South Africa's Election Involves Some Dozen Jews But No Jewish Issues

By EDGAR BERNSTEIN

D. F. Malan gave Jewish commu-
nal leaders after the 1948 election
JOHANNESBURG — There are that both he and his government
only a dozen Jews among the 356 "stood for a policy of nondiscrimi-
candidates who will contest 166 nation against any section of the
seats in South Africa's general European (white) population. in
election on March 30. They are South Africa," and that he "looked
divided between the three main forward to the time when there
parties. Two are standing for the would be no further talk regarding
governing National Party; five for the so-called Jewish question in
the chief opposition United Party; the life and politics of this coun-
and five for the smaller opposition try."
That policy continued under
Progressive Party.
the premiership of the late J. G.
Only six of the 12 stand a chance
Strijdom, and has been equally
of being elected — probably the
honored under the premiership
same six members of the outgoing of Dr. H. F. Verwoerd. Because
Parliament—one Nationalist, four it has been fairly pursued, there
United Party and one Progressive.
are no "Jewish issues" in the
There were nine Jewish mem-
current election campaign, as
' hers in the outgoing Parliament:
there were none in the 1961 cam-
—the six who are standing again;
paign.
a seventh who wasn't renominat-
Jews who agree and Jews who
ed; and two who continue in of-
disagree with the government's pol-
fice as representatives of the col- icies equally appreciate that they
ored voters who are on a separ- live as full citizens of the country.
ate franchise roll which doesn't It is not outside the possibilities
enter into the current general that some electioneering propa-
election. gandist may try to capture Jewish
In two constituencies, Jewish votes by suggesting that the Na-
candidates are standing against tionalists have reservations about
each other for opposing parties. Jews, but Dr. Verwoerd's party is
In Houghton, the sitting member, not likely to be flustered by such
Mrs. Helen Suzman, of the Progres- tactics when it has only to point
sive Party, is being opposed by the to the concrete evidence of its bona
United Party's Dr. A.D. Bensusan. fides to the Jewish community dur-
In Parktown, the sitting United ing its years of office.
Party member, E.- Emdin, is being
Forecasts are that the Nation-
opposed by the Progressive Party's alists will emerge from the election
Dr. B. Friedman.
i with an increase on their 56-seat
These facts indicate the extent majority at the dissolution of Par-
to which South Africa's 116,000 liament. They go to the country
Jews shade across the political with a record of firm government
spectrum, differing like their Gent- and economic expansion over a
ile fellow-citizens in their political difficult period. They acknowledge
views. True, there are more Jews that they had to repress political
who support the opposition than movements aimed at the toppling'
the government; but: with each of white government in South Afri-
election since the Nationalists ca, and that they have had to im-
came to power in 1948, the ratio _pose legal restrictions on individ-
has been moderating in the gov- uals connected with such move-
ernment's favor. This is because ments; but they contend that they
the government has fully honored have taken these steps in the over-
the assurance which the late Dr. all interests of the country. And

South African Correspondent, JTA
(Copyright, 1966, JTA, Inc.)

Right-Wing Party Gains in Bavaria

MUNICH (JTA) — Bavaria's
prime minister, Algons Goppel de-
plored the success of the right-
wing National Democratic Party
in the March 3 municipal elections,
when the NDP increased its state-
wide votes to 3 per cent of
the Bavarian total, by comparison
with 2 per cent nationally in
general elections last October.
In some Bavarian cities, the
percentage of NDP votes was
much higher than the state aver-
age. The party scored 10.6 per
cent of the vote in Bayreuth, 7.5
per cent in Nuremberg and 7.4 per
cent in Kulmbach. The NDP is
West Germany's newest political
grouping. It is a fusion of various
extremist, right-wing groups, some
of them outright neo-Nazi.
"I cannot hide my deep con-

Jeers Drown Speeches
of Nazis in Public School

NEW YORK (JTA) — Uniformed
members of the National Renais-
sance Party, a neo-Nazi group.
held a public meeting at Robert
F. Wagner Junior High School
here .last weekend, in front of a
largely hostile audience.
James H. Madole, founder and
leader of the party, and other
speakers, including Robert Burros,
admittedly a former Jew, de-
nounced J e w s, Negroes,. civil
rights and Com m u n i s t s. Their
words were often drowned out by
laughter and jeers from the
audience.
The meeting was the first to be
held by the ultra-rightwing group
in a city public school. Last month,
the board of education granted a
permit for the use of the audi-
torium, despite the protests of
several Jewish organizations.
The board defended its action by
asserting that legally, the school
system could not deny the use of
the school by any non-political
group. Protesters, however, said
that Madole's group is political.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
10—Friday, March 25, 1966

