Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, March 28, 1988
Mon
Opinion
Brian, it’s time we
the record straight
My first reac
tion to Brian’s col
umn was that of a
shrug-off. I pa
tiently reminded
myself that not
many people are
that simple-
Rasheed
Ladapo
Guest Columnist
minded to swallow his elaborate distor
tion of facts hook, line and sinker. How
ever, I could not help but notice that the
guy is a senior history and Russian ma
jor at this great university; and the se
riousness of the matter at hand soon
dawned on me — here is a guy who is
supposed to know better, and who, not
very long from now, may find hipiself in
Washington as an expert on this or that.
The image of another budding Donald
Regan stupidly arguing that American
women would not like to give up their
jewelry as a defense against trade em
bargo on South Africa flashed through
my mind. I found it pertinent to put the
record straight before someone starts to
take Mr. Frederick too seriously.
minded indeed to expect an adherence
to the liberal democratic institutions
hurriedly set up by the Europeans be
fore they left by their African succes
sors. Unfortunately, this is the position
often taken by some Westerners. They,
like Brian, conveniently avoid to look at
the development of the past 25 years as
a part of a continuum in which indepen
dence will not be seen as a historical di
viding line. To them I say wrong. I also
argue that the savagery displayed by the
likes of Amin and Bokassa was only a
rub-off of the greater savagery of their
teachers and masters i.e. the European
colonists.
Afghan Nicaraguan U.S.
6 Freedom Fighter ’ 4 Freedom Fighter ’ Freedom - Fighter
V
While it is not my intention to take
him up on all his distortion of facts, his
assertions that famine in Ethiopia is at
tributable to the form of government
there and that the ANC is a terrorist or
ganization are nothing but balderdash.
The situation in Ethiopia was caused
largely by the drought but exacerbated
by the civil war; while the history of the
ANC shows an organization that pur
sued peaceful non-violence change for
more than two decades but later re
sulted to armed struggle when all peace
ful avenues closed to it.
Inter-tribal conflicts, dictatorship and
repression are not, as some would like
us to believe, restricted to Africa. The
on-going bloody tribal war in Northern
Ireland, the not too long ago attacks on
democracy in Europe by the fascists and
the fact that neither the Spaniards nor
the Portuguese had proved any better to
their own people that government
should be based on consent not force,
should awaken the likes of Mr. Freder
ick from their better-than-thou delu-
range
tunitit
to tab
foreig
count!
said at
Ste>
the sc:
1 k*t
Oh, no, not the ELECTIONS
sion.
Brian’s article is a complete rehash of
the same flawed line of reasoning that
has repeatedly failed under critical anal
ysis. Over and over again, apartheid
apologists like Brian, the majority of
whom are found in the West, are quick
to naively argue that conditions in the
rest of Black Africa are no better than
that of South Africa. And they often
buttress their position by citing the atro
cities of the likes of Idi Amin and Mo
butu.
The truth is there are human rights
violations everywhere, even in the
“good ole U.S.A.” But it is absurd to
compare what is going on in South Af
rica with situations in the Soviet Union
or the rest of Africa. I am totally con
vinced that the condition of the Africans
in South Africa in only one step behind
that experienced by the Jews in Nazi
Germany, i.e. the absence of the gas
chambers!
They’re
heeeeeeere! Da da
da dum, the Stu
dent Government
elections of 1988.
In good con
science, what ad
vice can I offer
but RUN, RUN,
RUN FOR YOUR
LIVES! DON’T
WORRY ABOUT
ME, SAVE
So, I tried to get involved. Really, I
really did. I mean, I didn’t wear tennis
shoes to the senate meetings (at least
not at first), and I tried to shake peo
ple’s hands, smiling simultaneously (do
NOT try this at home). I tried. I really
tried.
Mark
Nair
But I couldn’t do it. So I went to the
newspaper and begged for a job. Oh,
and aren’t they sorry now.
