Chapter 225 - 225. APARTHEID
Magnus read the whole thing and got a brief understanding of what was going on. The whole system of South Africa was messed up and shouldn't exist in the current era.
[A/N: All that you are about to read is real, I am not making this up.]
Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap (or white dominance), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Asians and Coloureds, then black Africans.
Apartheid was delineated into petty apartheid, which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and grand apartheid, which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was passed just a year after South Africa became independent from the British, it was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, which made it illegal for most South African citizens to marry or pursue sexual relationships across racial lines.
The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: "Black", "White", "Coloureds", and "Indian", the last two of which included several sub-classifications. Places of residence were determined by racial classification.
Between 1960 and 1973, 1.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods as a result of apartheid legislation, in some of the largest mass evictions in modern history. Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict the black population to ten designated "tribal homelands", also known as bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states. The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans.
Many opposing voices were also rising in the country, African National Congress was the leading anti-apartheid political movement, for ending segregation and introducing majority rule. And this was equally as bad, there needs to be an equal representation, there should be no one superior to the other.
Magnus felt as if South Africa was like some kind of an experiment, and the UK and the USA were ignoring it for now as the current government of South Africa was anti-communist.
He put the paper down. His mind was thinking something, and when he came to a conclusion, his eyes widened and he shot up, "DAMMIT! NO NO! If this went on, all my investments would go to ruin, damn these dumb politicians."
"What happened, dear?" Martha asked him, shocked by his spontaneous cursing.
"Nothing Grandma, I just found some muggles to be worse than the purebloods. I will go and deal with it now, Dobby, drop me at my home." Magnus rushed.
Martha chuckled, "Hehe, muggle or wizard, all are the same, child, their kindness is usually just a farce."
Magnus was no saint, although he felt what was happening in South Africa was bad, but it did not affect him in any way possible, so he didn't care, or so he thought until he realised all his future plans could be spoiled because of these folks.
In his dictionary, be it a person of any colour if any of them think they are superior to the other, need to be bonked on the head with a good old obliviate so hard they forget what race even means.
~No wonder Elna so desperately wanted her family to be shifted from South Africa.~ he realised.
...
*POP*
"Sup Mag, you got a phone call from Pfizer, they said they made a new medicine but have no idea what to do with it." Ragnar told him lazily.
But Magnus ignored him, "No time, Rag, we might have to go to South Africa as soon as possible. Pack your bags."
"AWESOME, SUMMER HOLIDAYS!" Ragnar cheered up and waved his wand proudly to pack his bags. He was only good at a few low-level charms but he was proud of it dammit.
Magnus meanwhile picked up his phone and called Adrian and Ted. "I need you at Buckingham Palace in 10 minutes, emergency meeting."
Later, he called the queen, who did not have a mobile phone, "Granny Liz, I need you and the prime minister at the palace in 10 minutes, emergency meeting."
The queen on the other side felt happy, being called Granny once again. Her bad mood from days just vanished in an instant. "I understand, will call him now."
Magnus quickly found Abe and asked him to teleport them to the palace. He and Ragnar arrived there in a second, "Abe you stay here, we might need you later."
He and Ragnar headed to the Queen's office, it had enough space for everybody to talk with. He was of course the first one to arrive.
As he was on the way to the office, he saw the old man Mountbatten. "Grandpa, what are you doing?"
"Just returned with the oil tankers, came to report the matter," Mountbatten replied. He was so old and yet he did not feel very tired even after this long journey.
"Good, come with me then, we have another emergency." He told him and walked ahead.
The one to arrive late was going to be the Prime Minister, as he was a muggle. The queen arrived minutes later.
"What's the matter, Magnus?" She inquired.
"Our plan to add Overseas Territories as a permanent part is in danger, let others come, I will explain." He replied and waited.
Soon Ted and Adrian also arrived, being wizards was convenient, in half an hour the Prime Minister also arrived. They all took seats. Magnus immediately put various newspaper cutouts in front of them.
"Tell me, are we supporting this mess?" He asked the Prime Minister sternly. Ragnar, Ted, Adrian and Lord Mountbatten looked at the newspaper.
The Prime minister nodded, "Yes, and no. We don't support racism of course, but we can not let a new government take power right now, because the next one might go towards the Soviets."
*BANG*
Magnus slammed his fist on the table, "Do you have any idea how much money we will lose if we don't do anything? TRILLIONS! The whole world already sees us as colonisers, enslavers and thieves. South Africa was our mess to begin with, and we are still pouring gas in the fire? Have you gone mad?
"The future, in 10-30 years, will be different from what it is now. As the day of communication arrives the world will be more connected than before. And you don't want any bad spots on your image at that point.
"I have investments in Africa and have big plans for it in the future. All African nations will refuse to cooperate with us if we are seen as colonisers. I understand, being a coloniser was the trend of that era, but this is the modern world now, and we can't be seen as the same.
"Seriously, Britain could have been as big as Russia if we had instead used our brain and decided to rather than dividing the world on the basis of colour and language had tried to unite the colonies under one flag, as a part of our own, citizens of Britain and if they were treated right, they would have loved to become British, but no, we had to be short-sighted. Now, we need to fix this mess."
~TRILLIONS? What's so good about Africa?~ the prime minister wondered.
"How do you propose we start this campaign to wash our image?" Lord Mountbatten asked.
Magnus turned to the Prime Minister, "Put trade sanctions on South Africa and arms embargo, heavily publicise it around the globe, remember, WE need to look like the best people in the world. Heavily publicise our efforts in the USA too, as talks about freedom there are pretty hot. Along with their ongoing anti-war sentiment, we can add this to it.
"Next, we are a permanent member of the UNSC, try to pass a resolution to put sanctions and arms embargo on South Africa from around the world. The world will have no choice but to agree to it, Russia will be happy, China will agree since they want to be in our good books right now, USA and France will follow suit. And tell Israel to back off from helping them in making nukes. Understood?"
"What about the South African country itself?" The queen inquired.
Magnus smiled and turned to his Order of Merlin members, "I got a plan for that. It's time to visit Africa."
"What will you do?" Lord Mountbatten inquired, however, Ted and Adrian had gotten an idea by now. Both of them stood up at the same time.
"I will prepare my luggage," Ted said.
"And I will gather some men to come along," Adrain added.
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