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A MAJOR CRUSADER FAILING is that they seldom look back to their last crusade to see how it turned out.
During my several South Africa visits during its apartheid era, up to three months on one occasion, I lectured at nearly all of its universities. I had the opportunity to meet formally and informally with just about every group: blacks, coloreds, Indians, English and Afrikaner.
On the eve of one visit, I was invited to address a mixed audience of about a thousand or so people to discuss my impressions of South Africa. I frankly told them that South Africans deserved one another. Nobody was interested in liberty. Afrikaner whites thought they were ordained to control the lives of others. British white liberals thought the same thing, but in a more benevolent way. For their part, blacks just wanted to change the color of the dictator.
Some thought my prognostication a bit harsh, but fast-forward to today and you'll hear a similar concern echoed from an unlikely quarter. South Africa's Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recently told the nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, referring the African National Congress' (ANC) human-rights violations, "I didn't struggle in order to remove one set of those who thought they were tin gods, to replace them with others who are tempted to think they are."
Under apartheid, South Africa had the Population Registration Act, which classified its citizens by race. Today, the ANC, South Africa's ruling party, wants racial classification but they call it affirmative action. The ANC's vision of race, job qualifications and employment is, as one of its officials put it, "It is imperative to get rid of merit as the overriding principle in the employment of public servants." [Emphasis added] Pushing costly, inefficient employment policy is absurd in the face of South Africa's 30 percent unemployment rate.
Another part of ANC policy is income redistribution "to compensate the victims of apartheid." That's also a costly burden for a sagging economy that has seen per capita income decline significantly since 1989.
Even though South Africa is in the financial doldrums, it is nonetheless the continent's political and economic bright spot. Virtually every other African nation that broke the yokes of colonialism is poorer and its citizens enjoy fewer human rights than when it was a colony of a European nation.
According to World Bank reports, between 1965 and 1987 every black African nation, with exceptions of Botswana, Mauritius, Cameroon and Senegal, experienced negative growths rates approaching 3 percent per year. The countries that escaped that plight are the very countries that eschewed socialism, military dictatorships and gross human-rights abuses.
If South Africa goes the way of her neighbors to the north, it will be nothing less than a catastrophe for the continent. The reason is that South Africa has been a major provider of electrical power, agricultural products, transportation and other essentials for her neighbors, and -- even during the days of apartheid -- an asylum for black political refuges from the north.
We've seen ethnic wars and genocide in Burundi/Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, Chad, Sudan and elsewhere. The same is not impossible in South Africa, not between whites and blacks, but between two major black groups, the Zulus and Xhosa.
Loads of Americans, from civil-rights organizations and college students to politicians, were involved in the anti-apartheid movement. One wonders how much they care about what happens in South Africa after apartheid. I've always argued that getting rid of apartheid wasn't nearly as important as deciding what was going to replace it. There are things worse than apartheid.
If one needs current evidence, just look at Yugoslavia.
Each SA gold miner supports, on the average, 11 other people. The SA economy is depressed, in no small part, by the gold price. Thousands of miners have been laid off. This in spite of the finding that gold produced is less than gold consumed. The gold price started to plummet once apartheid ended. Goldman Sachs and others have made a fortune shorting the gold market.
Walter Williams is right, of course and as usual. South Africa will follow Zimbabwe into self-destruction and will end up like the early explorers found it three centuries ago, except that there will be no hotentots.
This in spite of the finding that gold produced is less than gold consumed
I'd like to see some substantiated data on that info. As I recall reading, the major producers of gold in the U.S. are selling less than one half of the gold they produce. The remainder is being held in reserve. The portion that they sell is paying for their mining costs. I don't remember the tonnage but I got the impression that the gold producers in just this country could drive down the price of gold by selling all they produce. And the country most capable of dropping the bottom out of the price of gold is Russia. Do you have some data?
This is a replay of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and Zaire. Rhodesia was the most advanced and beautiful country in Africa. Today it is a total wreck. Tribal warfare and corruption are the norm in Africa.
Some of this even carries over into this country and black violence. Different tribes have different physical characteristics and some of the tribal differences are still remembered. Some tribes were responsible for enslaving other tribes and the grudges carry over to this day.
Some of this even carries over into this country and black violence. Different tribes have different physical characteristics and some of the tribal differences are still remembered. Some tribes were responsible for enslaving other tribes and the grudges carry over to this day.
You nailed it! It's tribal behavior. The things that are happening in Africa is normal human "tribal" behavior.
Read the Old Testament. Read the history of Europe. Read U.S. History. Read any history book. The peaceful culture that this country has enjoyed from the end of the War Between The States until today has been a significant exception to normal tribal behavior. Relative to the rest of the world and history, we have had a peaceful culture. The liberals can't leave it alone. They will lead us back to the enlightenment of normal human behavior. I'm glad that I lived in this country when I did. I'm thankful to my parents, grandparents, etc. and all of their generations for what they gave us. God, please forgive my generation. We "dropped the ball."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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