Nigel Branken
Let’s call Afriforum, Solidarity, Operation Dudula, the Patriotic Alliance, ActionSA — and every other force peddling racism, xenophobia, fascism, and populist nationalism — exactly what they are: regime change agents of the United States operating in South Africa. Let’s stop pretending this is organic. Washington is once again doing what it does best — undermining democracy and challenging the sovereignty of nations that dare to think and act independently.
History tells us this clearly: whenever any country resists U.S. hegemony, the response is predictable — destabilization, disinformation, and force. The United States has never been the “good guy” on the global stage. It is an empire — and empires do not tolerate dissent. For decades, the U.S. has fought to protect and expand monopoly capitalism, crushing every attempt by nations to achieve real sovereignty, people-powered democracy, and economic self-determination.
Unmistakable Fingerprints of Uncle Sam’s Imperialism
From Latin America to the Middle East, Africa to Southeast Asia, the fingerprints of U.S. imperialism are unmistakable — in coups, in proxy wars, in assassinations, in the destruction of elected governments that dared to reject the neoliberal order. Whether through direct military intervention, economic warfare, or soft-power instruments like “civil society” lobby groups, the strategy is always the same: destabilize, discredit, divide, and dominate.
In South Africa today, the same imperial playbook is being deployed. From the manufactured fear about migrants “stealing jobs” to the relentless defence of stolen property under the guise of “property rights,” the propaganda being peddled serves the interests of Washington’s billionaire elite. Even the international human rights system is fair game — ready to be undermined when it threatens their grip on global power and wealth.
SA Constitutional Democracy a Threat to US Imperialism
South Africa’s rights-based constitutional democracy — rooted in the moral vision of the Freedom Charter — is a threat to empire precisely because it dares to imagine a society where land and wealth are shared. That vision challenges the global status quo, and so it must be discredited or co-opted.
We must not be naive. The struggle for a free, sovereign, and just South Africa did not end in 1994. The frontlines have simply shifted. Today, the battle is not only fought in parliament or in the streets — it is also waged in the narratives we hear, the organizations being funded, and the foreign agendas disguised as grassroots activism
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If we are serious about freedom, we must be serious about identifying and resisting the forces working to erode it — no matter how they brand themselves.
