Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, July 29, 1985
i
Out of South Africa
Many businesses, such as General Electric, GTE and Phillips
Petroleum, are pulling their investments out of South Africa,
despite President Reagan’s refusal to support divestment. This
new lack of revenue coupled with sanctions imposed by other
governments is wreaking havoc on the economic and social
structure of South Af rica. It’s good to see private businesses res
cuing the moral convictions of this country and doing what the
president ref uses to do — curtail our economic support of gov
ernment-sponsored racism.
At least 55 countries have announced over the last 18
months they are disinvesting. U.S. officials say South Africa is
experiencing an unprecedented exodus of people and money,
including 200 Western corporations in various stages of disen
gagement.
White emigration is up dramatically for the first time in 10
years, adding to the country’s economic woes and causing a de
crease in the white standard ofliving.
The diplomatic and economic isolation brought about by the
economic sanctions of other countries has had a devastating ef
fect. South Africa has lost $1 billion in capital in the last six
months, making unemployment a problem for whites as well as
blacks.
The result of the sanctions is a financial slump affecting all
races. No longer are blacks the only people who feel the crunch
of an economy run amuck. No longer are whites shielded from
monetary troubles by their carefully implemented oppressive
policies.
The economic sanctions of other countries and the disinvest
ment of U.S. companies has given South Africa a series of finan
cial gut-punches. We can only hope that Congress and the
American people can convince President Reagan — a barroom
brawler from way back — to stop pulling his own economic
punches.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Mail Call
What about the Soviets
EDITOR:
You think vve have a bad economic situation in Texas — you ought to
think about what’s happening in Russia right now.
First, their main purchasers for crude oil — the Europeans — announced
a while back that they will soon begin purchasing their oil and gas from
Norway, and not from Russia. They have made plans for a multi-billion
dollar pipeline from the North Sea oil fields south.
Second, the Soviets were having just as bad a family crisis there, as we are
in the United States. Until, that is, the Chernobyl accident happened and
rendered their most productive farm lands useless. Also, that accident scared
most of their Warsaw Pact clients away, for fear that they were purchasing
contaminated produce from the Russians.
Third, the radiation from Chernobyl has affected some 100,000 Soviet
citizens, all of whom will essentially have to be on welfare for the rest of their
lives ....
William H. Clark
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right
to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent.
Each letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Instructions for ‘going to he
We are engaged
in reliving the
Vietnam experi
ence. Whatever
President Reagan
does, it is not
enough. Whatever
South African
President P.W.
Botha does, it will
not prove to be
enough. The mili
tants in South Af
rica will settle at this point for nothing
less than The Federalist Papers, the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the
Emancipation Proclamation, Brown vs.
the Board of Education, the civil rights
acts of 1964 and 1965 and the latest af
firmative action decision of the Su
preme Court. Otherwise?
The West can go to hell.
Or to quote Bishop Desmond Tutu
more exactly, ^‘(President Reagan) is the
pits as far as blacks are concerned. . . .
He sits there like a great, big white chief
of old,” and “I am so angry ... I found it
quite nauseating. I think the West, for
my part, can go to hell.”
That was Tutu’s response to a speech
in which the president of the United
States four separate times condemned
the emergency laws declared by Botha,
asked for the release of political prison
ers, for the release of Nelson Mandela
and for “unbanning” black political
movements. One concludes that only if
Reagan had said that he would send the
U.S. Navy to blockade South African
ports unless his recommendations were
acted on would Bishop Tutu’s disgust
with the West have mitigated.
Tutu’s complement in the United
States was Rep. William H. Gary III, D-
Pa. who, representing the Democratic
Party, spoke the official answer to Rea
gan. He was preceded by Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., who announced that
the United States had become “the last,
best hope for apartheid.” Gray said that
the United States must “demand” a
timetable for “full democracy, which is
one person, one vote.”
Gray went on to say that it hardly
mattered if those South African blacks
who are employed by American capital
should lose their jobs, since they amount
to a mere 47,000 people, or “one-tenth
of 1 percent” of the work force. So that
simultaneously we are told that only
sanctions will bring the white govern
ment to its knees and that sanctions can
only affect one-tenth of 1 percent of the
working force. If that is so, then ob
viously something more than economic
sanctions is desired in order that we suc
ceed with our “demands.”
What?
Well, we know that the Common
wealth nations are doing their best to
change the mind of British Prime Min
ister Margaret Thatcher, whose position
has been exactly that of Reagan and
South African novelist Alan Paton —
namely, that economic growth in South
Africa is the surest means of effecting
the loosening of controls and the grant
ing of civil rights. But there is even talk
of the Commonwealth disintegrating if
Thatcher does not go along, and there
are rumors that Queen Elizabeth has
said that she has not accepted the
throne of England in order to preside
over the liquidation of the Common
wealth. I swear, if we generated such
pressure against the Soviet Union, Gor
bachev would be sleeping in the cellar of
the Kremlin.
What is clear — beyond the Vietnam
syndrome, wInch specifies thatc
cession will generate anything]
than the demands for more coned
— is that before we knew it,oul
one-vote, which not even the P:«
sive Federal Party in South Afncl
favored traditionally, is suddeir
commonh accepted objectives
isn't cleat but ought tolveisthiHj
man one-vote in South AfricaisniiH
to happen in am meaningful sense ■
Why? It is one thing tovotetoi®
one’s civl rights, another to votetfl
one's neighbor’s property. AndtbH
what the militants want. Mail
(whom the president wishes rebT
the Ben Bella of the liber]
movement in South Africa, and id
sell-proclaimed Marxist whoseirj
in one-man one-vote would beasm
sitory as the* Sandinistas’ proved™
1 he African National Congress,!* 1
he effectively heads, is JacobiniaB
spirit, and its chosen instrumenttl
modern counterpart of the gui*
the “necklace.”
