carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) (11/27/85)
>That is why I feel it is a pity that Nelson Mandela and other leaders >of the African National Congress have made a big mistake by >abandoning civil disobedience and nonviolent opposition to Apartheid >in favor of violence. They abandoned nonviolence because they became convinced that nonviolent methods would not work by themselves. South Africa is no longer a tea party, if it ever was, and having "clean hands" is not much consolation for remaining for generations under the heel of oppression. We cannot simply assume that the methods of Gandhi or Dr. King would be effective in a very different situation from Gandhi's India or the US in the 1960's. One difference is that in the US there were constitutional means for resolving racial grievances and conflicts: court-ordered desegregation, enforcing the right of blacks to register and vote, etc. In South Africa, the constitution is part of the *problem*. Has anyone else read *Freedom Rising* by James North? I found that this book gives one a real feeling for what is going on in South Africa. It contains numerous accounts of interviews with blacks, many of them active in opposing the Pretoria regime, as well as with whites and others. It also contains an impressive description of life on the Bantustans and an account of how Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. There is enough factual substance in the book so that one could learn a great deal about southern Africa from it even if one disagreed with the author's political viewpoint. -- Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes
janw@inmet.UUCP (11/28/85)
[orb@whuxl] >That is why I feel it is a pity that Nelson Mandela and other leaders >of the African National Congress have made a big mistake by >abandoning civil disobedience and nonviolent opposition to Apartheid >in favor of violence. Those opposed to the brutality of the >Pinochet dictatorship (supported by the US) have an interesting slogan: >"We have clean hands!" In other words: they have not and will not >commit murder to attain their rights. While the Pinochet regime >commits murder regularly, their hands are clean. This is the *very smartest thing* I ever saw printed on South Africa ! And if they abandoned arms, they could renounce any Soviet ties ; which would make their support in the West overwhelming. Perhaps then they could conduct *democratic elections* on their own. Even if only a minority took part - because of police repression - a parliament thus elected would have an *invincible* moral power. Jan Wasilewsky