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This Salient was produced by Graeme Collins with the valuable assistance of Simon Arnold, Colin Knox and John Miller. Also Peter Craven, Margaret Bryson, and Sandy Bartle. Others also offered their assistance.
Reviews of Arts Festival in the last issue of Salient and other general comments seem to agree on one thing—everyone centred their intention around the rock-pop concerts. Why?
The answer lies in the fact that most of the other activities only required the individual to sit and soak up the entertainment being offered by that particular art. Big deal. Anyone can go to a play, movie, etc. at home—wherever that might be. But there is seldom the opportunity to gather from all over the country and to mutually share—physically and mentally.
So what happens? From north and south people hitch-hike, walk and crawl into the, big city, parched and beat from the trek. Then what? OK. kids we've got a great scene going here, everything you could ever ask for; plays, cinema, art and craft, poetry, music, rock concerts. Now enjoy yourself. $4 for the lot.
People come to the campus, the environment provided for the 'art', and we are confronted with activities all over town. Everyone began just wandering round the campus waiting for something to happen. The only thing that did happen was the people began to feel like refugees.
Rock Concerts for me were both fascinating and depressing. Fascinating because when four thousand people cram into a hall you get a message, an electric impulse generated by the bodies rubbing, touching, transmitting the electricity one to another. Think of the brain power of four thousand people. Think of the potential. And what did the music provide for them? The whole set up was sheer domination. What you had was a bunch of musicians playing for only one small group in one corner of the hall. The absence of stage and lighting meant that no one else could see them, and even worse the music was bad! All the so-called musicians had practised for weeks to get their numbers perfect. People don't need perfect music, they need music which excites them physically, which offers them something positive, be it dancing, singing or even background to something else that's happening.
People want to participate. The rock concerts would have created more happiness by far if some old music teachers had been hired to go over some old school songs with everyone singing and doing descants and rounds and god knows what. It's not the bloody quality of the song that people care about, it's the participation.
The folk concerts were worse. Folk means people, doesn't it? The media of folk provides an opportunity to express emotions through the old established songs; but what about New Zealand's folk heritage? Why shouldn't there by an opportunity for NZ'ers to sing together about things that involve them specifically? No, it's the same old story, "look at me, listen to me, kids. I'm a folk singer and you're being given art so shut up and listen".
Veronica Scott and Judy Batchelor deserve credit for their attempt at getting everyone singing and clapping. The audience started laughing, singing and clapping and were suddenly happy. Previously the whole concert had been a bore with people either leaving or sleeping.
The organisers do not deserve the criticism and ridicule that they have received. Graeme Nesbitt has been used;a scapegoat for the sheer ignorance of the fact that students don't want to see 'art', they want to make and do it.
The whole idea of Arts Festival is as out-dated as Dave Smith's Holyoake impressions, as out-dated as Procesh and all the other petty bourgeoisie 'art' that exists around the place. An artist today must offer more than himself, he must attack his audience and use the stage as an opportunity to show people that we can work it out. We can do it. Let's get together.
Art should be an opportunity to restore faith in us, not God, and to regenerate some of our cherished passions that seem to get lost along the way. This message that art should give wasn't understood by the organisers. Are they therefore blame-worthy?
Tim Shadbolt and Farrell Cleary and the other equally significant people who 'pulled that scene on us' should not be crucified They, despite their 'humanity', knew where it was at. The Executive should apologise to them for our—yes, our—stupidity.
4 August Executive On the evidence available at that date the Executive recommended to the S.R.C. that no apology be made to Detective Sergeant C.W. Lines.
Unanimous
5 August: S.R.C. Voted that no apology be made 290 - 14
7 August: Vacation begins.
8 August: Executive Met in committee - no resolution - considered further evidence.
10 August: Executive Motion for a partial apology carried (dissent - Phelps, Langford abstention - Knox). Amendment calling for full apology lost on casting vote of - chair (for Knox, Phelps, Langford; against - Bryson, Nesbitt, Collins)
13 August: Executive Resolved that there be a full apology (carried 4 - 2 dissent - Bryson, Collins, absent - Nesbitt, Stockwell).
21 August: Executive Approved the terms of the apology as negotiated by Lines' lawyer and the Association's lawyers, and agreed to pay Lines $150 in full payment of his legal fees (dissent - Nesbitt, Collins). 31 August; Vacation ends.
3 September S.R.C. Directed the Executive to publish a partial apology only 123 - 2
4 September: Executive All members present. President was directed to publish the full apology (dissent - Collins, Nesbitt, Bryson)
7 September: "Salient" appears with full apology.
2 4 September: Special general meeting 7pm Union Hall, S.U.B. Motion of no confidence in the Executive.
Victoria did not vote in the election of Mike Law, past President of Auckland University Students Association, to the peerage of Vice-President of NZUSA.
Miss Bryson informed the Executive at its meeting on Tuesday night (15th September) that there was to be a postal vote of which it would be informed.
The Executive agreed to delay making a decision until the curriculum vitae of the only other candidate Jim Bolton, International Affairs Officer at Otago, had arrived.
In fact the curriculum vitae was not received until Wednesday night.
On Thursday members of the Vic Executive were informed that Mike Law had been elected.
Victoria did not vote, but even had it done so the result of the election would be unchanged. Mike Law received over 50% of the votes of those eligible to vote. This was all he required.
Men's hairdressing services will be available in the first floor, Student Union, from 28th September. Darryl Kirkbeck who manages a hairdressing salon in Cuba Street, will be providing men's hairdressing services on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9a.m. to 12 noon The services will be made available for longer hours if, after a few weeks experience, the custom warrants an extension of the hours.
The Students' Association Office will run an appointments service for the hairdresser so that members of the University can book a hairdressing appointment.
A range of services including hair cutting, shampooing and styling will be provided and the charges will be very competitive with prices in the City.
The VUWSA Literary Magazine is on sale now from the Stud. Assn. Office.
If you wish to sell Argot yourself let the Office know. The commission paid is 25%.
At a SGM of NZUSA on Saturday 19th September it was agreed to promote a new publication in 1971.
The magazine, as yet unnamed, will be directed at young New Zealanders—students included—and is to appear fortnightly in folded tabloid form at a price of 15 cents.
The magazine is to be self-financing from sales and advertising and the first issue is to appear in
This publication proposal follows the scrapping of Focus from the end of
"It is drawn to the attention of students that the University is able to provide special examination facilities for those with physical disabilities and for others in exceptional circumstances during the October/November degree examinations. For example, in past years a student with a broken leg and a pregnant student have been assisted in this way. Students who wish to make use of such facilities should contact either the Clerk of Examination in the Robert Stout Building or one of the Student Welfare Services."
Lesley Jacobs, VUWSA's 1970 Woman Vice President, and successful candidate for the position in 1971, has resigned from the 1971 position.
Applications were called for a special election at SRC on Tuesday 15th September. At this time 3 applications had been received. The meeting of SRC, however, decided to postpone the election until the SGM to be held on Thursday 24th September at 7p.m.
Applications were reopened and will close on 23rd September at 4.30p.m.
Bound copies of Salient in a hard back cover will be available later this year. The number of copies is restricted to approximately 30 so if you want one, be in now. They'll cost you $5. Hand your name, address and phone number to the Students' Association Office. You will be notified when you can collect them.
Levenbach Catering, it appears, have had to ask for some price increases for the Caf. for the rest of this year. With recent wage increases and rising food costs—especially on small items like cakes and pies—it seems that increases will be inevitable very soon. Eat now—avoid the November rush!
The Salient Reporting Prize for 1969 has been won by Les Atkins, until recently deputy editor of Salient 1970.
His news story, "Tracker's Military Use Verified" (Salient
The prize consists of $25 of books.
Roger Wilde was close second and Jim Mitchell was third.
A rather unfortunate misprint is to be found in the last issue of Salient. In a certain ad, publicising rotten oranges, the word 'jews' should have read juice.
The arab proof reader who was responsible for the misprint has been dismissed.
Just a comments on the article "What a girl thinks...." in last Salient (September 7 p. 8-9)
One cannot but admire the skill of the writer in vivid portrayal of the mental anguish experienced by a girl in such a situation. The article is so expressive that it could well furnish a blues writer with the material for a potentially great song.
But it must be noted that the writer creates a girl who equates love with sex. Perhaps this was done in order to show that mature bodies, despite marital status, entertain similar needs requiring similar satisfaction. However, as Miss Bartlett might say, love is not all bed and roses. Sex is not 100% love—not even 50% love. How much time is spent in bed even by a couple at peak performance? The answer is relatively small. Admittedly sex is no small part of love, but love is a function of many factors. Thus a 16 year old cannot possibly love as deeply as a couple on their silver wedding anniversary. O.K., the biological urges may be equal, perhaps greater, in intensity than the oldies, but there has been no time for the establishment of factors such as imprinting and the development of trust. In fact, the love that kids feel differs enormously from that of oldies. Furthermore, the kids wont even feel this concept of "complete love". Instead they feel, in various degrees along with many other feelings, the gradual realization of man's essential instincts which society has still not yet taught its young to understand. Hence we often equate love with sex.
Next, if a girl is going to react so neurotically to such a situation then in order to avoid such torture she can choose either of two alternatives; she can marry or she can refrain. Trouble is that some people are so confused about what they believe, they only find their true ideals when it is too late.
Clarification of the countless confusions inherent in our society's ideology of love and relationships etc is a necessity. Students may help even more by pushing all sorts of sex education at all levels.
The answer to Mr Fyson's little piece about RAT in the 12th issue of Salient is primarily logical, secondarily zoological, and finally factual.
Mr Fyson would seem to agree that a socialist election campaign should aim to at least start to make some who are more or less ignorant of socialism less so. Those ignorant of socialist meetings or read socialist pamphlets or programmes, Mr Fyson's campaign plan of meetings and publications highlighting only the dry technical aspects of socialism is worse than useless.
If such a campaign did make a recruit to socialism, the chances are that it would be a dry technical recruit to a dry technical socialism. RAT is essentially Human, and trying to make human recruits to a human socialism.
Mr Fyson's criticism that the candidates "failed miserably" to "push the programme" is, of course, inaccurate. Two thousand copies of the full programme, and a further two thousand copies of an abbreviated version of it distributed. This programme was socialist, that is, it was a series of serious proposals to make peoples lives less desperately serious.
Mr Fyson's dissaproval of RAT seems based on its honesty in proclaiming its anti—serious ends as part of its effort to make people curious about its serious means.
Of course Mr Fyson is quite right. An attach on the seriousness of conditions in society is not attractive to a student electorate.
It disturbs a status quo in which, compared with other social groups, students are very well off.
what is wrong with black ink?