Well, Chief Buthelezi of the?®
isn't going to yield to the ANC,noil
the Indians, nor will the Coloureds,H
will the Boers. No one clamoringfow
collapse of the white government®
desci ibe c onvincingly what wouldt®
after. But rather a Vietnam-type vie®
even if it is followed by boat people®
Ho Chi Minh cities, than Botha an®
grudging reforms. So what thaiR
Sandinistas have militarized Nican®
stripped the people of their civil Jj
ties and reduced real per
more than 40 percent? Wegotr
moza, did we not?
Bishop Tutu’s formulation was®
He said the West can go to hell.
likely, the West will simply go to hell
Copyright 1 Universal Press Syndics it
’Monkey Trials W reincarnates past
morality, idioq
Hollywood offers a wide
range of movie sequels this
summer, but nothing can top
the follow-up to the greatest
horror-comedy ever made,
undergoing production right
now in the heart of the Bible
Belt. I’m speaking, of course,
about The Monkey Trials II.
Unlike most good, or even
mediocre, sequels, The Mon
key Trials II does nothing to
advance the ideas and con
cepts of its predecessor. The plot remains the
same, only' the actors have changed.
The orginal version, called the Scopes’ Monkey
Trials, premiered in 1925. The drama unfolded in
a Greenville, Term., courtroom and starred John
Scopes as a science teacher accused of illegally pre
senting Darwin’s theory of evolution in the class
room. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings
Bryan played the roles of the attorneys. Scopes was
found guilty of fillings kids’ heads with the idea
that man evolved from apes, thus the title.
The flick was billed as a horror-comedy because
many of the courtroom viewers found the drama
The Battalion
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Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe Editor
Kay Mallett Managing Editor
Loren Steff y Opinion Page Editor
Scott Sutherland City Editor
Ken Sury Sports Editor
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appalling, while others such as H.L. Menken
found it laughable.
But it took little to scare and amuse people in
1925, which is why the 1986 sequel falls on its face.
Instead of being another horror-comedy, Monkey
Trials II merely disgusts and dumbfounds its audi
ence with its reiteration of 1920s morality and ig
norance.
The scene is once again a Tennessee courtroom,
but the only returning actor is the state of Tennes
see. The other original stars declined offers to re
create their roles, probably because they’re dead.
In the new version, the lead part is played by
Vicki Frost, a 34-year-old mother of four, and all-
consumed follower of the Fundamentalist Way.
Frost is suing the Hawkins County public schools
because they require children to read books pub
lished by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Frost claims
the books, used by 15,000 schools in all 50 states,
violate the Fundamentalist world view, which
barely stretches beyond the edge of the Funda
mentalist’s nose.
The age-old plot begins with Frost entering the
courtroom, Bible in hand, spouting accusations of
secular humanism, a term which only Fundamen
talists can define. More stereotypical schlock has
never been put on celluloid. Bible-hanging in the
courtroom wields all the subtlety of a sledgeham
mer.
While secular humanism is never accurately ex
plained, Frost claims it is apparent in the parts of
the book that promote pacifism, feminism and sit
uational ethics. The books also warp children’s
minds by reversing traditional roles for boys and
girls, even going so far as to suggest boys might en
joy cooking. Chef Tell, in Frost’s eyes, must be the
epitome of hell on earth.
The role of the state, however, has reversed in
Monkey II. In the 1925 version, the state of Ten
nessee was the driving force behind the Scopes
persecution. In the new film, the school is defend
ing the school district.
The plot winds on, moving toward Frost’s even
tual goal of having Fundamentalist children given
different books, so they won’t be exposed to the di
verse views, cultures and religions the current
texts strive to present.
And this is where the drama’s credibility tails
apart. If Fundamentalists were distinguished from
normal children (perhaps by sewing a big f on
their clothes) soon all groups would want separate
texts, specifically detailing each different view
point and ignoring all others. But Ihe Monkey
Trials II does not concern itself with logical
thought. For example it also ignores previous rul
ings by the U.S. Supreme Court that suggest the
court would frown heavily on state efforts to favor
one particular religion.
Monkey Trials II exists in its own world, assum
ing that the viewing public is as tolerant and bliss
fully oblivious to reality as the players. The last fa
tal flaw of the plot is exposed with a simple
question: Has Mrs. Frost ever heard of private
school? Many parents who find public schools un
suitable for one reason or another find this solu
tion much simpler than a court battle.
The message of Monkey Trials 11 paiC
mimics the original — religious minorities si®
be able to impose their specific beliefs on tilt®
eral public, regardless of how many othersT
and laws get trampled on in the process. F®
arguing that Fundamentalist kids deserves®
treatment. But, aside from their parents’des®
shelter them from the outside world, these®
dren are not necessarily handicapped. Not|-
they necessarily gifted, despite their parents®
to God’s hotline.
The producers of this sequel fail to topfl
horror-comedy predecessor, but The Monkey
als II is a solid attempt to recreate past idiot®
can only hope that T he Monkey Trials IIcl®
the same theater it premiered in — the fen®
courtroom.
Loren Steffy is a senior journalism major sm
Opinion Page editor for The Battalion.