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ofRhodesia and South Africa.
While Amín entertaioed thé
OAU delegates, two somewbat
more serious developments
were being addcd to the already
lengthy list oi' African woes: the
overthrow of Nigerian leader
General Yakubu Gowon and
the begionings of a bloody civil
war in Angola.
In Nigeria, Black Africa's
wealthiest nation. Brigadier
General Murita!a Rufai Mo–
hammed oU:Sted General Go–
won, Nigeria·s ..gentle soldier.''
while the lauer was in Kampala
at tbe OAU summit: Gowon
had enjoyed the reputation of
being one of Africa's most hon–
est and ratiooalleaders. His fall,
therefore,
as
noted by _(.()odoo's
prestigious
Economist
maga–
zine, "confirms the uneasy sus·
picion that large parts of the
Africa which carne to indepen–
dence in the 1960s are in·
capable of orderly política!
transition.•·
Gowon was the fiftb leader in
Bla.ck Africa tO be dcposed in a
military coup in the past 17
months. The other overthrows
occurred in Niger, Ethiopia,
Chad. and Madagascar. During
the past
15
years - since the
beginning of the wave of Afri–
can independence movements
in 1960 - over 35 milítary
coups bave occurred across Af–
rica.
Tbe incomiog "soldier-rulers"
have geoerally justified their
takeovers on grounds of corrup–
tion, politícal repression or eoo-
BRIGADIER GENERAL Moham–
med ·addresses Nigerisns fol·
lowing
coup.
nomic mismanagement, but
experience has shown that the
new governmeots are usually as
bad - if not worse - !han those
overlltrown.
Orderly constitutional trans–
fers of power have been a pre–
cious rarity. Tbe pattem of coup
and counter-coup appears to
have become a more or less per·
manen1 feature of African poli·
tics.
As
Gowon's successor was
busy assuming the reins of
power in
N
lgeria , a more
bloody confrontation was under
way in the Portuguese colony of
Angola. With independence just'
two months . away three rival
Black nationalist movemenls -
one backed by Moscow and the
other two. in loose
aUi~occ,
by
Peking - engaged in a new
round of 6ghting for control of
"PLAN. W HAT STRATEGY?"
4
the mineral-rich coun1ry. fol–
lowing the breakdown of the
eighth truce this year. Observers
fcar the 6ghting may grow into
a proiracted civil war, wilh
ramifications being feltthrough–
out west Africa.
Elsewhere, border disputes
continue between Uganda and
Tanzania, Upper Volta and
MaU, Nigcria and Cameroon.
and Ghana and Togo.
In Ethiopia, a se¡:essionist war
simmers in the province of
Eritrea. In Chad, sporadic flght·
ing continues be1ween Arab
northerners and African soulh–
emers. In southern Africa, a
po–
tential racial conllagralion
brews which could eventually
bring Black African nations into
a bloody military confrontation
with Rhodesia aod South Af·
rica.
In shon, no mauer where one
looks across Black Africa. there
are nothing but "wars aod ru–
mors or
war."
Tribalism
and
Colonialism
In searching.for the causes of
Black Africa's myriad woes,
many historians and potitical
observers have cited tbe iU-con·
sidered carving up of the conti·
nent during the 19th .century by
European colonial powers -
primarily France, Belgium.
Britain, and Portugal. Nalional
borders were established with
little thought to centuries-old
tribal and e1hnic boundaries.
Nigeria is a representative
case. The nation is composed of
three major tribes and over
200
diverse ethnic groups witb dif–
fering retigious practices and
languages. In the latest coup.
General Gowon, a Christian
from the small Anga tribe in the
middle of the country, was
ousted by a northern Hausa
Moslem. Since the política! and
ideological differences between
Gowon and his successor are
minor, tribal loyalties are be·
lieved lo bave played a major
part in 1he coup.
-
The 1967 'Biafran war of suc–
cession between the eastern lbo
l ribe and Nigerian federal
troops also grew out of tribal
rivalries, as
did
the major civil
war in the Congo in
1960. ·
In
additioo 10 lhe problems
of intertribal coexistence, the
difficulty of reconciling old tra–
ditions of tribal loyalties with
modero concepts of nalionhood
has also been a source of con–
ftict on the contincnt.
