A poster released by a South African
political party that shows a young interracial couple in a loving
embrace has sparked huge debate in the country.
The
image was released by the student arm of the Democratic Alliance, the
nation's opposition party, and distributed around university campuses
earlier this week.
The image shows a white man and black woman, apparently naked, and has the tagline: 'In OUR future, you wouldn't look twice'.
Controversial: This poster released by a South
African political party showing an interracial couple embracing has
sparked huge debate in the country
But since the poster was released it
has sparked fierce debate, with most of the reaction being supportive,
but some elements being clearly racist.
It
has dominated the news agenda and shown that issues that last appeared
during the apartheid era have not entirely disappeared from the nation's
consciousness.
Hundreds of people have taken to
social-networking sites to voice their feelings. One Facebook user
described the picture as 'an abomination'.
Shocking: The African National Congress, of whom
Nelson Mandela was a former leader, used clearly racist language in
their reaction to the poster
Some of the South African political parties' reactions are perhaps the most shocking however.
Most disturbing of all is the comments of the ruling African National Congress - the party once led by Nelson Mandela.
They use clearly racist language in their reaction to the poster.
Another party, the Christian Democrats, say the poster was 'clearly promoting sexual immorality'.
And a trade union also said that the poster implies 'join the party to have an affair'.
While the negative reaction has gained the headlines, most has been supportive.
Another
Facebook user wrote: 'That something so humanly beautiful, an embrace
between two people, can cause so much disharmony and conflict
'We live in such a beautiful country but we are so divided through sheer ignorance!'
The political party that released the image sad they were pleased with the strong reaction the poster had created.
Mbali Ntuli, the federal chairperson of the Democratic Alliance youth wing told the Globe and Mail Newspaper: 'With all the comments, good and
bad, we have achieved our goal of engaging South Africans in a frank
debate about one of the most defining issues in our country today –
tolerance.
'Part of addressing the issue of intolerance is about bringing people’s prejudices to the fore.'
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