V
i
Page 2/The BattaiionAVcdnesday, July 30, 1905
Mail Call
Sanctions will result in turmoil
There is a grow-
ing pressure on
the l nited Scales
to impose eco*
nomic sanctions
against South Af
rica. While Presi
dent Reagan asks
the nation to resist
an emotional
clamor, the ad
ministration is
seen as losing its
Fight against the
1
Mark Ucto
ban
on imi
rts to
mport
South Africa and the forcing of Ameri
can businesses to divest their South Af
rican holdings.
Reagan’s adopted policv of construc
tive engagement basically has collapsed.
The three main aims of constructive en
gagement were the withdrawal of South
African troops from Namibia while Cu
ban troops left Angola, an acceptance by
South Africa and its black neighbors
that they are interdependent and a com
mitment bv South Africans towards po
litical reform.
These aims were realistic, and proba
bly could have brought about change in
the present situation, if they had been
allowed to continue. The First aim failed
because the South Africans were not
willing to surrender Namibia to Soviet-
backed guerrillas. South Africa did sign
a treaty with Mozambique two years ago,
but the insurgencies mat continued in
that country raised questions about the
sincerity of South Africa. The third part
of constructive engagement has dis
solved because of blacks' impatience for
political reform and their resolve to win
real political power.
Though the severity of sanctions
against South Africa will be in question,
it can be assured that the consequences
will be light. This is because of both
President Reagan's and British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher’s unwil
lingness to impose the hardcore penal
ties. The most the sanctions will amount
to is the banning of new investments
and imports of coal, steel and Kruger
rands. This also includes the present
ban on arms and oil.
These sanctions are supposed to pres
sure the South African government to
release Nelson Mandela and other polit
ical prisoners and encourage talks with
the currently outlawed African National
Congress. The pureness of the ANC
from communist inFiltration is in ques-
tion. hence the reluctance on the part of
President Botha The vow of the ANC
to bring war and terrorism to South Af
rica has not helped, either.
But this aim probably will stagnate,
because the success of economic sanc
tions against South Africa is unlikely. Is
rael and Taiwan have refused to con
sider the application of sanctions and
will do business as usual, which includes
providing fronts for South Af rican busi
nesses and acting as the middleman in
international trade. Another key el
ement is the number of opportunistic
Japanese companies willing to do busi
ness by circumnavigating their nation’s
ban on direct investment. For example,
most cars now sold in South Africa are
Japanese The South African auto
mobile market would be given com
pletely to the Japanese economv if West
ern companies withdraw.
Sanctions also would put an end to
the reforms now in progress, which ask
for integration and fair wages to black
employees in the workplace. This would
allow the resumption of cheap labor and
competition in tne international market,
aided bv the falling value of the rand.
South Africa is experienced in elud
ing sanctions. It is as capable of acquir
ing needed goods as is the Soviet Union.
The corrupt governments bordering
South Africa do not feel obligated to ad
here to the sanctions. As South Africa is
a port access to many landlocked coun
tries. shipments supposedly going to
Botswana or Zambia will wind up in Pre
toria.
Any of these temporary U.S. sanc
tions, if passed, will nave to overcome
Reagan s certain veto. The only sure
prediction is that the present turmoil
will persist until the administration de
cides to either resurrect constructive en
gagement or set out on a new course
and bring about a peaceful solution.
M*rk L de is a aenior geography major
and a coJumniat for The Battalion.
President misreads history
to justify sanctions opposition
The meaning of the grass
EDITOR:
Every now and then Karl Pailmeyer writes a great column. Thursday’s
was not one of them. Does Pailmeyer know why people don’t walk on the
MSC grass? The reason that “8,(MX) students became violently upset just
because a few people wanted to sit on the MSC grass” is because to true
Americans the thousands of men and women who have shed their blood in
our defense is just as, if not more, important than apartheid in South Africa.
But we can see Pallmeyer’s point of view. Who cares about the people who
have given their lives so we can be free? He seems to have forgotten that
without those people, he would not be able to tell us of these “things that
really matter.