Coupled with the problems of
widespread poverty, illiteracy,
economic mismanagemc;nt, and
inept leadersh.ip, the seemingly
un.resolvable problem of deep·
seated tribal rivalries would ap–
pear to render future prospectS
for the continent titile more
promising thaÓ the disma¡ rec–
ord of the past.
o
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Sexual Revolution's Bitter Fruits
The tempest-in-a-teapot slirred up by Betty Ford. tbe First
Lady, when she said she "wouldn't be surprised"
if
her l8>year-old
daughter Susan - the nation's "Fitst Teen-ager" - admiued toan
affair. only underscores the mass transformation in moral values
tl¡at has swepl over Amerjca in the past two to three decades.
Within this time span. pornograpby has blossomed from a
peek-a-boo, "sunbathing magazines" subculture into a multibil–
lion-dollar industry whose standard-bearer "girlie slicks" far ex–
ceed many conventionat magazines in both circulalion and
advertising revenue. ''Adult" book stores, dispensing everything
imaginable, and tben so¡ne. to arouse every conceivable prurient
interest. abound in nearly every' cüy. having successfuUy contested
and overwhelmed one municipal code aner another.
Not to be outdone. the motion piciure industry has moved so
far beyond Clark Gable's first ''daron" as to be almost uruecog–
nizable. Tbe distinctions bctween the ra1ing codes- G, PO,
-R,
and
X -
(and there should be an Rx for those that really make you
sick) continually slide downward. in
respo~e
to the liberalizing
moral clima
te.
Dudng this same gene_ral time ftame, lost virginity finally
caught up with the bypocritical double standard. The girl everyone
whispered about 25 years ago is now the accepted norm. A recent
poll of 100,000 women conducted by
Redbook
magazine, a leading
women's journa!, reveals that
90%
ofmiddle-class women surveyed
under the age of
25
had engaged in premarital sex. The number of
people who consider preouptial relations wrong falls with every
survey. The figure stands
at
48%.
according to a 1973 Gatlup PoU,
with 43% approving of such activity aod apparently 9% unable to
make up their mind. Four years previously. two thirds of those
polled disapproved.
And recent surveys show that
married
women are also having
more affairs than ever before, sorne estimates running as high as
40%.
Acceptance of homosexuality asan "altemate life-style" is the
latest, 1hougb in context, logical. consequence of the sexual revolu·
tion. Barriers "discriminating" against homosexuality in govern–
ment,
busi~ess
and even the mititary are faUing. Anti-sodomy laws
are beingstrickeo from State statutes by lawyers defending the Gay
Liberation movement. Across tbe United States, sorne
4,000
"gay
bars" are in operation, catering not only to the homosexual minor–
ity but also 10 those in the "straight" community who consider that
frequenting sueh establishmentS
is
"chic."
Divorce
and
itS 1ragic impacl on the family continues itS
steady rise. Severa! states have now inslituled "no fauh" divorce to
make split-up proceedings less painful and less tíme-consuming.
But for the children affected by broken bonds, the situalion is
far from painless. Accordlng lo psychologíst Urie Bronfenbrenner,
ooly one out of 14 children under six was brought up by.one .parent
in 1948. By 1973, tbat proportion had doubled to one out of seven
children. Dr. Bronfenbrenner is alarmed over what he tenns "tbe
high levels offamily fragmenlation" in the United States.
Overall, 1he fruits;ofth.e sexual revolut ion have not been good.
Only a minority, it seems, have known bow to rightfully use - in
marriage - 1he profuse new knowlcdge about human sexuaüty.
In somo ways, it is almost embarrassing for
an
American to
visit sorne of tbe supposedly "godless, atheistic" societies of com–
munist East Europe, as 1 have had the opportunity todo recently.
ln
these countries one finds moral codes and standards that should
be found at borne: no pomography on the newsstands and in the
bookstores, no "gay bars." and a much health.ier family life as
evidenced by the slrolling young married couples ooe sees pushing
baby carriages calmly along the thoroughfares of Prague, Moscow,
Bucharest- even at night, unafraid of danger.
.
One finds "Christian" moratity in lhe strangesl of places. But
as for aU too many in America, "they boast that their sin is equalto
the sin ofSodom; they are not even ashamed. Wbat
a
catastrophe!
They bave doomed themselves" (lsaiah 3:9,
The
Uving Bible).
WEEK ENDINO SEPTEMBER 6,
t975