Free housing, free college tuition, single payer healthcare, doubling the welfare state AND the minimum wage… does this sound familiar? It's the same platform of any Democratic Socialist candidate here in the United States. Whether it's Bernie Sanders, Ocasio Cortez… and a whole fleet of up and coming rising stars.
But this platform, as familiar as it may sound, is the same platform as the Economic Freedom Fighters (or EFF) in South Africa. A group of Marxist-Leninists who have now become the third largest political party in the country. Their leader, Julius Malema, has brought the EFF into the spotlight by tapping into populism. He fingered the white man as the answer to all their problems, declaring at a rally back in January:
Go After A White Man... We Are Cutting The Throat Of Whiteness!
The EFF's numbers and popularity have grown so large that they were able to force the African National Congress to begin seizing land owned by white farmers and redistributing it to black South Africans. That policy has already begun. The new law states that white farmers will be offered market value for their land by the government. If they turn it down, the land will be seized anyway. Recently, a white family was shocked to find out that the government was only offering a TENTH of what their farm was worth. It was obviously a slap in the face. After turning it down, they received this letter:
Notice is hereby given that a terrain inspection will be held on the farms at 10am in order to conduct an audit of the assets and a handover of the farm's keys to the state.
This farm is just the first of many. A report earlier this month showed that 139 white owned farms have been targeted for seizure. What happens if farmers refuse to leave their land? These are the moments right before catastrophe, and it all began with a small group of Marxists that were able to capture the national spotlight by harnessing hatred.
We don't have land redistribution here… yet.
We don't have land redistribution here… yet. But the rise of Marxism in South Africa should sound uncomfortably familiar. Look at what the new left is doing and saying. They're categorizing each of us into groups and identities and turning us against one another. Social class against social class, race against race, gender against gender… today's "social justice" is the undercover name for yesterday's "bourgeoisie/proletariat workers revolution." It's Marxism coming from the flank rather than straight ahead.
You'll never hear this from a Democratic Socialist, but heed this warning. Marxism leads to violence EVERY TIME. Pray for the people of South Africa, but also pray that we don't fall as far off the cliff as they did.