All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S03E08_English

- [Narrator] Our
history is no more

than a series of
incredible events.

Every one of us can
influence its course.

(dramatic music)

The most infinitesimal
of our decisions

can influence the
future of humanity.

To know the past is
to foresee the future.

December 2018, suburbs of
Pretoria, South Africa.

After days spent
hidden in their cellar,

these last white
inhabitants are finally

being evacuated by the United
Nations Intervention Force.

Their neighbors did
not get this chance.

Earlier in the day, they
were lynched by the crowd.

Crushed by decades of a racist
and brutal white government,

the Black communities
of South Africa

have finally seized power.

Nobody was able to
prevent the outburst

of violence which followed.

Thirsting for
revenge, the oppressed

have turned into oppressors.

Fearing an ethnic cleansing,
a fast intervention force

was sent to evacuate the white

populations to
neighboring Zimbabwe.

But none of that ever happened.

In 1962, a small grain
of sand who would lead

to the end of the
apartheid government

and the election of the first

Black president of South Africa.

(eerie music)

1836, the southern
tip of Africa.

Thousands of Boer settlers leave

their home to migrate inland.

May 26, 1948, the national
party wins the elections.

The new government has a free
hand to establish apartheid.

August 5th, 1962, the
Black leader Nelson Mandela

is found and arrested
by South African police.

These three key events
led South Africa

to the verge of a
civil war during

the terrible period
of apartheid.

December 16th, 1838,
southern tip of Africa.

Mortally wounded by a gunshot,

this young Zulu warrior
knows he is going to die.

(gun fires)
(groaning)

Before him, the river is red

with the blood of
his brothers in arms.

(gun fires)

They have no succeeded
in repelling these demons

who came to steal their land.

His eyes are becoming glazed.

In his mind, he remembers
the ancient tales

of white men invading the
continent centuries ago.

(rhythmic music)

These white men are Dutch.

They are here to found a colony

at the southern tip of
the African continent.

1652 marks the
beginning of a story

as complicated as it is violent.

During the following
years, the small colony

develops with the
arrival of French,

German, and
Scandinavian settlers

all carried by Protestant faith.

But quickly, the colony is
short of manpower and space.

The first issue is solved by
the massive influx of slaves.

The second is settled
with the conquest

of bordering
territories inhabited

by Khoikhoi, Bushmen,
or Xhosa people.

But unlike the Europeans, the
natives don't own firearms.

(gun fires)

The white settlers,
soon to be called Boers,

a term referring to peasants,

take root on the
African continent.

However, in 1795, the balance
of power changes dramatically.

(explodes)

The British Empire
seizes the colony

and imposes its
authority over the Boers.

A minority group
at the beginning,

the British population booms

with a massive
arrival of migrants.

In 1828, English became
the dominant language.

Anglicanism has emerged
as the state religion.

British law has
replaced Dutch law.

The Boers fear
that their identity

is in danger of disappearing.

In 1833, slavery is
abolished by the British.

Alarmed, the Boers
see their whole

economic system
called into question.

During the following years,
more than 15,000 Boers

flee the British order
and migrate inland

in order to carry on with
their lifestyle, a true
exodus.

This central and founding
event of the Boers

and their identity is
called the Great Trek.

In search of virgin
lands, they come across

territories occupied
by African Tribes.

In 1838, they enter the land
of the expanding Zulu Empire.

War is inevitable.

On December 16th, 15,000
Zulus surround a few hundred

settlers entrenched
in a circle of wagons.

(guns firing)
(people yelling)

But unlike the Boers, the
Zulus don't have guns.

3,000 young warriors are
massacred by gunfire.

The river of the battlefield,
filled with Zulu blood,

will later take the
name of Blood River.

- [Narrator] Welcome
to memory of humanity.

Every historical event,
regardless of how small,

is recorded and connected.

You only need to change one
to upset all the others.

Here, we're able
to control time,

analyze, and compare
billions of events

in order to rewrite
history in infinite ways.

The Boers believe
they are chosen by God

and invested with
a divine mission.

Gradually, they will start to
believe in their own destiny

and compare their own
faith with the exodus

of the Jews in
the Old Testament.

Over time, the
Great Trek becomes

the foundation stone
of Boer society.