"Lies and misrepresentation' by the American press are one of the strongest impressions brought home by Ross MacRae, a New Zealand delegate to the recent world youth assembly in New York. The assembly, part of the twenty-fifth anniversary observances of the United Nations, received highly critical attention from news media throughout the western world. But, says Ross, although the assembly had a distinctly anti-western and particularly anti-american bias, it was not so one—sided or so subject to eastern-bloc manipulation as American newsmen tried to make out. For example, it called upon the Soviet Union to withdraw its forces of occupation from Czechoslovakia and to restore democracy there.
Ross MacRae, one of New Zealand's five delegates to the assembly, is a second—year psychology student at Vic. He became a delegate after responding to an item in a newspaper calling for applications. The selection process took place over a weekend in June when a large number of candidates from all over the country were reduced to five after interviews by two selection committees comprising representatives of various youth groups. The committees seemed to be seeking the political orientation and "thinking style" of candidates, and, says Ross, he tried to present himself as a reasonable radical and to steer clear of a "rock—throwing image.' Unfortunately, despite the aim of having a cross-section of New Zealand youth represented at the assembly, all five selected were students.
All member countries of the UN had been invited to send up to five delegates and in addition several international youth organisations were represented but from the first there was argument as to whether many of those present were eligible and just who or what they represented. For example many delegates were accused of being too old: as reported in the press one eastern—bloc "youth" was reputed to be 47 years old. The assembly quickly resolved itself into four commissions dealing separately with the topics of world peace, development, education, and man and the environment. Ross was in the world peace commission, the most boisterous and the most publicised of the four. Political manoeuveing was rife; but whereas the press blamed the Russians and eastern Europeans for this, in fact everyone was guilty. He had indulged in it as much as anyone, said Ross, explaining that all the delegates had sought advantages from the absence of established procedures at the assembly.
The world youth assembly had been probably the first time on a universal scale that young people and representatives of revolutionary movements had got together and spoken out on their opposition to imperialism, particularly American imperialism. It could possibly have been the makings of solidarity between revolutionary movements and liberation fronts all over the world. The fact was that the Soviet Union in its foreign policy did support revolutionary movements. This was interpreted in the west and in the western press as a strategy to oppose the western powers. That might or might not be; but it could equally be said that the revolutionaries at the assembly had used the Russians. Certainly, no one had been out to destroy the assembly as the press had said several times.
The press had also been prozionist; they had represented Israeli delegates as open-minded young "victims" trying to communicate and get through to some negotiation but foiled by the rigidity of others. While there had been some truth in this view, the reporters gave no weight at all to the very strong arguments which were made against the Israeli case. In Ross' view the Israeli arguments had been 'thoroughly put down and rubbished".
Many of the delegates were deeply involved in revolutionary movements in their own countries and had not been willing to sit down and exchange the sort of platitudes heard at the United Nations. Incidents of bad temper had been blown up into world headlines but to criticise the assembly on the ground that a lot of steam was let off was to "miss the point by a long way". Ideas for world peace were already in existence; the need was to fight for them. This had been done by the assembly but was ignored by the press.
One big regret was that with ten days of dawn- to -dusk talking delegates had had no opportunity to get together in a relaxed situation until the end of the assembly. Most of the contact between them prior to that had been merely political, trading support for resolutions and so on.
If there was little time for socialising among the delegates there was even less for activities apart from the assembly. The extent of Ross' sightseeing in New York had been a walk through Greenwich village at night. But although the other New Zealanders returned almost immediately to this country, Ross was able to stay another five weeks in the United States during which he "tried to cram in as much experience as possible". He visited a number of hippie communes, both urban and rural, and made contact with many politically—involved university students.
He says he came away with a strong feeling that "things would be very hot on campus" when the universities, presently in the middle of a vacation, started up again in the (northern) fall.
You may have noticed a very-facetious article in the last 'Salient', entitled !Saga in Three Parts' We hope no-one took the aspersions cast and snide remarks made as gospel. Special apologies to Graeme Nesbitt and John Tucker.
The article on Womens Liberation Teach-in was by Adair Hannah and Owen Gager, not Owen Gager alone. The oversight is regretted.
Secretary defies SRC
At the SRC meeting of 15th September the Secretary was directed to call the SGM on Tuesday 22nd September at 12 noon.
A further motion was passed stating that if the Secretary disobeyed the direction "he would be in grave danger of losing the confidence of the Association".
The Secretary, Denis Phelps, refused to call the meeting at a time other than Thursday 24th September at 7p.m. That's where it stands, folks.
Sub-professorial staff are not adequately represented in the decision making processes of the university.
In her paper to the Joint Committee of Council, Prof Board and Students' Association, Margaret Bryson says that students are concerned that non-professorial staff are institutionally protected by having specified positions on many sub-committees.
The paper suggests that the interests of lecturers do not always coincide with those of professors, but this is questioned. by some lecturers who feel that their interest are adequately protected.
Miss Bryson says that the question is now with the staff, who need to make a move if they want or need representation.
The paper was received by the Joint Committee and referred to the Lecturers' Association.
A new scheme is proposed whereby each student will pay a $10 bond to NZUSA at the beginning of his university studies.
This money will be invested by NZUSA and the interest received will be used to finance the national student body thus easing and, in time, eliminating the pressure placed on the Constituent Student Associations for finance. In 1970 Vic's levy came to over $3000.
The $10 bond will be refunded without interest, 4 years later or the year after he finishes his degree, whichever is the sooner.
The scheme will come into effect if, and when, a minimum of 5 constituents give their approval.
Just a reminder........................
Cafe open Saturdays 10.30–1.30p.m. (hot meals available at lunchtime).
The above list is not complete
The grass field opposite the San Francisco Airport was on fire. Smoke blew across the freeway; a controlled burn to clear land tor something; perhaps a shopping centre, factory or new parking lot.
Above the field a hawk hung in the air. This was his turf. Each time a small animal broke from cover the hawk's wing dipped instinctively to dive. But each time the hawk held back and slid up to his original place. After a while whenever anything jumped, the hawk ignored it. He just lay somberly on the wind and watched the yellow grass turn steadily black.
I saw this on Wednesday
Although Salient is existing on an on-off basis, it is intended to produce one more issue this year; it will appear on October 7th.
So if you've anything to say to the world, hand it in by October 1st.
When Some Future Historian Shall Summarise what the Present Generation has Accomplished his Conclusion Could Read, 'of the Waters, they made a Cesspool; of the Air, a Depository for Poisons, and of the Good Earth Itself, a Dump where Rats Rummaged in Piles of Refuse'.
Ecologists have long been among the leading pessimists about the future of the biosphere (its dominant mammal included). But the voice of protest has usually been confined to professional thinkers and writers. Rarely has there been any downward penetration. True, during the past few years in both Britain and the United States, the word ecology began to appear at government levels and some general ecologists (that is, the philosopher-types, not the temperature-around-the-leaves men) came into public prominence. But any sort of grass-roots movement was more or less absent except among the rapidly increasing number of people joining conservation societies.
All this activity is comfortably within the confines of the Establishment and safely middle class. Lately, however, the word ecology and the desire to apply "ecological thinking" has found some fertile ground among the non-subscribers, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area and more particularly in and around the Berkeley Campus of the University of California. The anti-consumption bias of modern functional ecology, with its emphasis on diversity of systems and dynamic equilibria appeals very strongly to many of the young people who are in revolt against the consumer-oriented economics of the United States. The implicit and explicit ideas of population control seem to be part of the philosophy also.
The students' concern is on two scales—large and small. The first is an interest in the long-term prospects for stability of the Earth's ecology and the "whole world ecosystem". In contrast the University of California, whose course offering in the field of population, resources, ecology and conservation are very meagre, the "Free University" of Berkeley last summer offered a course devoted primarily to global ecology and the future of man as part of nature. There is, too, an Ecology Centre. This is a former store, where students and their friends maintain 3000 square feet of bookshop, discussion room, library, poster making equipment and general talking place.
This concern over environment and the adoption of ecology as its ideological banner is part of the social and political rebellion on US campuses. Reviews of ecologically inspired books and ecological—environmental issues are frequent in "underground" newspapers such as the Berkeley Barb and the Los Angeles Free Press, where they are rather more four-letterly forthright in their denunciation of environmental offenders that most commentators. And together with the "straights", the activists waged a campaign against strong industrial interest and some local governments to get the California Legislature to pass a Bill imposing strong controls on San Francisco Bay and authorizing the implementation of a regional Conservation and Development Plan for the Bay. For months "Save our Bay" has been the most frequently seen bumper sticker around the East Bay, outpacing even "Stop ABM" and "Trouble Parking? Support Planned Parenthood". Ecology, "the subversive science", has found its greatest concentration of advocates among those who are widely regarded as extremely subversive themselves.
Ecological Thinking Need not be Incompatible with our Place and Time. It Offers an Essential Factor, like a Necessary Vitamin, to all our Engineering and Social Planning, to our Poetry and our Understanding. There is Only one Ecology, not a Human Ecology on one Hand and Another for the Subhuman. No one School or Theory or Project or Agency Controls it. For us it Means Seeing the world Mosaic from the Human Vantage Without Being Man-Fanatic. We must use it to Confront the Great Philosophical Problems of Man—Transience, Meaning, and Limitation—Without Fear. Affirmation of its own Organic Essence will be the Ultimate Test of the Human Mind. This is, in Essence, the Ecological Conscience.
The battle to feed humanity is over. Unlike battles of military forces, it is possible to know the result of the population-food conflict while the armies are still "in the field." Sometime between
The United States Department of Agriculture has predicted that the curve representing possible exportable US grain surpluses will intersect the curve representing the food aid requirements of 66 developing countries in
The first step would be to establish a Federal Population Commission with a large budget for propaganda—propaganda which encourages reproductive responsibility. This Commission would be charged with making clear the connection between rising population and lowering quality of life.
The second step would be to change American tax laws so that they discourage rather than encourage reproduction. The income tax system should eliminate all deductions for children, and replace them with a graduated scale of increases. It must be made clear to the American population that it is socially irresponsible to have large families. Creation of such a climate of opinion has played a large role in Japan's successful dealing with her population problem.
Third, the United States should pass federal laws which make introduction in birth control methods mandatory in all public schools. Federal legislation should endorse the right of any woman to have an abortion which is approved by her physician.
Fourth, the pattern of federal support of biomedical research should be changed so that the majority of it goes into the broad areas of population regulation, environmental sciences, behavioural sciences and related areas, rather than into shortsighted programmes on death control.
The world today reminds one of the fabled man who jumped off the floor of a 50 storey building. As he passed the second floor he was heard to say "Things have gone pretty well so far".
