The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 03, 1987, Page 6, Image 6
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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.
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*>*? 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
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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' ?
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