Echoes of the ‘rooi gevaar’: Revived communist ‘threat’ to the West a bitter refrain for SA

Can the world operate without fabricated fears?

In a radio quiz, this would probably qualify as an un-Googleable question.

Consider a recent example for context: on the weekend when the US is celebrating 250 years, a fresh(-ish) fear is imported into American political discourse.

In Afrikaans: the rooi gevaar (red danger).

While we here in South Africa are struggling with myriad seemingly unsolvable problems of our own, this feels like a familiar refrain – one where we have learnt our part and can sing along, or at least offer a counterpoint with a fair degree of integrity.

We, the white people of the southern tip of Africa, were once activated, motivated, mobilised and controlled by the fear of communism.

I do not even have to offer verified sources to substantiate the point. In certain circles – where “Western civilisation needs to be preserved”, or where people feel the pressure of standing at one end of a spectrum of intolerable economic inequality while refusing to recognise the dire need for a new economic operating system – reigniting a tried and trusted fear seems to be a brilliant option.

One may indeed argue that claiming the fear of communism is unfounded is misplaced. Perhaps if you are positioned on the side of democracy and religious liberty (or, more specifically, Western Christianity), you should indeed be filled with fear of an imminent communist infiltration and subsequent takeover (read: regime change).

While the jury may still be studying select pieces of evidence or scenarios, South Africa has an experience to offer.

It was the year 1986. I was in Standard 5. By that time I already knew that in a few years I would go off to join the South African army to defend our precious country against the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the communist USSR.

All our things, values, people and religion were in mortal danger of being obliterated (to use a complete cliché, circa 2026).

It was the year 1996. South Africa was two years into our precious democracy. We adopted a world-class Constitution that holds its own to this day, in 2026.

It was the year 2006. Twelve years after our first democratic, free and fair elections, the South African Communist Party and the ANC had become a normal part of a functioning multiparty democracy.

It was the year 2016. They (the communists) had not taken over anything in South Africa, nothing had come of some threats of nationalising anything, no bank became state owned and most freedoms (as promised and protected by said Constitution) were still intact.

It is the year 2026. Many parts of the world (let’s call it “The West”) are in desperate need of economic reform. Many who are vaguely able to fathom even its mere magnitude, find the idea of a trillionaire unpalatable and eyes are finally opening up to the fact that what were seen and esteemed as beacons of “true” democracy ain’t quite that no more.

But to counter this, to claw back and in a desperate attempt to return to a more familiar world, the communist threat is once again being dished up as something real and close and unbelievably dangerous.

The sad reality is that it will ignite the desired response in many. In the story line of “The West” against anything that may threaten to tweak (or heaven forbid, replace) fondly held examples of the epitome of Western achievement and prowess (read: the US), this fear feels like a valid plot.

This is a distraction.

This is keeping people apart.

This is breaking down trust.

We – the white nationalists of South Africa – have been down that path. The cost of travelling along was high, the fruits unbearably bitter.

Are we in a position to warn anybody?

Are we called to bravely imagine a new world? DM