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Recently I was able to meet and listen to a guest speaker from South Africa who was in the African National Congress and lived under apartheid in South Africa for years... he was recently speaking with Kofi Annan and is visiting the U.S. to see how racial differences and issues are handled here.
Its amazing to see the progress made in years - in his group of 4, he had 2 white females, 1 Indian female, and himself, a black man. Even 15 years ago, this would never have been true.
But one thing that struck me was this - the reason they had no bloodshed despite having a revolution that ended apartheid was the ability of the people of differences to work together in a moderate way. There were certainly extremists on both sides calling for the establishment of a right-wing dictatorship or a complete wipe out of a certain race.
What the movement did do, however, was kick out those extremists by discrediting them.
IMO thats a prime example of what different people that hate each other can do - by being able to kick out those extremists on both sides and to work together from the moderate people who are willing to talk. Only when the two are willing to see the other side can it end. Or else it only goes in cirlces.
On, and on, and on...
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