Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 24RH THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 3, 1986
May the New Year bring
health and prosperity to all
Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity
Hill Frank • Jim Cowan • Harry Z'uckerman
Diamond
C O' L L [j C T 1 O N
Personalized Service • excellent Prices
on all
Fine Jewelry • Custom' Designs • Appraisals
Five percent of the cost of each purchase
will be donated to The Hebrew
Academy s Impdct on Tomorrow Capital Campaign Fund.
Northlake Tower Festival, 4073 LaVista Rd./ Suite 359
(404)491-0302
Bally • Johnson & Murphy • Nettleton • Foot Joy
Stacy Adams • Nunn Bush • Keith Highlanders • Allen Edmond
Dingo • Texas • Lucchese Boots • French Shriners
The Shemaria Families
Bennie’s Discount Shoes
2581 Piedmont Road, Atlanta 262-1966
2488 Cobb Parkway, Smyrna 955-1972
5192lndianTrail Industrial Parkway, Norcross 447-1577
900 Mansell Road, Roswell 624-4852
The Jews of South Africa
by Sheldon Kirshner
PRETORIA (JTA)-Five thou
sand South Africans launched a
cultural-cum-pohtical movement
here two months ago that raised
eyebrows all over South Africa,
particularly in the Jewish commu
nity.
The formation of the Afrikaner-
volkswag (AV) brought together
under one banner an outright anti-
Semite, a radical rightwing politi
cian, the son-in-law of a former
prime minister, and a one-time
deputy minister of education. It
was enough to make Jews take
notice, or wince.
Dr. Sylvia Kaplan, national
president of the South African
Association of Arts, said she was
“absolutely horrified” by the emer
gence of the AV and appalled by
the Nazi-like tone generated by the
AV’s inaugural mass meeting.
South African newspapers were
equally aghast.
In parliament, the AV was
roundly condemned. The minister
of education, no doubt speaking
for the ruling Afrikaner-dominated
National Party, ridiculed the AV’s
claim to being solely a “cultural
movement.” Roger Burrows, an
opposition MP, asked the govern
ment for assurance that no state
funds would be given to the “(white)
supremacist, racially divisive” or
ganization.
Bursting upon the South Afri
can scene like a thunderclap, the
A V is far to the right of the National
Party, which in 1948 introduced
apartheid. To the AV, the present
National Party has traitorously
deviated from apartheid by intro
ducing constitutional proposals that
would give Asians and coloreds—
but not blacks—a limited voice in
policy determination.
In the view of observers, the AV
comprises disgruntled, frustrated
rightwingers, disaffected lower
middle Afrikaners (South Africa’s
MIRROR CO.
Serving Atlanta
For 28 Years
WISHES
YOU
L’SHANA
TOVA!
445 Marietta St., N.Y^.
Atlanta, GA 30313
524-5616
SY LEWIS • STEVE LEWIS
CARY LEWIS
The President Street Synagogue, Johannesburg, the first Jewish
house of worship in the Transvaal, built in 1888. It is no longer standing.
first white settlers, mainly Euro
peans of Dutch, French and Ger
man stock) and Pretoria-based civil
servants. All these groups appeared
to be represented the night of May
5 when the AV was launched into
prominence.
Eugene Terre Blanche, accom
panied by a uniformed guard of six
young men wearing swastika-like
emblems and heavy black boots
once favored by the SS, put in an
appearance. Terre Blanche, leader
of the Afrikanese Weerstandsbe-
weging, has been quoted as saying
that South African Jews would be
deprived of political rights under
an AV regime. Joining him were
the following personalities:
— Jaap Marais, head ot the
Herstigte Nasionale Party, who is
regarded both as an anti-Semite
and an anti-Zionist. The party,
which publishes a newspaper called
Die Africaaner, has no parliamen
tary seats.
— Carel Boshoff, a professor,
and his wife Anna, daughter of
Hendrik Verwoerd, who served as
prime minister until his assassina
tion in 1966.
— Andries Treurnicht, leader of
the 18-seat Conservative Party.
His deputy, Ferdie Hartzenberg,
has reportedly said that it would be
difficult for Jews to serve in a
government formed by the CP.
(Although Jews arc suspicious of
Hartzenberg, they do not think
that Treurnicht, a former minister,
is anti-Semitic. Thomas Langley, a
CP member of Parliament, stated
categorically: “We’re not anti-
Jewish at all. Get it out of your
mind.”)
Although the A V is shot through
with anti-Semitic rabble-rousers,
AV’s chairman. Carel Boshoff. has
stayed clear of the Jewish question
so far. The AV, in short, has not
adopted a public position on Jews.
Yet Jews cannot ignore its exist
ence. A random sampling of Jew
ish opinion found that Jews are
either disturbed by the A V, or con
fident that its influence will be
minimal.
Aubrey Joffe, a Pretoria lawyer,
doesn’t close his eyes to the AV. “1
wouldn’t ignore it, but in the con
text of South African politics, it’s a
total irrelevancy,” he said.
John Moshal, president of the
Council of Natal Jewry, in Dur
ban, observed that the formation
of the AV might even be a sort of
blessing in disguise, because Afri
kaners would be forced to take
sides and would opt for the middle-
of-the-road National Party (which
has cordial relations with the Jew
ish community but once didn’t).
Chris Moolman, an Afrikaner edi
tor in Port Elizabeth, said that the
AV has no appeal for Afrikaners.
If the AV fails to attract the loy
alty of Afrikaners, as is generally
thought, it will not pose any
threat—real or imagined—to Jews.
In general terms, anti-Semitism is
a fairly inconsequential phenom
enon in contemporary South Africa,
if only because non-whites are
usually on the minds of bigoted
whites.
“It’s safe to say that anti-Semi
tism has never been an instrument
of any South African government,”
pointed out Michael Katz, the
youngish chairman of the Jewish
Continued next page.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Totally Different
Authentic Chinese Cuisine
U' Hood JS ir Sjn Fiotmo NrwYork & Hook Kon«i
Dim Sum Chinese Lunch
Sat. 11:30-3:00
Sun. 11:30-3:00
Mon.11:30-2:30
Open 7 Days, Lunch & Dinner
Large rooms for banquets or parties
Beer & Wine — Quick take-out service
457-6788
5295 Buford Hwy., i block N. of Pinetree PUaa, Vi mi. S. of 1-245
Kenny Mui, Owner