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Viewpoint fu>>ww mmmtmmmmmmmtammmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbmmithe gamecock" """"""""""""""""""""""" "" """1-"l"^? No vote South Africa's whites-only election and Botha a sham South African President P. W. Botha, the darling of the racist elite, is on the campaign trail. Botha is cranking up tor a May o wnites-oniy election in which he is feeling pressure from both sides of the political spectrum. Botha's party, the National Party, still holds a lead in the opinion polls, but that lead seems to be eroding. Political analysts have even said this erosion may be enough to oust the party and pave the way for a multiracial, reformist alliance. That's highly doubtful. Botha called for the election in January, and, for all intents and purposes, it is a callous sham. When the election announcement was made, it raised many eyebrows. But the truth of the matter is, without black representation, blacks suffering under the system of apartheid will see, at best, nominal relief. In reality, it is hard to believe Botha won't win, or at least that is the prevailing cynicism. In a March 25 campaign speech in Lichtenburg, South Africa, a white stronghold, Botha played to the rightists and told them exactly what they wanted to hear. The Conservative Party, DrttKa'c riirol r\minatoc tlia tr\um anH Viic Hocirp tA van. uuiua o Li* ux j uviiuuaivo liiv iv/ tt ai9 uiiu nu mvjia v tv uti quish the right-wing was obvious. He said things like *'trust me" and mentioned, in bated breath, that elections for blacks would be only in autonomous "city-states." These elected blacks would be invited to serve in basically useless councils where whites would have the final say. When Botha says ' 'serve*' in a political council, does he mean blacks might have some say in their lives? Probably rv .1 t 1* - Al 1__ _ J 1 1^1 1 _ _ noi. ii noma nas nis way, me oniy serving uone oy uiacK* will be pouring coffee and washing dishes, or maybe even a quick shoe shine for some of the more dandified members. He has made it unequivocably clear: blacks are the last thing on his agenda. Botha is trying to shove that issue to one side as he tackles other more "pressing" issues. But what could be more pressing than millions of blacks being denied dignity and freedom? Another volatile issue of importance, the Group Areas Act, which institutionalizes residential segregation, was lacking trom his Licntenburg speecn. but it was a prime topic in Ermelo, where a National Party seat is jeopardized. In a speech to urban white workers, Botha said that, while some mixed areas would continue to exist, the undying principle of segregation would remain as long as he was in office. While Botha remains ahead, he still feels the hot breath of a South Africa he is no longer in touch with. He must also struggle with a South Africa that has two opposite camps. He has been reduced to babbling about a Soviet threat and of a Western world that is courting revolutionaries by imposing sanctions against Pretoria. He doesn't realize that a Soviet threat is highly unlikely at this time, especially by the outlawed African National Congress. Furthermore, as long as the United States is content at merely slapping the hand of Pretoria, South Africa will survive and with a little effort even orosoer. The election day should prove to be characteristic of Botha himself: ludicrous, nasty, and, above all, intolerant. * \ cuNto, mm ne nft-m fry* ft^ocOT," i ????? wfSss i ~ THAT *> MATtR Hofl !H?S iRXK Ml? "jrsr^df -S=. ?fe, J TuRNt ?oT, I CAM CcONl i him u mi *>*? m a letter Tell us what's on your mind. Letters must There is a limit c be typed, double-spaced and no more than the same writer. 'MO u/r?rHc Inrlndp namp addrPM and Wp rpsprvp thp ri telephone number for verification. Names on outdated topic will not be withheld. Guest editorials are topics. limited to 500 words. Indicate whether you Write to: Vi are a st?' nt, USC staff member, or com- Gamecock, Drawe munity number in letters and editorials. Columbia, S.C. 2< The Nation* Apartheid not Apaitheid is not a just a South African l~ phenomenon. DaamI a # U < n Ir V* nnnnr a tiiKit a A fnponc 1 rcu|Jlt l11111is. uci^ciuac **iiuc ouuui nuivano use apartheid to keep blacks out of govern- ! ment, that apartheid is a form of prejudice j based on color. j Apartheid is color blind. Apartheid has nothing to do with color, and has everything to do with race. The British invented apartheid, and A t- 1 1A. ...1 tL... Americans even oorrowcu u wncu mcy s started using Jim Crow laws to deny American blacks their rights. But the British invented it and perfected it, years before they ever knew South Africa existed. They perfected it in Ireland. di hictnrv will pxfklain what anartheid F. does. d People think it excludes the majority from s< participation in government, which is right. Partly. It also has something to do with smashing pi any shred of racial dignity remaining with a pi race. It has something to do with keeping a tl race from owning property in their own land. a It has something to do with stripping from a li race its language. It has something to with p placing the native race at an economic Hicarlvantnof O N4.UMV4. V...VV?0^. It has everything to do with the attempted genocide of a specific race. o It started in the 16th century. King Henry b VI wanted to send all the barons who helped / him conquer England to a place where they b wouldn't try to conquer him. He chosc t Ireland. The British stole Irish land, took away all s farm stock, took away the right to vote and s even stole most the food the Irish ate. II.Mirilllllllllll mi n ip I Illl I " w - jljl ^ il ^ ^juciwry i u trie Column was African!! ii Third, one o error ridden is to educal Africa and t This is the r To the editor: tables in fro I i/miM llbo */\ a r\ r\ rnr c N4r anH An Pif J1 VVUU1U urvv- IV auuiLJ^ 1T1I , unu uu * AV Guilfoyle on his column of Finally, the March 30. Mr. Guilfoyle, I from South honestly do not know whether I Carolina p* have ever seen so many factual 1986, but te errors in one column before in House Comi my lifetime. bill pending same nurnn First of all, the USC Educa- process of tional Foundation has at least campaign a< $500,000 invested in companies to back th in South Africa; these are stock Peace was investments and, as is generally campaign tl known, their value, and the bill. amount invested, fluctuates daily. Secondly, Free South Africa Both allia Alliance and Alliance for Peace and are re* are involved in working against you claim t An i notinnal IowpI thom Nnvt f apai II1V1U uu c* nauuuui ivtvi. IIiviu. * ^v/?