The Boers are convinced
of the divine intervention

and the miraculous victory
in the Battle of Blood River.

This idea could be compared
to the Mormon ideology

during the conquest of the West.

Invested with a divine mission,

they migrated to
inhospitable, wide land

in order to preserve their
beliefs and way of life.

Now an inward looking community

and carried along by
their steadfast faith,

the Boers developed
their own concept.

Persecuted, they have
no other solution

than surviving at all cost.

- [Narrator] 1902,
Republic of the Transvaal.

This Boers farmer
has lost everything.

After years of heroic fighting

against British troops,
(farmer yelling)

he has seen his government
accepting to surrender.

Back home, in the farm
he built by himself,

he learnt of the
death of his wife

and his three children in one

of the many British
internment camps.

Like every Boer,
he knows their fate

has reached a tragic
turning point.

Someday, his people
will be doomed

if he and his peers
don't do anything.

Everything started
a few decades ago.

Following the Great Trek, the
Boers founded many republics.

The Natalia Republic,
immediately annexed
by the British,

then the Transvaal and
the Orange Free State,

officially tolerated
by the crown.

Everything changed
when in 1866 diamonds,

then gold, are
discovered on their land.

For the empire, missing
such a financial

Godsend was out of the question.

These territories
become the scene

of two wars between
white settlers,

two dreadful modern wars.

Indeed, the British army
is well ahead of its time.

Scorched-earth policy,
fortified houses, human
shields.

There are tens of thousands
of Boers civilians,

mainly women and children,

crammed into about
50 internment camps.

28,000 of them
will never return.

A quarter of the Afrikaner
population vanishes.

The survivors are
traumatized for decades.

These white farmers, already
full of resentment and hatred,

are afraid to see
their nation dying out

in a vast territory
inhabited with Black men

and ran by powerful
Anglo-Saxons.

They have no choice.

They must adapt themselves
or they will disappear.

They reluctantly
submit to the crown.

The Union of South
Africa is created in 1910

and immediately joins
the commonwealth.

- [Narrator] The
symbolism of words.

The word Boer means peasant.

In English, its pronunciation
is similar to the word boar.

Confronted with the threat to
be assimilated to the British,

the Boers assert their identity.

They begin to refer
to themselves by
the word Afrikaner.

This term designates any
person speaking Afrikaans,

a language derived
from Dutch and tinged

with French, Portuguese,
and native languages.

The word Afrikaans,
which means African,

allows them to assert
some legitimacy

on this new continent
and to turn their back

on their distant European roots.

On the other hand,
British people are called

Outlanders, which
means foreigners.

The Dutch term (speaking
in foreign language),

or leaguer in English,

referring to the
wagon fort formed

by the settlers every evening

to protect themselves
from the attacks,

gradually becomes the symbol
of the status of Afrikaners,

permanently surrounded
and in the minority,

fighting to the death.

There is often a greater
meaning behind a mere word.

(soft, dramatic music)

- [Narrator] March 21st, 1960.

This Black man is
in a state of shock.

He has been fighting for
years against the deep

inequalities which
poison his country.

Today, all of his
beliefs are being dashed.

Legal action won't be enough,

not against this racist
and criminal government.

As a lawyer, he saw the
situation getting worse

year after year, law
after law, quite legally.

Since the British
arrived, Black people

have always been reduced
to a cheap workforce.

Areas had been segregated on
the pretext of fighting crime,

but in fact, for
economic reasons.

While white people live in
town and own good lands,

Black people have
inherited infertile

soil and industrial areas.

Just after World War
I, while South Africa

gets its autonomy from
the British Empire,

Afrikaner nationalists fight
to win back absolute power

and expel the English-speaking
middle class from it.

- For us, for your children!

- [Narrator] But for white
workers, there is a new
danger,

the cheap black workforce,
which threatens their jobs,

and an ever-increasing
Black population.

There is an expression for
this danger, Swart Gevaar.

The Black Peril.
(dramatic music)

On May 26th, 1948,
the elections are won

by the pro-Afrikaner
National Party.

A policy of separate development

is immediately established
by the government.

The apartheid regime is born.

Obsessed with the
survival of their way

of life and traditions,
Afrikaner leaders

take refuge behind unjust laws

and acquire a
traditional arsenal.

