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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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091889
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09188900.038
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 46A Movement but No Revolution
At 77, the African National Congress is one of the oldest
liberation movements in the world and therefore one of the least
effective. Founded by black professionals and hereditary chiefs as
a modest political lobby, it turned to "armed struggle" under the
guidance of Nelson Mandela after it was outlawed in 1960, but never
mounted a significant threat to the government in either guise.
Today the exiled A.N.C. is looking to change its fortunes. In
collaboration with the new domestic antiapartheid coalition, called
the Mass Democratic Movement, it has issued a proposal for peace
talks with Pretoria. "The question of a negotiated settlement,"
said Thabo Mbeki, 47, the heir apparent to the A.N.C.'s ailing
President Oliver Tambo, 71, "is very much on the agenda."
Yet the nonviolent alternative to armed struggle has also
failed to break apartheid. The M.D.M. stages isolated events in its
"defiance campaign" but has been unable to put together a sustained
strategy of mass civil disobedience that could successfully
challenge the government's power. If thousands of blacks staged
sit-ins, walk-ins and swim-ins at segregated institutions every day
for months, the system could crack under the strain.
Similarly, the unions have often called large one- or two-day
"stayaways" but have not managed to organize the kind of prolonged
general strike that could bring the economy to a halt. Many South
African businessmen say privately that the most effective economic
sanction of all would be for the millions of black workers simply
to stay at home until the government agrees to negotiate. This does
not happen, says a diplomat in Pretoria, because "the primary
concern of most blacks in South Africa is money. The secondary
concern is possible political gain in the future. There is no
revolution in sight."