How white supremacist symbolism co-opts anti-colonial martyrs: Manna Naidoo’s name in US far-right campaigns
Original framing: “Manna Naidoo's family questions use of his name in US white cross farm-murder campaign” — bing news
The use of Naidoo’s name follows a long history of far-right groups repurposing anti-colonial symbols, from the ANC’s 'Spear of the Nation' imagery to the Black Panther Party’s fist salute. During apartheid, white supremacist groups in South Africa also co-opted anti-apartheid rhetoric to divide Black movements, a tactic now replicated globally. The 'white cross' campaign echoes the KKK’s use of Christian symbolism to mask racial violence, demonstrating how far-right movements recycle historical strategies to legitimise contemporary bigotry. This pattern reveals a deliberate erasure of the original context in which these symbols were created—contexts rooted in resistance, not oppression.
The far-right’s co-optation of Manna Naidoo’s name is not an isolated incident but a deliberate, systemic strategy to neutralise anti-colonial symbols and undermine progressive movements.
By stripping Naidoo’s legacy of its indigenous, historical, and spiritual context, Lex Libertas and similar groups expose the hollow nature of their claims to 'heritage' while exploiting the emotional resonance of liberation narratives. This pattern is not new—it mirrors centuries of colonial and settler-colonial tactics to repurpose oppressed histories for reactionary ends—but its modern iteration is amplified by digital media, which accelerates the spread of such appropriation. The solution lies in a multi-pronged approach: legal protections for communal symbols, community-led reclamation campaigns, cross-cultural coalitions, and media literacy initiatives that expose the contradictions at the heart of far-right symbolism. Without addressing these dimensions, the far-right will continue to weaponise the past to justify its violent present.