The Black Sash, Vol. 16, No. 5
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Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org/. Page 1 of 37 Alternative title The Black SashThe Black Sash Author/Creator The Black Sash (Johannesburg) Contributor Duncan, Sheena Publisher The Black Sash (Johannesburg) Date 1973-05 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1973 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Relation The Black Sash (1956-1969); continued by Sash (1969-1994) Rights By kind permission of Black Sash. Format extent 35 page(s) (length/size) Page 2 of 37 SASHVol. 16. No. 5May, 1973Price: 40cThe Black Sash magazine Page 3 of 37 BLACK SASH OFFICE BEARERSALBANYHEADQUARTERSNational President: Mrs. J. Sinclair,4a-2nd Avenue, Parktown North,Johannesburg. Tel. 42-4649.National Vice-Presidents: Mrs. R. M. CAPE WESTERNJohnston, 86-9th Avenue, High-lands North, Jhb. Tel. 40-1973. Chairman: Mrs. D. Andrews.Secretary: Mrs, M. D. Barker, 11,Twickenham Road, Mowbray,Cape.Mrs. J. Harris, 29-5th Street,Lower Houghton. Tel. 728-2712.Hon. National Secretaries: Mrs. V. Chikin; Mrs. A. van der Riet, 37 Har-vard Buildings, Joubert Street,Jhb. Tel. 23-1032.National- I oT11. Tel.1 18.2. Mrs Beinash itz, 37,Harvard Buildings, Joubert Stxeet,Johannesburg,Magazine Editor: Mrs. S. Dun"', 45-22nd Street, Parkhurst. Johannes-burg. Tel.: 42-9713.Office: 37, Harvard Buildings, JoubertStreet, Johannesburg. Tel, 23-1032.130RDERChairman. fS ecretary : Mrs. D. Streelc,22, Turnberry Avenue, East Lon-don. Tel. 87852.Treasurer: Mrs. B. Sparg, 33 ElizabethCourt, In, 16th Terraca. EastLondon. Tel. 25879. ~~TRANSVAALSecretary : Mrs. V. Sullivan, 3, WarwickRoad, Vincent, East London.Chairman : Mrs. B, Davenport, P.O. Box10 >, Grahamstown.Secretary: P.O. Box 103, Grahamstown.Treasurer: Mrs. M. Burton.0 f fice : (for correspondence) : 310 RoscoBuilding, 105, Main Road, Clare-mont, Cape. Tel. 66-827.NATAL COASTALChairman : Mrs. K, M, Gaynor, 27, Kloof-lands Road, K1aof, Natal. Tel.:Tel.: 77-8853.Secretary : Mrs. Jean Chase, 7 EdinburghCrescent, Westville, Natal. Tel.:85-3623.Treasurer : Mrs. E. Langley , 11 High-bury Court, 311, Ridge Road,Durban. Tel. 881066.NATAL MIDLANDSSecretar, Mrs. M. Corrigall, 71, DerekHall, 176, Loop Street, Pieter-maritzburg.Treasurer: Mrs. Phoebe Brown, P.O. Box71, Hilton, Natal.Chairman: Mrs. G. Dyzenhaus, 108 Hyde-gate, Hyde Park, Sandton. Tel.42-3372.Hon. Secretaries: Mrs. V. Chipkin; Mrs.A. van der Riet, 37 Harvard Build-ings, Joubert Street, Johannesburg.Tel. Office 23-1032.CAPE EASTERNSecretary: Mrs. D. Davis, 196, Main Rd., IWalmer, Port Elizabeth. Treasurer : Mrs. L. Brand.Treasurer: Mrs. A. Bolton, 19, LintonRoad, Mill Park, Port Elizabeth.Tel. 36064.This Magazine, as the official organ of the Black Sash, carriesauthoritative articles on the activitiesof the Black Sash. The leading articles adhere broadly to the policies ofthe organisation, which doesnot, however, necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by thecontributors.All political comment in this issue, except when otherwise stated, by S.Duncan, of 37 HarvardBuildings, Joubert Street, Johannesburg.Cartoons by courtesy of Bob Connolly and the Rand Daily Mail and the DailyDispatch.Published by the Black Sash, 37 Harvard Buildings, Joubert Street,Johannesburg, and printed byMessrs. Pacific Press (Pty.) Ltd., 302 Fox Street, Johannesburg.The Black Saslz, May, 1173 33 Die Swart Serp, Mei 197Office: 37 Harvard Buildings, JoubertStreet, Johannesburg. Telephone23-1032. Page 4 of 37 CONTENTSMAY, 1973PageEDITORIALTHE FUNCTION OF BLACK POWER ...... ...... ...... ...... 2Dr. T. D. MoodieTHE MORALITY OF DISOBEDIENCE ...... ...... ...... ...... 1Mr. A. du ToitLOVE CAN CONQUER ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... 14Dr. Anthony Barker'WHITES ONLY' SEEMS SO RUDE ...... ...... ...... ...... 18Eleanor Anderson,HANDS OFF OUR UNIVERSITIES . ...... ...... ...... ...... 19Laurence GandarCHANGE UUST COME . ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... 22Jean SinclairADVICE OFFICESD-ba. .... ..... ..... ...... ...... 27J.h~n.,~b,~rg ...... ...... ...... ..... ...... ...... ...... ...... 27Athlone ...... .... 1 . ...... ...... ...... ... ... ...... ...... 29NEWS FROM THE REGIONS ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... 