Roots of Outrage. John Davis Gordon

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СКАЧАТЬ He frowned. ‘If this government knew anything about economics it would realize that a well-educated populace is the essential requisite of a nation’s prosperity nowadays. Repeat nowadays, Mr Speaker – not the age of the oxwagon, the voorlaaier and the Great Trek in which the government is still living. I’m speaking of the real world, the world of telephone, radio, the atom bomb and, would you believe, this new thing called television – which the government does not allow us to have lest it corrupt our tiny minds. The new world of the Cold War, in which communist Russia is exploiting the anger of the underdog and promoting world revolution! That is the dangerous world we live in and this real, dangerous world is best met by a prosperous people. Which means a labour force which is properly educated, fairly treated, and fairly paid!’ He frowned around the government benches in wonder. ‘But what does this government do? Does it educate its populace properly?’ He held up a finger. ‘Ah yes – it educates its white populace very well! But what does it give to its black populace? Only such education necessary to equip them for their role as “hewers of wood and drawers of water”!’

      ‘Quite right too,’ shouted a member of the government benches.

      George Mahoney punched his finger at the floor and cried: ‘This government intends to keep the blacks as perpetual serfs, to serve the Lekker Lewe! To supply labour for menial tasks, as they think befits the Sons of Ham! What unchristian arrogance! And what utter folly to imagine that they, a minority of Afrikaners, can keep a majority of blacks suppressed forever, and insult their intelligence –’

      ‘What intelligence?’ a government frontbencher shouted.

      ‘You see, Mr Speaker – that’s how the Honourable Member thinks. And it will lead to this country’s downfall, for not only will they create an ill-educated populace which cannot contribute properly to a modern economy, but sure as God made little green apples these black students will one day rise up in rebellion –’

      ‘And we’ll be ready for them! Who’s paying for their education – the white taxpayer!’

      George Mahoney’s bushy eyebrows shot up. ‘Ready for them? With your kragdadigheid – your batons and guns! Is that the way a sensible government runs its country? No, it is a crazy way, to have to rely on force! It is moonshine madness to spend the taxpayers’ money in such a way that the country is angry, resentful, bitter, rebellious!’

      He glowered, then went on with withering scorn: ‘As it is moonshine madness to antagonise the populace by cruel social engineering which attempts to stop human relationships between the races! Punishes people who fall in love across the colour bar! The Population Registration Act classifies each one of us into card-carrying racial groupings and thereafter determines who may do what to whom for the rest of our lives! The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act forbids people of different races to marry – and if they were already married before that date they either have to divorce or the white spouse has to be reclassified as non-white and thereafter live in a non-white area!’ He spread his hands in appeal. ‘What kind of a law is it that says you must divorce? Is it a Christian law? No – it is the law of the devil! And even the children can receive different racial classifications depending on their appearance – and families have had to split up and live in different areas! I ask you, Mr Speaker – is it a Christian law that forces a family to split up?’ He punched his palm. ‘No, it is a diabolical law! And the Immorality Act punishes people of different pigmentation who have sexual intercourse! Throws them in jail! Drags them before the courts for public humiliations, brings scandal upon their families, ruins their careers! It has driven people to suicide. What kind of country makes sexual intercourse between consenting adults a crime? It is grotesque.’

      ‘Immorality is against the word of God!’

      ‘Then so is all sexual intercourse unless the parties are married! Okay – if that is the will of God, I challenge this government to make all sexual intercourse outside wedlock a crime! I defy them! Come on! Make a total laughing stock of yourselves!’

      The Speaker pounded his gavel. ‘I warn you, Mr Mahoney, that personal insults will not be tolerated.’

      ‘“Personal insults”?’ George Mahoney echoed, astonished. ‘But these laws are personal insults, Mr Speaker, and just as insulting, just as humiliating, just as unchristian, just as stupidly cruel, are the laws governing public places! Petty apartheid. The Separate Amenities Act is the most conspicuous form of insult, made in public for all the world to see! The petty apartheid, designed by petty minds and strictly enforced by petty policemen, the notices that insist on separate amenities like public lavatories, benches, playgrounds, beaches, railway coaches, entrances to public buildings, separate libraries, cinemas, bars, hotels, eating establishments, buses – even separate elevators, for God’s sake, Mr Speaker!’

      ‘The Honourable Member for Transkei will kindly not blaspheme!’

      ‘If that is blasphemy, I repent. But the legislation is a tremendous blasphemy itself. How unchristian it is to say to our fellow citizens: You are not good enough to sit next to me on a train or bus or a barstool or in a restaurant or to swim in the same surf or read in the same library –

      ‘They have their own amenities, a government backbencher shouted, ‘separate but equal!’

      ‘“Equal”?’ George echoed. ‘Then whites are much more equal than non-whites in this mad-hatter country of ours, Mr Speaker! Because any fool with one eye can tell you that not only are all the non-white amenities inferior to the whites’, but there are much fewer of them! Yet’ there are many more non-whites than whites! This is equal? The honourable member should look up the word “equal” in the dictionary, if he has one. He could look up the word “Christian” at the same time and really have a confusing day.’

      He shook his head. ‘Why, Mr Speaker, does this government insist on insulting the majority of the populace in this manner? Why does this government insist on courting hatred? On courting rebellion? On courting its own destruction?’ He looked around, his bushy eyebrows raised. ‘Is it because the government is so stupid that it believes that political chaos will ensue if a non-white sits next to me on a bus, or barstool, or enjoys the same surf, or buys his ice-cream at the same kiosk, or his postage stamp at the same post office window? Is it credible that this government is so stupid, when you bear in mind that there are certain things that even this government has failed to segregate – roads for example. Sidewalks. Pedestrian crossings. Traffic lights. Shop windows. Shops – it is still legal for a black lady to walk into Woolworths, stand beside me and buy the same socks I do – though she better not try subversive stuff like that if she buys a postage stamp, no sir!’

      He nodded theatrically, and dropped his voice to a growl. ‘Yes, of course it is credible, and this government probably hopes to segregate the sidewalks, roads, and Woolworths too when their Clever Chaps Department can dream up the tricky legislation.’ He beamed sadly at the prime minister; then replaced his scowl and thundered: ‘But that stupidity is only half of the appalling unchristian reason! The other half is even more awful, and it will be the downfall of this whole country. And that reason is racial prejudice, Mr Speaker!’ He glowered around. ‘Indeed racial hatred. Belief in racial superiority! It is the government’s belief that they are the master race and that it is wrong for a non-white person to sit beside them in a bus, or swim in the same surf! It is a belief in Baaskap, in Bosshood – I am the boss, and you inferior mortals are not as human as I, not worthy to be near me except as my servant, my garden boy, my child’s nursemaid, my farm labourer, the man who shovels rocks on the mines!’ He jabbed his finger again. ‘That is the rotten basis of СКАЧАТЬ