a grotesque, dangerous reality in which the Trump administration is bringing white South Africans to the United States as \"persecuted refugees.\" But what presents itself as a humanitarian gesture is, in truth, a calculated political move \u2013 an import of right-wing ideology, disguised as a rescue mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It begins like a dark joke: The Trump administration is bringing white South Africans to the United States as \"persecuted refugees.\" But our weeks of research reveal a disturbing picture \u2013 one that goes far beyond the narrative of \"persecuted Christians.\" It is the story of an unprecedented political maneuver, a targeted import of far-right extremists, who are being built up as a new voter base for the MAGA movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRefugees\u201d or a Racist Contingent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Washington, they speak of \"protection\" \u2013 protection (see the article photo of the supposedly helpless) for an allegedly persecuted minority. These are Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch and French settlers who have lived in South Africa for centuries. They are among the most economically privileged groups in the country \u2013 business owners, government officials, church leaders. Their language \u2013 Afrikaans \u2013 is one of South Africa\u2019s official languages, and their culture is deeply rooted in society. Yet now, they are portrayed as \"victims\" of a Black government that allegedly discriminates against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But reality tells a different story. In South Africa, violent crime is a tragic everyday phenomenon. But it affects Black and white people alike. The \"farm murders\" that Trump and his South African-born advisor Elon Musk point to are part of a larger problem of rural crime. There is no evidence of systematic persecution of white South Africans. What does exist, however, is an organized movement that uses this narrative as a political tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AfriForum: The Right-Wing Operators<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the center of this movement is AfriForum \u2013 a South African organization that presents itself as a civil rights group for Afrikaners but is considered far-right by critics. AfriForum has actively lobbied in the United States to draw attention to the alleged persecution of white South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As early as 2018, Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, and his deputy Ernst Roets traveled to the United States to deliver their \"message\" directly to members of the Trump administration. They met with then-National Security Advisor John Bolton and appeared on Fox News\u2019s \"Tucker Carlson Tonight,\" where they promoted the narrative of a \"white genocide\" supposedly taking place in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were supported by Elon Musk, the South African-American billionaire and close advisor to Trump. Musk himself has repeatedly claimed that white farmers in South Africa are discriminated against \u2013 an assertion eagerly embraced by Trump\u2019s supporters in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But behind AfriForum\u2019s facade lies an even darker network. Many of the white South Africans now being brought to the United States have connections to the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) \u2013 a far-right, neo-Nazi organization founded in 1973 by Eug\u00e8ne Terre'Blanche. The AWB fought violently against the end of apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s. Its members carried out bombings, political assassinations, and armed attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \"Boer state\" demanded by the AWB \u2013 an independent, all-white settlement for Afrikaners \u2013 remains a dream in the minds of many of its followers. Although the organization lost influence after the end of apartheid, it remained active and used social media to recruit new members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now it is these very people \u2013 members and sympathizers of a neo-Nazi movement \u2013 who are coming to the United States as \"refugees.\" They bring their ideology with them. They are not just victims of a myth \u2013 they are the myth itself, the living embodiment of a racist narrative that is now taking root in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Secret Plan and an American Staging<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how did it come to this? Our research reveals a network of political operators deliberately working to organize this immigration. At the center is Stephen Miller, Trump\u2019s chief advisor and architect of immigration policy. Miller, known for his far-right views, was the one who pushed for the refugee program for white South Africans. He described their situation as \"classic persecution based on a protected characteristic \u2013 in this case, race.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, special interviews were conducted with potential refugees \u2013 Afrikaners who were specifically selected. While refugee programs for other vulnerable groups \u2013 Muslims, Black people, Latin Americans \u2013 were restricted or suspended, the doors were opened for white South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leo Brent Bozell III \u2013 a man whose name stands for racism, right-wing propaganda, and far-right networks. In 2011, he referred to Barack Obama in a television interview as a \"skinny ghetto crackhead.\" In the 1980s, he actively supported the \"Coalition Against ANC Terrorism,\" a group opposed to the African National Congress and the anti-apartheid movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was convicted for his participation in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. And now this man is the new U.S. Ambassador to South Africa \u2013 a man with connections to far-right networks that stretch to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What remains is a bitter truth: The Trump administration is not bringing in \"refugees\" \u2013 it is importing a far-right voter base. Afrikaners, who are being portrayed as victims of persecution, are, in reality, a political and ideological reinforcement for Trump\u2019s MAGA movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an export of hate, an import of racism. People who fought for white supremacy in South Africa are now being granted refuge in the United States \u2013 and could soon become new voters for Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while Washington paints a picture of \"persecuted Christians,\" our research shows a different image: Neo-Nazis in refugee disguise entering the country. A political maneuver, a macabre game of fear. A right-wing import \u2013 in Trump\u2019s America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Bild The Kaizen Blog)<\/p>\n
Wie Trumps USA S\u00fcdafrikas Rechtsextreme willkommen hei\u00dft Wochenlang haben wir recherchiert \u2013 Gespr\u00e4che gef\u00fchrt, Dokumente ausgewertet, Netzwerke durchleuchtet. Das Bild, das dabei entstand, ist ein erschreckendes: eine groteske, gef\u00e4hrliche Realit\u00e4t, in der die Trump-Administration wei\u00dfe S\u00fcdafrikaner als \u201everfolgte Fl\u00fcchtlinge\u201c in die Vereinigten Staaten holt. Doch was sich als humanit\u00e4re Geste tarnt, ist in Wahrheit ein […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[45,40,7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentation","category-history-x","category-topstory","category-trump-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n