OPINION
CONTENTS
Wolpe In S. Africa
Did Not End Apartheid
RALPH SLOVENKO
S
urprise, surprise!
Congressman Howard
Wolpe, D-Lansing, on a
five-day visit to South Africa
urges stricter sanctions
against that country. He finds
no reason to modify his long-
standing position on
sanctions.
Assuredly, Congressman
Wolpe does not speak for the
Jewish community or the vast
majority of blacks in South
Africa, or for anyone else in
South Africa except the
leaders of the African Na-
tional Council.
In a comment with which I
fully concur, Business Day of
Johannesburg (Jan. 11) says:
"This raises the real ques-
"The price we pay
is a declining
presence in South
Africa."
tion: why does Wolpe bother
to come here at all? He can
restate his prejudices from
Washington, or from the top
of Mount Everest, or from a
beach in Bali. Why go
through the charade?
"The question is, of course,
naive . . . The American
politicians who come trooping
through this country to reaf-
firm their prejudices actually
have sound reasons to do so.
They are reinforcing their
reputations at home as ex-
perts; they are demonstrating
moral convictions; they are
being fierce; they are, we
must understand, budding
statesmen, shapers of the
world.
"The price we pay is a
declining American presence
in this country. Last year a
dozen corporations left, next
year a few more will go. By
the end of the decade, when
real change is in prospect,
other relationships will have
supplanted the American
connection, which is now
hardly worth the worry."
Congressman Wolpe cites
Walter Sisulu of the ANC and
Bishop Desmond Tutu, of all
people, in support for his call
for intensifying sanctions. Too
bad he did not refer to the
numerous polls of South
African blacks, 85 percent of
whom are opposed to
sanctions.
Zulu chief Mangosuthu
Buthelezi uses the term "ar-
Ralph Slovenko is professor of
law and psychiatry at Wayne
State University Law School.
rogance" for those politicians,
local and overseas, who seek
to prescribe disinvestment
against the wishes of the peo-
ple concerned. Buthelezi has
been caricatured in the
United States as an Uncle
Tom, notwithstanding his
resistance to making
KwaNatal an independent
homeland.
Of the scant graffiti one
sees within the borders of
South Africa, perhaps the
most apropos is the message
written on the walls in
Soweto condemning Bishop
Tutu for his support of sanc-
tions. Tutu is a supporter of
the ANC; both are admirers
of Communist China.
Alan Paton, the literary-
spiritual leader against apar-
theid since its beginning,
strongly argued against
economic boycott, reasoning
that any meaningful eman-
cipation of black South
Africans will come about only
with economic upward mobili-
ty, and on moral grounds, he
sharply criticized Tutu for his
call for sanctions.
Whatever good sanctions
may do, they have been done.
On balance, in the long run,
they are counter-productive.
With sanctions, companies
leave and will not readily
return (apparently not one
multi-national has returned
to Zimbabwe), unemployment
mounts, and professional peo-
ple emigrate. If both blacks
and whites suffer increased
privation, they will become
more competitive with regard
to one another and less inclin-
ed to make concessions or ac-
cept compromises. Sanctions
create turmoil and provoke
extremists. Scenes of Ger-
many in the 1930s are being
replayed in South Africa.
Congressman Wolpe mis-
leads when he says there has
been no fundamental change
in South Africa. Apartheid
has been reduced to the
Population Registration Act,
according to which all South
Africans must be classified
according to race; the Group
Areas Act, which sets out
where people may live but
which is actually ignored in
large measure; and voting.
Segregated public facilities
have been done away with.
Sports are integrated. The
laws against racial intermar-
riage, influx control (the
"pass laws"), and the Jobs
Reservation Act, which
prevented black workers from
advancing to management-
Continued on Page 10
24
CLOSE-UP
Strike Up
The Band!
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
For 40 years, they've been
right in tune with the times.
SPORTS
Moses Of Maccabi
48
RICHARD PEARL
A Lithuanian Jewish coach
will lead his team to Detroit.
56
BUSINESS
56
Asbestos
Under Attack
KIMBERLY LIFTON
A Birmingham attorney fights
a deadly mistake in court.
center
Celebrating Tu B'Shevat
can be a family affair.
6 5
ENTERTAINMENT
Curtain Call!
STEVE HARTZ
Hillel is alive
with the sound of music.
65
88
AROUND TOWN
Sliding High
Akiva's annual sports day
was a big party on ice.
97
SINGLE LIFE
Why Jewish Men
Don't Date Jews
DAVID MARGOLIS
The reasons tell more
about men and women.
DEPARTMENTS
28
39
41
42
52
60
Inside Washington
Insight
Community
Synagogues
Education
Travel
76
78
90
94
102
126
Fine Arts
Cooking
Engagements
Births
Classified Ads
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
88
5:30 p.m.
Friday, February 2, 1990
Sabbath ends Feb. 3 6:34 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7