The dark shadow of Fascism is moving swiftly over South Africa. The advent
of the Government of Dr. Malan and his Nationalist Party, well-known for
its servile adulations of Hitler and allegiance to fascist principles, has
stripped off the mantle of democracy with which Field-Marshal Smuts' personality
and prestige had adorned South Africa. All the pious proclamations of Christian
trusteeship and white man's civilisation can no longer hide the dangers that
are inherent in a country where race and colour rule is the instrument of
State policy. The rapidity with which Dr. Malan is moving to complete the
Nazification of South Africa by swallowing up the very last vestige of civil
liberties and the few remaining political rights of the non-white majority
in the country, has given rise to a genuine fear and alarm everywhere, both
within the country and without, that unless the United Nations take effective
action, South Africa will be plunged into the most frightful race conflicts.

What has happened in South Africa since the 1947 session of the United
Nations when the Assembly debated India's complaint regarding the oppressive
and humiliating treatment of Indians in South Africa, but failed to
get the two-thirds majority necessary to make a decision binding on
South Africa? An election took place amidst a terrible race hysteria
against the non-white peoples in the Union in which over 80 percent
of the population could not participate for no other reasons than that
of their race and colour. The tiny white electorate returned to power
the party of Dr. Malan, who had enunciated a programme based on fascist
principles to deal with the disenfranchised non-white majority. There
were hopes that out of regard for world opinion, Dr. Malan would not
risk putting into effect such a doctrine three years after the end
of the war against Fascism. But without any pretences and quite unashamedly,
he launched an attack on the non-Europeans and other sections of the
democratic movement.

Malanite Axe Falls

The world has to take stock of the Malan Government which, in its
four brief months of power, has:

(1) Suspended the deportation orders against Nazi Germans interned
during the war;

(2) Released Robey Leibrandt, who was landed in South Africa during
the war by a German submarine and subsequently convicted of high treason.
Released also all the other members of the German fifth column;

(3) Announced
that war-internees would be eligible for compensation to a maximum
of £20,000
per head;

(4) Raised the ban on two subversive organisations, the Broederbond
and the Ossewa Brandwag;

(5) Suspended the training of Native artisans outside the reserves;

(6) Undertaken to separate the races in the trade unions, and hinted
at the possibility of the formation of a Labour Front on the Hitlerite
model;

(7) Raised all restrictions on the movement of South-West African
German ex-internees;

(8) Rebuffed the International Labour Organisation by refusing permission
to its delegation to visit South Africa;

(9) Undertaken to amend the Unemployment Insurance Act and in the
interim period, to cut benefits to non-European workers to a minimum;

(10) Taken steps to set up a platteland army, corresponding to the
S.S. troops in Nazi Germany;

(11) Taken steps to extend the Ghetto Act to the Cape;

(12) Further restricted the freedom of travel of non-Europeans by
segregating them on suburban Cape trains, the only trains that had
remained free from the segregation laws of South Africa;

(13) Removed the
so-called representation clauses of the Ghetto Act (the Asiatic Land
Tenure
and Indian Representation Act of 1946) which
was used as a pretext to justify further land and residential restrictions
on the Indian people. It was also designed to soften the storm of indignation
aroused by the Act, which snatched away the inherent rights of the
citizen of the country to live wherever he wishes because he was an
Indian, and relegated him to limited, inferior areas which, in the
course of time, became ghettos. The Justice Lange Commission of 1920
has described this segregation policy in the following words: "Indiscriminate
segregation of Asiatics in localities and similar restrictive measures
would result, and eventually reduce them to a state of helotry. Such
measures, apart from their injustice and inhumanity, would degrade
the Asiatics and react upon the Europeans."

(14) Decided to introduce legislation to take away the last bit of
franchise rights of the Africans who hitherto in the Cape would return
three White candidates, called Native Representatives, to an Assembly
of 150 White members;

(15) Threatened to stop the entry of the handful of non-white students
into even the two universities which alone permitted a limited number
of non-white students;

(16) Introduced amendments to the electoral laws designed primarily
to reduce the number of Coloured voters on the common roll;

(17) Announced its intention to remove altogether the Coloured voters
of the Cape from the common roll, and to give them indirect representation
in Parliament through three White members, the first step to complete
disenfranchisement, as is shown by the case of the Africans who were
treated in the same way at first;

(18) Announced its intention to stop payment of family allowances
to Indians;

(19) Introduced Proclamation 1890 which will make it illegal for
any organisation, political, trade union, or social, to collect subscriptions
from Africans without prior approval of the Minister. This measure
has been introduced with the set purpose of destroying all democratic
organisations of the African people.

