Apartheid.

Have you ever heard of the "Apartheid"? Apartheid was a policy of racial segregation practiced in the Republic of South Africa which was imposed by the British and Dutch settlers. It was named that way because in Afrikaans (a Germanic language derived from Dutch) means "separation”.  It consisted of a series of measures to be divided into groups based on their race to the South African people in order to achieve a path to "development".

Throughout the history of South Africa, this nation suffered by racial segregation and domination of the white race. But it was in 1950 when the apartheid system was adopted as an official policy that classified people into four groups: whites, blacks, Indians and mulattos. One of the first laws banned marriage between whites and other races. Then came many more laws that ruled that blacks could not vote or hold public office much less, and others that even certain areas of residence were determined to avoid racial mixing.

The rights of blacks and people of other races were almost entirely suppressed: there were several entrances to public buildings (one for white people and one for black), there passes that blacks could entering areas or areas of white and vice versa, and education course was not equal for everyone (It was banned for black people).

There was reluctance on the part of black people but also white minority. One of the main groups that opposed Apartheid was led by Nelson Mandela: the African National Congress. Unfortunately, the resistance suffered several hard blows when the March 21, 1960 the police opened fire killing 69 protesters.

South Africa had to wait February 1990, when Frederik De Klerk became president and announced that it would begin a process of elimination of discriminatory laws and lift the ban against banned political parties including the main and most significant black opposition party), which had been declared illegal 30 years before, ending apartheid.

Do you think that discrimination suffered by South Africa is the same or less severe than happens in Chile with gays or foreigners?