in a factory town. It is dull-looking,nand by American standards it has startlinglynfew shops and recreation areas.nBut by the standards of Africa’s Marxistncountries, it is the fulfillment of andream: the dream of having runningnwater and electricity, a sturdy roof overnone’s head, and enough food to fendnoff hunger.nThe Crossroads slum near CapenTown is different. It consists of severalnsquare kilometers of slumlike dwellingsnwhich house an unknown numbernof people, many of them illegalnimmigrants from the Black homelandsnin the north. They come by bus. Lifenin the slum is preferable to life in thenwild where hunting and subsistencenagriculture are the only sources ofnfood. Unlike Soiet authorities, whonrigidly control their borders and theirnpeople, the South African goernmentnis unable to control the influx. Yet onnbalance, I have seen a higher incidencenof malnutrition among childrennin Eastern Europe than in SouthnAfrica.nThe lack of an organized multiracialnintellectual right may be South Africa’snmost pressing problem. As thingsnstand now, adocates of evolutionarynchange wax apologetic whereas advocatesnof violent change sound triumphant.nThey ha’e mastered the art ofnpersuasion and have created a networknfor disseminating their extravagantnHeroes are back in style. According tona recent poll, the approval ratingsngiven to the objects of our admirationnare up significantiy from a few yearsnback. The official story goes somethingnlike this: back in the bad old days ofnVietnam and Watergate, the Americannpeople lost their youthful idealismnand learned to distrust all figures .ofnauthority. Now, five years into thenReagan era, we have regained enoughnof our confidence to be able to investnsome of it into the heroes of the 80’s.n321 CHRONICLES OF CULTUREnpromises. The power of the left innSouth African universities is formidable.nConservative professors are hardnto find. Whereas the pro-MarxistnNUSAS operates openly and with impunitynon campus, several universitynstudents were recentiy heavily fined forndistributing a conservative newsletter.nThe silent majority, both white andnBlack, has condoned erbal terrorismnof the left through its intellectualnindolence.nThe choice for South Africa is eithernto build economic structures andnchannels of communication betweennthe tribal and poorly educated Blacksnand the white, Asian, and (to somenextent) Colored minorities, or to optnfor the “one man, one vote, one time”nsolution, which was the choice ofnSouth Africa’s neighbors to the north.nIn a rational world, one might hopenthat Botha’s plan for a meritocracy innSouth Africa would be allowed tonwork. Certainly it holds out the mostnpromise for each of the racial groups innthe country. The Reagan Administrationnapparendy understands and is tryingnhard to support Botha, within thenlimits allowed by pressures in the UnitednStates Congress and the media. IfnReagan has his way, disinestment willnnot happen.nStill, I would be surprised if Moscow’snpolicy to isolate South Africanwere not ultimately successful. In thenCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSnPerhaps it is so. It is possible thatnmost of us were losing heart in then1960’s. Not everyone remembers thendecade of the apocalypse as a time ofndoubt and cynicism. It was, after all, antime when entertainers like Jim Morrisonnwere deified for acts of obscenity.n(You still can’t go into a state universitynmen’s room without seeing Jim MorrisonnLives! scratched into the freshnpaint.) Bob Dylan, the Stones, and thenBeaties were treated as prophets, andnradical groups like SDS had all thennnshort term, this would bring the oldnpro-apartheid faction into power innPretoria and create a siege mentality innthe minds of the South African whites.nIn the long term, the flight of Anglosnfrom South Africa would destroy theneconomy and the goernment. Thisnwould gie the anti-Western forces anmonopoly on some dozen essentialnstrategic metals and would insure thenfailure of the increasingly successfulnUnita revolt (supported by South Africa)nagainst the Angolan Marxists. Sonthe long-term (i.e., 10-year) prognosisnfor South Africa must be termed poor.nThis prognosis may be reversed if severalnthings happen concurrently: (1)nthe pro-Botha attitude of the ReagannAdministration is maintained into thennext Presidency; (2) Botha and hisnsuccessors show more determinednleadership and steadiness of purpose innthe future; (3) white emigration fromnSouth Africa remains at low levels. Fornthe sake of South Africans of all racesnand for the sake of the West, I hopenthat the policies of the Botha goernmentnwill be given a chance. It wouldnbe an enormous disaster if Moscownsucceeded in turning the entire Africanncontinent into a hell of genocidenand famine. ccnEwa Thompson is professor ofnGerman and Russian at Rice University.naura of crusaders on their way to thenHoly Land (and most of them behavednabout as well as the participants in thenFourth Crusade). The Weathermen,nthe Panthers, the Red Guard . . .nJanis, Jimi, and Mama Cass . . .nWoodstock, the Chicago Convention.n”Bliss was it in that dawn to.be alive/nBut to be young was very Heaven!” Atnleast, if you listen to National PublicnRadio, which commemorates everynanniversary of Watergate, Vietnam,netc., like so many saints’ days.n