General Smuts agreed that the political rights of the non-Europeans
were so small that political wisdom demanded that they should be left
alone. Speaking on some of these measures, he said:

"It seems
to me it is simply playing with enormous issues. Here you have millions
of
people entrusted to us. That is all they have.
We step over them, we almost stamp on them, and we propose to take
away these small rights. How can we face our own public opinion? How
can we face the public opinion of the world? How can we face the future
of South Africa when we behave in this way to people who have been
put in our charge as a sacred trust? How can we defend ourselves? How
can we, with a clean conscience, go forward in the future?"

When General Smuts,
certainly no liberal in matters concerning the rights of the non-White
people,
is moved to make such a strong comment,
it is because he has a premonition of the Fascism which is coming to
South Africa. The Coadjutor Bishop of Cape Town, the Right Rev. S.W.
Lavis, regards the assaults on the non-European freedom as a "conflict
between repression and freedom" and "a kind of murder...with
dreadful evils in view."

Character of Malan Government

It is not difficult to judge from all that has already been said
what is the character of the Malan Government. It has made no secret
of its anti-African, anti-Asiatic, anti-Coloured, anti-British, and
anti-Semitic principles. In short, it recognises the superiority of
only one race in South Africa - the Afrikaners. The others are kaffirs
(Natives or Africans), Coolies (Indians), Loyal Dutch (Afrikaners who
do not accept Nationalist policy), Jingoes (British) or Jode (Jews).
The leading Ministers of the Malan Government have stated that they
will appoint a body that will inquire into un-South African activities.
The word un-South African has a sinister ring when it is remembered
that, according to the Nationalists, the only true South African is
the Afrikaans-speaking supporter of the Nationalist Party. Dr. Malan,
at the Nationalist Party Congress in Pretoria in 1939, said:

"An Afrikaner
is one who, whether speaking the same language or attending the same
church
as myself, or not, cherishes the same
Nationalist ideas. That is why I willingly fight against General Smuts.
I do not consider him an Afrikaner."

In 1941, Dr. Malan,
the chief exponent of Nationalist ideas, made it clear that he had
nothing
to do with democracy. In one of his speeches
he said: "Is not the time ripe for us to base our national life
upon another foundation by breaking away from democracy?" In the
same speech he said: "Democracy exists here only in name." He
declared that the Nationalist Party was ready to:

(a) abolish democratic government, as in every instance it has been
a failure;

(b) make peace with Germany and Italy;

(c) deprive the non-Nationalist-minded of their political rights,
and

(d) set up a Gestapo
republic, since "the National Socialist
had undoubtedly performed wonders in Germany."

The Enlightenment Secretary of the Nationalist Party and Editor of
one of its leading newspapers, Die Oosterlig, Dr. O. H. du Plessis,
has proclaimed that:

"The dictators,
creators of the New Order, with Hitler and Mussolini in the foreground,
undertook
to solve the interior and exterior problems.
They had great success. The whole of Europe, with the exception of
a few small States, has accepted the New Order."

Another champion of the Malanites, the Rev. C. W. M. du Toit, said
in Parliament in 1942:

"There exists
a common basic principle in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany, and
we want
that here, too, but it is only that underlying
principle of National Socialism."

The party that now rules over the country follows the familiar pattern
of Nazi meetings and congresses, as witness the following report in
The Friend on the Nationalists' Congress of June, 1941:

"...a realistic
rehearsal of Reichstag procedure, in which only the leaders had a
say. All
resolutions were proposed and seconded from
the platform and according to programme... and no debates ensued. Dr.
Malan spoke for two hours at the opening of the proceedings, giving
a consummate exposition of Nationalist Socialism."

When the jackboot of Hitler had already trampled upon freedom in
several lands, the Nationalists were praying for a German victory.
Dr. van Nierop, a leading Nationalist M.P., gave this message:

"Let us assume that Great Britain loses the war - yes, I do
wish it. When Great Britain loses the war, then South Africa will win,
and that is why I want Great Britain to lose".

Dr. Malan was even more confident of a German victory. He said:

"A wonderful
future awaits Afrikanerdom. Germany will want a government sympathetic
to
itself... The Nationalist Party can fill
that role."