Their argument falls on its face, how
ever, when we patiently remind them
that the culture of violence that they
posited as characteristic of contempo
rary African nations was in fact an im
port of the “white” man and that the as
cendancy to power of men like Amin
was made possible by both the British
and American intelligence agencies.
While inter-state fighting had been
going on in Africa long before the arri
val of the colonists — an incidence not
peculiar to Africa, for the Europeans
too were slaughtering each other at that
time — the level of violence and the bar
baric destruction of lives on such un
precedented a scale was alien to us.
Sometimes I marvel at the audacity of
some Westerners to manipulate history.
The simple truth is that, in spite of their
efforts, undoctored historical studies
had shown that for the most part the co
lonial state, just like the creation of the
United States, was conceived and main
tained by the free use of violence and
brutal massacres.
Brian completely erred when he
wrote that “Africans lack the cultural
and historical basis for democracy,
which is a western innovation alien to
African experience.” One would expect
that he avail himself of the opportunity
to break from regurgitating the narrow
historical perspective of the old and
broaden his horizon by studying histori
cal materials written from different per
spectives — this would have given him a
balanced education. If he had done so,
he would have learned, for example,
that the Yorubas of the Southwestern
Nigeria, to mention just one, had for
thousands of years developed a system
of government equiped with checks and
balances not unlike ones obtainable in a
democratic form of government. This
was later violently disrupted by the “w-
hite” man. Besides, isn’t his claim, by de
duction, that the west had the necessary
cultural and historical basis for democ
racy a staggering piece of arrogance
considering the fact that democratic
model has had such a chequered career
in the west? A lofty idea like democracy
was never the invention of any race. Re
member, much of the elements of the so
called western civilization were bor
rowed by the Greeks from that far-
reaching and awe-inspiring Negroid civ
ilization along the Nile valley, ancient
Egypt.
YOURSELF! OPIE, OPIE, GET THE
FRISBEE!
OK, OK, wait a minute. Maybe we
really shouldn’t panic. After all, no
sports writers are running for anything.
Maybe there is a C»od.
But then again, it is Student Govern
ment. And then again, it is election
time. And then again, this is my job. Ah,
you gotta do what you gotta do. The
following is a true and ugly story. Those
weak of stomach and weak of mind are
advised to read it cautiously.
Anyway, back to the elections. I have
decided, after months and months of in
trospection and despair, to finally make
my mark on the student body here at
A&M. I have decided to jump back into
the wonderful world of Student Gov
ernment. And since only two people
have decided to run for Student Body
President this year, I figure that my
chances are pretty good. Thus, there
fore, so ii follows, simultaneously and at
the same time, I am now officially run
ning for Student Body President as the
un-Offlcial Write-In Candidate of the
1988 Summer Olympic Games.
• The name Student Body Preside
will be changed to “Quaffer of
manycoloredmultifruitydrink.”
• Release of all the hostages.
• Put the liberal arts classes bad
the liberal buildings. (No more philos
phy in Blocker, no more politicalsder;
in Zachry, no more English in thesis
tunnels.)
• Slide rules for everybody.
• Change the name of the Phvsic
Plant to Special Effects R Us.
• Nominate Captain Kirk for Pn
dent of the University.
• Buy a book for the library (veryki
portant agenda item).
• Free showers at the Y.
ment
volunt
spoke
opmei
day.
Lon
McGai
Corps
sent b
gency.
Lon
challer
person
functic
Hov
from i
open-r
travels
“Wh
it's irr
things
and tin
sons,
“It’s
duty t(
sons,” 1
As a
chance
on a sc
impori
'ong s;
Whil
unteer
or mor
tures. 1
:sting
trong
When I was a small urchin, my par
ents were always trying to convince me
to be someone important, someone
powerful, someone famous. They were
very disappointed when I decided to
become Student Body President. But
those were the old days when I was
young, impressionable and strung out
on Underdog reruns. I wasn’t responsi
ble for my actions.