31The Black SaA, May, 1973 Die Swart Serp, Mei 1973 Page 5 of 37 specific group of laws) which is undertakenfor moral reasons".Only one essential qualification is missingfrom this definition, namely that the violationof the law must also be an act of protest, itmust be aimed against some requirement, au-thority or practice that it considers to be im-moral or unjust. Otherwise, for example,someone driving in excess of the speed limitsto get a patient as quickly as possible to thehospital would qualify for civil disobedience.He may indeed be violating the traffic lawsand for moral reasons to boot, but he is notdoing so in protest ; and only in the lattercase could it qualify as civil disobedience.This minimal definition is concise enoughan act of civil disobedience is a violation ofthe law, for conscientious reasons, and in pro-test. Yet is can go a long way towards clari-fying its meaning, differentiating it froi~. r-lated phenomena and outlining the prol"c,ua-tic issues.In the first place this definition makes itunambiguously clear that civil disobedienceis and always must be illegal. It may be "po-~A kind of conscientiousviolation of the law whichyet seeks to maintain thevalues that law observancepromotes.'sitive" - the doing of something the lawforbids; or it may be "negative'" - the refus-ing to do something the law commands, butwhether it consists in commission or omis-sion it is legally wrong, and as such entailslegal penalties. "It is always the sort ofthing that can send one to jail" (Hugo Be-dau).The only exception to this is in the case ofwhat has been termed " provisional civil dis-obedience" where the violated law itself maybe set aside, and the violation thus prove tobe vindicated as it were after the event by, forexample, the Supreme Court in terms of theConstitution.To begin with, however, it is equally re-garded as illegal and thus open to legal pun.ishment.The insistence on the essentially illegal na-ture of civil disobedience serves as a majordifferentiation from some related phenomenawith which it is often confused. Thus, in aconstitutional democracy it must be sharplydistinguished from all forms of legal andrightful protests, political opposition and ord-inary dissent.One who breaks an unjustlaw must do so openly, lov-ingly and with a willing-ness to accept the penal-ty.,In the words of Carl Cohen "all parades,assemblies, marches, picket lines, and otherpublic demonstrations that abide by the lawhowever vehement or unusual are not civildisobedience. It is a serious mistake to classall public demonstrations of protest as civildisobedience".If in the course of some demonstration amunicipal by-law or traffic regulation is vio-lated it cannot be considered as civil disobedi-ence unless done deliberately and in protest.In terms of this understanding of civil dis-obedience it would thus follow that the stu-dent gatherings and demonstrations in CapeTown on the steps of the Cathedral and of theJames' Hall last June, whether technicallywithin the law or not, were not intended ascivil disobedience but as rightful protests.Certainly theye were not deliberately lay-ing themselves open to legal penalties. It isof course a different matter altogether in. anon-democratic state which does not recognsethe right to protest - in terms of our mini-mal definition it would then seem that undersuch circumstances all conscientious protestwould amount to illegal civil disobedience.A similar position obtains with regard toconscientious objection. In many countriesthis has come to be a recognised procedure tolay claim to an exempted status from the re-quirements of the law, particularly concerningmilitary conscription. If granted, the consci-entious objector attains a legally recognisedstatus within the law. His position is thusradically different from the civil disobedientwhose act of protest, however conscientious, isessentially illegal.Again the position is different in a countrythat does not wish to recognise conscientiousobjectors as a separate category. However, itremains at least possible for it still to do sowhereas in the case of ordinary civil disobedi-ence it is a major problem whether a state canever be expected to deliberately recognise oortolerate it.The Black Sash, May, 1973 10 Die Swart Serg, Mei 1971 Page 6 of 37 A "legal right to civil disobedience" wouldseem to amount to a