The oil industry is a good example of what I call the technological exponential. To build cars you need steel and aluminium, plastics and rubber. Rubber-growing used up a lot of tropical wilderness, and now petroleum itself is needed as a raw material in the manufacture of synthetic rubber. The oil industry takes over from the older chemical industry and gives us many other things — detergents and plastics. The great assembly lines create aggregations of people, new towns, new roads, services, recreational facilities and so on. Technological growth as I say is exponential. People call this the expanding economy and feel pretty smug about it. The gross national product looks better every year, but what of the other side of the coin?
The modern high-compression internal combustion engine causes smog and nitrate fall-out because it is technologically successful. The modern sewage-treatment plant causes algal overgrowth's and river pollution because it produces, as it is designed to produce, inorganic nitrate and phosphate. Modern farm fertilizers cause eutrophication (a process which leads to over-abundance of plant life), because they succeed in raising the level of free nutrients in the soil. Our pollution of the environment is the direct consequence, not the accidental result, of our massive technological effort.
Western and other modern societies accept as an ideal indeterminate increase in energy use, and thereby of wealth, to provide for and enrich an indeterminately increasing population. Thus provided for the population increases geometrically, and the product of geometric population increase and increase of energy use per individual is the accelerating, self amplifying, and compulsive increase in energy use and other aspects of technology in the United States.
To manage this system with its accelerating expansion requires increasing complexity of organization - increasing diversification and subdivision of corporations and public agencies, increasing speed and content of information communication and processing, increasingly narrow and diverse professional specialization of individuals who are increasingly parts of larger and more complex social organizations, and so on. An indeterminate increase in complexity is thus occuring. We are still, with stunning technological skill and power, largely successful in an external, obstensible sense, least, in keeping organized this system of expanding energy use and complexity. It is likely, though I cannot prove it, that the organizing devices are increasingly strained by that which they must organize, and may become increasingly vulnerable to self-amplifying disturbance.
There are, however, implications for human psychology. It is not by shortage of space and resources nor by massive biosphere toxicity that the limits of our civilization (if it will not limit itself) are most likely to be set, but by the effects of human numbers, technological and cultural change, and environmental degradation on the psychology of people. Crowding does not improve the quality of human beings and human relationships; and the provision of the individuals with technological power, notably the automobile, may increase the sense of subjugation to traffic, noise, pollution, and urban interminableness as products of crowding. The individual is to a degree diminished in his sense of a manageable world to which he can relate by the enormity of cities and their problems, by isolation from natural landscapes, by rapidity of cultural change, by participation in a perceptibly small role in perceptibly enormous social and corporate systems. One suspects that to bear well the conditions of urban life with its increasing scale, crowding, complexity, and bleakness there is increasing need of qualities of secure self-respect, patience and perspective, tolerance and maturity, that urban life does not now much encourage.
I will suggest the predicament of our society: A system of accelerating growth and increasing complexity is stretching ever tighter its means of organization, while producing social and environmental problems ever more difficult and beyond realistic prospects of solution, while increasing the tensions and frustrations of the human beings who must maintain the organization and try to deal with the problems, while producing increasing numbers who scorn the system and its complexities without a rational sense of the limitations on alternatives, while producing small but increasing numbers of human beings sufficiently damaged as such that they desire the ruin of the society which, for all they can understand, is responsible. I find this, if true unencouraging system of simultaneous, nonlinear, differential equations.
I will observe in judgment only that our civilization is the first in history to have available scientific knowledge in the two areas of ecology and psychology that might have given warning, and that whatever counsel these fields might have offered a civilization based on intelligence was thought irrelevant.
If the implications for stability of our civilization are these then I wish us all — our great, open society and its professional workers in the fields of the rational mind — luck.
The phenomenon of student activism is as much a barometer of global crises as it is a manifestation of personal frustration and organized disruption. The celebrated generation gap is little more than the naturally holistic consciousness of young people facing a way of life that is not only ugly, irrelevant, and neurotic but that threatens to destroy us all. The natural environment, on the other hand, presents to the sensually connected but culturally shocked young person the clear light of moral value and societal obligation. Earth: Love it or leave it.
The ecological crisis has already precipitated student activism into one of the world's most potentially constructive forces.
In the meantime society is asking its young people to be satisfied with what they have, believe in the American Dream, and accept the heritage of genocide and pollution with pride, patriotism, and purpose. In short, we are asked to volunteer our suicides, and to do so quietly without disturbing the peace of our retiring benefactors, the over-40 generation.
We do not look upon industries, churches, developers, businessmen, and politicians as being necessarily bad; we simply see them as our executioners. Ultimately, activism wants a big answer to a big question. We don't want merely to survive; we want to live. There is only one place to live and that is on this planet and we must live here together. Student involvement with the issues stemming from environmental awareness is emphasized in the demands of the following manifesto composed by the youth delegates to a recent conference.
• The mobilization of the national effort to attain stability of numbers, and equilibrium between man and nature, by a specified date with the attainment of this goal to be the guide for local and national policy in the intervening years:
• The immediate assumption of a massive study to determine the optimum carrying capacity of our country, on the community, city, and national levels, with this carrying capacity to be predicated on the quality of life, the impact upon world resources, and the tolerance of natural system:
• The adoption of new measures of national well-being, incorporating indices other than the rate of growth of the gross national product, the consumption of energy resources, and international credit ratings:
• The immediate rejection of international economic' competition as valid grounds for the creation of national policy.
One day I woke up and could not breathe. All that day and through the days after, in the green parks and in the rooms of friends and even beside the sea, I could not breathe. The air was used up. Each beautiful thing I saw was doomed. Each ugly thing I saw was ugly because of man—man-made or man-touched. And so I left my friends and lived alone.
The countryside was beautiful but it was also doomed. Men came and cut the trees and built roads and fences. They spread poison to kill the insects and weeds they did not like. With the rain the poison spread down the sloped land. For years there were bare streaks from the base of the hills into the pastures and fields. They pointed to these streaks and remarked how potent the poison had been.
With the rain and the wind the poison spread across the earth. It seeped into the fibres of plants and animals ten thousand miles from where it was first laid down. It entered the mouth of insects, birds and fishes; it stuck to their flesh. It travelled the currents of the seas. It returned to us through our food no matter how carefully that food was grown. It seeped into the flesh of our babies through the blood and milk of their mothers. Poison, spreading and sticking, building its small house of death around itself.
Understand that there is no place where man cannot live—no place too hot or too cold, no ocean so dark nor planet so far away that we cannot touch it, establish our first small houses, settle, and grow. As we are so are our works: our cities, machines, poisons....
I no longer live alone and apart from those I love. To do that is to do what the poison did to the land. You cannot remove things you do not like without removing part of what you love.
There are still places you can go and live until you die without seeing men. There are places you can go and live until you die without seeing anything made by any hands except your own. You and I can do this.
Meanwhile the poisons spread. Our cities clamour toward each other like beaters flushing wild game from the brush.
I know you have your own life to work out and your own soul to care for first. I know also that you are doomed. You cannot order either your life or your soul because of the junk which fills both. What is outside enters in. What is inside must come out. In the end they are the same. Junk in one means contamination of both.
Understand this—to clear away the junk and the poison is not the answer. You cannot destroy the things you do not like without also destroying some of the things you love.
To stop the production of junk and poison yet maintain the production of truth depends upon changing the whole world. To suggest this is to suggest treason in every country, in every language....
Yet it is our only hope for salvation.
The pelicans are cruising over the rocks. The pelicans are cruising far out beyond the reach of casting rods and our long-lensed cameras. DDT has broken their love. There is so little time left for getting a few clear pictures We cannot reach them except to kill them. We cannot touch them nor hold them in the immortality of our eyes or long-lensed cameras. They will not co-operate with us. The grace of their flight is all they will give.
The cold fingers of our servant of death has touched their nests, shriveled the fruit of their sex. Even out on the farthest rocks, the cold grey fingers have touched each egg and rotted each shell.
How can you live each day as a new day? How can you smile over things so clumsily done? The crimes under your name pile up around you like the white crust formed on the black rocks where the pelicans nest on their dead young.
The poisoned glove of our servant has shaken our hand and left to do our bidding. He whispers our names as he stops the flight of flies and moths and birds: "This is for John and Suzy".
"This is for Mary and Marty and Douglas and Kathy", he says as the earth darkens and chokes as the concrete closes over it. It is our grave. How can you smile?
The small fish scatter. Scum floats above them, casting shadows as the garbage tumbles down. The garbage recites our names in bubbles of putrid gas. "I am for Robert and Richard and Thomas and Michael. You cannot live here anymore. I need this space for myself".
"Nancy needs a new salad bowl. Karen needs a handle for her paint brush. Dyan needs a new clip for her hair. Renita needs paper for her poems". The trees fall and the cut forest is burned over. Each tree felled with humility to be given into the hands of craftsmen is matched by a hundred thousand more for the building of the tracts spreading outwards from our cities.
How simple it is for us to kill and butcher. How easy it is for us to smother the earth and claw her open.
If you really believe all is one and you understand how the wheels of balance are being broken and bent askew, how can you play?
We look around us and see that our cities are ugly and poison the earth and the sky and the water. We see that the machines of our minds are cold and infected with avarice and murder. We see that the tools in our hands are corpses stolen from the life of the earth without love or respect.
When will you tire of your unreal pettiness? Help us. Help yourself. Clear your name from the millions of ears who have knowledge of you through your servants.
Clear your name as you clear the earth, the air and the water.
Help us. Help yourself.
Look around you.
Understand.
Between 1962 and 1968, over 3¾ million acres of South Vietnam have been sprayed with chemical defoliants.
According to the military, stripping the forest of their protective cover has hampered the operations of Vietcong guerillas, and has saved American lives. An official of the Department of Defence has stated chemical defoliants would not be used if it judged that seriously adverse ecological consequences would occur. In March last year, Gordon Orians and E.W. Pfeiffer, two US zoologists, went to Vietnam on a trip sponsored by the Society for Social Responsibility in Science aimed at supplementing the observations made a year earlier by F.H. Tschirley, a plant ecologist. Tschirley had concluded that the defoliation programme is having a profound effect on plant life in Vietnam. Orians and Pfeiffer consider that "the ecological consequences of defoliation are severe".
Some of the worst long-term effects of defoliants occur in the mangrove swamps, which are sprayed to reduce guerilla attacks on boats using the rivers that wind among them. On a boat trip on the Rung Sat peninsula, south-east of Saigon, most of the areas that Orians and Pfeiffer visited were still completely barren, even though they had been sprayed several years earlier. One defoliant application is enough to kill most of the trees. Tschirley had estimated that it would take about 20 years for the forest to become re-established; Orians and Pfeiffer believe it will take even longer. Indeed, "it cannot be excluded that re-establishment of the original forest may be impossible except along the edges of river channels and backwaters".
