Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY idturdoy, Moy 21, 1977 U.S. firms back white rule By MICHAEL YELLIN '"HE INVOLVEMENT of U n i t e d States based corporations and their subidiaries in South Africa has contributed much to the main- tenance of a militarily powerful, white - supremist government in that country. Corporate executives largely agree they would not be able to keep up their large percentage of profit if the system of apartheid did not exist in South Africa. In recent years multinationals such as Ford and Mobil have had to answer to stockholders' queries and resolutions a i m e d at discerning what these businesses are doing to establish humane, equal employ- ment for blacks in South Africa. When questioned, corporate man- agements always state their busi- nesses are apolitical and then go on to list a number of policies they have a g r e e d upon to upgrade blacks. Agreement on policies and the ability to implement them have proved to be two different things. To exist in South Africa, corpor- ations must abide by the laws of that country or risk being kicked out by the government. The laws of apartheid the w h i t e government have established are not apolitical but a blatant abridgement of hu- man rights. Nonetheless U.S. busi- nesses abide by them. The apartheid system has been, designed and implemented primar- ily to force the majority population of blacks, coloreds and Asians (80 per cent of S o u t h Africa's resi- dents) to work for the minority white population. In affect, apar- theid works to enslave the black population to bring a higher profit for w h i t e investments in South Africa. SOUTH AFRICAN Prime Minister James Vorster agrees with this interpretation. In 1968 he stated, . "It is true there are blacks work- ing for us. They will continue to work for us for generations, in spite of the ideal that we have to sepa- rate them completely . . . The fact of the matter is this: we need them because they work for us . . . But the fact that they work for us can never entitle them to claim politi- cal rights. Not now, nor in the fu- ture . .. under no circumstances." South African laws and their en- forcement may represent the most blatant breach, on a national scale, of the Universal Declaration of Hu- man Rights; a document adopted in response to the Nazism and Fas- cism of WW II. It is a law in South Africa that no black can give a white an order. The government has said as long as it remains in power this law will be enforced. The United States State Depart- ment has said it would intervene five can live efficiently on. The MEL is one and a half times the amount of the PDL but is still con- sidered by many to be inadequate for basic human needs. Wages American companies pay blacks are often times low even by South African standards. No Ameri- can corporation or its subsidiary pays a minimum wage above the MEL. Seventy-five per cent of the companies in South A f r i c a pay many of their black workers below PDL standards. During the time of slavery in this country slave o w n e r s spent more money keeping their slaves (workers) alive than businesses pay many blacks in South Africa. In recent years the South African government has been proceeding full speed ahead with the "resettle- ment" of A f r i c a n "homelands." This involves the forced deporta- tion of literally millions of men, women, children and old people from government designated "white" areas to reservations set up on the worst land the govern- ment can find. The word "resettle- ment" was a 1 s o the euphemism used by the Nazi's for the deporta- tion to concentration camps and forced labor of millions of Jews and others. Black Africans who are unem- ployed or unable to work but living in white areas are forced to "re- settle" on the 1 a n d set up and worked for the government. Fami- lies and individuals restricted to these areas often attempt to live on an income of less than half of the Minimum Poverty Level. wne uuunauiun continues in apartneid noutn africa. on behalf of U.S. companies if the South African government inter- fered with the companies attempts at implementing the Declaration of Human Rights. H i s t o r y has s h o w n that U.S. corporations in other countries have no qualms about calling in the American gov- ernment to protect business inter- ests. The fact that no U.S. company has requested the S t a t e Depart- ment assistance in implementing basic human rights can be inter- preted to mean companies are mak- ing no serious attempt at relieving the situation or m a k i n g waves with the government. Good relations with the govern- ment of South Africa are essential for a corporation's well being there. The South African government is responsible for a large percentage of business transacted. In 1965, Ford South Africa bid on a contract to supply four-wheel- drive vehicles to the South African Government. (Ford Motor Company of South Africa is actually a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company of Canada, which in turn is 81 per cent owned by the U.S. parent company.) The Canadian government decided the vehicles were in violation of the United Na- tions Arms embargo of South Africa and refused to permit the sale of these i t e m s. In retaliation the South African government refused to allow Ford to bid on contracts for the next two years. Since then Ford has made every effort to avoid conflict with the government. THE ARGUMENT given by invest- ors that corporate development will produce social change and sig- nificantly benefit the African pop- ulation is entirely false. The latest spurt of foreign investment from 1973 to 1975 has resulted in a sig- nificant increase in the wealth of whites, further increasing the gap in wages b e t w e e n blacks and whites. Most of the increased wages blacks have incurred recently are the result of the s e r i o u s labor struggles of 1973 and 1974 and not of booming investments. Any increase in the number of blacks working jobs that were for- merly for whites has come about not to upgrade the level of blacks but as a result of the severe labor shortage in South Africa. The re- strictive labor practices of the gov- ernment has resulted in a lack of skilled workers. By filling white positions w i t h blacks, employers can move whites to a higher super- visory position and at the same time pay the black worker a frac- tion of what the white worker was making. Whites are never supervised by non-whites. If a black works along- side a white, the white is desig- nated a supervisor and paid five to ten times as much as the black working next to him. The government of South Africa has established a Poverty Datum Line (PDL) to represent the amount of money needed to meet a bare minimum of costs on a short term basis for a black family to survive. The PDL does not include any money for education, taxation, medical costs or household goods. United Nations nutritional experts do not consider PDL funds to be even enough to live on at the lowest level of poverty. The government of South Africa has also set up a Mini- mum Effective Level (MEL) of in- come which represents the lowest level at which an urban family of AVERAGE MONTHLY PER CAPITA WAGES IN SOUTH AFRICA (R1.00=$1.25) Sector Whites Africans Difference Mining 1975 R598 R67 R531 1973 R405 R27 R388 Manufacturing 1975 R486 R100 R386 1973 R376 R67 R310 Construction 1975 R472 R95 R377 1973 R376 R67 R310 Source: "Rand Daily Mail," August 9, 1975. "Financial Mail," February 21, 1975. U.S. corporations charter clearly support apartheid po ii c i e s in South Africa. Caltex is Texaco and Standard Oil of California. 4 MERICAN M ON E Y, know-how and materials have made pos- sible a self-sufficient ,South Africa, virtually immune to international sanctions. The auto industry, rub- ber industry, petroleum companies and electronics corporations open- ly admit they build, sell and help train white South Africans to oper- ate sophisticated machinery used for the defense of South Africa. As a result of the laws established to protect the defense of the minor- ity white government, these cor- porations are not required to re- lease any information concerning See BUSINESS, Page 10 Michael Yellin is a Michigan Daily night editor.