A few recent events, including this article in the Sunday Times two days ago, have really managed to get me, and probably a lot of other South Africans, thinking… ‘When does patriotism become offensive’?

According to Wikipedia patriotism is a supportive attitude toward your country/nation, and implies that the individual should place the interest of their nation over personal or group interests. Patriotism also “covers such attitudes as: pride in its achievements and culture, the desire to preserve its character and the basis of the culture, and identification with other members of the nation. In wartime, the sacrifice may extend to their own life.”

Being an Afrikaans girl, I’m obviously an Afrikaner, although coming from Port Elizabeth which is predominantly English, and having been to schools filled with mostly English, Xhosa and Coloured pupils etc, I’ve never felt close to the Afrikaner identity, and can sometimes be quite ashamed of the ‘beer-and-braaivleis’ brigade. And I definitely wouldn’t die for my country. Not the South Africa we’re living in right now anyway.

Recent events such as Bok van Blerk’s song ‘De La Rey’, and the upcoming play ‘Ons vir Jou’ have created some controversy among South Africans. Is it right to celebrate a war hero (from the Afrikaner perspective) in a war where so many people died? Or is Koos Kombuis right when he says: “If I was De la Rey, Deon, I would sue you for defamation. De la Rey wasn’t a warmonger, but a man of peace. He was a pragmatic and a progressive thinker. He didn’t live in the past like you.”
I tend to agree with Johrné van Huyssteen who says: “When I think of Bloedrivier, I respect the history. The Zulus who died were also fathers and people who wanted a country. The time has come to rather spend R4-million on writing a big nation-building musical that brings balance to the country and uplifts us all.” But then again, we get bombarded by the government’s superficial attempts at ‘nation-building’, which is usually not very successful. And is it wrong to be proud of a man who was (apparently) very brave and selfless? Even though the past is not something I, as an Afrikaner, am proud of, can we just pretend it didn’t happen?

Shouldn’t we maybe celebrate the worthy heroes that there were, regardless of which race/culture they belonged to? As long as it is not at the expense of, or deliberately excluding other cultures in our country. That might work for some real nation-building. Being proud of the deserving people, regardless of their language or race.