Page 4-Friday, January 20, 1978-The Michigan Daily
341
FEighi v-Eight Years ofjEdtoj
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbo
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 91
Edited and managed by students at the U
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)ril F reedomfI
r, MI 48109
News Phone: 764-0552
niversity of Michigan
BANNED S. AFRICAN EDITOR PREDICTS:
West will crush apartheid
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ANY HAD PREDICTED an ap- recall of negotiators informs Begin in
proaching breakdown for peace the strongest terms that Egypt will not
egotiations between Egypt and Israel, be a party to such strategy any longer.
at no one could have predicted the The Egyptian President's action
imactic and electrified manner in also spared the pride of Egyptian citi-
hich the breakdown presented itself zens and rebutted all those who sus-
isterday. pected Sadat would be willing to sellout
President Anwar Sadat, in a move the Arab world for peace with Israel.
hiaracteristic of his boldness, with- Sadat's move could have very well
rew Egypt's foreign delegation from saved the overall peace campaign from
eace talks in Jerusalem upon hearing tumbling into a fatal round of vicious
;at Israel was still determined to hold accusations and denials.
rto portions of territory obtained in The surprise and shock that the re-
ie 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The recall of call produced will not only remind Is-
egotiators to Cairo was also said to be rael of the original purpose of Sadat's
result - at least in part - of sharp peace initiatives = that of compromise
ublic exchanges between the Egyptian - it will give the two sides a chance to
oreign Minister and Israeli Prime let escalating diplomatic hostilities sub-
[fister Menachem Begin at a dinner side.
'uesday night. Despite the dramatic breakdown,
much has been accomplished in the
One can only speculate on what Mideast since November. The simple
adat meant to achieve with his newest agreement that both Egypt and Israel
ecision, but itis becoming clear that sincerely want peace, and the start of
e did not intend to permanently aban- discussions to achieve such peace was
on his peace efforts. Only hours after not an achievement to be made light of.
he recall announcement, Sadat as- Negotiators have had difficulty
ired President Carter that other nego- keeping the momentum of talks
ations with Israel - specifically mili- growing toward peace because of the
iry- talks - would not be affected by unfortunate uncompromising position
ecent events. being maintained by Israel. Efforts by
Considering Israel's unmoving Begin to test Sadat have been of no help
:and on major Mideast questions, it either.
ppears that the Egyptian President When Egypt and Israel meet again
>ok the best possible action for the at the negotiating table, it will be
ake of his own political future. Prime crucial for all parties -, particularly
[mister Begin had adopted a stragegy Israel - to begin making substantial
f pushing Sadat as far back into a cor- concessions. Otherwise, any momen-
er as possible with Israel's unwilling- tum gathered from the past few months
ess to compromise on borders or will go not toward peace, but toward
alestinian self-determination. Sadat's war.
By LUCY SHEPERD
Pacific News Service
EAST LONDON, South Africa
-"They could ban me in five
minutes, but they prefer to get
me on a legal technicality," said
Donald Woods in an interview
early last summer. "Maybe be-
cause I'm so well known here and
overseas."
But Woods, for 12 years the out-
spoken editor of the East London
Daily Dispatch, underestimated
the South African government.
WOODS WAS BANNED in Oc-
tober for five years by the South
African government. The ban-
ning order - the first issued
against a white journalist here in
several years - followed Woods'
editorial campaign for an investi-
gation into the jailhouse death of
his friend, black consciousness
leader Steve Biko.
reporters because "I want to try
to break down a lot of prejudice
along the color and sex lines."
In an interview at his home a
few months before he was ban-
ned, Woods discussed a broad
range of topics, including his role
as the leading white press critic
of the government's apartheid
policies; his views of his friend
Steve Biko; and his hopes and
fears for the future of his coun-
try:
Q.: How have white readers
reacted to your editorial policy?
Woods: East London is a very
conservative city. When I took
over as editor I would say that 95
per cent were against our edit-
orial stance. Today I would say
the majority are in favor of it.
They might not like the tenor of
it, they might not even admit it,
but we can tell from letters - not
all of them for publication - that
the right circumstances. Preju-
dice can go in one personal en-
counter with someone of another
race. I always say that if every
white man made four black
friends, within 30 days we would
have total communication within
South Africa.