Shrapnel will be a serious problem for the Vietnamese lumber industry for many years. Most sawmills report that they lose from 1 to 3 hours each day because shrapnel in the logs severely damages the saw blades. The forestry programme is looking for suitable metal detection equipment that might help reduce this damage.
The US zoologists were unable to visit upland forests that had been sprayed, but their aerial observations gave them no reason to disagree with earlier reports that two or three sprayings can kill some 5.0 per cent of the commercially valuable timber in such forests.
They were unable to gather any first hand information on the toxicity of defoliants to animals, although they were told of many sick and dying birds and mammals in forests following defoliation, and received two reports of the death of large numbers of small pigs near Saigon. They claim that habitual destruction, which defoliation regularly accomplishes, is in most cases the equivalent of death for animals.
Tigers seem to have benefited from the war. In the past 24 years, they have learned to associate the sounds of gunfire with the presence of dead and wounded human beings in the vicinity. As a result, tigers rapidly move toward gunfire and apparently consume large numbers of battle casualties. Although there are no accurate statistics on the tiger populations past or present, it is likely that the tiger population has increased much as the wolf population in Poland increased during World War II.
"It is our opinion,"Orians and Pfeiffer write "That significant quantities of defoliant are regularly carried by the wind over broad areas of cropland in the Republic of Vietnam". This is in addition to the direct and deliberate spraying of crops in Vietcong controlled areas.
Their report concludes with a brief survey of the other ecological upheavals caused by the war. They calculate, for instance, the 2,600,000 bomb craters were blasted from the soil of South Vietnam alone in
Estimated area treated with herbicides in Vietnam. Actual area sprayed in not known accurately because some areas are resprayed Areas are estimated from the number of spray missions flown, the calibrated spray rates and the width of spray swath covered. [From Department of Defense data.]
Upon the surface of a globe of limited dimensions and land area, during a phase of runaway population increase, the downright squandering of basic resources—to whomsoever they may belong—must be recognised for what it is, a major crime against humanity.
It is no news that large-scale defoliation campaigns have now become part of the day-to-day warfare in Indo-China. But the extent and implications of this outrageously misguided policy now emerge as being of an appalling magnitude.
There was a time during the Second World War when generals, by and large, talked more of attaining specific objectives and less about destroying the enemy. In the holocaust of Vietnam such niceties have gone by the board: in their enthusiasm to ferret out and slaughter the Vietcong the US and South Vietnamese armies have ravaged mangrove swamps, valuable timber and rubber plantations and, whether by intent or default, even crops. The areas involved run to millions of acres; recovery times will be measured in tens of years; and the ecological and indirect sociological destruction simply cannot be estimated.
Most significant of all, this wholly callous bio-erosion of a country is the first occasion on which such chemical agents have been deployed on so vast a scale. Should it subsequently become an established technique of Armageddon the outlook for all mankind will be grim.
Despite My Lai, saturation bombing raids, and search-and-destroy missions, the greatest crime against the children of Vietnam may be a subtle atrocity that was fully known and yet seldom made a headline. "Subtle" because the crime was the relatively innocuous dumping of massive amounts of chemical defoliants on the Vietnamese countryside..."atrocity" because recent reports by a leading U.S. biologist and a private research laboratroy state that a defoliant widely used in Vietnam can cause gross birth defects similar to those produced by thalidomide.
A research report prepared for the National Cancer Institute by Bionetics Research Laboratories Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, describes the defoliant 2, R 5-5 as "probably dangerous" and 2, 4-D as "potentially dangerous" as teratogenic (deforming) agents. The chemicals were tested orally on two different strains of pregnant mice at two different dose levels and the resulting report stated that many of the baby mice had deformities such as cleft palates and serious eye defects.
While the report made no mention of possible effects on pregnant women, a prominent U.S. biologist, Professor E.W. Pfeiffer, has pointed out that humans proved to be more sensitive than rats to thalidomide. Because of the immense quantities of defoliant dumped on Vietnam (enough to more than cover the entire land surface of that country if evenly distributed), the eventual incidence of malformed births may be high.
Dr. Pfeiffer, who was in Vietnam last year, reported that the number of abnormal births has increased so drastically that the Saigon Health Ministry has classified the files on malformed babies as secret. Saigon newspapers have reported the birth of many deformed babies in the Vietnamese countryside.
Because of these reports, the Pentagon recently claimed that the defoliant 2, RN 5-T was being restricted to areas of Vietnam low in population. Observers in Vietnam, however, say that this order merely applies to region considered 'friendly' and that accidental dumpings over populous areas are daily occurrences. Dr. Pfeiffer says he personally witnessed two incidents in which entire batches of chemical defoliant were haphazardly jettisoned because of faulty spraying devices. In one case, 1000 gallons were dumped on one spot in the Mekong Delta, and in another a full load was jettisoned over the town of Ho Nai.
But everybody knows that life is cheap in Asia., and they haven't Proven that defoliants cause birth defects in humans...
From: Vancouver Free Press, January 14-21, 1970.
It is evident that Man's pollution of his own environment is increasing with world population, increased industrialization, urbanization and bad farming practices. Plumes of pollution emanating from the eastern United States can often be observed hundreds of miles out over the Atlantic. Similar air pollution zones are associated with Britain, Europe and the western coast of the United States. This atmospheric dustiness acts like an umbrella and Shields the Earth from the Sun's radiation. Excessive dustiness can also initiate cloud formation, which both alters precipitation patterns and further reduces solar radiation.
Cloud coverage, especially at lower altitudes, is the most effective method of cutting off the Sun's rays and reducing the Earth's surface temperature. Global average cloud cover averages around 31 per cent. It is estimated that an increase of only five per cent in coverage of lower clouds would reduce surface temperatures sufficiently that a return to ice—age conditions could become a reality.
A slight reduction in the Earth's temperature has already been recorded in the last decade, and the Northern Atlantic ice coverage last year was the most extensive for 60 years. On the global scale Dr R.A. Bryson, a climatologist at the University of Wisconsin, suggests that pollution may even be responsible for the observed weakening of the trade winds and westerlies over the last decade.
Increase of atmospheric dustiness or turbidity has only recently been substantiated and. If it continues unchecked can have devastating consequences. Measurements at the Moana Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which is remote from any local sources of air pollution, indicate a long—term increase in turbidity or atmospheric dustiness. Mr R.A. McCormick and Mr J.H. Ludwig in Cincinnati have shown increases in recent years of turbidity over Washington, DC of 57 per cent and over Switzerland the increase was 88 per cent and Dr V J. Schaefer and his co—workers at the State University of New York have documented many examples of large increases in atmospheric particulates of the order of tenfold during the last five years.
"welcome sulphur dioxide hello carbon monoxide the air, the air is everywhere"
An excess of dust produces small droplets under condensing conditions which grow from further condensation and coalescence and ultimately fall as precipitation.
Prophets of doom by way of pollution must not scare people to a slage where emotions ovar-ride common sanse, Britain's air pollution watchdog, the Alkali Inspectorate, said.
Reporting to their Ministers, the inspectors said the issue of pollution must not be tackled in a spirit of panic. Problems of air pollution were mainly economic. There was no sign of global changes caused by man's interference with nature.
An example of increased precipitation from air pollution appears to exist at La Porte, Indiana, some 30 miles downwind from the smoky steel works of Gary and South Chicago. During the 14 years up to
Excessive dustiness in the atmosphere can also reduce rainfall under certain conditions. Reduction in rainfall has occurred in the sugar producing area in Queensland, Australia. During the cane-harvesting season the common practice is to burn off the cane leaf before cutting and harvesting. This results in fires over extensive areas and large palls of smoke. The fine smoke particles have modified the cloud formation and hindered the rainfall process. A reduction of up to 25 per cent in the rainfall has occurred downwind of these areas, but there is no such effect in neighbouring areas unaffected by the smoke plume.
The ubiquitous automobile has a great potential to cause inadvertent weather modifications. The major offenders are components of the exhaust, which become highly reactive under intense sunlight, producing the well known brown smog. The lead additives in petrol combine in the car exhaust and atmosphere with the small numbers of iodine molecules present and provide excellent particles for ice crystal formation. Dr Schaefer has observed extensive ice crystal plumes in the winter around a number of large American cities.
An example of local climate modification by water vapour is Edmonton in Canada, which has more low—temperature fogs than neighbouring areas. During cold winter spells the air cannot absorb all the moisture produced from the additional natural gas burnt for space heating. Thus extended periods of fog or ice crystal fogs are experienced.
The vapour trails associated with high—flying aircraft are well known. What is not generally known is that aircraft inject carbon dioxide, water vapour and considerable quantities of fine particles into the rarified upper atmosphere. It is estimated that the high wispy cirrus clouds formed from jet contrails have already increased cloud coverage between North America and Europe by five to ten per cent. These hazards of artificial clouds will be greatly increased as supersonic transport aircraft become a commercial reality. Dr Bryson estimates that cirrus clouds could well attain 100 per cent coverage in these operational regions.
Man's knowledge of his ability to inadvertently modify his climate is still at best fragmentary. Insufficient is known about the long—term build—up of air pollutants the effects and their inter—relationships. A point of no return may be reached when air pollutant levels cause the climate to 'be modified to such a degree that a major irreversible global weather modification may follow. It is essential that mankind faces up to this problem to save his own atmospheric environment. Although detailed studies of air pollution and interrelated, weather effects are necessary, the primary solution requires a continuing effort aimed at control and ultimate abatement of air pollution sources. Only then will a future of clear blue skies be assured.
Man's need for a bit of wilderness among the concrete, for a respite from angularity and aridity, is a deep need, long recognized by poet and artist, and noted by sensitive men for ages. But now a research project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has produced some findings which may even impress developers themselves—men who never believe a fact unless it is statistical.
Alvin K. Lukashok and Kevin Lynch undertook a series of detailed interviews with 40 persons, none of them professionally involved in urbanism or design. These ranged from 18 to 32 years in age, had come mostly from the Boston area, but included a few persons from New York, and as far distant as Vienna. The Lukashok-Lynch study grew out of one assumption that present adult memories reflect actual childhood preoccupations."Or—that memories of childhood are important emotional underpinnings of modern man's life, and are to be laughed away or disregarded at our peril and great loss.
