Apartheid Museum
Yesterday I took a trip to the South African apartheid Museum. When you drive up to the museum you can immediately tell that it is going to be an experience. The building has been made to look like a prison from the outside. On the roof, there are huge pillars with the words: Democracy, Freedom, Rights, Diversity written on them. When you go to buy your tickets, they also issue you a pass. If you are white, they issue you a non-white pass and if you are black or coloured they issue you a white pass. You enter the museum through a metal revolving gate. One side is for "whites" and one side is for "non-whites". At every stop there are benches and other facilities labeled "Europeans Only" or "Non-Whites Only".
The inside is much like the outside - very confined and prison-like with "whites" taking one tour and "non-whites" taking another. The tour begins with the history of Africa and slowly progresses through colonization and the gold rush. In the beginning, the corridors are very confined with a lot of razor wire and steal bars. As the tour moves into the late 80's and the liberation from apartheid, everything starts to open up and be less restricting. In the last room, there are newspaper articles that have been collected since democracy was established in 1994. The last article is always from the current day's paper. In Yesterday's paper, I was very surprised to see how much attention was still given to the 11 year-old issue. As you leave, there is a panel titled Freedom and you exit into a beautiful garden with many restriction-free areas.
Before I went I heard a lot about this place from others who have went. They said it was very emotional and moving. That completely describes my experience. The combination of the incredible detail and descriptive accounts made it unforgettable.
The inside is much like the outside - very confined and prison-like with "whites" taking one tour and "non-whites" taking another. The tour begins with the history of Africa and slowly progresses through colonization and the gold rush. In the beginning, the corridors are very confined with a lot of razor wire and steal bars. As the tour moves into the late 80's and the liberation from apartheid, everything starts to open up and be less restricting. In the last room, there are newspaper articles that have been collected since democracy was established in 1994. The last article is always from the current day's paper. In Yesterday's paper, I was very surprised to see how much attention was still given to the 11 year-old issue. As you leave, there is a panel titled Freedom and you exit into a beautiful garden with many restriction-free areas.
Before I went I heard a lot about this place from others who have went. They said it was very emotional and moving. That completely describes my experience. The combination of the incredible detail and descriptive accounts made it unforgettable.
posted by Fred at 1:20 AM
2 Comments:
what always suprised me about 'white' South Africans then is that they identified themselves with europe so much and most of them had never even been there.
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