T he good news is, I believe I have a
very good chance. Why? Because only I,
out of all the candidates, actually have
an established, non-profit campaign or
ganization — The Spam Eggs Spam Ba
con Spam Spam And Spam Party. Our
motto: “Two cans of Spam in every
driveway, a spoonful of sauerkraut in
every pot.”
• H ave all student senators w
those little cafeteria plastic thingiesa
their heads. Anyone who wears a dew
be summarily shot.
And this is just a rough list. AHHM
T HE POWER! Or rather, AH HA!
T HE ILLUSION OF POWER!
"Vol
degree
depenc
iviews
[change
Of course, one problem remains. Ii
a senior. I am graduating. Then,hi
be a bum of the worst kind —i.e., a I?
student. So, how will I rule?
And then, suddenly, I was in college.
And then, suddenly, it was Student
Government election time. And then,
suddenly, I was elected to the Student
Senate. And I found that rather neat,
because, you know, I wasn’t running for
any Student Senate position. I won as a
write-in candidate.
Now, I suppose that even an un-Offi-
cial Write-In Candidate should have
some sort of political platform. No
problem. The Gang and I at party head
quarters have devised an agenda for my
first year in office. It goes along these
lines:
No problem. I will rule with an
fist. 1 will rule by proxy. I will senddt
larations, proclamations and execoc
orders by way of my faithful mime'
Hal H. Hammons. Believe him, tne
him. He is my right hand man. (Heal;
writes sports, but we all have our pro:
lems.)
With six votes.
A good case in point was colonial Ni
geria — a country that was ignorantly
described by Mr. Frederick as being rid
den with “racial strife.” In 1906, the
British once again demonstrated their
unequaled barbarism by a ruthless su-
pression of the Satiru revolt in North
ern Nigeria.
T his use of unbridled violence to sup
press protest or any challenge to the “w-
hite” man’s rule continued throughout
the colonial period and into the eve of
independence. By importing this brutal
use of force into Africa, the colonial rul
ers indeed provide a paradigm of gov
ernment to their African successors, i.e.
government rested not on consent but
force. One then has to be very shallow-
Yes, Mr. Frederick, Africans have
spent the last 25 years trying to dis
mantle the European legacy of violence.
We did that in Uganda by throwing out
Amin and his successor, and we are
struggling to do just that in Zaire, South
Africa and Liberia. Ironically, our
struggles are not made any easier by the
fact that the old masters of violence,
though they like to portray themselves
as the champion of human freedom,
continue to prop up and aid these op
pressive regimes as long as they get what
you familiarly described as “strategic
minerals.” In spite of all this formidable
opposition to our freedom, we are mak
ing progress everyday. We believe God
is on our side; and with the help of peo
ple of goodwill here in America and
around the world, Azania shall be free.
That’s right. I garnered that power
ful (verging on omnipotent) position
with six write-in votes. I knew my time
in Student Government had come.
• No more wimpy five-day school
weeks. Classes will now go from six a.m.
to 12 p.m., seven days a week. Profes
sors will give comprehensive finals every
other day. Every third week, students
will have one day off from class. This
day will be used for mood enhancement
and catching up on the lost Munsters
episodes.
Above all, though, if you vote,'®
for ME! This isn’t a question of
doesn’t matter who you vote for,justs®
te.” Heck no, VOTE FOR ME! That's!
I care about.
And if you don’t vote for me, Is
break your face. Gosh, I love denis'
racy.
Mark Nan' is a senior political scie0
major and opinion page editor for^
Battalion.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breatbfl
MILO / THIS IS Oft/5
CHecKW in/ srevz
Id P&FINITELY Nor,..
RepefiT,NOT..
H/MSeLF/
Rasheed Ladapo is a graduate student
He BOUGHT FeeftTeP mNTd /
fnp hf me just OKftpes
BNP PR/E CHEESE FOR
LUNCH/ 1 TELL Yfi,
-mepe's nothing he coulp
PO THHT U/OULP SURPRISE
ME
, RNYMORE/
/
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