A Journal of Atrocities

I’m sitting here with a bottle of piss-cheap whiskey and a notebook, and I’m fuming over the sick, twisted legacy of the Boer colonial period. Fuck me sideways, but the more I dig into this shit, the more I realize how utterly revolting human history can be. The Dutch East India Company landed at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 with one clear fucking goal: exploit every last bit of labor and squeeze every dime out of the locals. And what a clusterfuck it turned out to be.

The VOC wasn’t in the Cape to build a society or offer any semblance of decency. They came to make money, no matter how many lives they had to trample on. They imported slaves from Africa, Asia, and all over the damn map, treating people like nothing more than replaceable cogs in their money-making machine. And as if that wasn’t enough of a middle finger to humanity, they set their greedy eyes on the indigenous Khoisan, especially the San people, forcing them into hard, dehumanizing labor.

I can’t shake the anger that boils inside me when I read about how these assholes treated the natives. The San, who had lived off that land for generations, were suddenly up against a bunch of colonizers who didn’t give two shits about their lives. They weren’t interested in any cultural exchange or mutual respect; they were there to conquer, subdue, and force the locals to work until they dropped, and then do it all over again. It’s sickening to think about how easily these bastards could reduce entire communities to nothing more than tools for profit.

The real kicker, the part that makes my blood boil the most, is the treatment of the children. Child slavery and indentured servitude weren’t just unfortunate byproducts of the colonial system, they were deliberate, calculated strategies. The San kids were snatched from their families during violent, brutal commando raids. These poor bastards, barely old enough to know what was happening, were tossed into a life of misery, forced to herd livestock, scrub floors, and perform every goddamn menial task imaginable on Boer farmsteads. They were treated like disposable shit, their futures stolen by colonizers who saw them only as cheap labor.

I’ve been reading the damn numbers, and each one makes my stomach churn. In 1774, a General Commando rounded up 289 San individuals, and many of those were fucking children. Then, by 1795, over 1,000 war captives, mostly from the San population, were working for farmers in Graaff-Reinet, enslaved by force and violence. Between 1813 and 1824, in Graaff-Reinet alone, 97 San were brutally killed and another 280 were taken prisoner. And in 1823, records show that 155 San children ended up under colonial care, with 49 of them officially categorized as apprentices.

The legal bullshit that allowed all this shit to happen is almost as infuriating as the atrocities themselves. The Apprenticement Act of 1812 was a masterclass in bureaucratic cruelty. Under this act, so-called “Hottentot” children, an insulting label that reduced the Khoisan to nothing more than a racial stereotype, could be forced into indentured servitude for ten years, starting from the tender age of eight. Can you believe it? A fucking law that literally gave a stamp of approval to kidnap and enslave children. It’s a slap in the face to every decent human being that such legal drivel was ever allowed to exist.

They spouted the same tired bullshit about “civilizing” the natives and bringing religion and order to the so-called uncivilized lands. In reality, they were nothing more than ruthless, profit-hungry dickheads who saw indigenous people as inferior, disposable beings. To them, the Khoisan were just obstacles to be removed or resources to be exploited, and their children were nothing but malleable, exploitable property. There’s no excuse for that level of fucking depravity.

Every time I take another swig of this cheap whiskey, I can’t help but reflect on the unrepentant greed and cruelty that built this whole goddamn system. The colonizers didn’t just want labor, they wanted complete, unchallenged control. They wrapped their exploitation in layers of legal jargon and bureaucratic bullshit, making it look like everything was above board when in reality it was all a meticulously planned scam on humanity. Laws were drawn up not to protect people, but to legitimize the abduction, torture, and enslavement of entire populations, including the most vulnerable… children.

It pisses me off to no end that modern society still tries to brush this shit off as some distant, sanitized chapter of history. They spit out a few academic references like McDonald and Brenner as if those names alone can excuse the atrocities. But the cold, hard facts remain: hundreds of San were captured, abused, and killed; thousands of lives were upended by a system designed solely for the enrichment of a few greedy bastards. The establishment loves to bury these details under layers of “civilizing missions” and “historical necessity,” but the reality is much more brutal and disgusting.

I write this down not to preach some politically correct narrative, but to remind myself of the depths to which people can sink when power and greed go unchecked. The Boer colonial period wasn’t just a collection of random, isolated incidents, it was a systematic, state-sponsored genocide of human dignity. The colonizers had no qualms about treating entire communities as nothing more than commodities. Every statistic, every record of child abductions and forced labor, is a scar on the soul of humanity, a permanent reminder of a time when human life was worth less than a cheap swig of alcohol.