For these people remember most vividly those elements of their childhood which involved landscape—lawns and pavement surfaces, foliage, woods and green hills, and water in the landscape. Among these childhood memories, lawns were associated with spaciousness and a sense of freedom. "Of the various types of (landscape) floor coverings mentioned, grass is the best liked, then dirt that can be dug or molded, and after that, any smooth surface that allows roller-skating or bicycling."(From the report.) ... "The floor surfaces a child seems to dislike are asphalt on open spaces that otherwise would remain grassy, and brick and gravel Of the few people who mention brick-paved surfaces, none talk about the visual quality of such surfaces, all dislike the uneven texture it provides....
Trees, trees and more trees reappear in these ehildriood memories and are mentioned with great warmth. For children, trees offer ideal places for play, shade, climbing, carving, hiding and for creating wonderful childhood fantasies. Hardly a single interview failed to reveal this affinity for trees.
"...it was sort of a friendly thing. We carved our initials in them. You could do a lot of things with them, climb them, hit them, hide behind them...you could see out between the trees, but none could see in...we used to hide in them." These interviews showed clearly that "children seem to prefer to play anywhere but the playground." Some comments: "We would rather play in the foliage... Our idea when I was 9 or 10 years old was not to play on the playground, but to find some place where there were rocks and broken bottles...a lot of trees and holes to fall into...Out in back was a big field where the grass was over your head. They have cut that down now, and made a playground out of it so it is n't as romantic...
"...I was sort of pleased with having all these nice places to play in, the nice things that moved and worked etc., but there simply wasn't enough space just to go and play in and do idiotic things in. You couldn't iig, for example: I like to dig. There weren't many places to dig because of the hard asphalt on the playground." "So many people remember with pleasure, the overgrown lot, thick brush and woods," say the authors. "It is sufficient to give us pause in our treatment of 'waste' or 'untidy' areas or in the design of play spaces."
"On the whole, people remember keenly and with pleasure the hills that were in the vicinity...Because so often a hill is not the best site for a building, it is the last part of an area developed, allowing it to remain wild and therefore attractive to children."
The most disturbing thing coming out of this study was the authors' conclusion that most of the people interviewed "rarely conceive of the city as something that might give pleasure in itself. They hardly expect to have an enjoyable city environment, as if a mild civic nausea were a normal burden of man's existence."
Under the impact of housing shortages, of get-rich-quick pressures on city officials, the urban green spaces are disappearing at an appalling rate. And with the disappearance of these "wastes" we lose trees, hills, water, fields of tall grass, the hidden and hiding places of the world, and in the end, an important part of life itself. One is jorced to conclude from the M.I.T. studies, if not from a knowledge of the world as it exists without benefit of such research, that somehow the delights of waste spaces, of odd lots, of tangled woodlands left in the midst of housing developments—somehow these must be protected and preserved.
Titahi Bay for instance is the main surfing beach out of Wellington and sewage is discharged nearby at a rate of between 1¼ and 5 million gallons per day. The sewage is comminuted and chlorinated it is true, but this treatment was tried and rejected by Dunedin in
The problem at the bay is horrifyingly simple. The proposed discharge is at Old Man Point which is still in the area of shallow water, 26 ft. at its deepest in Mana Channel. This channel is subject to tidal flow moving north towards Titahi Bay for 12 hours a day. North-westerly winds can still drive floating material into Titahi Bay as established by
Mr Allen, Minister of Works, said the Government, must be able to soy that we are able to accept the industry that may pollute and we are going to sacrifice some miles of rivers to get this particular export earner for the nation.
Mr. Kemp, Mayor of Tawa "It would be difficult to find a site large enough for a treatment plant and it was possible that a subterranean outfall would be the answer.
Mr W.J. Brown. Mayor of Porirua (known to his cronies as "Brownie" stated on
Only by a full understanding of the forces at work producing the present ecological balance, can an appreciation be reached of the extent of the environmental changes that would be initiated by the rise of lake level.
The ecologist sees the decline of the great natural buffer of wilderness as an element in our danger. Natural wilderness is a factor for world stability, not some remote place inimical to the human being. It is strange that it has been so-long a place of fear to many men, and so something to hate and destroy. Wilderness is not remote or indifferent, but an active agent in maintaining a habitable world, though the co-operation is unconscious. But we ourselves are conscious of what we are doing and capable of forecasting the consequences. Pragmatic man, typified by too many of our politicians and of those considered to have their feet firmly on the ground, has his head in some world of illusion of his own making. What is the use, he asks, of all that forest if it cannot be brought to the service of man? The answer in the service of man if he is willing to accept fellowship with the world of nature.
Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got till it's gone ?"
Recent research by Dr. A.F. Mark, near Lake Te Anau, established that the artificial raising of a water-table does within a period of 9 months, kill mountain beech trees growing on sites where the new water table lies within 9 inches of the ground surface. It seriously weakens trees within 12 inches of the raised water-table. This suggests that mountain beech trees would die under comparable circumstances around the shoreline of either Lakes Manapouri or Te Anau.
An ecological loss could not be denied if the lake were raised, but this had been over-emphasised. There were few unique features and little that would be lost irrevocably.
(The Solicitor General. Mr R.C. Savage
The 25 islands on which the natural woody vegetation will be destroyed are scientifically, by far the most valuable since, unlike the large islands and the mainland, they have remained relatively free of deer, they now provide the only known examples of virgin forest and scrub in eastern Fiordland. As such they are irreplaceable reference areas.
It was also accepted that all the beaches now around the lake would disappear. Some however, could with care be created at the new lake level, said Mr Savage.
In the experimental bush-clearing site at the head of South Arm Lake Manapouri the shifting of beach material by bulldozer was not a scientific experiment but treated as a sheer physical task, in piling up a mixed gravel and sand to a height of 610 feet simply to show that something of the kind was a possibility. Beach material was unsorted; it was not placed in a scientifically defined profile that could be expected to remain in equilibrium under the force of the waves. No calculation was made as to the need to place material above 610 feet, so as to withstand the storm waves that would inevitably be powerful agents of erosion at times of strong winds. The back slope and underwater shelf of the beach recieved no attention in relation to the stability required. The colossal amount of vegetation to be removed, apart from commercially valuable timber is presumably to be disposed of by dumping into the lake. This amount of organic and soil material (of the order of millions of tons) must have a profound effect on the biology of such a low-production clear-water lake as Manapouri. No" research has as yet been supported on this problem.
It was well established that it was feasible to do the shoreline clearing, he contended. Evidence by the American King Ranch organisation on cost was a good guide for this and at a not unreasonable figure.
The N.Z. Forest Service stated that any investigation of the methods and costs of shoreline clearance to satisfactory standards have been quite inadequate to date, in the 2 experimental clearings. The cost of these ($11,000) cannot be used for assessing total cost of shoreline treatment. The total area to be flooded around the lake is estimated by Dr. C. Burrows, Canterbury University to be almost 4,000 acres rather than the Governments revised estimate of 2,500 acres.
Comparisons have been drawn with Lake Monowai, but nothing was done there, and a great amount of work will be done for the Lake Manapouri scenery.
Lake Manapouri is to be raised 27.5feet. Experience at Lake Monowai 45 years after raising the lake level only 7 feet shows vividly and beyond dispute that damage to the shoreline and its vegetation cover draws attention to such devastation, and utterly destroys the sense of satisfaction derived by the observer from the scene.
If naturalists seem always to be against something it is because they feel a responsibility to share their understanding, and their opposition constitutes a defense of the natural systems to which man is committed as an organic being. Sometimes naturalists propose projects too, but the project approach is itself partly the fault, the need for projects a consequence of linear, compartmental thinking, of machine-like unils to be controlled and manipulated.
Pesticides are simply a form of pollution. However, they may be indirectly lethal to man and certainly affect many useful and aesthetically valuable organisms.
New Zealand is blessed with an absence of many of the world's most serious agricultural pests and disease carriers. In the long run only other animals can effectively control pests; this is biological control. But biological controls are slow and expensive to develop whereas chemical controls are cheap and fast. New Zealand uses cheap and fast measures even though it is widely recognized that pesticides encourage outbreaks of vigorous resistant strains. This does not apply to biological controls. New Zealand can afford to lead the world in this field but, as usual, fails...
There is need for New Zealand to have a population policy specifying optimum rates of increase and a population ceiling.
This should be the task of the National Development Conference. However, instead of presenting long-term recommendations on this subject the NDC passively accepted predicted population increases and used these estimates as their target.
These figures were reached before the recommendations of the Physical Environment Conference on optimum environments were made. The question of regulation of growth-rates arises.
Proposals on population regulation will have to include free contraception, abortion and sterilization available to everyone desiring them. Tax exemptions for children should be abolished, and tax penalties for more than two children will probably be needed.
Almost all New Zealand foreign aid is futile in a world-wide perspective. This is not because the volume is small, but because it is aimed at increasing resources. This only enables populations to expand.
We should not ship food to countries such as India where the in balance between food and population is hopeless. Aid should be reserved for those whom it may save.
We should refuse foreign aid to countries with increasing populations which we believe are not making a maximum effort to limit their populations.
The most important agricultural aid should be in the form of teachers who understand not only agronomy, but also ecology and sociology.
For 20 cents we can feed a child essential milk biscuits for 5 days...
For 10 cents we could have prevented his birth and saved his long day's dying...
As New Zealand's industries increase pollution must become much more of a problem. The time to introduce legislation is Now while plant is being designed.
The problems are complex for attempts to curb one form of pollution often lead to another. Changes in car engines to reduce carbon monoxide output have increased nitrogen oxide emissions which react with sunlight to form the most toxic element in smog.
Massive research may overcome these problems. Unlike the problem of population, that of pollution may be solved by technology. Research could be financed through effluent charges by which industries pay by the pound for the pollutants they discharge. These charges could make it less expensive for companies to clean up than to continue polluting. Industries are profiting at your expense—by not meeting the costs of pollution.
We must press the implementation of these points through political, economic and educational means.
We must develop an ecological conscience that recognizes man is a member, not master of the living things sharing his environment.
The solution to the ecological crisis lies in development of understanding in all walks of life—from the politician to the industrialist to the level of the common man, the waste-maker, the litter-bug.
Education is the key to understanding, and the responsibility of the educated is to promote understanding at all levels.
Sources: The material for this Salient feature was collated by J.A. Bartle and G.N Park.
"There is nothing proved about carriage of diseases by human sewage." Percy Dowse, Chairman Hutt Valley Drainage Board and Mayor of Lower Hutt City, 6 July, 1670.
The "New Yorker" magazine carried a cartoon showing two elderly male croquet players with one old player complaining to the other: "As far as I'm concerned all this damn flapdoodle about the environment is just a trick to take our minds off the Cormmies."
The super-patriotic and ultra-conservative Daughter of the American Revolution passed a resolution saying that the pollution problem "is being distroed and exaggerated by emotional declarations and by intensive propaganda."
