User talk:Alcatel

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[edit] Naming of the 16th December

Hi. I've corrected the information on this: It was called "Dingane's Day" by Afrikaners/Boers. I'm not sure what Zulu, or other Black South Africans may have called it, but I seriously doubt it was called that, as Dingane was deposed as a result of it. If you want more information, I've left a link to a thesis by a Tuks student, which details this.

What the Andries Pretorius page really needs is a bit of wikifying (headings, related articles, external links, etc): I might get around to it sometime, but, since you're particularly interested in Boer history, maybe you'd like to get onto it. -Kieran 14:01, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Racist POV

Hi again. I've been going through your edits, and I'm concerned that a lot of them have been made with the sole purpose of pushing a political point. I understand that you're a white Afrikaner, and feel that your culture is being threatened. Pushing to maintain your culture is admirable, so long as you don't step on other people's in the process. Also, Wikipedia is not a soapbox, but an attempt to capture factual information in a way that is useful to people. A lot of the edits you've made seem to have involved including things which you thought were true, but hadn't bothered to research. For an example, see the message above.

If you're going to add information to try and balance an article which you see as biased, please make sure of your facts, and post references to back them up. Also, the use of the term "kaffir" to refer to black people in South Africa (and, apparently, Jamaica) is insulting and demeaning, and, for that matter, legally actionable in South Africa. As such, it really doesn't belong in Wikipedia. I have seen that it was widely used, even by Encylopaedia Britannica, as late as 1911, and probably later, as a blanket term for a subset of native South African ethnic groups. However, I have yet to see an actual definition as to which groups, in particular, it refers to. The fact that there is a South_Africa_Kaffir_people article, does not mean that the term is useful, or acceptable, when used to describe native South Africans, in either a modern or historical sense. Where you need to refer to native South African peoples, please use their particular ethnic group. It's not only more respectful of those people's modern descendants, it's also more useful in terms of historical accuracy.

Finally, if you want to protect Afrikaner history and culture, try writing some neutral, factual articles on Afrikaner history and culture. For instance, the Natalia Republic page could use some more information, and some factual cleanup (eg: I doubt that it was coastal, since the British controlled the coast of what is now KZN at the time). Do some articles on aspects of Afrikaner culture, or cultural figures, or add some factual information (eg: from the Census 2002 site) about the distribution of white Afrikaners to the Afrikaner page. This would be a much more constructive way of achieving your goals, and helping to improve Wikipedia.

Thanks -Kieran 18:37, 14 May 2006 (UTC)