The Population Registration
Act defines racial membership

according to subjective
requirements,

all South Africans
being classified

into one of four racial
groups
based on their skin color.

White, black, Indian, and
mixed race or colored.

The Group Areas
Act sets boundaries

for authorized
residential areas.

Black populations
pack into townships,

which are overpopulated,
second-class towns.

The immorality amendment act

forbids interracial
sexual relationships,

and owning a passbook
for every Black man

over 16 is made compulsory.

In 1951, a law lays
the foundations of
the Bantustan system.

10 divided territories
are designated

to become new Black nations.

Black people have
no other choice

than moving from their homes

and becoming citizens of
these tribal homelands.

10 million of them
effectively lose

their South African citizenship.

In 1953, racial
segregation becomes legal.

Signs specify the
rights of each person

according to his
or her skin color.

Getting deeper and deeper into

an obsession law
and order neurosis,

the apartheid system imposes
a state of emergency,

massively resorts to the
military and the police,

disbands protest movements,

and locks up
political opponents,

all of which being
completely legal.

The numerous anti-apartheid
demonstrations

are repressed and blood is shed.

The country slides into
a spiral of violence.

(dramatic music)

March 21st, 1960,
township of Sharpeville.

- [Man] We need some
more supplies now!

- [Narrator] Thousands
of demonstrators burn

their passbooks in front
of a police station.

Tension rises.

Policemen aim their
gun at the crowd.

(guns fire)
A shot is fired.

It's a bloodbath.

Many children have died among
the estimated 60 casualties.

World public opinion
is deeply shocked.

So is this Black man
who decides this day

to modify his strategy and
commence armed conflict.

His name is Nelson Mandela.

- [Narrator] Withdrawal
into oneself.

Only 20% of the
population is Afrikaner

when the apartheid
system is established.

Fearing for its survival, the
system becomes more radical

and protects itself with
segregationist laws.

White leaders believe
their only way

to keep power is
through repression.

Black people,
humiliated and deprived

of almost all
their civic rights,

become second-class citizens.

Nowadays in the state of Israel,

Palestinians face massive
transfers of people,

strictly separated population
areas, a system of passbooks,

and the use of Palestinians
as a cheap workforce.

Even though the
causes are different,

the consequences are similar,

communities withdrawing
into themselves,

violent outbursts,
strong resentments

which become, with
time, insurmountable.

(people yelling)

- [Narrator] Sunday, February
11th, 1990, Cape Town area.

The prison officer is
living an historic moment.

He is aware that his country

is about to change drastically.

He also knows that the
71-year-old prisoner

who has just been
released is different

from the man who arrived
in prison 27 years ago.

(somber music)

Nelson Mandela started
his political career
46 years earlier

when he joined the ANC, the
African National Congress,

which fights for the
Black civic rights.

As an advocate of non-violence,

he is deeply shocked by
the Sharpeville massacre.

In 1961, he takes
part in the creation

of the ANC military wing,
the Umkhonto we Sizwe,

the Spear of the Nation.

(gun clicking)

Mandela, a man of
law, goes underground

and plans a campaign
of sabotage.

(explodes)
(people yelling)

August 5th, 1962,
Mandela is arrested.

Two years later, he is
sentenced to life
imprisonment.

He is incarcerated in the
prison of Robben Island,

an island off Cape Town.

At this maximum security prison,

he suffers from humiliations
and intimidations.

Torture and beatings
are a common practice.

(water splashes)

For years, while
his country locks

itself into hatred and violence,

Mandela favors the
Ubuntu philosophy

of respect for human life,

tolerance, conciliation,
and no desire for revenge.

(people yelling)

Outside of prison, nothing stops

his former companions in arms
from pursuing his release.

Fighting becomes his wife
Winnie's reason for living.

(people yelling)

New, more radical
protest movements emerge.

The situation is escalating.

In 1976, in Soweto,
unprecedented riots

break out in this
overpopulated township.

A state of emergency
is declared.

The army intervenes.

There are hundreds
of casualties.

(man groans)
(people yelling)

These riots, broadcasted by
televisions all over the
world,

shock international
public opinion.

In a demented effort to
maintain
control over their country,

some South African leaders
ask their scientists

to reduce the fertility
rate of Black women.

