Apartheid, luckily, is history. Although racism, unequal opportunities and the economic heritage of South African apartheid, US segregation or European colonialism still exist, the system as such is no longer in existence.

Ernest Cole photographed apartheid in its early stages, in the 1960s. He pictured coloured people who still remembered times before apartheid. He explained to outsiders the idea of apartheid, which meant much more than the raw racism that South Africa had known for centuries. He wrote accompanying texts that clarified key concepts of apartheid – and their meaning to South African Coloureds. If you are looking for the now proverbial »Europeans only Bench« made famous by Ivan Vladislavic, you will find it (on page 95). But its not the bench you should be looking at, look at the white lady sitting on the bench, look at her throwing suspicious glances at the gardener working in the background, almost invisible in the dark shadows. Everywhere in the book: Look at the people, what apartheid makes of them and, also, what they make of apartheid.

Although apartheid now is history, there is still a lot we can and must learn from it. People who accuse Israel of apartheid might want to find out what apartheid really looks like and why it is not a good idea to use this term lightly in a context that does not fit. People who want to banish everyone and everything foreign or different might want to find out what this means in terms of human relations.