The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 7, 1983 Page: 6 of 24
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continued from page 6
practiced similar policies at one
point and had been under the
control of South Africa.
All black mine workers work in
the mines for twelve to eighteen
months, during which time they
are forced to live in barracks with
up to 8000 men. They are not
allowed to see their family and
home during the entire period of
service they engage in. This is true
for both immigrant and native
workers. White laborers are free to
see their families on their own
time.
Perhaps a more graphic
example of the blacks' plight in
South Africa is that of the
Bantustans. These are the ten
"Homelands" which blacks must
live on according to tribal lines.
These Bantustans comprise
approximately 13 percent of the
total area of South Africa. The
blacks' comprise about 70 percent
of the total population of the
country. The lands they are given
are the most barren in the country.
This combined with the necessity
for some of the males to work away
in the cities or mines contributes to
a 50 percent mortality rate of black
children under five, most of whom
die of malnutrition. The
government only sparingly doles
out cornmeal.
Legislatively, blacks have little
or no recourse. There is a poll tax
as there was in the United States in
the 1950s. Blacks, of course, cannot
hold government positions except
within their homelands, and those
positions hold little real power.
Furthermore, there is a procedure
called "banning" which allows
anyone deemed a subversive to be
exiled from his family and
community indefinately without
trial.
Tribalism does exist, but it is
not, when left alone, as brutal as it
once was. It is when men of
different tribes are thrown
together in the mines or other
psychologically traumatic
situations, or when stringent
separation is enforced as in the
Bantustans, that tribalism takes
hold. However, the cases of
intertribal marriage and councils
would indicate that this threat of
tribal savagery and war is largely
contrived by the government as a
rationale for apartheid.
Finally, the most important
argument against apartheid is that
it is morally wrong for one group
Seniors
Monday, October 10, 1983
10:00 am-4:00 pm
The Grand Ballroom
BS/MS in EE, CS, and MBPM/MACCO.
Other technical disciplines with strong interest in sales.
Come informally any time during the day and learn about
career opportunities at IBM locations throughout the
country. Then sign-up on interview schedules of your choice
for formal interviews on Tuesday, October 11.
Please bring 3 copies of your resume.
Citizenship or permanent residence required for interviews.
An Equal Opportunity Employer
of people to deny another group
the same opportunities for
advancement, or failure, or their
way of life as they themselves have.
This is why the Alumni
Association, which, despite their
non-affiliation with the university,
represents a group of supposedly
enlightened people, should not
sponsor their trip to South Africa.
In going, they must ignore the
immorality of the South African
government. In knowing what they
ignore is immoral and continuing
to ignore it they condone it.
James Martin
Hansen *86
Ed Samfield: Please
read this letter.
To the Editor:
Your recent editorial — "Need
some repairs? Don't call Ed
Samfield" — concerning a bill for
$220.47 for the installation of a
single dedicated outlet makes the
Philosophy Department feel that
they do not stand alone!
In July of this year, we requested
a single dedicated electrical outlet
and our bill totaled $289.09. "A
breakdown of this bill shows
$37.09 for material and $252.00 for
labor. Because the electricians
could not find the master controls,
they spent almost nine hours
rearching for such controls, and as
a result our department was
charged for this time. Is it our fault
that the electricians did not have
the proper schematic drawings'!
We protested this exhorbitant
charge to Ed Samfield, but got
nowhere.
We can cite other instances in
Lovett Hall alone where Mr.
Samfield's Physical Plant has been
sadly lacking in making necessary
repairs — for instance, the elevator
in Lovett Hall took almost six
months to have the necessary
repairs done, and when we called
we were given a wide range of
excuses. One of our professors had
had heart surgery and depended on
using this elevator, but our pleas to
Mr. Samfield were to no avail — it
was fixed in their own due time.
Another item was the matter of
rain-soaked walls, furniture, and
professors in several of the offices
on the third floor of Lovett Hall.
That matter took over a year to be
resolved!
Richard E. Grandy
Chairman, Dept. of Philosophy
Letter on Africa
offends, disturbs
To the Editor:
Mr. Walker's letter in your
September 16 issue was in my
opinion hugely offensive and quite
disturbing. Mr. Walker
contradicts himself throughout his
letter claiming that the Roman and
Greek empires were bastions of
stability. It would be a good idea
for him to review Roman and
Greek history in the hope that he
will realize that these civilizations
experienced chaos and turmoil
unlike any other civilization in
history.
To say that Africans are.
incapable of governing themselves
is a truly harsh accusation. Africa
is a continent rich in natural
resources yet having some regions
devoid of life. The ability of any
government to feed and care for
people is largely dependent on the
resources available to it. This, I
The Rice Thresher, October 7, 1983, page 6
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Ekren, Christopher. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 7, 1983, newspaper, October 7, 1983; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245540/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.