Several newspapers, especially in the South, made ominous reference to the fact that the much-publicised "Earth Day" (April 22) was celebrated on the anniversary of Lenin's birthday.
Said the "Richmond News Leader": "The date was not selected by chance. Here we have a classic example of how the Communists pervert idealism and worth-while causes to their own purposes."
Glen Kimble, the director of air and water resources at the huge Union Camp paper mill in Savannah, Georgia, has been one of several industrialists to complain about ecology "hysteria." "People get extremely emotional about losing a species," he said, "but animals have been dying out every year back to the dinosaurs, and in most cases man had nothing to do with it.
"For that matter it probably won't hurt mankind a whole hell of a lot if the whooping crane doesn't quite make it."
And, of course, the anti-ecology folk still have that old quote of the Governor of California Mr Ronald Reagan to fall back on... "If you've seen one redwood, you've seen 'em all."
The ranks of the anti-ecologists are expected to swell when more and more State and Federal pollution controls come into effect.
The Armco Steel Corporation recently shut down eight open-hearth furnaces in Houston rather than install anti-pollution devices.
Also fuelling the current pollution controversy in the United States, is the feeling that ecology is a fad — no more lasting to the average American than the hula hoop.
Some observers believe that a housewife may buy low-phosphate detergent for several weeks in a burst of civic pride but will eventually return to her old favourite — even though it has a river wrecking phosphate content of 47 per cent.
The radical Students for a Democratic Society have publicly endorsed the "anti-ecology" movement, for the simple reason that arch-enemy President Nixon has supporter the "pro-ecology" position.
Naturally as soon as exams finish you will want to celebrate but what sort of a state are you usually in after exams? What if you are so tired you cannot open your mouth let alone raise the glass. The answer of course is a lemon—it lies in the heart of the gymnasium. It is at this time of the year that you must be prepared to exercise. You'll feel better and find it easier to swot. You will find yourself much healthier when you exercise regularly. Examinations can be a strain and consequently your body needs to be fit enough to cope with this extra stress. However, this does not mean you should overexert yourself as this can be as harmful as no exercise.
The gymnasium is only 107 paces from the library door. If you don't believe me see for yourself.
The following table shows the organised classes now offering in the gym but if you want any other information please ring 70319 gymnasium or come and see us.
Monday
5-6pm Relaxation techniques
Tuesday
2-3pm Golf instruction for beginners
Wednesday
12-1 pm Relaxation techniques
1-2pm Keep Fit (Women)
7-9pm Modern Dance
Thursday
12-1pm Keep Fit (Women)
5-6pm Get Fit for Finals (Mixed)
Friday
10-11am Keep Fit (Women)
11-12am Badminton class
Internal students enrolling for the
Pre-enrolment forms will be despatched to all students with their final examination result notifications. Enclosed with the pre-enrolment form will be an information sheet setting out the times and dates of enrolment for the various faculties. Students who wish to obtain forms before the final results are posted out may do so by calling at the Enquiries Counter, Robert Stout Building. They should however ensure that they do not complete the forms before they know their
On Friday 2nd October, Sports Committee will be holding their Annual Blues Dinner at the Student Union Building. The purpose of this function is to present the
The contestants for the Sportsman of the Year include six sport men prominent on the national scene, Victoria being very fortunate in having so many national representatives. These are Richard Agnew,
In this year-are
Out this year are
The number of people who will be paying less is far greater than the number of people who will be paying more, but the amount extra being paid by the smaller number paying more, is greater than the amount from the large number who are paying less, and the two coming together come out to the same or near enough to the same revenue as before.
The Minister of Finance, Mr Muldoon, explaining in Parliament ( 1968) why the trading banks would not make higher profits from their new scale of charges.
There could be few novels more difficult to adapt for the screen than the D.H. Lawrence masterpiece "Women In Love". Yet despite having to neglect large sections of the text Ken Russell's film is a fascinating success. Lawrence wrote to a friend: "it is the inhuman will, call it. ..physiology of matter that fascinates me. I don't so much care about what the woman feels....I only care about what the woman is....unhumanly, physiologically". Throughout the novel there is an overwhelming sensation of the claustrophobic inevitability of a nightmare.
Hermione (Eleanor Bron) wants Birkin (Alan Bate) to give himself intellectually and spiritually to her—to become one with her and lose himself. He rebels. He turns to Ursula (Jennie Linden) but believes she is making the same demands, on an emotional level, as Hermione.
In one scene he barges through a congregation of mourners and tells Ursula that love is associated with death instead of life in modern society, and that the word should be tabooed from utterance for many years, till we get a better idea.
After a naked wrestling scene Birkin wants to swear 'blut bruderschaft' with Gerald to establish a spiritual-physical (but not sexual) bond, counterbalancing his love for Ursula—a means of maintaining his separate identity.
Gerald uses love fatally. Like his mechanistic concept of mankind his love is a denial of true self. He tells Gudren (Glenda Jackson) of his fear of the void, the hollowness within him. In desperation after his father's death he comes to her all night and gives himself utterly, as a child, endeavouring to lose himself.
The social-historical setting—Midland colliery town before the Great War, country estates and holidays high in the snows of southern Germany—is understandably more prominent in the film than in the novel and yet at no stage does the grandeur of colour and space detract from the emotive power of the dialogue. Occasionally, however, the juxtaposition of camera shots establishes a clumsy irony.
Eleanor Bron uncomfortably exaggerates Hermione's domineering nature with her desire for mental supremacy. Gerald's mother has stepped straight from a Gothic novel, mad laughter and all.
Kramer wisely plays down Birkin's tendency to preach, but although Alan Bates skillfully recreates his chameleon quality, his intensity was missed. Jennie Linden doesn't quite catch Ursula's charisma. Oliver Reade's Gerald is well done, while Glenda Jackson (who played Charlotte Corday in Marat Sade) gives the finest performance I have seen on film this year.
Considering the screen disasters that have been made of Lawrence (remember "The Fox") this film must not be missed.
Zabriskie Point is trite, naive and incredibly pretentious. Antonioni is so earnestly spelling out a clished message that the film's world is one of simple dichotomy. Place a student (or Youth) on one side and Society on the other. Associate one with enlightened freedom and individual integrity and the other with repression and mindless materialism and you have the reason for this film's hollowness.
When the two leading characters are comfortably reduced to the abstraction of a sociologist, it is not surprising that they move and speak like puppets. Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin are given no chance to act (if they can). The dialogue they are given is embarrassingly clumsy.
Visually the film is impressive. Alfio Contini's photography makes full use of the space and emptiness of the desert and cloudless skies but many of the sequences are far too long. Elaborate architecture, magnificent landscapes and an explosive finale do not make a good movie.
However, I liked the scene where a cop stopped Daria in the desert to ask her where her car was. Her reply was suitably slick. He took his glasses off, stared at her, then very slowly looked around the horizon. He stared at her once again, then without saying a word got back in his car and drove away. Unfortunately I had to stay until the end.
The erect penis, seventy years after the death of Queen Victoria, is now so common a piece of household hardware that all humour has long since been extracted from its description. Much of the wit of Donald Howarth's Three Months Gone now on at
The Act of Athens described the Rule of Law as springing 'from the rights of the individual developed through history in the age-old struggle of mankind for freedom; which rights include freedom of speech, press, worship, assembly and association and the right to free elections to the end that laws are enacted by the duly elected representatives of the people and afford equal protection to all'."
"The rule of law is preferableto thatof any individual...He who bids the law rule may be deemed to bid God and reason alone rule, but he who bids a man rule adds an element of the beast, for desire is as a wild beast and passion perverts the minds of rulers, even when they are the best of men. The law is reason unaffected by desire".
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
One of the functions of a lawyer in society is to be the effective and, if necessary, the vociferous guardian of the fundamental liberties of the subject. The lawyer who fails to carry out this duty fails in his public obligations to uphold the highest ideals of his profession. In the International Commission of Jurists booklet on "The Erosion of the Rule of Law in South Africa" published in
In South Africa today, when so many inroads are being made into the fundamental liberties of the individual and the Rule of Law is being seriously eroded, we should bear in mind what happened a generation or two ago when lawyers failed to carry out their duties and when the security of the State was considered to be of paramount importance: when the interest of the State was considered to outweigh the importance of the individual and his fundamental liberties.
Lawyers must draw attention to the dire threat to the liberty of the subject whenever and wherever it exists, and in doing so, should refer to what happened in Germany from 1 933 until the end of the Third Reich.
Mr. Joel Carlson, is International Commission of Jurists (ICT) Observer in South Africa, and was also Observer for the International Press Institute During the Gandar Trial. A Friend and Colleague of Nelson Mandela During their Academic Careers. Mr. Carlson is an Acknowledged Expert on African Affairs.
On the
The night before the Emergency Decree was introduced, was
Hitler successfully convinced President Hindenberg to sign the Emergency Decree. As a result all civil liberties were suspended. Thereafter the decree remained in force throughout the Nazi era, which lasted fifteen years Every four years, however, the Reichstag met and renewed his emergency powers by "the Enabling Act" It is interesting to note that the Reichstag when it met held no debates after
Using the authority bestowed on him. Hitler immediately set about destroying his opposition. Their organisations were infiltrated and then members were banned, detained, sent to concentration camps and executed. Furthermore. Hitler unified the State and regimented the country's institutions, its culture and its organisations All individual freedom was suppressed step by step. The law for Reconstruction of the Reich enabled Hitler to suppress or dissolve Trade Unions. Political parties 'voluntarily dissolved and on
In South Africa leaders of unpopular Trade Unions have been banned, detailed and their organisations infiltrated. With the passing of the Improper Interference Bill 51. of
At the same time Hitler was careful to keep boom condition going in indusrty and commerce and in re-arming Germany There was full employment and Hitler could boast of the amazing growth potential of German industry. Co-ordination (Gleichschaltung), the euphemism for Nazi seizures of control, had to be carried out without damaging the economy or endangering its efficiency. So too in South Africa Apartheid has to be enforced without disrupting the economy. Migratory labour is used to curtail integration, border industries are established and the Physical Planning Act co-ordinates the control of labour with the development of the economy.
