The End Of The West.

Hannes Wessels,

On Sunday I attended the memorial ceremony in Livingstone to pay my respects to the African and European servicemen from then Northern Rhodesia who gave their lives in the course of WWI during which they fought and died in the trenches of the Western Front, the jungles of Burma, and the wild savannas of East Africa. Sad, but heartwarming being in the company of old soldiers who have learned the hard lessons of war and harbour no hard feelings towards former adversaries.

Also a time for reflection, and knowing a little of the history of the conflict, I struggled to stifle my inner anger knowing, but for the reckless machinations of a few powerful people, this tragedy could have been avoided, and in that event there may not have been a Hitler and no WWII. What a world that might have been but alas the gods or their representatives decided otherwise.

Born in then Salisbury, Rhodesia in 1956, ten years after the end of WWII, I obviously had no idea what was happening around me but as we now know, massive shifts in global power had followed the cessation of hostilities, a ‘Cold War’ began, and the omnipotence synonymous with Great Britain and her empire was ebbing away. And with that came the end of the imperial era which ushered in radical change that would impact heavily upon me as a naïve nine-year old when Prime Minister Ian Smith declared UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence). Thanks to my late father who explained the ramifications to me, I discovered, to my horror, that I was now a citizen of an outlaw state, and that the armed forces of the gracious Queen we had grown to love, might soon attack us, overthrow the government of the day and affect ‘regime change’ which would involve the transfer of power to the African majority.  It was an early and rather rude awakening to the world of ‘Realpolitik’ where morals, ethics, kinship and old loyalties are rapidly dispensed with in favour of ruthless pragmatism.  

I suppose this is where my political journey began and I started to take a keen interest because I then knew how high the stakes were and how vulnerable I, my family and my countrymen and women were. And as always in the course of adversity, one looks for glimmers of light in the gloom. Then, with the onset of war at home, we all hoped if we fought hard enough, ‘good’ would prevail over ‘bad’ and we would find a new pollical dispensation that would restore peace and with it, prosperity.

This hope then proved to be a forlorn one but I and most of my compatriots, then believed that with pressure from the Western democracies, common sense, decency and respect for fundamental human rights would prevail and this would protect and save us from being destroyed and displaced. This also turned out to be in vain and with the forced removal of Europeans from farms commencing in 2000 the economy collapsed and I ran out of reasons to stay and raise a family in the country I loved.

Against this backdrop, for a member of a European minority group in southern Africa, facing significant politically motivated hostility as I and my family were, there has always been the UK, Europe and America, the ‘free-world’ as we knew it,  providing a powerful and reassuring presence in the world. So, with this in mind, it is with growing despondency I have watched the political and socio-economic changes unfold in those countries.

Being half-German, I looked on in dismay when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s doors to undocumented migrants from the middle-east, almost instantly changing the demographic landscape. Since then Germany appears to have been in terminal economic decline amid a growing ethnic polarisation while the leadership under Chancellor Merz seems to be seeking war with Russia as a distraction from the failures of the recent past. France was recently set on fire by over 500,000 angry militants, mostly migrants, complaining about their share of the country’s riches. This civil outrage had all the hallmarks of unbridled anarchy caused by extremists, and there can be little doubt this will not be the last of the lawlessness with the spectre of civil-war looming large.

With my children holding British passports, I, like many others, have long looked to the UK as the best option for them.  When Boris Johnson won an overwhelming majority in the election of 2019 I was enormously relieved. Here was a man I had followed a long while, who was well informed, an intellect, who seemed possessed of the commitment and fortitude to do what was sorely needed. Desperate, working-class English people, struggling with high taxes and poor services, saw him as the man who would attend to their legitimate concerns and gave him a massive mandate for change, but sadly they, and indeed I, were wrong again. He turned his back on them, flung the doors to millions of migrants open, locked the country down for two years on dubious grounds, and when finally hounded from office, left them and the Union in worse shape than he found it. Fourteen years of continuous Tory rule was a massive disaster for UK citizens.  Today, England under Labour, led by an extreme socialist Prime Minister, is in rapid decline by all relevant indicators, and with the ongoing transfer of political power to growing, recently formed ethnic and religious groups it seems the future for white Britons, forecast to be a minority of less than 30% by 2099, is bleak.

Against this backdrop, the re-election of Donald Trump to the United States presidency in November 2024 had me celebrating. The man chosen to lead the most powerful country, and therefore the leader of what was left of the ‘free-world’ brought hope to all who wanted to see ‘Western Civilisation’ survive and strengthen.

As in England, it was struggling white working-class Americans who rallied to the MAGA (Make America Great Again) cause which promised secure borders, putting Americans first, and no more foreign wars, that played a decisive role in his victory. And as in England they have been betrayed. President Trump did precisely what he promised not to do and now the country is embroiled in a costly war, seemingly without end, against Iran, which has destabilised the Persian Gulf and thus the world, and sent energy costs soaring. His erstwhile supporters are on harder times than ever, the country is dangerously polarised, and as a result the political pendulum has swung sharply to the left delivering power on an unprecedented scale to people who shun traditional American values and mores. The recent so-called ‘Mid-Term’ elections that have validated that shift may go down in history as the day ‘Western Civilisation’ began its terminal decline.

I am 70 years old now so I look back on 60 years during which I have been well informed enough to watch the world events with something of an educated eye and sadly I must report it has been a life of consistent disappointment where pretty much everything that could go wrong, did.

And so I end this missive with some uplifting irony. In the midst of my general distress, the South African ANC, about which I can find almost nothing complimentary to say, has surprised me and provided a flicker of light in the African night.

They have just facilitated and supervised a truly democratic, free and fair election that was, by all accounts, well managed, without any hint of foul play, and little or no violence. (An exercise the Americans might want to look at and learn from). And despite taking a beating at the polls the ruling party has reacted with acceptance, humility and tremendous political maturity.

For an African ‘liberation movement’ this is extraordinary behaviour that has provided a peaceful platform for the elected politicians to go to work in repairing the damage done over the last 32 years and a chance to make the country a better place for all.

I know there are difficult times ahead as the major parties are forced into complicated coalition talks but I’m pinning my last hopes on South Africa as the country that might not dash my hopes and offer my two daughters a decent chance.