They need to be white.
The town has come under the microscope as part of documentary maker Ben Zand’s latest YouTube series Human, and while it’s not unusual for him to cover subjects that may make people uncomfortable, even for him — a mixed-race British-Iranian man — it was a difficult, but necessary, story to tell.
‘I think people are becoming increasingly small-minded around identity and want to live in countries that are specifically white British, so I thought, what does it practically look like to live somewhere where there’s actually one type of person? Is this a realistic way of life? Would we be happier if we just lived with our own race?’ he explains to Metro, adding, ‘Obviously, as a mixed-race dude, the conclusion is probably not.’
He’s concerned that if we start to have more conversations about the existence of certain subcultures, such as the ethno-exclusive settlements, then we’re not addressing the issues at all.
‘People are scared because they don’t want their culture to be diluted, so I’m sure there’ll be British people trying to create Whites-only towns,’ he warns.
‘What they’ll do is buy a collection of houses with some friends who are the same race, then buy more, then put a gate around the community, and then suddenly they have a village. It’s not hard to do.’
After making the 12-hour journey from the UK to South Africa, one resident told Ben, 34, that they didn’t think he would be allowed in, just moments after the pair had exchanged jokes over a sizzling sausage on a BBQ.
‘I don’t think you’d fit in, quite honestly. I don’t think you’d be allowed,’ he was warned when he enquired about whether there was any way they’d accept him into their community.
Ben, 34, says that he was keen to explore the people behind the gates to try and understand why the town was formed in 1992, two years after brutally enforced racial segregation finally came to an end in South Africa under the first Black president, Nelson Mandela.
During apartheid, the white Afrikaner-led government had forced Black people to live separately, with more than 3.5 million forcibly relocated between 1960 and 1990. When this was outlawed, some Afrikaans were unhappy with the decision and, in rebellion, towns such as Kleinfontein began to crop up.
Protestors claimed they wanted to protect their Dutch-based Afrikaner culture, while escaping from government policies that encourage a united country, and the high crime rates that they blamed on people who aren’t white.
However, Kleinfontein’s spokesperson, Ben Geldenhuys, insists that the town’s existence is ‘not a racist thing’
‘There was nothing wrong 300 years ago when the Germans lived by themselves, or the Franks lived by themselves, but now it’s a problem as somebody decided that multiculturalism is the way to go,’ he told Ben.
‘The people who want to integrate, let them, and the people who don’t, let them.’
Despite being warned he wouldn’t be allowed to take permanent residence (not that he wanted to), Ben was given the green light to enter the gates of the community, and was surprised to find that the residents were, in fact, ‘insanely welcoming’, happily giving him a tour of the town, including its infamous statues.
‘They were so excited that I was there, and kept saying to me that they felt misunderstood. They think they’re right, but they just haven’t been heard yet,’ says Ben.
‘They were nice to me, because they probably wanted me to cover them nicely, and also, people find it very difficult to be horrible, even if they’re a complete racist, when one-on-one.’
There is nothing offensive about the aesthetics of the place either; there are well-structured light stone houses, plenty of green space, on which residents can ride their horses, and a brightly-coloured playground for children to enjoy.
‘It’s nice,’ says Ben, and despite his personal feelings, he felt it was important to engage in calm conversations. ‘I disagree with their perspective, and I made that very clear to them, and they totally got that, but even when I hate somebody’s views, I want to try to chat with them,’ he explains. ‘There’s an element to me that’s a bit hippie. I just love love, and I believe in being nice to people, no matter what. I hope that I make the case that it’s possible to talk softly about difficult things, and still challenge them.’
‘But this was a really difficult one,’ he adds. ‘I go to a nudist retreat and legal brothel in Nevada in other episodes, and those are a bit easier, because they’re not really hurting anybody, but being exclusively one race is massively problematic.
‘They really define people by their cultural heritage, and interestingly, they saw me as Persian, despite me speaking English and living there my whole life,’ stated Ben. ‘As soon as I got there, they said to me, “The Prince of Persia”. I laughed it off, and Ben said, “No, I looked you up and your great, great grandfather was the king”. I have never even said that publicly. It’s something my family think is the case, but they don’t know for sure. I Googled it afterwards, and you can’t find the link, which makes it even crazier. I think they’ve made an assumption, because they’ve found King Karīm Khān Zand.
‘They have many stereotypes about who you are, like asking if I drink because they thought I’d be a Muslim. It kind of cracked me up.
‘When I was asked if I could become Persian, I skirted around the issue and replied: “If I learned to eat sausages and speak Afrikaans, could I live here?” They pretended to me that people who aren’t Afrikaans could come to the community, so I said, “Do you have anybody who’s not Afrikaans?” It’s a no, because they obviously can’t.’
What did Ben take away from the day? ‘Humans are so tribalistic, and it reminded me that the thing that makes us fantastic is that we create communities and love one another. In Kleinfontein, they were so protective and kind to each other. They’ve created a well-functioning area, and the collectivism is such that they all contribute money to fund the schools and hospitals.
‘There’s a lot that can be learned, like if you work together, you can do great things. But that has a darker side, as by caring for themselves, they’ve banded together against other people whom they hate. We need a sense of identity that goes beyond our race and culture, as people on Earth.’
The whites-only town is just the start of Human, with Ben already filming 12 episodes, including ones focused on a remote tribe in Central Africa and another on the booming rent-a-girlfriend industry in Brazil, which will be released over the coming months on his relaunched YouTube, Zandland.
It is the ‘biggest risk’ of Ben’s career so far, as he is financing the documentaries and not partnering with a TV channel as he has done before, and is hoping to expand into live events, podcasts, and other genres.
‘I have wanted to do this forever, as there are so many stories I want to tell that TV wouldn’t let me,’ he says. ‘We’ve now got an advantage because we’re small, nimble and understand the Internet. I can start telling stories that I think are important. I strongly believe there’s a massive audience of people who want to understand the world in a non-aggressive, divisive, crazy way.’
To make things extra busy, his big move has coincided with him taking on another important role; Ben and his wife, CNN correspondent Isobel Yeung, welcomed their now 18-month-old son last year.
‘It’s hard being away from him so much. Yesterday, I returned from Las Vegas, and I’m going to Israel in two days. It’s genuinely quite hard; it makes me sad. It’s like they get little software upgrades every month, and can do something new all of a sudden, so I don’t like to miss things,’ he admits.
However, the youngster is also part of the reason he does what he does. ‘My son is English, Iranian, Chinese, Scottish, Irish, and I’ve always seen myself as a global citizen, but now global citizen has become out of fashion, but I want to get back there. It’s my mission.’
The post ‘I Visited a Whites-Only Town — It Could Happen in Britain’ appeared first on American Renaissance.
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