Afskeid van apartheid - die politieke koers van die tydskrif Woord en Daad in die periode 1967-1990

Abstract

The journal Woord en Daad ('Word and Action), which discussed political and social issues from a Christian perspective, supported the policy of apartheid until the mid-seventies. The editors regarded this policy as a logical consequence of a view which they based on the Bible and in which nations (or peoples) occupy a very important place. The journal advocated the rapid development as well as the territorial expansion of the so-called black homelands. By the end of the seventies it was realized that this policy was no longer feasible. Woord en Daad always conde1nned all forms of discrimination, but initially did not regard most apartheid measures as discriminatory. In later years the journal condemned discriminatory laws in stronger terms, but still supported government policy in general. In a very cautious way Woord en Daad prepared its readers, who were mostly Afrikaans-speaking and members of the Reformed ('Dopper'J Church, for the radical political changes of the nineties.