book

Fight Apartheid — A manual for action, edited by Chistopher Wainright and Lindsay Wright. Available Studass Office - 50c.

The major fault in this fifty-six page booklet is the contradiction resulting from the disparity between title and content. Instead of formulating and suggesting a plan of action the editors have contented themselves with defining the target(s) and providing the ammunition. An attack on apartheid is certainly suggested — if only by implication. What is lacking, however, is some delineation of the form which that attack should take. At this point the problem becomes familiar and it may well be that this aspect of the booklet reflects the current tactical uncertainty which seems to have beset anti-racist groups in New Zealand. It is a pity that this should be so; it is an even greater pity that this book should compound it, for while we hover between emotional indulgence in the form of violent action and peaceful opposition to a majority view, opportunities for persuasion are being lost.

If the booklet fails to provide a lead, however, it does provide some valuable information. Assuming as it does that the reader is in sympathy with the anti-racist cause, the book avoids didacticism. Instead, information is given concerning Philip's propaganda activities (I can't resist it — speaking to the nation's privates in a "moral leadership" course); New Zealand sporting contacts with South Africa, New Zealand trade contact with South Africa; the sale of South African goods in New Zealand; New Zealand anti-racist movements; and African liberation movements. The nett result, sadly is a fairly comprehensive picture of this country's working support of apartheid.

The picture presented is certainly not hopeless however. While our sporting, cultural and trading links with South Africa are strong they are not (with the exception, perhaps, of rugby) so deeply embedded in the New Zealand way of life as to be incapable of dissolution. The fact that such a process would cost little in terms of trade while meaning much in terms of world standing, is dismissed by the editors as an intrusion of cynicism into the world of ideals. It is an approach, however, which may recommend itself to a country which appears to value above all else, its pragmatism.

Apart from the paralysis as regards action, a few minor criticisms could be made—the booklet's occasional drift into dryness, for example, may provoke a would-be activist into giving up and depending on his moral indignation rather than wading through the book in search of rational argument. Measured against the size and nature of the problem, however, minor criticisms are both pointless and finicky.

By way of summary/conclusion it may be said that the booklet provides useful background material for the campaign against racism; that it is thus destined to attract only a limited activist readership; and that it is silent in a vital area — that of action. As far as the last point is concerned it is fair to record that the editors may have felt reluctant to usurp the function of the March Conference for which the booklet was published. This would be a reluctance as understandable as it is unfortunate.

— Peter Giles