The manner in which Dr. Malan proposed to establish a republic on
National Socialist lines is revealed by his following remarks:

"The Republic
must first be obtained and the Republican Government will have to
be granted
absolute power for a time in order to establish
the Republic. Afrikanerdom will welcome it, but a large proportion
of them will only accept it under compulsion. This will then be nothing
but High Treason. The Republican Government must obtain absolute power
for a time in order to establish the Republic. Problems must be solved
which are in closest touch with the life in South Africa and which
cannot be solved under the democratic machinery."

All the actions and speeches of the members of the present Government
of South Africa bear the unmistakable stamp of their adherence to the
ideology of Fascism; of this there is no doubt. Almost all the members
of Dr. Malan's Cabinet belong to the secret fascist organisation known
as the Broederbond, which works for full political domination of South
Africa by the Nationalist-minded wealthy Afrikaners. It is of great
importance to examine how it was possible that such a party, which
represents a threat to the most elementary principles of democracy,
could have been returned to power by election three years after the
end of the war against Fascism. In our appeals to the United Nations,
we have consistently pointed out that in South Africa there is no other
choice than the choice between a democracy wherein every section of
the population would enjoy equal rights regardless of the pigmentation
of their skins, or a South Africa based on racialism where every principle
of democracy is threatened. We have asserted that in a land where freedom
and democracy is the exclusive preserve of a minority based on the
criteria of race and colour, such criteria must inevitably rob the
country of its soul, and make it ripe for totalitarianism. That it
is moving with increased momentum to a totalitarian State, riding on
a crest of race hysteria akin to that in Nazi Germany, is now a grim
certainty. The New Statesman and Nation, of London, comments:

"More than
formal transfer of power has taken place. The apparatus of civil
and military
power is being transformed as speedily as possible
so as to ensure that it is a weapon apt to the hand and the intention
of the manipulators. The steps that have been taken, the measures being
adopted to strengthen the Nationalist grip on the Party machine, and
the legislation and regulation already introduced and pending, all
show the pattern of a blueprint devised and applied with all the skill
and technique in the fascist arsenal. Donges at the Interior, Louw,
the Jew-baiter, at External Affairs, Erasmus at Defence, Swart at Justice,
hold key portfolios."

Apologists of South Africa's racial doctrines have sought to propagate
the idea that South Africa would gradually adopt a more liberal policy
and give more rights to the disenfranchised majority. The whole history
of South Africa in the last fifty years has been a sorry tale of agreements
violated, of promises unfulfilled, of diminishing rights for the majority
and mounting racial oppression. What little rights the non-white peoples
have had, have been snatched away from them, and the graph of racial
laws has risen rapidly to a number far beyond that of Nazi Germany.
The axe is now falling with such rapidity that even some sections of
the white population have become alarmed. Hence the warning of the
Rt. Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr, former deputy Prime Minister, that the new
measures may be a prelude to an attack on the rights of some sections
of the white people also.

The Malanites: their Black Record during the War

Owing allegiance to the fascist ideology, Dr. Malan and his Nationalists
not only hoped for a Hitlerite victory, but actively worked for it
in various ways, the most popular being to threaten all those who supported
the war. We bring to your attention the following quotations from the
speeches of leading Nationalists:

Dr. Malan, Prime Minister:

"We can take
it that if Germany wins the war she will want to weaken the Empire.
On this
point German desires are in agreement with
our efforts. In the second place, Germany would want to negotiate with
a Government which is friendly disposed towards her. There is only
one such Government possible - the Herenigde Nasionale Party."

"Will England
in those circumstances remain on a democratic basis, and do so after
she has
experienced to the full in this war
how effective and how efficient another system (Nazism) is?"

"The United
States is arming only in her own interests. She is not arming for
war, but
for the peace because she wants a say in
the armistice and wants to be heir to Britain's estate."

J. G. Strydom, Minister of Lands:

"We are not
enemies of Germany. We have always been friends of the German people,
and
the only white country that was our enemy
is Britain."

Rev. S. W. Naude, M.P.:

"Of course
Germany is going to win. This war started with a war of Hitler, and
is ending
with a war of God. It is God's war, because
it is God's rood over England for all the injustice which England has
committed in the world. God is now settling accounts with her, and
He is using Hitler for the purpose."