Q.: Are you anti-white?
Woods: No, I see myself as a
reconciliator between the races. I
don't idealize blacks. Steve Biko,
for instance is a friend of mine
and a remarkable man, but I
don't agree with his attitude of
fostering black consciousness. I
see a danger there that they don't
see - it can so easily become an-
ti-white. I know these black lead-
ers, and they're not anti-white
themselves. But they're going to
going to change as they confront
reality. And the changes are
going to be far more far-reaching
than they believe to be adequate
now. I believe they privately
think they can change the whole
social structure so long as they
hang on to the white vote, and
this hasn't got a chance. When
they finally realize that, we're at
the beginning of a solution. I don't
think they're such complete fools
that they'll cling through warfare
and destruction to that belief.
Q.: They're pretty stubborn,
though, aren't they?
Woods: They appear to be
more stubborn than they really
are. I think that the realization
will come, and it will come in a
pretty rough way. Once Vorster
'One good
thing you
can say
'about prejudice is that it takes a
long time to create but a short time
to destroy. Prejudice can go in one
personal encounter with someone
of another race.
O /
// -I
The ban means that "Woods
cannot be published (or even en-
ter his newspaper office), leave
his home town, go out at night, or
talk to more than one visitor at a
time. And he must report to the
police once a week.
Woods had been editorializing
for years against the Nationalist
government's racial apartheid
policy, ceaselessly walking a
tightrope between plain speaking
and law-breaking. After the
death of Biko - whom Woods re-
garded as a "remarkable man,"
even a possible prime minister
some day - Woods devoted an
entire issue of his paper in
tpibute, and was quoted as saying
"This is the big one - the one
they can't get away with."
BIKO HAD privately told
Woods that should he ever die in
jail, it would be murder - and
Woods had promised Biko to
make this public.
Woods ,43, is an amiable,.enter-
tai-ning father of three, who
speaks in calm, measured tones.
He himself is quick to point out
that he is a political moderate
who seems "radical" only in the
context of his country's political
climate.
Woods grew up among blacks
in the Transkei, where his father
ran a trading store, and he learn-
ed to speak fluent Xhosa, the
local native language. His family
background was conservative,
however, and it was not until he
went to law school that he began
to question his country's racial
policies.
LATER HE entered jour-
nalism, joining the East London
Dispatch, he said, because he
"liked its gutsiness." He rose
from rookie reporter to become,
at age 31, the youngest editor in
South Africa.
Though small, the Dispatch un-
der Woods became the most out-
spoken newspaper in the country.
It was the first white paper to
publish a native-language supple-
ment for the many blacks in the
area. His staff in half black and
half white, with an equal pay
scale for all - usually found only
in foreign-owned companies
here. He employs black women
there's been a massive drift in
white feeling, a general
realization that our warnings
about the injustices we've been
pointing to are valid, and that
things can't go on as they are.
Which is new in South Africa.
Whether it's in time or not I don't
know..
Q.: What do you think arccounts
for this change?
Woods: The evolution of events
... observation ... the use of
people's common sense. But the
paper must claim credit for push-
ing day after day.rBecause we
have always seen this as a matter
of urgency. We haven't written
editorials about non-political
things. When people complain
about tfiis, I always say "If a
house .is on fire, you don't start
pointing to how beautiful the gar-
den is, or how the gate lock needs
mending. You keep pointing to
the fire."
Q.: Why do you stay on such a
small paper?
Woods: Because it's the most
important paper as far as blacks
are concerned. We have the
highest black readership of any
white paper. And right now, al-
though I am talking to conscious
whites, I am also' talking at
blacks too, to say "There are
white who care about what's hap-
pening to you, so don't be com-
pletely anti-white. Because not
all whites are racist swines." My
care now is for blacks, although I
can foresee how later it will be for
whites, when they become the un-
derdogs.
We're lucky enough to have
closer contacts with black
leaders in this area, so we are
able to tell our readers more
about what really counts in this
country, purely because we know
a little of what blacks who count
are feeling and thinking. It's
probably a very inadequate
amount we do know, but it's more
than the other papers.;
Q.: Do you think the Afrikaner
mentality will ever change?
