ABSTRACT
Following the discussion in Chapter 2 of the political systems and civil societies that exist/ed in both apartheid South Africa and Zionist Israel and of the theoretical approach of this research, Chapter 3 presents and analyses the different politics, political platforms and roles1 of a sample that represents South African white protest groups. The sample was chosen to reflect the whole spectrum of the politics of protest groups (and sometimes individuals). Given constraints of time and resources, this study cannot claim to have collected all information and examined all groups, but it does include most, if not all, veteran and influential groups, which are categorized according to their politics, not their functions, aims or strategies. This choice is intentional since it fits with the main question of this research: i.e. what are the politics and roles of protest groups in the dominant community of settler ethnic-national states that are (have been) in conflict? The author differs with the few scholars who have examined peace-building processes in apartheid South Africa and Zionist Israel, with regard to the theoretical framework used for analysis. In both cases this research has examined statecivil society relations, which were not used by others as a theoretical framework. This research has also developed a new categorization for the different protest groups, as is examined later in the chapter. This chapter and Chapter 4 follow a similar outline to enable appropriate comparisons and patterns to be drawn across the two case studies while linking them to the theoretical framework. Chapter 3 includes six sections. Following this introduction, a second section addresses issues relevant to the study of white protest groups, and explains the context with regard to what is right, left and liberal in apartheid South African politics; the transition period studied; white membership; why people joined dissent/protest groups; and the model of ‘protest work’ used by whites. The author’s new categorization for white protest groups is presented, along with a description and a critique as to how other studies have categorized them. The politics and roles of liberal protest groups (mainstream and progressive) are analysed, and participation of whites in black-run mainstream and radical leftist groups is examined. The last section summarizes the main ideas and links to Chapter 4’s survey of Israeli protest groups.