* ? There will be a march on a column, Washington, D.C. April 25, in FSAA's inf which both FSAA and Alliance get some a J for Peace will participate, oppos- In journalis n The i r i . , Editor In Chkf >f two letters per month by Roni Bea Kayne Managing Ivdllor ight to stop printing letters Amy DelPo s to make room for new ste^nG^oyle ! Assistant Copy lewpoint bditor, I he Dethciikf r A, Russell House, USC, tndyJ?htel ' ' * New* Mltor '208. Paula Wethington t il Wallet Slow-draw Champ just stuck in ^ - "t. ***a WB^ The potato tamine in tne ibuus was :vastating to the Irish people because the nglish made the potato the staple of the Irish iet. And when the potato started dying out, ) did the Irish. * * * J* - J * minions aieu. minions, niuic icu. Thanks to apartheid in Ireland, more Irish eople now live outside Ireland than in. The opulation of Irish people in the world before le famine was about 11 million. Now there re about 6 million. The population is, after 00 years, still about 5 million below the revious level. Native South Africans are being starved ut, and they happen to be black. Of the 3 million people who live in Ireland, inly about 300,000 still speak Gaelic, or Irish, 'o^hto thp Pnolich fnrhaHp thf? lanoiin of* fWVUUOV 1IIV ' I * v?? V/V4V?V ?.??V . Vbout 100,000 of those 300,000 are fighting a >attle to preserve their language they know hey will lose. And the native South Africans are forced to peak a language not their own, African's,initead of their native tongue. And when the British went to India, they editor volvement in South be a virtue, not an in Central America. f FSAA's main goals Klizabi te people on South Studh he apartheid regime. najor reason for the A 11 int of Russell House /m.11 kens Street Bridge. * r ? bill for divestment HOI SCEIl^ a u.. * i ninca uy juuui issed the Senate in To the editor: chnically died in the Enough. Once mittee. There is a new Gamecock has m ; that will serve the become a medium ise. FSAA is in the ignorance, organizing a letter First, it was an ai iking state legislators IQs of blacks. Now il is bill. Alliance for condescending liber involved in a large the editor in chief, hat backed the 1986 Granted, Roni Bea not to open old v upon reading me ea nces know their facts as if I was a child wl iching for the goals grateful for a pat or o want reached. Let If you have so time you wish to write editors, repor come by one of the photographers, the ormation tables and could have done v ccurate information. minute to let them im, credibility should editorial. 3amecock Assistant News; Editor* Sporls Kditor Todd Hines Jeff Shrewsbury llrenda Blyth Assistant Sporls Editor Viewpoint Editor wayne Washington Hal Millard Photography Editor Money Editor Thomas Humphrey Candy Barr Assistant Photography Edltoi Features Editor Nick Leoncavallo Tamara Willis Graphics Editor Assistant Futures Editor Robb Lane Patrick Jean I mW/MWM ionship South Africa did the same thing. They took over, and the only Indians who could do business with the British were the ones who spoke English. And when the English took over China, thev did the same thing. And in the "fc Caribbean. And in the Americas with the native Indians. And they tried it when they tried to take over Arabia. And the British discriminated when they were among the first European colonists in South Africa. And they're still doing it in Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Thatcher loves to tell Americans that the civil disorder in Northern Ireland is the result of a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. But when the English first started persecuting and stealing land from the Irish, both the Irish and the English were Christians. They didn't start persecuting the Irish for their ties to the Roman Church until King Henry VIII created his own. But the original reason was race. It still is. The Irish weren't British, nor were the Chinese, the Indians, the American Indians or the native West Indians; they were persecuted ^ for that reason. And England is still clinging W desperately to the last bastion of the British Empire ? Northern Ireland. And they make it easy by using apartheid. Apartheid should be stopped in South Africa. And in Northern Ireland. And if those people dedicated to ending apartheid decide to do a complete job, I'll join them. 1 nil ^possibility. If they "represent the views of ^ blacks on campus," obviously eth Johnson they must not know we do not oc3 art, junior cupy our time trying to straighten our hair to look white and _ moisturizing our skin because it is "white and scaly." 9 Miss Kayne, you make us y sound like shedding snakes. You have managed, in your editorial, to reinforce some outagain The dated stereotypes a 4 insult my lanaged to intelligence. i of racial Your editoria' ihowed a ^ childish assumption that all W rticle on the blacks have identical genes. I is a piece of Miss Kayne, it might be hard alism from for you to realize the hostility towards blacks in the '80s. but I i Kayne tried have seen it twice in The vounds, but Gamecock. litorial I felt I believe your article was a ho should be sincere attempt by a non-black to i the head. realize the problems many blacks many black encounter. However, I feel your ters and naivete is somehow typical of least you many non-blacks. vas taken a review your Marilyn L. Hemingway i? Journalism, senior ? ' V nnMniaaiHwawwMn^MMiwMi^^aMHMwaaawWMMM Dalrbook Mllor Director of Student Media Katherine dilhorl Bill Comics Kdltor Production i Tracy Mixson Chuck Norris Wire Kdltor Son Ha t Gillian Smith Advertising Mmier r Adviser Margaret Michels ! Bill Rogers Assistant Advertising j Graduate Assistant Manager Mary Anne Banich Jan Hodges' ? 4 K