The ANC military wing
intensifies its attacks

and even assaults the army
headquarters with riots.

In 1986, an indefinite
state of emergency

is imposed in the whole country.

Martial law is established.

The government is at
war with 54 townships.

In order to cope with
this emergency situation,

many apartheid
laws are abolished,

but the country is still
on the verge of collapse.

In 1989, the nationalist
F.W. De Klerk comes to power.

The worst is to be expected,

but the politician
is a pragmatic man.

He knows that Afrikaners must
adapt themselves once again.

Otherwise, they will disappear.

It is now time to
make concessions.

On February 11th,
1990, after more than

a quarter of a century
spent in prison,

Nelson Mandela is released
and is a free man.

The man watches the crowd,

then raises his fist
as a sign of victory.

The white police officer
who watches Mandela

going away is
desperately tormented

by the fear of a Black revenge

for the dark years of apartheid.

(upbeat electronic music)

- [Narrator] We are now
at a point of divergence.

A point of divergence
is a key moment

across roads in our
history where our world

can swing from one
side or the other.

Mandela, at the
time of his arrest,

had followed an intensive
military training

in order to run
guerrilla operations.

What would have
happened if that day

of August 1962 he had
escaped from his pursuers?

From his first actions,
he would have become

the main target of the South
African Secret Service.

Considered to be a
terrorist, the main goal

would certainly have
been to kill him.

Even if he had managed to escape

from the government
death squads,

he would have been transformed

by going underground
and fighting.

Being more radical
would have prevented him

from becoming a symbol
of unity and forgiveness.

His wife, Winnie,
would not have needed

to struggle for her
husband's release.

Consequently, she
would not have become

this controversial icon of
the fight against apartheid.

- [Narrator] 2018, Soweto.

Born in this shantytown,

this woman nearly
hasn't any way out.

She is one of the
millions of left behind

of the South African society.

(somber music)

For her, the
situation doesn't seem

to have improved since
the end of apartheid.

(people cheering)

And yet, in 1990 when
Nelson Mandela's release

generated global attention,

a wind of hope
swept the country.

But the true reason
for opening up

the political spectrum
was pragmatic.

The country was crippled
by economic sanctions

and international embargoes.

Nearly half of the
multinationals had

already left the country.

The removal of embargoes
was made possible

thanks to Mandela's
release from prison

and the abolition of
remaining segregationist laws.

It is the end of apartheid.

De Klerk has saved South
Africa from bankruptcy.

In 1993, both
Mandela and de Klerk

received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mandela was insistent
about de Klerk

receiving this prize as well.

On April 27th, 1994,
Mandela becomes

the first president of the
Republic of South Africa.

As soon as he is elected,
he works for reconciliation

between the different
communities,

a daunting task considering

the deep resentments
on either side.

President Mandela establishes

the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission

and gives it the
power to grant amnesty

to those responsible
for apartheid offenses.

A bloodbath is avoided thanks

to Mandela's wisdom
and forgiveness.

However, he decides not
to run for reelection.

The reconstruction of the
country will go on without
him.

Nowadays, although South
Africa generates 1/5th

of the GDP of the
African continent,

more than half of its population

still packs into shantytowns
unfit for habitation.

(glass shatters)

But that is another story.

- [Narrator]
Nowadays, South Africa

remains a country
of inequalities.

(somber music)

72% of the lands still
belong to white people.

Unemployment in the Black
community is close to 40%.

Even the ANC is
undermined with bribery.

A minority of poor white people

who were protected by
apartheid in the past

live today in a
precarious situation,

and are thus driven to
move into shantytowns.

What was a racial
segregation before

has now become a social
class segregation.

Some people start feeling
nostalgic for apartheid.

Some others even blame Mandela

for having betrayed his people.

(dramatic music)

South Africa remains
a complicated country.

Its government is plagued
by rampant corruption.

In 1991, after
years of struggles,

South Africans have
not only succeeded

in deconstructing
this racial policy

but they did it without
falling
into a complete civil war.

Thanks to Nelson
Mandela's action,

they have overcome their
desire for revenge.

Today, the rainbow nation,

plagued by the challenges
of the 21st century,

is aware that it must fight
once again for equality.

(dramatic orchestral music)