How is Pailmeyer open-minded when he labels other people “fascist?" As
proud members of your “fascist fraternity in uniform" we would like to say
that if we are fascist because of our conservative beliefs, Pailmeyer must be
more of a communist than Marx and Lenin put together. The difference
between us and him is that while he prefers to sit back and talk about
protesting problems, we are willing to lay our lives on the line. It is just loo
bad that we may give our lives in Pallmeyer’s defense in order to keep a
democratic society.
Isn t it amazing that our supposedly closed minds are open-minded
enough to realize that Pailmeyer must stay around in order to keep our
country what it is. We only ask: Would he lay down his life in our defense?
Billy McManus *87
accompanied by 10 signatures
The Pailmeyer legacy
EDITOR:
Once again we have been subjected to the extremist din of Karl Pailmeyer
trying to expose some great truth for all to see. Once again it seems that he
has lallen short and simply aroused the wrath of many of his fellow students
What Pailmeyer has failed to achieve is an understanding of a timeless
characteristic of human nature that causes people to behave in such a way as
to frustrate his own intentions. What we shoula all realize is that people have
a tendency to conform in order to obtain the approval to their peers and even
of society in general.
Twenty years ago, millions of young Americans lashed out at their society
as they sought to reform its self-indulgent, “fascist” tendencies. As part of this
protest movement, these young people dressed and talked in ways that their
elders disapproved of.
Unfortunately, this human characteristic of conforming led these well-
meaning young people to dress alike and formulate a new set of standards
that would allow them to establish fashion strata to replace those which had
become outmoded. In the end, these people grew out of their rebellion and
started making money to buy the toys that would once again stratify them.
I exas A&M long ago accepted this characteristic of human nature and
now cultivates it in order that its graduates will do well in society. Rather than
railing against this tendency, perhaps Pailmeyer should Find a way to
conform enough for others to listen to what he has to say rather than simply
offending fellow Aggies' sensibilities. Only then may he be able to make a
mark upon this University to be proud of, unless, of course, he doesn’t care to
leave a meaningful legacy.
Samuel C. Thompson *88
accompanied by five signitures
Noteworthy words
EDITOR:
In response to Karl Pallmeyer’s column Thursday in which he attacked
the basic principles of Aggieland, may I offer the following words written by
Elbert Hubbard:
LOYALTY
If you work for a man; in heaven's name work for him; speak well bf him
and stand by the institution he represents.
Remember: an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.
If you must growl, condemn and eternally find fault — why?
Resign your position and, when you are on the outside, damn your
heart’s content, but as long as you are part of the institution, do not condemn
it;
Or the first high wind that comes along will blow you away, and probably
you will never know why."
I suggest Pailmeyer note these words carefully.
Dawn Lee Wakefield *78
Answers wanted
EDITOR
This is directed at — who else? — Karl Pailmeyer. This isn’t another
Highway 6 runs both wavs" letter. We just want some answers to some
questions.
In December
1955, Rosa L.
Parks, a black
seamstress in
Montgomery,
Ala., was arrested
and jailed when
she refused to
move to the back*
of the bus Imme
diately. the leader
of Montgomery’s
black community,
E.D. Nixon, made a round of calls |
of them to a newly-arrived minister
from Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr.
Nixon proposed a bus boycott and King,
after some reflection, agreed. The U.S.
civil rights revolution started, as these
things often do. with an economic boy
cott.
Richard
Cohan
Five vears later, the quiescent civil
rights movement was reinvigorated
when four black college students non-
chalantlv walked into a Greensboro,
N.C., Wool worth’s, sat down at the
whites-onh lunch counter, and refused
to leave until thes were served If there
was anv doubt that the first sit-in was a
boycott by another name. Woolworth's
settled the matter. Bv the end of the
week, it bad closed its store. White peo
ple had to go elsewhere for lunch.
All that, as they say, is history — a his
tory President Reagan misread when he
conscripted the American civil rights
revolution to defend his position on
South Africa. “Our own experience tea
ches us that racial progress comes swif
test and easiest, not during economic
depression, but in times of prosperity
and growth," the president said in argu
ing against sanctions that would weaken
the South Africa econotm But our own
experience teaches just the opposite It
is precisely when economic interests are
threatened that progress occurs.
