European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 21, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Barry Renfrew Whites took revolutionary step in s. Africa Johannesburg South Africa a the country that created apartheid and became a byword for racism around the Globe has witnessed something of a political Miracle. At a time when rival ethnic groups Are tearing each other apart in Many nations South africans Whites voted to end their monopoly on Power and seek a common future with the Black majority. The world has probably never before seen a people vote to give up Power especially when they still dominate a nation. Whites gave president . De Klerk a decisive mandate on tuesday to scrap apartheid and negotiate a new Constitution. The 68.7 percent vote for Reform exceeded the most optimistic predictions. A the White electorate has risen above itself a de Klerk said. Enormous problems must still be solved however. Whites Are not Likely to surrender Power overnight. Also Many want a veto on the Power of any future multiracial government and oppose drastic redistribution of wealth to Correct inequities created by apartheid. But they have taken a decisive step toward reconciliation that would have been unthinkable even a  years ago. For decades the White minority government refused to see Blacks As equals. White leaders concocted apartheid a a rigid system of Legal social and economic divisions a to ensure Blacks could never be More than labourers and servants. The architects of apartheid claimed they were defending Western civilization and christianity. A perhaps it was meant for us to have been planted Here at the Southern Point of Africa. So that from us. Might emanate the Victory whereby All that has been built since the Days of Christ May be maintained for the Good of All Mankind a prime minister . Verwoerd said in 1958. Millions of Blacks were summarily deprived of citizenship and dumped in Barren areas of the nation. Whites retained 87 percent of the land insisting it had been empty until their forefathers settled it. South Africa became notorious for its a Laager mentality a a reference to the Early White pioneers who circled their of wagons to drive off attacking Black tribesmen. As recently As 1988, de Klerks predecessor . Botha said he would never consider accepting a Black government. White leaders said they could fend off the entire world often sneering at sanctions imposed in an attempt to Force South Africa to abandon segregation. The country could live with sanctions but much of its wealth and Energy was devoted to propping up apartheid. It has been a futile Battle. Five million Whites some opposed to apartheid could not dominate 30 million Blacks. Not even the most stringent apartheid Laws could keep Blacks in Rural homelands and away from the cities where they came to look for work. De Klerk stunned South africans and the world when he announced in 1990 that apartheid would be scrapped by the same government that created and defended the system for tour decades. Although the lifestyles of Whites have not changed much the certainties they grew up with crumbled almost overnight. Whites were no longer assured of the advantages setting them apart As the ruling class. Many Whites blinded by a lifetime of habit and prejudice still done to see Blacks As equals. But the White vote for Reform shows if nothing else that some want to change. C Tho Assoc Atod pro Swilliam f. Buckley  party promises haunted House ride London a a ahead was the stage. Would John major reach it before the taped music ran out a Given that the stage was dominated by a backdrop of the conservative party Torch so stylized it resembled three windsurfers two kangaroos and an architects Model of the new Marina would he even recognize it but in these matters nothing is left to Chance. A was he reached the platform Steps the Drums began to Roll dying away to the second As he stepped Forward to receive the applause. At 11 57 or. Major launched the conservative general election Campaign. A a a the phony War is Over a he declared. A the Battle of Britain has begun. The Battle is a Battle we Are going to  a the delegates got the message. Or. Major is not a natural Public speaker but a Roar of applause rang round the Hall. After the months of waiting it might almost have been a cry of Relief. As the prime minister has almost said a Battle is a Battle is a  this is from a straight news account in the sunday Telegraph by James Langton of the opening gun in a general election that will take place on april 9. Between now and then the British will spend one sixteenth As much As the United states spent on its last presidential Campaign in 1988 a primarily because the use of paid television and radio advertising is prohibited. And even As democrats in the United states Are hungry to exercise executive Power the labor party in Britain is hungry the More so since whoever exercises executive Power exercises also legislative Power. Margaret Thatcher came in one year before Ronald Reagan. And she proved something Reagan and president Bush failing to control Congress could not prove Thatcher established that the welfare state is Here to stay. If it could have been removed shed have done so. She turned her attention instead to domesticating it to privatizing bloated socialized enterprises to breaking the Back of monopoly unionism and to brightening the economic picture. She was a great Success but was brought Down by a combination of coalescing factors one of them a general sense of in be had enough of Maggie. In the age of mtg and the 15-second sound bite people would be tempted to vote against the great greek statesman Pericles after 11 years. Her ouster was traced to the fear of critically situated party leaders that she would not Lead the party in a fourth election to Power. In her place they installed major who is to Thatcher what Jimmy Stewart is to Edward g. Robinson. But the Calm easygoing major faces something Thatcher never did a prolonged dogged recession inflation most directly traceable to a disastrous decision made Over a year ago to tie the Pound to a fixed Exchange rate with the German Mark. So what to do along with the announcement of a general election Date the government promulgated a new budget the salient feature of which was to impose a reduced tax rate on workers who earn $3,600 or less in the United states workers at that income level pay Zero income taxes. This so confounded socialist Leader Neil Kinlock that he spastic ally denounced it. A we really did no to know which Way they would jump Quot one delighted Treasury minister said toward the end of the week. A we could scarcely believe it when they fell into the  the analogy with the movements of the Bush administration is very Plain the Call for a program designed to Appeal to critical voting blocs. The difference of course is that it great Britain re commissions the conservative party majors budget will become Law. If Bush is reelected his proposals will or will not become Law depending on How Congress fares. Is it All important what happens on april 9 in great Britain it is not As vital As Back in the bad old Days when labor was committed to unilateral nuclear Dis armament at the height of the cold War. A government by Kinlock would not be As destructive but much hangs in the balance. The labor party is committed to a program of political devolution that could Lead to a sundering separatism with Scotland and Wales demanding autonomy. The critically important conservative Reform of the education system in which schools Are progressively permitted to run themselves and parents to choose which schools to patronize would Erid in an egalitarian seizure. The Pound would fall on the International Market to which the response would inevitably be higher interest rates followed by More inflation and unemployment. The Campaign is Only a week old but already readers and viewers Are tiring of it. Most of them have heard it All before. The Only question is the enduring one Are political lessons Ever Learned permanently there Are millions of voters in great Britain who never experienced life under socialism. How Many of them think it would be fun to take a ride through the haunted House see what its like Disney world makes a Fortune peddling the experience but there it lasts Only 10 minutes. O Universal press Syndicate