Philippus Jacobus Wilhelmus Buys (born 1 March 1963) is a South African trade union leader and the chairperson of the Solidarity Movement.
Born in Delareyville, Buys obtained a degree in Communication Studies, with Political Science as his other major subject, from the Potchefstroom University in 1988. In 1992 he obtained an honours degree in Labour Relations from the University of Johannesburg. During his university years, Buys was a member of the Puk Student Council, chairperson of the Chess Club, deputy chairperson of the mission work organisation, Hulpprojek, and editor of the opinion magazine, Perspektief. He also attended courses in political economics at the University of the Witwatersrand and project management at the NWU. [1]
He began working as an industrial relations officer at Eskom, then in 1992 moved to work as an organiser for the Mine Workers' Union (MWU). [2] In 1994, he served on the Volkstaat Council, which investigated the potential of an Afrikaner Volkstaat. [3] Buys served as council member and member of the executive committee of the North-West University for seven years. [4]
In 1997, he became CEO of the MWU. Under Buys' leadership, the union was renamed as Solidarity. [5] After being elected as General Secretary of the MWU, Buys’s first step was to expand the MWU into Solidarity by restructuring, modernising and extending the organisation to be of service to the entire workforce of Afrikaans-speaking people. [6] As the leader of Solidarity, Buys transformed the union into a dynamic movement that went beyond workers’ rights only. He led Solidarity from a traditional union to a movement that actively promotes Afrikaners’ economic and cultural interests. [7]
The Solidarity Movement currently consists of more than 25 institutions founded by Buys [8] , which, among others, include:
In his position as chairperson, Buys is actively involved in current political affairs in South Africa, advocating for the Afrikaner people. [9] His motto is: "Afrikaners should live freely, safely and prosperously at the southern tip of Africa". [10]
The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, commonly known by its abbreviation AWB, is a Afrikaner nationalist, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi political party in South Africa. Founded in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and six other far-right Afrikaners, the AWB advocates for secessionist Afrikaner nationalism and the establishment of an independent Boer-Afrikaner republic, referred to as the "Volkstaat" or "Boerestaat," within part of South Africa.
Orania is a white separatist South African town founded by Afrikaners. It is located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province. The town is situated on the R369 highway, and is 871 kilometres (541 mi) from Cape Town and approximately 680 kilometres (420 mi) from Pretoria. Its climate is semi-arid.
The Herstigte Nasionale Party is a South African political party which was formed as a far-right splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Party, although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes. The party is, unlike other splinter factions from the National Party, still active but politically irrelevant.
The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary section of Grey College. It was declared an independent Afrikaans-language university in 1950 and the name was changed to the University of the Orange Free State. The university has two satellite campuses. Initially a whites-only precinct, the university was fully de-segregated in 1996. The first black university vice-chancellor was appointed in 2010.
A Volkstaat, also called a Boerestaat, is a proposed White homeland for Afrikaners within the borders of South Africa, most commonly proposed as a fully independent Boer/Afrikaner nation. The proposed state would exclude Afrikaans-speaking Coloureds but accept South Africans of English ancestry and other White South Africans, if they accept Afrikaner culture and customs.
The Ora is the local currency of Orania, an Afrikaner town in South Africa first issued in April 2004. It is pegged at par with the South African rand. The name, recalling that of the town where it circulates, derives from Latin aurum, meaning "gold". The currency is not sanctioned by the South African Reserve Bank.
Solomon Johannes "Sampie" Terreblanche was a South African academic economist and writer, author of numerous economics books and was most famous for his History of Inequality in South Africa, 1652–2002. He was Professor emeritus of Economics at Stellenbosch University, where he built a reputation as a lecturer in History of economic thought, Economic history, the Economy of South Africa, and economic systems.
Vrye Weekblad is a progressive Afrikaans national weekly newspaper that was launched in November 1988 and forced to close in 28 May 1994, then relaunched as an online newspaper in 2019. The paper was noted for its anti-apartheid stance making it a notable outlier in the Afrikaans language media of the 1980s and early 1990s. The paper was initially driven into bankruptcy by the legal costs of defending its charge that South African Police General Lothar Neethling had supplied poison to security police to kill activists.
The Volkstaat Council was an organisation of 20 people, created by the South African government, to serve as a constitutional mechanism to enable proponents of the idea of a Volkstaat to constitutionally pursue the establishment of such a Volkstaat.
Vereniging van Oranjewerkers is a South African white separatist political movement that seeks a homeland for Afrikaners.
General Lothar Paul Neethling was chief deputy commissioner (second-in-command) of the South African Police in the apartheid era.
Solidarity is a South African trade union that negotiates on behalf of its members and attempts to protect workers' rights. Although the union is often involved in issues of political interest, it does not align or formally affiliate itself with any political party. Solidarity is a trade union within the Christian tradition of unionism.
Max du Preez is a South African author, columnist and documentary filmmaker and was the founding editor of Vrye Weekblad. Vrye Weekblad Online or Vrye Weekblad II was launched on 5 April 2019 again with Max du Preez as editor.
AfriForum is a South African non-governmental organisation which mainly focuses on the interests of Afrikaners, a subgroup of the country's white population. AfriForum has been described as a "white nationalist, alt-right, and Afrikaner nationalist group", though this description is rejected by the organisation's leadership, who refer to themselves as a civil rights group.
The National Conservative Party of South Africa is an Afrikaner nationalist political party formed on 16 April 2016 in Pretoria.
The Accord on Afrikaner self-determination is a South African political accord that recognises the right of the Afrikaner people on self-determination. The accord was signed by the Freedom Front, the African National Congress and the National Party-led South African government on 23 April 1994.
"Dubul' ibhunu", translated as shoot the Boer, as kill the Boer or as kill the farmer, is a controversial anti-apartheid South African song. It is sung in Xhosa or Zulu. The song originates in the struggle against apartheid when it was first sung to protest the Afrikaner-dominated apartheid government of South Africa.
The South African Iron and Steel Trades Association was a trade union representing white metalworkers in South Africa.
Willie Durand Spies is a South African lawyer and politician from Gauteng. He represented the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2009.
Jacques Philip Malan was a South African musicologist who held several prominent positions in South African music throughout his career. He was also the editor of the South African Music Encyclopedia, published in four volumes by Oxford University Press between 1979 and 1986.
{{cite book}}
: Check |url=
value (help)