What angers me the most is that the mindset behind this exploitation is still alive today. The same unrepentant greed, the same sick obsession with power, and the same dehumanizing logic continue to fuel modern systems of oppression. The colonial mindset that saw indigenous people as nothing more than tools for profit hasn’t died with the VOC; it’s evolved and found new, insidious ways to maintain control over the weak and the vulnerable. And while I’m out here drowning my sorrows in a bottle, the ghosts of those tortured souls continue to haunt me, a relentless reminder that history is not just a series of distant events but a living, festering wound.

I’m tired of the sanitized narratives that try to paint this era as some necessary evil or a misunderstood chapter in the march toward civilization. The Boer colonial period was pure, unadulterated exploitation, a time when laws were nothing more than weapons in the hands of a power-hungry few. The abduction and enslavement of children, the mass capture of the San, and the systematic use of violence to subdue a people are not just historical facts; they are indictments of a society that valued profit over human life.

There’s no room for sugarcoating or half-assing the truth here. The facts are as clear as the cheap liquor in my glass. In one savage raid in 1774, 289 San, many of them kids, were ripped from their lives and forced into servitude. By 1795, over 1,000 war captives were working as slaves for Boer farmers in Graaff-Reinet. Between 1813 and 1824, nearly 100 San were killed, and another 280 were imprisoned in a system that had no regard for their lives or their future. In 1823, 155 San children were forced into indentured servitude, with 49 of them officially marked as apprentices.

I’m writing all this down in an attempt to make sense of the madness, to try and comprehend how a society can justify such unmitigated brutality. The more I read, the more I’m convinced that the colonizers weren’t just evil. Their actions weren’t mistakes or aberrations; they were the inevitable result of a system that prioritized exploitation above all else.

Every goddamn record, every statistic, is a stark reminder of the monstrous depths of human cruelty. The legal systems they created, like the Apprenticement Act of 1812, didn’t just sanction their crimes, they celebrated them, enshrining the abduction and enslavement of children in the annals of law. It’s a level of callousness that makes my skin crawl and my heart pound with rage. How can a society be so utterly devoid of compassion that it not only tolerates but actively promotes the enslavement of its most vulnerable citizens?

I’m livid just thinking about it. The fact that these atrocities were carried out with the full backing of the law is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s not enough that these colonizers treated people like shit, they had the gall to create legal frameworks that made their actions seem almost respectable, as if there was any moral high ground in exploiting entire populations. It’s the ultimate betrayal, a perverse, fucked-up system where justice was a joke and human life was nothing more than collateral damage in the relentless pursuit of profit.

Writing all of this down, I’m not looking for anyone’s approval or sympathy. I’m just trying to process the rage and disgust that boils up every time I read about these events. The Boer colonial period was a cesspool of exploitation and cruelty, a time when human beings were reduced to mere resources in the eyes of power-hungry fuckers. And even though these events took place centuries ago, the shadow of that horror still lingers, a stain on our collective memory that refuses to fade away.

The more I dwell on it, the more it’s clear that the legacy of this brutal period isn’t confined to dusty history books. It’s alive and well in the modern world. The same mindset that allowed for the systematic exploitation of the Khoisan and the enslavement of their children has morphed into new forms, perpetuating cycles of oppression that continue to harm the vulnerable. I’m not writing this to dredge up old ghosts, but because it’s impossible to ignore how deeply these atrocities have influenced the way power is wielded even today.

I’m done with the sanitized versions of history that try to smooth over the raw, ugly truth with academic jargon and half-truths. The brutal facts are there for anyone who’s willing to look them in the face: colonizers came, they exploited, and they left a legacy of pain, broken lives, and a legal system that condoned murder and enslavement. The Boer colonial period was nothing short of a goddamn disgrace, and it fills me with a relentless fury every time I think about it.

I can’t help but feel a profound sense of disgust at the sheer audacity of those colonial fuckers. Their crimes were not isolated incidents; they were part of a systematic, state-sponsored effort to dehumanize an entire people. And the fact that children were among the primary targets of their exploitation is a level of depravity that defies comprehension. Every time I read about the forced labor, the abductions, and the cold, calculated brutality inflicted upon the San, I feel like punching something.

I’m left with nothing but the bitter taste of betrayal and the constant reminder that the world is run by selfish, heartless bastards who have no regard for human life.

I’m writing to vent, to seethe, and to remind myself that no amount of progress can ever erase the stain left by centuries of exploitation. The Boer colonial period wasn’t some distant tragedy. It was a carefully orchestrated campaign of abuse, a series of calculated moves by power-hungry assholes determined to crush any semblance of freedom or dignity in those they deemed inferior.

I’ll keep writing, keep drinking, and keep fighting this relentless tide of injustice in my own small way, even if it feels like screaming into the void. The memories of those lost souls, the San children and their elders who were robbed of their futures, will not be forgotten as long as I can spill my venom onto paper. And maybe, just maybe, in the endless cycle of human cruelty, that bitter truth might one day spur someone to finally give a rat’s ass about the suffering of the oppressed.