SA falls prey to US playbook on human rights, regime change

THE pattern is well-worn. Regardless of the issue or the president in power, if a country refuses to toe the Washington line, accusations of human rights abuses become the weapon of choice.

- DR RENEVA FOURIE

Cuba and Venezuela were targeted primarily because of their economic policies, which diverged from the model preferred by Washington. Iran and China were labelled for achieving successes that rivalled or surpassed Western capabilities.

Now the target is South Africa. The offence is that the country dared to take Israel to the International Court of Justice and lay bare evidence of genocidal acts.

When pressure failed to deter the government from this principled course, the US released a plethora of destabilising interventions, the most recent being a report alleging that the human rights situation in South Africa had worsened significantly.

In the past, millions accepted the official story told about countries placed on Washington’s list of offenders. They defended sanctions that crippled economies and harmed civilians.

Those who challenged the propaganda were branded as conspiracy theorists or apologists for despots.

South Africans are now watching this process unfold in real time. Narratives are created and disseminated through a system of media, think tanks and lobbying networks, until repetition renders them true.

This is not a new phenomenon. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman's Manufacturing Consent detailed how media and political elites shape public perception to align with imperial interests.

The same playbook is being used against South Africa. The US government, alongside its allies in the corporate media and right-wing NGOs, is constructing a narrative of a “failing state” to justify intervention.

Several sources, including Dale McKinley's The ANC and the Liberation Struggle: A Critical Political Biography, indicate that the seeds of regime-change had been planted well before the democratic transition.