Hans Franck, the Nazi legal light, repeatedly gave the world the German people's assurances that Hitler's actions were both necessary and constitutional Addressing lawyers in
In all this lawyers acquiesced. After all,. Hitler was the law Those lawyers whom he did not like and whom he thought were opposing him were suitably dealt with All Jews and those who "indicated that they were not fully prepared to intercede for the State" were dismissed from holding judicial office (Civil Service Law
In Germany on
In Germany when some of the accused who were charged with the Reichstag fire were acquitted Hitler and Goering were so incensed at this type of justice that on
In South Africa the Terrorism Act and other Acts removed from the Prosecutor his discretion concerning summary trials, and made them mandatory for offences under the Act, such as the Terrorism Act. In addition, these removed the right to bail and altered the laws of evidence to make the State's task easier. The guilt of the accused was assumed and the onus is on them to prove their innocence. The Prosecutor had greater latitude in joining different accused together and on bringing different charges against them at the same time and any Court is now given jurisdiction to try the accused anywhere in the Republic and not necessarily where the offence was committed, which was the normal rule. (See sections 2, 4 and 5 of the Terrorism Act, 83 of
The next inroad was that defence lawyers appearing before these Courts had to be approved of by Nazi officials, and when defence lawyers showed too much enthusiasm, they, themselves, were barred from practice and prohibited from appearing in Courts Indeed, some were put in concentration camps or detained elsewhere. This happened, for instance, to the lawyers acting for the widow of Dr Klausener, the Catholic Action leader murdered in the blood purgue. In South Africa lawyers have been banned, restricted and intimidated as will appeal from the details given hereunder.
Further, arising out of the Emergency Decrees and the Promulgating Decress granting these legal rights to Hitler and Goering to protect the security of the State,. Hitler and Goering had the right at any time to Stop any Criminal proceedings, particularly criminal proceedings involving party officials and they exercised their right freely and were most efficient in protecting Nazi officers, Gestapo officials and other party members who were prosecuted with any crime causing any embarrassment and the excuse used time again was "that this was in the interest of the security of the State" In South Africa the Boss Bill has already been passed but is the subject of a judicial enquiry. Its all embracing powers could have far-reaching effects on the Courts and it gives the Minister the power to present a certificate and stop certain evidence being led "in the interest of the security of the State".
A further right given to the Nazi law-making gangst was that they had the right to banish or incarcerate in concentration camps, accused person whom they considered to have been too lightly treated by the Courts which they had set up They exercised this right readily. An instance is that of Pastor Niemoeller. As he was leaving the "Special Court" which acquitted him he was picked up by the Security Police, taken into detention and then sent to a concentration camp. In addition, the Nazis readily resorted to banishing and punishing persons who had already served their sentences. In South Africa under the Suppression of Communism Act, the Terrorism Act, etc., accused who have been acquitted at summary trials may be re-arrested immediately, re-charged, detained banned, banished, or placed under house arrest, and even detained in prison (as Sobukwe was) after completing the sentence of the Court.
In Germany the next step after the establishing of the "Special Court" was the granting by the authorities to the Security Police, the "Gestapo", of special powers which placed them beyond the ordinary powers of the law. They were entitled to privileges and rights, particularly in the carrying out of their duties, and given powers over and above those normally given to police in the execution of their duties (Law of
In South Africa Habeus Corpus disappeared and the Court's jurisdiction was removed by, for instance, Section 6(5) of the Terrorism Act, which says simply: "No Court of Law shall pronounce upon the validity of any action taken under this Section or order the release of any detainee". The 90-day and 180-day detention clauses had similar provisions. In addition, the Terrorism Act is retroactive, passed on the
Then came what was known as "protective custody" (Schutzhaft). It was introduced by the Law of February and it resulted in arbitrary arrest and detention without trial in the interest of State security As it was alleged that State security was involved, no one protested at the arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention without trial, and this was accepted without protest throughout Germany Victims of these laws were conveniently forgotten Immediately after and as a consequence there followed the introduction by people such as Theodor Eicke of death head units and the establishment of camps, such as Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Rawensbreuck (for women), Mauthausen, Auschwitz. Belsen and Treblinka.
On reading some of the concentration camp regulations, one of these drawn up by Theodor Eicke at Dachau, reads:
"Article II: The following offenders considered as agitators, will be hanged:
The fate of the inmates of these camps is now so well-known, so horrifying(that one need not here detail the tortures and suffering of the victims When the laws of the country are subjugated to the wishes of those in power and they are the sole judges of what is in the interest of the security of the State, and what is in the interest of all the citizens of the State, the horror of what was Germany in the
Brief reference has been made above to the similarities between Hitler's Germany and South Africa. A more detailed examination follows:
Whilst the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act No. 32 of
In terms of Section 5(1) of this Act, the State President may remove-any person or part of a tribe or tribe without notice from any one place in South Africa to any other place. The Court has no right to interfere. Under Act 64 of
The Bantu Trust and Land Act 18 of
and these restrictions are regularly and daily enforced. 1,700 Africans are arrested daily throughout the country and over 1,000,000 Africans are involved annually in prosecutions under the pass laws.
The Suppression of Communism Act, Ho. 44 of
The act gives the Minister or the State President important discretionary powers, the exercise of which cannot be challenged in a Court of law and the Courts have admitted that the discretionary powers given to the Minister are "of a wide and drastic kind and one which in its exercise must necessarily make a serious inroad upon the ordinary liberty of the subject. . . .Parliament may make any encroachment it chooses on the life, liberty or property of any individual subject to its sway, and it is the function of the Courts to enforce its will". (
The ordinary Common Law imposed limitations of all kinds on individual liberty, both in the interests of other individuals and in the public interest. There is ample scope for the police authorities ordinarily to prosecute for criminal incitement, conspiracy, treason, seditious libel and so Forth. What the Common Law does not authorise is arbitrary invasion of personal liberty for the expression of opinions unpalatable to party politicians, such as the opinion of the Nationalist Party who govern at the moment or the Verliqtes or the Verkramptes. In times of emergency it has been argued that emergency statutory powers giving unfettered discretion to the executive are necessary.
If the basis of society is just and sound, democratic and secure there is less need in the society for panic and emergency decrees Our government and particularly our judiciary could take courage from the situation in England in
"In England amidst the clash of arms the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which, on recent authority, we arc now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons, and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachment on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law."
In South Africa, both the government and the Courts were quick to surrender our 'pillars of freedom" and "principles of liberty" when faced with the threat of not even 1,000 terrorists probably ill-trained but some armed who crossed our borders into South West Africa and who also infiltrated into Rhodesia. Is this the calibre of our courage? When sentencing the South West African terrorists (charged under the Terrorism Act) the Judge in passing sentence said: Their actions were feeble and without the slightest hope of success Furthermore, the Judge treated the offences as Common Law offences and in fact the accused could easily have been charged with the Common Law offence of treason. It is obvious that our faith in the strength of the basic foundations of our society is insecure and ridden with fear.
In accordance with the Rule of Law and accepted by the legal profession, it is an accepted practice that the profession itself determines who shall be admitted to it and remain practising in it As a result of the powers taken by the Minister of Justice, he alone decides whether certain persons whom he considers undesirable shall be members of the legal profession. If he acts against a professional man, the Court has no discretion in the matter (Section 4 quat of the Suppression of Communism Act, as amended by Section 2 of Act 24.of "We consider it to be in the public interest that decisions as to the fitness to practice the legal profession should be left to the Courts, and not the unchallengeable decision of the Minister or any other person however bona fide they may be. We believe that the effect of the Bill may be to inhibit the proper performance by members of the legal profession of their duty fearlessly to present the the interest of their client no matter how unpopular their clients cause and no matter how powerful or influential the opposition may be."
The effect in South Africa is that persons who were member, or active supporter, of the Communist Party, the A.N.C.. the P.A.C the Congress of Democrats, the Defence and Aid Fund and any other organization that may be decleared unlawfull at any time in the future, may in the discreation of the Minister be barred from practice and the Court has no right to interfere and no discretion at all.
Lawyers in South Africa are inhibited. They are reluctant to show too much enthusiasm in acting for clients whose causes are, unpopular. In South Africa we have not resorted to the procedure in Nazi Germany of appointing lawyers approved of by party officials only. Nevertheless, the inroads here are serious. Lawyers have been banned without charge, compelled to leave the country, or compelled to leave their profession. Some Lawyer, have had their passports removed and have had restriction, placed on them. These
In South Africa the recent passage in Parliament of the "Boss" Bill, particularly Section 29 thereof authorises the Prime Minister or his representative or any Minister to issue a certificate and thereby prevent the evidence being given or information being furnished in any Court of Law or statutory body as to any fact, matter or thing or as to any communication made to or by such person and no document may be produced in such proceedings. The effect of this is that any such authorised person can effectively prevent any evidence from being led before the Court in any such proceedings. It is worth noting that even at this late stage resolutions have been placed by certain Attorneys before their Law Societies asking the Law Societies to condemn Section 29 and alleging that "seen in its broadest context Section 29 affects the very basis of our Constitutional Law and more particularly has a far-reaching effect in as far as it affects the relationship between State and citizen." In
Under Section 17 of the General Law Amendment Act, 37 of
Finally, by Act 83 of
It would therefore seem that the powers of the legislature and the enforcement of the laws passed by it strongly resemble those that existed in Germany from
Germany's population in
The Nationalist Party in South Africa gained a bare majority in
The total amount of voters is only 10 per cent of the population.
Whereas in Nazi Germany the majority of the voters voted in favour of accepting the philosophies of the Nazis and their party, the position in South Africa is that the majority of South Africans have never been permitted to express their acceptance or rejection of the policies of any government in power in South Africa simply because the vast majority of the people have no vote and do not elect representatives to Parliament.
Of the minority who vote in South Africa although it is clear that many of them have Nazi tendencies and have expressed them vociferously on occasions, it is contended that they are in a minority. Whilst the White voters often place faith in German philosophies and draw strength from fascist or other totalitarian regimes and show marked tendencies towards following the practices of these regimes, the majority of the Whites in South Africa continually seek to justify their attitude and perpetually and loudly proclaim their good faith towards all and their belief that they are honestly acting in the best interests of all in South Africa. In my mind, there is no doubt that the Whites in South Africa and the government is sensitive to criticism and sensitive to pressures and is affected by world opinion despite the fervent denials (in fact, the strength of the denials make me believe that 'he protests too much') — (see how sensitive Vorster is to Hertzog's criticism) The South African community is a conglomeration of custom, cultures and languages of its various and varied peoples. They are not one people. There is the unrecognised but powerful influence of African cultures and customs, the powerful influence of the world-wide English language, its people and its culture; it is inescapable and permeates every strata of the society. There is the powerful influence of the Afrikaner/Huguenot culture and the traditions and history of the Afrikaner people showing a reaction against authority particularly in the last century, and the individualism and independence of Afrikaners.
Again there is the strength and the richness of the South African economy and the forces of integration inevitably linking and communicating with all sections of the community; the increased influence of the communication of ideas from all over the world and news of world events (even without television) help to bring about progress and the outlawing of apartheid, tribalism and feudalism. There is in the South African society an increased respect by all the people for the accomplishment of South Africans in every field of endeavour.