A. J. Werth, Nationalist M.P. and shadow Minister for Finance when
the Nationalists were in Opposition:

"Gallows
are being erected where they themselves may hang in years to come.
We say so
not only to the Jingoes, but we say so to
the Jews. You are putting up gallows for the Germans, but beware, the
day may come when you yourselves may hang from these same gallows."

Apartheid - from Prison House to Concentration Camp

"Apartheid" is
the word coined by the Nationalist Party of Dr. Malan to describe
its oppressive programme for the non-white
peoples of South Africa. The stated aim of this policy is to bring
about the total political and territorial segregation of the Natives
(Africans), and generally speaking, the complete residential separation
of white from non-white, and as far as it is practicable their separation
in the industrial field as well.

Conditions in South Africa today make it a vast prison house for
four-fifths of the population. The dignity and status of the individual
and all human values are based primarily on the colour of the skin.
Only the white can fully exercise the vote, can be elected to any of
the legislative bodies, be they national, provincial or municipal,
can enjoy freedom of movement and the other elementary liberties, and
can inherit the culture of mankind. The man whose skin is dark is barred.

"The African is all the time a prisoner in the land of his birth,
although he might not be confined within prison walls," said the
eminent South African Judge, F. E. T. Krause. An African, from the
moment he leaves his reserves is controlled by a rigid and cruel pass
system. He is compelled to carry on his person no less than twelve
pieces of paper. Without these pieces of paper he cannot leave his
reserve; he cannot obtain a train ticket; he cannot seek work; he cannot
enter into a town; he cannot walk the streets after curfew hours, which
apply only to Africans; he cannot attend a school and, to all intents
and purposes, he can do nothing without a pass. It is humanly impossible
for an African to go through life without falling victim to these pernicious
pass laws. A failure to carry any one of these many passes is a criminal
offence. The annual average of Pass Laws convictions over a period
of years is over the 100,000 mark. This is the reason why South Africa
enjoys the reputation of having the largest gaol-going population in
the world in proportion to its population.

Describing police raids for passes, Oliver Walker, author of Kaffirs
are Lively, says:

"Nightly
the pick-up vans (police vans) prowl the streets seeking their prey.
Nightly
they fill up with their dark cargoes. And when
the pick-up vans are not on the job, mass raids of locations and hostels
keep the jail-yards choked."

The million and a half Africans who live on the white farms do so
in conditions of serfdom. The Rev. Michael Scott, a man of high integrity
and repute, after an investigation into typical farms in the Bethal
district, said:

"Conditions
akin to slavery exist on some farms. On one farm I found 50 men huddled
round
open fires with no blankets and only 3
or 4 mattresses in all. Sacks were their only working clothes and they
had no boots, though the employer had issued great coats... On another
farm 25 native labourers were employed and driven to work by sjamboks
(whips)."

The Africans live on the farms in constant and mortal terror.

The land hunger
amongst the Africans is appalling. Only 13 percent of the land is
reserved
for the 7½ million Africans, the remainder
belongs to the white 2 million. In the urban areas the laws of the
land force the Africans to live in ghettos called Locations. So crowded
are these locations that their inhabitants overflow into the unoccupied
open spaces where they set up homes of hessian, kerosene tins and split
poles. Shocking conditions of sanitation and sordid misery exist in
these shanty towns of squatters, over 100,000 of whom live and die
in Johannesburg alone, the richest gold mining city in the world. To
quote Oliver Walker again:

"...and join
the queue for the lavatories (one for every 60 people in an estimated
100,000
population), the 40 communal showers
and the 500 water taps (one to every 50 families)."

The facts available regarding health, disease, education and labour
for the non-white people constitute an indictment against any civilised
government.

* Infant mortality amongst the Africans in a typical area has been
estimated at 400-500 per 1,000 births. (Such figures at best can only
be estimates since the collection of vital statistics affecting the
non-white people is badly neglected).

* The average expectation of life for an African is 36 years, compared
with 60 years for the white man.

* The white death rate for tuberculosis in South Africa is the lowest
in the world, 32 per 100,000. The African death rate from the same
disease is estimated at 800 to 1,200 per 100,000 in the urban areas.
The chief tuberculosis officer of the Union, Dr. B. A. Dormer, says:

"South Africa
has the dubious distinction of holding the world's record for the
tuberculosis
death rate amongst its non-European industrial
workers. The Union has 40,000 active cases walking around."

* There are 24,442 registered cases of blindness amongst Africans,
95 percent of which is preventable.