cern over the gain of the Na-
tional Democratic Party," said
Goppel. "The State Government
of Bavaria can do nothing by
itself to prevent the NDP from
participating in the state elec-
tions to be held next November,
because the party claims to have
a democratic viewpoint."
The state premier conceded that
the NDP gains in the municipal
voting "showed certain dissatis-
factions among the voters with
things as they are."
Despite the high showing in
some cities and the 3 per cent
vote statewide, the NDP still came
out far below the Social Demo-
crats, who had polled 52.3 of all
of the votes in Bavaria. Chan-
cellor Ludwig Erhard's Bavarian
ally, the Democratic Union, ran
second on a statewide basis, get-
ting 27.4 per cent of the total
vote.

they contend that their policy of
creating self - administering terri-
tories for blacks (Bantustans), and
giving coloreds and Asians limited
authority over" their own affairs,
affords adequate opportunities for
the advancement of non-whites.
The United Party advocates re-
turn to the segregation policies
practiced by the former Smuts gov-
ernment, which had laissez faire
elements and stopped short of the
rigid separation now being enacted
by the Nationalists. But on the
question of homelands for the
blacks, they are more extreme
than the Nationalists, rejecting the
policy of self-administering terri-
tories for Africans and urging
"white leadership over all South
Africa."
The Progressive Party aims at
an ultimately integrated South
Africa on - the basis of a qualified
franchise and a Bill of Rights
which will, for the foreseeable
future, ensure the continuation
of white leadership while pro-
gressively bringing non-whites in-
to the framework of government.
And it is prepared to take the
government's first Bantustan,
the Transkei, into this stricture
on the basis (to quote one of its
leading spokesmen, Dr. Bernard
Friedman) of "the status of a
province under a federal consti-
tution which- will guarantee the
measure of autonomy which the
territory now enjoys, and which
will put an end to racial discri-
mination in an undivided South
Africa."
The remaining parties which
have put up candidates in the elec-
tion—Republican Party, Conserva-
tive National Party and The Front
—are small groups to the right of
the National Party, taking their
stand on an extreme white suprem-
acy basis which makes no conces-
sions to non-whites, and opposing
Dr. Verwoerd's Bantustan policy as
being too liberal.
The position is well summed up
by Laurence Gandar, controversial
editor of the "Rand Daily Mail"
(mouthpiece of the Progressive
Party), who usually takes a more
partisan view. Analyzing the array
of electoral forces, he says that "a
situation has arisen in which there
is now a clear consensus among
the white electorate of South Afri-
ca in favor of baasskap (white
supremacy) in one form or another
and against integration of the
races in all spheres except the
economic. Furthermore, this con-
sensus is now so large as to pro-

vide scope for differences of atti-
tude and approach within the
framework of conservative
thought."
"The main political struggle,"
Gandar maintains, "is ceasing to
be one between the proponents of
integration and separation but is
becoming one between the advo-
cates of various forms of white
supremacy — the benign paterna-
listic brand of the United Party.
the tough separatist brand of the
National Party, and the resurgent
extremist brand of Prof. Van der
Merwe's Republican Party. Of
course, there is still the Progres-
sive Party, but it is operating un-
der great difficulties; and, should
Mrs. Helen Suzman fail to hold her
seat in Houghton — and her dis-
appearance from Parliament would
be an incalculable loss to South
Africa—the Party's decline would
be sharply accelerated."
The probability is that Helen
Suzman will hold her seat — not
so much because she represents
the Progressive Party as because
she has proved herself an extreme-
ly able and courageous parliame•-
tarian who has won the respect of
friend and foe alike. She held her
seat in 1961 by 564 votes against a
stronger candidate than she pres-
ently confronts; she stands a fair
chance of increasing her majority
in this month's election.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vice
President Hubert H u m p h r e y
praised the National Conference
of Christians and Jews March 13
as having been "for more than
three decades one of America's
most effective arms in reducing
prejudice."
He cited NCCJ's "unique variety
of educational methods and year-
round programing at the grass-
roots" as having been "tremen-
dously fruitful in combating
bigotry."
The occasion for the Vice Presi-
dent's remarks was a report by
NCCJ to President Johnson
honorary chairman of the confer-
ence's National Brotherhood Week
this year—on the results of Broth-
erhood Week and on NCCJ pro-
gram activities for the entire year.
Pointing out that International
Communism tries to exploit any
news of racial discord in the United
States, the Vice President said
that by "helping to banish intol-
erance from our land, NCCJ ef-
fectively deprives the Communists
of grist for their propaganda mills.
"Above all," he
concluded,
"NCCJ helps keep our country
true to our own highest ideals."

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