In addition, one cannot underestimate the importance of the fight of the press for the retention of its freedom to criticise and so far this fight has not been unsuccessful: there is the fight of some of the lawyers for the upholding of the Rule of Law and the criticism of the erosion of the Rule of Law in South Africa: There is the courageous opposition of the student bodies against the forces of authoritarianism in which NUSAS has played an important part: there is the outspoken criticism of the authorities by many churchmen and the protests by civilised and progressive organisations such as the Black Sash there is the Institute of Race Relations, an organisation dedicated to finding the truth about conditions in South Africa and to publishing it and there is the Progressive Party which has a solitary vote in Parliament but is a force for protest in opposing the government and the White supremacists.
All these factors are of importance and significance and will help to bring about the inevitable changes that will come in South Africa. They have no parallel in Germany after the All opposition and difference of opinion had been smashed.
We must learn the lesson and we must, above all not abandon hope. It is necessary that every one of us every day realises that something can be done, a protest made, an action taken and even though we may be unaware of its effect and the result may not be seen or known, we may obtain satisfaction and retain our self-respect in doing what we consider just and necessary. We must have faith that change will come about. Meaningful contact must be maintained between all the people of our country. Our duty to keep well-informed on South African matters particularly on racial affairs and to keep well-informed on matters overseas is clear and important.
We must be courageous and continue to do what we believe in. A new society is not around the corner but each one of us can help to bring it about by acting in accordance with the principles we cherish.
"Patrys" is a monthly children's magazine published in Johannesburg by Voortrekker Press, a political publishing group of the Afrikaner Nationalist Party whose most senior members—including Cabinet Ministers and Prime Ministers—are to be found on the board of directors. The magazine is for white children only and is published only in Afrikaans. Its two editions therefore cover the Afrikaner two-thirds of white South African children between the ages of six and 18.
Early in the
In early
The club membership card was photographed and reproduced by the "Sunday Express" It carried the words "Authorised to co-operate with the South African Police" in Afrikaans, and was signed with the signature and stamp of the Chief of South Africa's Police, General Keevy. Copies of the magazine itself, available not only from ordinary bookshops but also from Dutch Reformed Church bookshops, confirmed all this.
However, since
South African embassies have been at some pains recently to stress that the old Afrikaner exclusiveness is dead, and that Afrikaners and English-speaking South Africans are now "one people," who have forgotten the divisions of their past. "Patrys," of
The eight-year-olds are carefully told how "the English later punished our women and children, burned their houses down and set their pastures alight. The women and children were put into camps. These concentration camps caused the deaths of 26,000 women and children through hunger and sickness" (which is not strictly accurate). The same age group is told of the heroic young Japie Greyling, a volk-hero. The English "never thought the children of the Afrikanervolk could be so valiant!" young Japie unless he gave them information. He refused. "The English marvelled at ...a young boy who was not afraid of the enemies of his people." And much else in similar vein.
South Africa's Africans get more mention than non-Afrikaner whites, but nearly all of it is derogatory. A photostrip series The building in the woods" has as its villain a savage, loin-clothed.
African who is preoccupied with plunging his spear into whites so as to add to his collection of skulls The heroes of the strip are three virtuous and brave Afrikaner children.
Africans (always called "Bantu"—a term they dislike as much as Englishmen detest Limey") are consistently depicted as treacherous or stupid savages. A story "Guard on the Border" in this issue contains a character's comments: "I don't know much about wild animals, but I do know the Bantu. I know him as a superstitious scoundrel."
The second aspect of "Patrys" is its Detective Club Apparently, since
General — Major Joubert's address is given as "Head-quarters, South African Police, Pretoria." and the following page carries the interesting message- "Will all Patrys' Detectives in Pretoria North, who are aged over 15 years, please write their name, address and date of birth on a stout card and hand it in at the Charge Office at Pretoria North Police Station." The club itself accepts "Detectives" from the age of 12.
The third aspect is the existence of gangs or groups of "Patrys" Detectives, whose gang-badges are published in the magazine. One shows a man caught in the sights of a hunting rifle. Another carries the motto "Revenge is Sweet"
The pages devoted to these gangs carry headlines such as "Detectives, gangs, terrorist fighters and Communist haters! Here is great news!"—and offers membership of yet another organisation, the C.V.C. in the Transvall. The "Wind-Falcons" ask for members, who should include the address of their nearest police station, and in an editorial members of gangs are asked to report to the nearest police station when on holiday.
On an earlier page, one of the editors of "Patrys" comments on a member's letter "I am glad you told me that one can shoot more accurately at a tin when one thinks of it as a Communist."
South African embassies throughout the world are currently distributing a booklet entitled "Progress through Separate Development," carrying a foreword by Mr Vorster in which he says "I believe in the policy of separate development as the only practical solution ... to do justice to every population group as well as every individual. It is so intended" It is Mr Vorster's regime which is responsible for the "Patrys" Detective Club.
Patrys" and its junior police force present some serious implications, one of the most immediate of which must be that those day trippers from overseas industry, commerce and politics who swiftly tour South Africa (and then often proclaim themselves experts on that country) are, in fact, largely ignorant of the real South Africa unless they are fluent in Afrikaans and know where to look.
Another disturbing implication is that even the few facts quoted above—from only one issue of one Afrikaner Nationalist publication show clearly enough the bitter prejudices being built into the majority group of the future white South African nation.
In future those who seek to whitewash the regime in Pretoria will have to do so in the face of the plain evidence from one of that regime's own publications as to what it is doing to its own children, and what it is doing to race relations in its country. And not only there—for the "Patrys" Detective Club operates in Rhodesia too.
Winner of Tournament Shield Otago
Vic's reps who finishd second at Dunedin last year did not perform so well this year and could only manage fourth placing behind Otago, Canterbury and Auckland.
The absence of some members through work commitments, the slow recovery of others from attacks of the "bot" and the attractions of Arts Festival meant that Vic could not field its best team.
The 7½ mile race held over a very flat terrain saw Len Watson (9) 40 min 7 sec, Ian Stockwell (13), Ian Hunt (14) and Eric Cairns (16) score 52 points to finish fourth in the teams event.
The addition of Steve Havill (29) 45 mm 1 sec (of Easter Tournament 10,000 metres fame) saw Vic finish second to Auckland in the Shackleford Cup competition for the top North Island University.
By virtue of its victory over Massey, Vic retained the Paekakariki Cup for the fourth year in succession. Vic defeated Massey by 112 points to 155.
Other Vic placings were Phil Williams (31 45 min 30 sec, and Bruce Cumming (39) 47 mm 24 sec.
While Victoria could only manage third placing overall here behind Otago and Massey there were some fine individual performances by Vic players.
Stuart Perry after some hard games succeeded in winning the Men's Individual title while A. Cambridge finished third in the Women's Individual.
Vic's reps were: Women J. Broad, A. Cambridge E. Foggo; Men S' Perry, P. Dale, D. Sorenson, R Orgias.
The Vic team of S. Musker, A. La King, H, Barley,. J. Midgely, J. Climie (women). K. Atkinson, B. Hadfield, J. Martin, B. Archbold, L. Chin performed well winning the competition with Massey second and Otago third.
Vic beat Auckland 9-7, Canterbury 12-4, Waikato 11-0 and drew with Massey 8-8.
N.Z.U. members — S. Musker, A. La King (Women;) K Atkinson (Men).
Vic had close hard fought games here losing to Auckland 64-75, Canterbury 69-86. Otago 59-65, and defeating Massey 74-57 and Lincoln 60-43.
Victoria's team R. Agnew, G. Peat, D. Scott. R. Colello, A. Marshall, P. Bevan, M. Rutherford. A. Treial.
Two members R. Agnew (a 1969 N.Z.U. Blue) and P. Bevan were picked for the N.Z.U. team.
Vic were thrashed by Canterbury 47-13, Otago 68-30 and by Auckland 39-23. The only game won was that against Massey (41-37).
Victoria W. Ellingham, J. Chew, S. Mustchin, M. Lavin, A. Napier, M. Johnston, B. O'Flynn, H. Richardson, M. Le Grouw.
One member, M. Le Grouw made the N.Z.U. team.
Vic's representatives had an unhappy time here only managing to beat Waikato 11-nil Vic lost to Auckland 2-8, to Massey 1-10, to Canterbury 2-4, to Lincoln 1-7 and to Otago 1-2.
The Victoria team was D. Bedford,. P. Spoonley, W. Moyes, R. Shuker, D. Bradshaw, J. Gallagher, J. Walls, C. Kaggwa, B Chand, R. Turner, P.Liddel, L. Teoh, D. Scobie.
This is one sport where Victoria can always be relied upon to perform well and
Victoria finished second in the Men's Epee defeating Auckland 11-5, Massey 10-6 and losing to Otago 7-9. However, in the Men's foils Vic beat Auckland 13-3, Massey 15-1 and Otago 11-5.
Vic also won the Men's sabre beating Auckland 13-3 and Otago 11-5.
Vic's female fencers continued this row of success by winning the Women's foils, defeating Auckland 10-6 and Otago 10-6.
Vic's reps were: V. McLean, S. Norris, J. Stacey, S. Grant. Taylor, A.. Apathy (Women);. G. Strati, R. Hayman, A. Leo, M. McCaffery (Men).
A. Leo was also selected tor the N.Z.U. Fencing team who competed against a Wellington Provinces team.
Three members W. Moyes, J Walls, R. Shuker were selected for the N.Z.U. team.
Vic's reps finished third here behind Canterbury and Otago. The results of games were: beat Auckland 13-6, beat Lincoln 10-9, lost to Otago 9-10 and well defeated by Canterbury 13-6 and Massey 7-2.
Victoria's reps were: A. Shapely, C. Kho, I. Burgess, L. Wang; M. Tourell, Siew (women).
Victoria's reps Barltrop, Drury, Watt and White finished fourth (scoring 947 points) to Canterbury 915, Massey 928 and Lincoln 930.
Rodney Barltrop in addition to selection for the N.Z.U. Golf team, was also a N.Z.U. Blue for
This year, the 25th the Wellington-Masterton Relay Race has been held, saw 32 teams, a record number, line up at the start.
This relay which is contested by club teams has virtually developed over the last few years into the National Road Relay championships with Northland and Southland this year being the only provinces not represented by teams.
Victoria performed extremely well finishing in ninth place with a time of 5 hours 47 min 30 sec. This was Vic's best time since
The ninth placing was also the highest placing Vic has achieved since the eighth placing in
The Vic team was Ian Stockwell, George Seconi, Len Watson, Martin Fisher, Tony Burge, Peter Konig, Phil Williams, Eric Cairns and Tony Woolhouse, the most outstanding performances coming from Seconi and Konig.