* 80 percent of the adult African population cannot read or write,
and 71 percent of the African children of school-going age are not
in school.

* The expenditure
on the education of white children is £23
per head per year; on African education it is less than £3 per
head per year.

* There are not more than 20 African doctors, no African engineers,
dentists, chemists, engine drivers, etc. Technical education in trades
schools and technical institutes and vocational guidance are only for
the white, except for a couple of highly inadequate agricultural schools.

* South Africa is the one country in the world which has actual laws
in its statute book preventing the majority of its workers from performing
skilled work.

* A white mine
worker gets £45 to £50
per month, while the black mine worker gets 45s. per month.

* Expenditure
on prisons and the police force is £3 million,
but the Government can only afford £2 million for African education.

"The legal
position today is such that the police can arrest any African walking
down
the main street of Johannesburg at any time
of the day or night, and any competent prosecutor would have no difficulty
whatever in finding some offence with which he could be charged."

"Apartheid" is
the final step for the transformation of South Africa from a prison
house into a concentration camp for its
non-white population.

Dr. Dadoo, the South African Indian leader, says:

"Apartheid
is barbaric in conception, fascist in principle and oppressive in
practice. Apartheid
only over our dead bodies."

Herrenvolk State

The Union of South
Africa is a classic, and indeed, the only example in the world today
of
a State which is founded and maintained on a
doctrine of the supremacy of one race over another, and which masquerades
as a democracy. Of a population of 11 million people, the tiny minority
of two and one quarter million, all Whites, have the full franchise,
and have the right to elect and be elected to the legislative bodies
of the country. The great majority, Bantu, Coloured and Indians, are
excluded from these fundamental rights of the citizen. The whole apparatus
of the State is guided by a dual standard of ethics, one which applies
to the white man and another to the non-white, geared and reinforced
by innumerable colour-bar laws that intrude into the whole fabric of
society and relate to the minute details of human activity. Even the
churches are not free from this policy of racial segregation, in contradiction
of their teachings of the brotherhood of man. All non-White people,
including the Indians, are unable to move freely in all parts of South
African cities; they may enjoy only those sections of South Africa's
beaches, usually the least pleasant, which are set aside for them;
they may not be employed in any of the skilled trades; they cannot
become engineers, accountants or pharmacists because no European firm
will undertake to apprentice a non-European. The Civil Service is closed
to non-Europeans, as are also the technical colleges and most of the
universities. They may not use the libraries, cinemas, public transport,
public conveniences, post offices, which are so generously provided
for the White, and so few and so poor for "Non-Europeans Only." In
politics, in commerce, in industry and in science, in sickness and
in health, in culture and in education, the non-White is ostracised
and humiliated, as were the Jews of Hitlerite Europe. The common-place
notice "Non-Europeans and Dogs Not Allowed" reveals most
clearly the attitude of White South Africa.

As in Nazi Germany, the fires of racial hatred are stoked with the
fuel of hysterical campaigns of racial hate against Indians, which
often eventually lead to beatings. A Durban Indian newspaper, The Leader
(February 7, 1948), commenting on one of these campaigns, says:

"The most
disturbing feature of the attack on an Indian by Europeans was the
relish with
which one of Durban's Sunday papers reported the
sordid details of the assault and manhandling of one Indian by eight
brave, courageous Europeans. The details contained in the report are
nauseating and remind us of the pictures we were shown when the war
was in progress. We were shown the degrading bestiality of the master-race;
we were shown how defenceless Jews were battered, assaulted and manhandled,
and how the jackboot was applied to nameless men and women. We were
led to believe that these things could only happen in the Nazi Reich,
but today, two years after the war ended, we have first-class examples
of these things."

The spirit of Belsen and Buchenwald stalks today in the land of the
white Herrenvolk - South Africa.

South African Indians

For the third time, the Assembly of the United Nations will debate
the racial and colour prejudices of the South African Government with
particular reference to the treatment of the Indians born in the country,
and the fate of South West Africa, which the Malan Government intends
to annex. Twice already the United Nations have passed by large majorities
resolutions condemning the Union Government's colour repression policies.