The correlation that the president al
leges simply isn’t there. In our own
country, the prosperous 1950s did not
produce major civil rights break
throughs. Those came later. And in
South Africa, the incredible boom years
of the 1960s and the continuing pros
perity of the 1970s did not see a concur
rent loosening of the racial laws. As long
as the white community remained pros
perous, it had no reason to change mat
ters.
The president's thesis is hardly new .
Back during the South Africa boom, it
was widely believed that a rampaging
economy (real growth averaged 7 per
cent a year) would make apartheid un
workable. Foreign Firms — many of
them American — were entreated to en
ter the South Africa market with the
promise that the human-rights situation
would improve. Prosperity would com
pensate wnites for the loss of racial priv
ilege — turn them from hard Boers into
pragmatic and therefore liberal busi
nessmen. Why, the need for skilled
workers alone would bring down the ra
cial laws.
No such thing happened Instead, the
racial threshold was raised If the mines
demanded more workers than the white
community could provide, then blacks
were brought in — but skilled jobs, such
as blasters who work with explosives,
were limited to whites. Throughout the
South Africa economy, that principle
was applied. An economic boom that
raised the standard of living tor Afri
kaners from one of the lowest in the
world for whites to one of the highest,
did not ameliorate substantially eco
nomic or political conditions for most
blacks.
One goal of economic sanctions is to
bring pressure on the white business
community so that it. in turn, will pres
sure the government for reform. .Al
ready, that is happening. Nothing so
shocked the business community as the
refusal of American banks to continue
lending money to South Africa, the sub
sequent decline of the rand and the
wrenching sound of American Firms
pulling up stakes People who were con
tent to go with the flow all of a sudden
saw that the flow had ceased. Their in
credibly high standard of living was im
periled. ^
It was no coincidence that after the
rand fell, some of Johannesburg's busi
ness elite flew off to Lusaka, Zambia, to
meet with leaders of the outlawed Afri
can National Congress. Now, in a cri de
coeur of the bleeding-heart conserva
tive, Reagan wants to reverse the proc
ess. So dreamy is his faith in the reform
ist virtues of capitalism that he actually
has called upon American Firms to
plunge into a South Africa economy
that is fast becoming a dry lake. For
business reasons akme. few will make
this dive.
In a speech delivered to a group of
presidential admirers that applauded a
reference to anti-communism but not to
human rights. Reagan used economics
and history to justify the policy based
mostly on conventional anti-commu
nism. He got it all wrong.
If necessity is the mother of inven
tion, then adversity is the mother of re
form. Our own civil-rights era is instruc
tive. When it comes to South Africa, the
calls have gone out. It’s time for a boy
cott.
Copyright 1986. Wmahirngtoo Fomt Writer* Group
Whv is changing Texas A&M his “grail” in life? Why does he insist things
must change.-' He constantly complains about and cuts down this University
and we can't fathom why. What is wrong with asking people not to walk on
the Memorial Student Center grass? Is it wrong to establish something as a
memorial?
Not all people follow "traditions'' and such blindly here. We are not
brainwashed clones. We are individuals who have a common bond — our
love for our school and all it stands for. Pailmeyer himself came here, among
other reasons, because his father did. Is he not following “tradition’’?
It is the same everywhere, all students want to graduate and become rich
— that’s the "American Way" instilled in us by advertisers. We cannot see
how all the blame can be put on a university and its students.
It seems that in most cases, if someone is unhappy with the situation
surrounding them, they leave. We would and have done so. What we can’t
understand is if things really bother Pailmeyer here, why would he want to
stay. Is it that he enjoys the attention he draws when he riles people? Was
Pailmeyer perhaps the neglected middle child in his family?
Christine Dittfurth
Thomas Gilliland
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pailmeyer claims he was the spoiled youngest child in his
family.
Letter* to the editor should not exceed 900 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.
The Battalion
(L’SrS 045 900i
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe....
Ka> Maiiett
Loren Steffy
Scott Sutherland
Ken Surv
- Editor
Managing Editor
Opinion f' <Kc Editor
Oty Editor
Sports Editor
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