Y Midbael
ST. JOSEPH - Th
cal foundations, and th po ible
future of the South African
ystem of racial segregation
o n partheid ere ex-
amined endesday night at the
regular meeting of the South-
est . chigan omens Political
Coalition by Dr. Arthur Coet­
zee, Dean of the Graduate
School at Andre University.
Coetzee emigrated from
amibia, or Southwe t frica,
in 1965. At one tim he as
pre 'dent of priv te college
in South Africa. H said he
ould ddre the' ue of
apartheid "a layman not a'
politician." Coetzee j white.
I South fric claim that
partheid date bac to the
colonization of the area by
the Dutch in the 1 50' , but
Coetze . d Blac (Hottentot
and Bushman) did mix with'
hite, nd on fe oce ions
inter-married. Coetzee dded
that in 1658, 289 slaves ere
imported (rom Angola, but th
native Bl c ere never sub-
jected to that.
In 1820, the British arriv d,
and the Dutch h d encountered
BI c on ver front' rs. The
cond and third generation
dutch became known fri-
aners, and claimed that th Y
d rrived t th South fri­
can region before the Blac
did. In 1855, all the
ere freed in South frica,
and tb fri an h d moved
to th outer region of uth
fric to e c pe Briti rul.
Coetzee e plained th t by the
1850' , the Bl c had pedal
land re rvation t 'de for
p(of
WEEK OF MAY 5, 1985 THE CITIZEN
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their own - land into hich
hites ere not allo ed with-
out permission. Blae 0
had Yoting rights downed
busin - t thi time. The
nti annexed th B ck re­
nations, but did nothing with
them.
In th period between 1900
and 1902, tb Boer W r w s .
fought, to determine, between
the Afrikaans and th British,
who ould rule South Afri .
The British on, but had no
policy concerning the Black
only tting ide their re-
rves a future sovereign n t-
ions. Le otho and Swaziland
are the products of th t policy
t 0 Blac nations entirely UT­
rounded by South Africa.
South Africa gained indepen­
dance in 1910 - independence
for the hites. Coetzee said
the whites refer to the peri d
between 1910 and 1936 as the
"BI c dang r era." Blacks
outnumbered white 3 to 1 ,
and whites feared a takeover,
and domination by Blacks.
Coetzee said it was in this
period that the roots of apar­
theid ere laid down.
BI c began to feel desper-
te, and formed the African
national Congre. eantime,
in 1939, th whites decided
to do omething "speci 'for
Bl c. The white decided
the two races could not live
together, they ould develop
perately and parallel.
Coetzee said it a between
1944 d 1948 that the term
, parth id" coined for the
policy of seperation. The Dutch
Reformed Church Congre in
1944 determined that the Bibli­
cal injunction th t nation must
be kept perate, and that the
v mu h ve tewardship
over the have-nets, gave the
bite a "Christian imper tive"
to continue with apartheid,
ccording to Coetzee.
In 1948, colored and asians
ere no Ion er allowed to vote
on per te voter rolls in South
Africa, d the laws govern­
ing race elations ere e ablish-
ed. Job were re rved for
hit in de ginated white
are , B ks could not keep
their jou eyman trades if the
moved into bite are ,colored
and asians could not sleep
overnight in certain bite area -
and all non- bite ere re-
quired to carry p s, to deter-
mine if they had permission to
be in certain are of the coun­
try.
Coetzee" said fear the
main motivating force, and still
is: hites are willing to give
Blacks equal rights, b do
not want to be ruled by them.
Coetzee drnitted it is mostly
a power play by white to
maintain political and economic
control.
Coetz said there has been
m progre ,that in the pa t
t 0 years 200 apatheid law ,
mo t recently th one b rring
inter-racial marri ge, have been
rescinded. He dmitted that
S. Africa "h history 0 f
going pretty slow. . .. my
u picion i they will not 0
f t enough. " Coetzee said
'Blacks have reached the limits
of their patienc , and the time
to change thin '''now'.
H id many Black re
,
•
rica
p
roce
poorly trained, and it ill be
me time before they are
educated enough to fend for
themselves. He id the politi­
cal protest against S, Africa
ha created a seige mentality,
and have pushed many whites
to the right, away from pos-
by th A
not h Iped
more men-
ible changes.
Th African ational Con-
gre has meantime gone para­
military, engaging in' au u
terrorism" to frighten bite
into making change. Coetzee
gave an example, here a
bite Catholic nun killed
SHAVED
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S1.89.
G
U D BEEF
S1.39
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to: The Citizen, P.O. Box 216, Benton Harbor, Mich. 49022
Deadl'ne: June 15, 1985
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