Portland Observar octobar 2 3 ,1 8 8 0 Paga 3
Africa in Campaign 80
by Fungai Kumbula
Anxious not to be caught unware
'W in , all three presidential can
didates have made policy statements
regarding Africa. In an increasingly
restless world, it has finally been
realized in the highest levels o f
government that this giant continent
cannot continue to be confined to
the back burner. Even a cursory
look, however, is enough to demon
strate the different ways and degree
o f im portance each candidate
assigns to Africa.
“ The U nited States must
recognize that Africa will play a key
role in world affairs in the years
ahead...Africa possesses an abun
dance o f oil and other raw materials
essential to the world economy and,
represents an im portant potential
export market fo r our m anufac
tured goods...” says independent
John Anderson. He goes on to state
that South A frica’ s refusal to share
power with the Black m ajority in
both South A fric a and N am ibia
threatens the stability o f Africa.
He calls fo r a “ peaceful tra n
sition’ ’ to majority rule and says an
Anderson ad m in istra tio n w ould
seek an end to apartheid through
negotiation and encourages com
pliance by all countries w ith the
United Nations embargo on the ex
port o f military equipment to South
Africa. He also says he would work
in consultation with the Organiza
tio n o f A fric a n U nity in dealing
with problems relating to the con
tinent.
The Anderson promises sound
good but then again they are the
promises o f a politician. The trouble
with the independent candidate is
that he has no track record in
Africa. In all the years he served in
Congress, one has never heard him
make a statement about A fric a .
Anderson, judging by his statement
above, suffers from the usual
American malaise o f viewing Africa
simply as a source o f raw materials
and a market for American goods
and technology; the Africans, the
people, are somewhere in the
background and are m entioned
almost as an afterthought.
Reading the Republican A frica
»policy statem ent, one gets the
feeling that it was drafted at the last
minute simply because everybody
else was saying something about
A fric a . It also becomes very ap
parent that this is the p a rty o f
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger
who w orried so much about the
white-majority regimes o f southern
A fric a to the total exclusion and
complete disregard o f the African
majority.
“ The Republican Party supports
the principle o f self-determination
in A fric a . We reaffirm our com
mitment there to this principle and
pledge our strong opposition to the
effort o f the Soviet Union and that
the United States and the industrial
West have v ita l interests there -
econom ically, strategically and
political." The rest o f the statement
is more o f the same: condemning
Cuban, Soviet, Nicaraguan and
East German presence in Africa and
asserting th a t, given a choice,
A fric a n s
w ould
reject
the
"M a rx is t," totalitarian model being
imposed upon them. Again the
A frica n s are very much in the
background; the im portant thing,
the Republicans* preoccupation is
the keep the Soviets at bay. The
Cold War Doctrine is very much
alive in the Republican Party and,
candidate Ronald Reagan is one of
its leading champions.
One o f Reagan's aides caused a
m ajor fu ro r by suggesting that
should Reagan win in November,
there would be a total reversal o f US
foreign policy as regards Africa; in
essence, a Reagan adm inistration
would re-establish military ties with
South A frica and resume sales o f
arms to the aparthied regime. Regan
quickly disassociated himself from
this philosophy but he did not fire
the aide in question and, o f late, has
remained om inously silent in
matters o f foreign policy. He still
has to win the election next month
and the strategy o f late has been to
tone down much o f his ultra right-
wing rhetoric in a major bid to at
tract the undecided voters.
He has even said in earlier cam
paign speeches that the U nited
States should start providing covert
aid to the U N IT A te rro rists in
Namibia. This would start the civil
war in Namibia all over again. This
sort o f “ confrontation politics” has
been the hallm ark o f Ronald
Reagan ever since he set out on his
presidential bid in the last election.
From the p o in t o f view o f the
Africanists, a Reagan victory next
month would be a DISASTER o f
major proportions.
Some “ sm art" journalist asked
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe on
his recent visit to the U.S., “ M r.
Prime Minister, who do you endorse
for President in the upcoming elec
tion?” The answer was a classic in
African proverbial logic:
“ When I was young, I had a dog
that never caught anything. I wan
ted to exchange it for another but
my uncle asked me: ‘ How do you
know that the one you are going to
get w ill be any better?’ Needless to
say, I kept my old dog,” Mugabe
responded. The jo u rn a lis t just
smiled sheepishly; it is not clear
whether he understood.
“ Africa w ill be o f central impor
tance to American foreign policy in
the 80s. By the beginning o f 1977,
U.S. relations with Africa were at a
low point. We had little credibility
in Black Africa for we made little or
no attempt to see African problems
fro m an A fric a n perspective,”
begins the Democratic Pary’s Africa
policy statement.
The statement goes to detail
America’ s efforts to influence the
course o f events in southern Africa,
how and why they failed and the ef
forts since to remedy the situation.
The Democrats say they have since
begun to view Africa as a separate
entity and not a mere appendage to
superpower confrontation. Though
the Carter administration often has
been faulted fo r not going far
enough, it is the first administration
to at least make the effort to deal
with Africa one on one. Carter was
the first American President to visit
Africa. He also sent the UN Am
bassador to several A frican coun
tries including South A frica. Vice
President Walter Mondale met with
then South African prime minister
John Vorster and voiced the U.S.’s
opposition to apartheid. Despite in-,
tense pressure from strident right
wingers like Senators Helms and
Hayakawa and others w ith in his
own p arty, C arter refused to
recognize the “ internal regime” of
lan Smith and Abel Muzorewa and
insisted on an all parties conference.
In the end everybody agreed that the
President had been right all along.
From an African perspective, the
Africanists would go with Carter.
(Continued from page 1 col. 6)
high level o f voter registration will
increase the pressure on candidates
to try to be responsive to Black con
cerns. P o litcal apathy and low
registration virtually guarantee that
these concerns w ill be ignored or
finessed.
These are some o f the factors that
should be considered when deciding
whether massive p o litic a l par
ticipation can make a difference.
Another reality is that reward does
not always come immediately but
political prticipation is an invest
ment in the future.
Williams adds, “ Toward this end,
there is a role fo r all 17 m illio n
eligible Black voters to play this year
in the continuing struggle for equal
justice and equal opportunity.
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