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Capitalism: The Way to End Apartheid
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13583 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1988 |
2,079 Words |
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Michael Johns
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There is a fundamental flaw that continues to dominate the logic of those advocating disinvestments and further sanctions against the Republic of South Africa. This flaw centers around the wholly inaccurate liberal contention that apartheid is a symptom of a much broader system--capitalism. Until this erroneous liberal premise is challenged and exposed, it will be difficult--if not impossible--for the West to develop responsible and realistic policies toward South Africa.
In fact, capitalism is the most efficient and promising anti-apartheid program available. By opening market opportunities to blacks, abandoning restrictions on property rights, eliminating economic and racial barriers to market entry, and removing the many South African laws designed to discourage free-market activity, South Africa can ensure the elimination of economic and social apartheid--a development that could pave the way for the eventual demise of remaining political barriers.
The irony, of course, is that these facts are lost on the so-called antiapartheid activists of the Western Left. Though the liberal policies of sanctions and disinvestment are now almost universally discredited, the tragic results of these policies remain. In addition to throwing South African blacks out of much-needed jobs and stifling the South African economy, disinvestments and sanctions have diminished the influence of the one truly progressive movement--free-market capitalism--capable of inflicting fatal blows on the apartheid state.
It goes generally unnoticed among those who follow the South Africa debate that the sanctions and disinvestments movement was not merely a campaign designed to disrupt the economy of South Africa; it was also intended to attack and discredit capitalism. By arguing erroneously that apartheid was a product of capitalism and suggesting that the former could only be eliminated by attacking the latter, the far Left in the West broadened their attack to include the economic system that is their ultimate target.
A second irony in this analysis of South Africa is that South Africa is hardly a bastion of free-market capitalism. In fact, the country is among the most highly centralized and socialized economies of the noncommunist world. South Africa is riddled with state monopolies, minimum standards regulations, guilds intended to block entry to various professions, and rent and price control laws. There are more than 500 government acts and ordinances designed to inhibit free-market activity. So if apartheid is a product of South Africa's economic system, then it is socialism more than capitalism that is the culprit. But of course, in their thoughtless attacks on South Africa, Western liberals make little mention of this inconvenient fact.
The time has now come for a serious assessment of the important role the free market can play in making South Africa a more just society. The argument has been brilliantly spelled out in a new book, The Solution, by South African authors Frances Kendall and Leon Louw. As the authors correctly point out, South Africa has a deep tradition of free-market activity that has been overshadowed by government economic regulations and restrictions. At the foundation of these statist laws, one finds the clear implication that blacks are not yet ready for the free market.
The question of how South African blacks
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