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be less difficulty fo r the people of
So u th Africa and those in the rest o f
Afri ca if the peop les in these a reas
were pe rmi tted lo so lve lheir own
prob lems wit hout o u ts ide int e r–
vcn tion. pressure, and p ropaga nd a.
We should . it wou ld a ppea r, do
wh a t we ca n to encourage the
peoplc o f South Afri ca . to work out
the ir problems withi n their own
country a nd with the ir neighbo rs in
t hc rest o f Africa, and we s ho uld do
what we ca n to preven! furthe r en–
croachment by lhe new imperia lism
o f lo ta litarian comm unism.
Fo r the moment. howcvc r. let us
remember one intc resting aspect of
the propaganda leveled al the gov–
ernments of bo th South Africa and
Rhodes ia over the past decade (and ,
in th e case of South Africa, for more
th an 30 yea rs). Maj ori ty ru le
is
cla mo red for by the Russians, th·e
Cubans. and o lhers, but the ove r–
whe lming maj ority of the o ther na–
ti o ns o f Africa do no t have rea l
maj o rity rule. Wha t they do have in
a lmost eve ry case
is
to ta lita r ian ru le
by a
black minority elite,
unde r a
onc-pa rty sys tem . Should th e sa me
" b lack majo rity rul e" be etfected in
South Africa or Rhodes ia. it would
undoubtedly end the frcedoms and
democ ratic p roce ses in those coun–
tries (impe r fect. a lbe il, as th e demo–
cra lic p rocesses may be in e ithe r
mui on ). a nd it would proba bly lead
to the evic lion or exodus o f the
white se ttl ers who ha ve dcve loped
bo th na tions.
As we consider these prob lems,
le t us rcmember tha t the United
States is th e country mos l c riticized
in thc world , but a lso lhe count ry
most admired and imita ted . Noth–
in g happens in the Uni led Sta tes
lha t is no t o f in te res t lhroughout the
rcs t o f the world . Our capacity as a
peopl e to exhibit ou r wounds a nd
no t to hide them. as in the Wa ter–
ga te a lfair. makes us uniq ue as a
peopl e a nd proves aga in a nd again
th e integri ty and e lfectivcness of our
democra tic p rocesses . Our capaci ty
fo r innovati on, invention. and ini–
tia tive constitu tes our greatcst fo rce.
N o na ti on has changed the human
condition for the be tter so much.
Le t us con linue lo Iead the way for a
be tle r wor ld and fo r peace and un–
de rstanding among pcoples eve ry–
whe re.
O
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976
SOVIETS PLAYING FOR
HIGHSTAKES
Sov iet interest in the a ffairs of
southern Africa has but one pri–
ma ry stra1egic interes t: the denial
o f continued Western access 10 ir–
r e placea ble sources o f raw materi–
a ls.
" Soulh Africa [alone] provides
thc United States. its NATO allies,
and Japan wi1h their most impor–
tan! mine rals. including gold. dia–
mond s, a nd uranium. " notes
Anthony Harrigan. membe r of the
United States Indus trial Council ,
writing in the
Nationcd Review.
Another mineral, chromium. is
an especia
U
y importan t m ineral
fo r lhe West. There is no known
substitute for the substance in the
produc tion of stainless steel (com–
prising about
11%
of the alloy).
Sta inless steel is the prima ry metal
used to makc jet airplanes. rockets,
miss il es, nuclear power plants, and
oil refineries, as well as surgical
equipment. By sorne quirk o f fate,
most o f the world 's chromium is
found in e ither white southe rn Af–
ri ca o r in the Soviet Uni on - 67%
of it in Rhodesia a lone. A commu–
ni st victory in tha t part o f the
wo rld would give communists con–
tro l over 97% o f the wo rld's chro–
mium rese rves.
U.S. chromium stockpiles. while
swo llen from the recent reccssion ,
could only enable the country lo
ge t a lo ng w itho ut Rh o d cs ia n
ch rome fo r a full year, notes
Jacque lyn Biv ins, edito r of
Ameri–
can Metal Marker.
The only do–
mes ti c deposit is in Montana , in a
mine which is currently unwork–
a ble.
As far as South Africa is con–
ce rn ed , it has the largest-known re–
serves o f hi gh-grade iron ore, as
we ll as la rge quantiti es o f a!>bestos
and copper.
lt
a lso has enormous
coal reserves.
Busiest Sea Route
Few in the West also rcalize that
the Cape route around South Af–
rica is the most crowded sea route
in the world. Over 24,000 major
by
Jeff Calkins
ocean vessels sa il around it each
year, a ra te of 66 per day. Many o f
the e ves els are carrying o il to the
United States or Western Europe.
In fact, most of the oil Europe gets
from the Mideast comes in ships
which tJ·avel a round the Cape
since modern s upertankers are too
large fo r the Suez Canal. And . ac–
cordin g to the United State s
Stra tegic Institute. by
1980.
even
60% o f
American
oil imports will
have to travel around South Af–
rica .
And yet at the precise time that
the Wes tern world has become
more dcpendent than ever upon
the southern African region for
bo th raw ma terials and the main–
tena nce o f free world commerce,
South Afri ca itself has bccome
mo re and more disenchan ted with
the West. Specifically, South Afri–
can leade rs are perturbed - to put
it mildly - over the recen l Ameri –
can po licy regarding Ango la. Pre–
to ria d a ims tha t Washington gave
it tbe go-ahead to intervene in An–
gola. whil e Washington says it op–
posed the South African prescnce
from the sta rt. In any case. South
Africa was fo rced to make a ra ther
inglorious retreat f rom Angola -
dealing a blow to its own ca refull y
con structed "dé tente" po li cy with
black African nati ons.
The growing estra ngemenl be–
tween South Africa and the rest o f
th e Wes tern world is curren tly
hardening the traditional Afrika–
ne r predilection
to
go it a lone.
While it could cause sorne eco–
nomic ha rdship in South Africa.
the wo rld 's isolation of Pre to ria
would. no t be without adverse con–
sequences fo r the West. Already
so rne observers feel that in the
event of a naval struggle for the
Cape sea o il route. the West could
not count on a ny help from South
Africa , pa rti cularly in the use of its
nava l facilities at Simonstown.
from whic h t he South Africa n
navy currently monitors traffic in
th e cri tica ] sea lane.
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