Joost Strydom:

Strydom is a controversial Afrikaans figure know for spreading narratives related to ‘culture extinction’. He is closely associated with Orania, a whites-only Afrikaner community in South Africa. Strydom often acts as a spokesperson for Orania in the media, defending its existence and promoting its goals. His family have generational roots in Orania and the “volk” (people’s own) community.

Orania, a private town in the Northern Cape province of Sth Africa, was founded by White Afrikaners. Its stated goal is to create a stronghold for their “minority” group, the Afrikaans language and culture through tthe creation of a “Volkstaat” ( people’s state). Orania’s leadership assert it is a cultural project, not a racial one, theoreticaly ekciming anyone who speaks Afrikaans, or identifies with the culture. However in practice, only white Afrikaners are accepted as residents under their criteria. Consquently outside observers and scholars widely describe Orania as “whites only” and view it as an attempt to resurrect aspects of apartheid. Orania was established by the Afrikanervryheidstigting (AVSTIG) as a homeland that reflects the historical narrative of the Boer Republics and white separatist ideal in South Africa.

Key themes and Contradictions

• Proponents argue Orania is about Afikaner self-determination, preservation and protection.

• Orania rejects affirmation action policies in post-apartheid South Africa

• While they reject the ‘racist’ label, claiming its ‘culture’, the strict acceptance rules effectively maintain a white-only population.

Outside of Sth Africa white nationalists and supremacists frequently cite Orania and figures like Strydom to boost their conspiracy narratives about (faux) white genocide. They use it as a example of preservation, often glossing over the fact Orania is a small isolated example, born of a history not replicated in countries like New Zealand.
White-centric propaganda often hyper-amplifies challenges in Sth Africa, such as farm attacks, framing them as solely a white issue. However, statistics generally show that violence affects all racial groups in Sth Africa and farm attacks are a complex issue that does not exclusively impact whites.

It is important to note that while Orania's leadership frames their community as a cultural project, its practical "whites-only" nature and the narratives propagated by figures like Strydom make it highly susceptible to both the adoption and co-option of nternational white nationalist and supremacist movements for various agendas. This makes critical analysis of both Orania's internal narratives and its external reception crucial.