Apartheid in Action
| Author | Edgar McInnis |
| Date | 01 December 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205601100401 |
| Published date | 01 December 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
APARTHEID
IN
ACTION
Edgar
Mclnnis*
HE
strongest
impression
that
I
carried
away from
a
six
Tweeks
tour
of
the
Union
of
South
Africa
was
of
the
social
and
political
fragmentation
that
is
the
deliberate
result
of
the
policies
of
the
present Nationalist
government.
It
is
something
more
than
the
determined multiplication
of
barriers
between
whites
and
non-whites.
It
reaches
deep
into
each
of
these
two
basic
groups,
splitting
and
sub-dividing
them,
and
in
effect-and
I
believe
with
conscious
intent-inhibiting
if
not
actually
destroying
the
possibility
of
any
effective
focus
of
opposition
to
the
current
dominance
of
Afrikaner
nationalism.
This
is
a
perturbing situation.
Not
only is
South
Africa
a
Commonwealth
member
whose
potentialities
could
make
her
a
dynamic and
constructive
contributor to the
greater
effectiveness
of
that
peculiar
association;
she
is
also
an
integral
part
of
the
non-communist
world,
with
an
expanding
economy
that
could
be
a
real factor
in
free
world
stability
and a
strategic
position
whose
importance
has
been
heavily underlined
by
the
Suez
crisis.
To
play
her
full
role,
however,
she
needs
the
solid base
of
a
united
community
with
an internal
harmony
and
a
sense
of
common
purpose.
The
present
trend
is unhappily in
just
the
opposite
direction.
In
place
of
harmony
and
unity
there
is
the
deliberate
creation
of
permanent
divisions,
and
there
are
all too
many
indi-
cations
that
the
survival
of
the
Union as
a political
entity
may
ultimately
come
to
depend,
not
on
a
conscious
sharing
of
common
interests, but
on
a
precarious
balance
of
internal
antagonisms.
The
primary
basis
for
all
this
is
of
course
the
doctrine
of
apartheid.
For
practical
purposes
it
can
be
reduced to
a
simple
syllogism.
South
Africa
must
be
permanently
a
white
society;
there
is
no
place
for
non-whites
in
a
white
society;
therefore
the
two
groups
must
develop
along
separate
lines according
to
their
separate
traditions
and
capacities.
Given
the
initial premise,
this
thesis
can
be
defended
with
considerable
logic.
There
is
even
a genuine
if
ill-judged
humanitarianism
on
the part
of
many
*Mr.
McInnis
has
just
returned
from
a
tour
of
South
Africa
made
under the
auspices of
the
South
African
Institute
of
International
Affairs and
sponsored
by
the
Carnegie
Foundation.
He
is
the
President
of
the
C.I.I.A.
and
was
formerly
Professor
of
History
at
the
University
of
Toronto.
To continue reading
Request your trial