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Show Two Views South Africa Today (Editor's Note: Today's guest editorial consists of excerpts ex-cerpts from "The Second Look," a bi-weekly publication of the Commission on World Mission of the National Student Christian Federation.) This spring many national and local student groups in this country are planning protest demonstrations against the repressive racial policies of the South African government. These demonstrations are to be in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the March, 1960, South African Sharpeville Massacre. What is the situation in South Africa today? Two distinct but conflicting pictures of South Africa are emerging in the American press. The most attractive picture, and the one promulgated by the South African government itself, is that of a land of great prosperity with a growing economy and unlimited prospects for future prograss. The South African economy is thriving the rate of economic growth is 5V2 per cent a year, the gross national product has more than quadrupled since 1945, immigrants from Britain and Europe are arriving at the rate of 3,500 a month, foreign investments are rising as investors look forward to returns of as high as 27 per cent, and trade, manufacturing, and gold, diamond, coal and cement production are booming. The other picture is that of a land of great economic and social inequality. Only the white minority of 3.5 million in a population of 13 million .enjoys the benefits of the country's economic prosperity. pros-perity. Eleven million black South Africans are excluded ex-cluded from the fruits of South Africa's riches, even though without their labor the entire South African economy, most observers say, would collapse col-lapse overnight. Moreover, the government policy of apartheid, separation of the races, imposes the harshest of political, economic and social restrictions restric-tions upon every aspect of the black South African's Afri-can's life. . The black African is also deprived by the government govern-ment of the most basic human rights, political and social. The African cannot vote, he must live where the government tells him even if this means the split-ting-up of his family, he cannot own property in urban areas, and his every movement to and from work is under strict police surveillance. H.e cannot organize in labor unions or political parties. He can be arrested for the slightest offense for not having his passbook or for quitting his job and is subject constantly to the threat of police brutality and torture. Following its policy of "separate development" for the races the government has set aside reserves as "homelands" for the Africans. These reserves, poor in soil and low in mineral content compose only 13 per cent of the nation's land area, yet are intended to accommodate ac-commodate 68 per cent of South Africa's population. Furthermore, the government maintains control over the economy of the reservations so that they serve in effect, not as homelands for Africans, but as vast reservoirs res-ervoirs of cheap labor for the white-controlled industries. indus-tries. The United States government has gone on record as opposing apartheid. The U.S. voted in 1961 for a General Assembly resolution calling on all U.N. members mem-bers to take such action against apartheid as was open to them, banned the sale of arms to South Africa, and voted last year for a Security Council resolution to study the feasibility of economic sanctions against South Africa. But the United States has balked at any consistent con-sistent application of pressure on South Africa and has refused to go beyond a ban on arms and ammunition. This may not be surprising since the United States accounts ac-counts for almost 20 per cent of South Africa's trade and over $700,000,000 are currently invested in South Africa by leading American firms. This American commercial involvement in South Africa has in the eyes of many African and Asian nations comprised the U.S. stand on racial justice and has without doubt ham-strung any strong U.S. measures against apartheid. A recent ad in "The New York Times" by South African Airways reads, "Fly to the unspoiled land of contrasts. There is no other country like it . . . " |