Woods:-One good thing you can
say about prejudice is it takes a
long time to create but a short
time to destroy. You know, preju-
dice can go in one evening, given
be dealing with the masses, and
there's the danger.
Q.: What do you think is going
to happen in South Africa?
Woods: My views on this are
not shared by most of the editors
or most of the politicians. I be-
lieve that within five years the
West will have to act against the
government. Most white South
Africans believe that as the com-
munist threat grows, the West
will come in with them against
communism.
I believe the opposite, that the
West can't afford to appear to
sympathize with white racism, so
someone like Carter's going to
have to say that a UN peace-
keeping force, or something like
that, must come in. And there-
fore, to save the West's
credibility in Africa, they're
going to have to increase
pressure against the govern-
ment. I think they will support
trade sanctions - embargoes -
and if that fails they will support
something structured like a UN
invasion to stop escalation of dis-
aster.
South Africa still thinks the
West will see the light and come
in with them against commu-
nism. But they won't. White
South Africa is on its own.
Q.: What makes you optimistic
in a situation like this?
Woods: I believe that the atti-
tudes the Nationalists hold are
BANNED SOUTH AFRICAN editor Donald Woods is shown in a
earlier photo with one of his employees at the Dispatch. Woods,
whose half-white, half-black staff is paid on an equal salary
scale, can no longer enter his' newspaper office or have his wor-
ds published as a result of the ban. V
realizes just how deep the West's
resistance is, that will be the first
crunch point. Then you can mul
tiply-all the pressures that will
come thereafter. You will get in
creased bu ildups along our bor
ders. A state of war. Internal un
rest -, which they keep kidding
themselves is manufactured by
incitement, which itisn't. There
may be some incitement, but
most of it is spontaneous. There
pressures will finally make them
face reality.
,Q.: Do you think the National-
ists must fall in a changeover?
Woods: They will have to fall to
the extent that, with all the power
they hold now, even they cannot
change everything and stay in
power. In fact, when you look at
the future, the five-year banning
orders people are getting are not
so terrible because I don't think
the government will be around in
five years. They are too tainted.
Q.: Do you think, after man-
agement has been white for so
long, that blacks will'be ready in
five years to manage the eoun-
try?
Woods: Yes. Because sure as
hell we've got no whites capable
of managing this country.
They're making an unholy mess
of it. But in any case, you don't
really need too much training.
Running a country is easier than
running a grocery store. You've
got a certain amount of built-in
infrastructure in any country.
You would have a complete peas-
ant taking over a country and
oing nothing,- and the country
wouldn't grind to a halt.
Q.: One of the standard Nation.
alist objections to majority rule is
that they say the stronger Cribe
will just use their power syste
niatically to wipe out the weake
ones, as has happened elsewherE
in Africa. What do you think?
Woods: It has happened ir
other countries, but in more tha
a couple it hasn't. Look at Zam
bia, Kenya ... The evidence point
away from it in South Africa
provided the struggle isn't so pro
tracted that you get the extrem
ist elements winning out.
Q.: How would you solve Souti
Africa's problems?
Woods: If I were given a magi
wand now, I'd abolish any law t
do with race and try to get rid o
as many racist attitudes as
could. I'd have a five-year perio
:under qualified franchise, allow
ing matriculated (high-schoo
% %// r
/OIST. FIEftO NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE, 197!
,THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
'Welcome to January!'
4ot far enough with Japan
i
- ''
i
L AST WEEK'S U.S.-Japanese trade
agreement is a step in the right di-
rection but leaves many troubling
issues unsolved.
Both sides concur that the agree-
ment is not likely to put an end to ten-
sions which have surfaced concerning
U.S./Japanese trade relations during
this past year, and negotiators are plan-
ning to meet, again before the end of
1978.
The agreement calls for a Japanese
commitment to reducing their annual
trade surpluses through a program of
for agricultural products such as citrus
fruits and meats. This is the agree-
ment's strongest advantage.
But the agreement fails to extract
any real concessions from the Japanese
in the form of increased imports of
manufactured goods - the root of the
problem. Such purchases help create
jobs in other countries and would help
quell what U.S. chief negotiator Robert
Strauss termed "the raging fires of pro-
tectionism" in Congress.
Although the Japanese pledge to
take "all appropriate steps" to increase
the overall volume of imported manu-
-v
) _______
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