Places And Forms Of Power

Places and Forms of power

I'm going to talk about the notion of Places and forms of power. To introduce this notion, I would like to give a definition of this concept : Places could be important buildings or institutions that represent a certain form of power, for example Buckingham Palace, a symbol of the British monarchy,or the White House, a symbol of the American presidency.

A place can also be a country or a state, for example the USA is a state which is powerful enough to influence events throughout the world and China is a major economic power in today’s world.

The power is the ability to control others, events, or resources; the ability to make things happen despite obstacles, resistance, or opposition. This of course leads to conflict between those who have power and those who don’t.

Thus, How can people from different cultures live together in harmony ?

To try to answer this question, we are going to be interested in the case of South Africa, which knew a very long period of cultural and power conflicts.Then, we shall be interested in an iconic figure of the History of South Africa: mister Nelson Mandela. Finally, we shall see how South Africa reached the status of nation rainbow, among others thanks to this great man.

After the Second World War, In 1948, A politic of racial segregation is established, called the Apatheid, when the national Party, dominated by conservatives Afrikaners, takes the power. It called for the segregation of races all over the country. Blacks with Blacks, Whites with Whites. Residential areas were segregated and this lead to the forced removals of blacks from their homes. About 3 and a half million people were re-located. From 1950, the Group Area Act, who divides the racial communities and relegates the black population in a tiny part of the country, comes into effect, the blacks were deprived of their citizenship and became citizens of one of ten self governing tribal based groups, like Lebowa, Venda, KwaZulu, etc... The same year, the Population Registration Act is adopted; the latter obliges all the South Africans over the age of eighteen to register according to their race and the color of the skin. We require Blacks that they always have on them the pass, a proving document whom they are and where they live. The gouvernment moved to quell any disorder through introducing more legislation. You could be arrested for not carrying your pass book or identity card. They banned any political party they felt dangerous to their cause and labelled them as Communists.The government segregated education, medical care and other services, providing black people with services inferior to those of the whites. Black buses stopped at Black bus stops and White buses at White bus stops. Hospitals were segregated. Most doctors were white and preferred to work in the White hospitals. Black women had no legal rights, no access to education and no right to own property. On the 21st of March 1960 between 500 ...

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