Mrs. Pandit, in a striking address to the plenary session of the
United Nations General Assembly in 1946, said:

"The admission
made by the South African Government in regard to the racial discrimination
and racial segregation, its repeated attempts
to embody them in law and its unquestioned practices in gross violation
of the Charter constitute an indictment, which is proved by their admission.
Over many years my Government, irrespective of its constitution and
character, has appealed, complained, protested and sought compromises
and agreements and has been finally forced into retaliation, to bring
the matter before the bar of world opinion. The Union Government has
taken no step and has not given the slightest indication that it contemplates
even a temporary suspension of the latest instalment of its offending
legislation.

"Both the
head of the South African Government and his Government stand deeply
committed
to honour the obligations of the Charter. Unless
the 54 nations assembled here place on the Charter a meaning and significance
far below that which its words convey, then the issue no longer rests
with India or South Africa, but with all the nations of the world assembled
here.

"It is too
late now to argue that fundamental violations of the Charter are
matters of
domestic jurisdiction of the member States.
If this was the case, the Charter would be a dead letter, and our professions
about a world free from any inequalities of race, free from want and
free from fear are an empty mockery."

White South Africa
has defied the requests made by UNO at previous sessions, and has
returned
to power the party of Dr. Malan, thus supporting
an even more oppressive programme against the Indians and other non-White
people. When the new Government came to power, the Joint Passive Resistance
Council of the Natal and Transvaal Indian Congresses suspended the
passive resistance struggle against the racial laws of South Africa
- a struggle in which over 2,000 brave men and women were thrown into
prison for the crime of defying laws which offend the dignity of the
human being. The two Congresses wrote to the Prime Minister, Dr. Malan,
asking him to receive a deputation to ascertain the policy of the new
Government regarding the Indians. The Prime Minister rejected the requests
for an interview, accusing the Congress bodies of soliciting help from
the United Nations Organisation "to incite world opinion against
South Africa". He has since declared in Parliament:

"The Indians
have no right to regard themselves as part of the settled population
who
belonged to South Africa. Therefore the Indians
must be satisfied to remain in South Africa under restriction. In the
circumstances, the restrictions are justified."

As a cloak for their oppressive policy, the Nationalists are now
seeking to label the Indians as aliens and foreign elements. Such methods
are very reminiscent of the argument of the fascists. Dr. Malan, in
his main statement on apartheid (in April, 1948), said:

"The Party
holds the view that Indians are a foreign and outlandish element
which is unassimilable.
They can never become part of the country
and must therefore be treated as an immigrant community."

The dangerous
language that the Nationalists employ springs largely from "the dominant mentality in South Africa which is the Herrenvolk
mentality," in the words of Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, former deputy Prime
Minister.

Typical of the violent racialistic expressions are the following,
which we quote from the Election Manifesto of Dr. J. H. Loock, Nationalist
candidate in the recent elections:

"The dregs
of India came here half a century ago to work on the sugar plantations...
The coolie is not an inmate of this country,
but a usurper and exploiter. Millions of people have recently been
shifted in Europe to solve racial problems. Why can we not shift 250,000
coolies?"

Major P. W. A. Pieterse, warning the White Parliament that he would
not tolerate Coloureds or Natives in the House of Assembly, said:

"I say with
the hon. member for Harrismith, Mr. E. R. Strauss, Give me a machine
gun
and bring them before me and I shall mow them
down as far as they come'."

Another South African M.P. said:

"We are in
favour of that 'Herrenvolk' conception, because we feel that we share
the Western
culture. There are the Eastern and Western
cultures in the world... We stand for the preservation of the Western
conception and we realise that Western culture and the Herrenvolk conception
can only be preserved if segregation is applied."

These speeches
reflect something of the terrible atmosphere that prevails in South
Africa
and the terror to which the non-white section
of the population is subjected. Being voiceless and voteless, their
national organisations, the Natal and Transvaal Indian Congresses,
refused a hearing, treated like pariahs in the land of their birth,
sought the intervention of UNO. Dr. Malan chooses to say that this
was done "to blacken South Africa's name abroad", and in
what must be regarded as a most outrageous action, confiscated the
passports of the accredited representatives of South African Indians,
Dr. Y. M. Dadoo and Dr. G. M. Naicker, the Presidents of the Transvaal
and Natal Indian Congresses respectively, men who have earned widespread
admiration and respect for statesmanlike leadership and tremendous
suffering and sacrifices. To prevent Dr. Dadoo from giving information
to UNO delegates, he was actually taken off the plane which was to
take him to Paris. Apart from the injustice of the action (in the words
of Justice Murray, who granted Dr. Dadoo an interdict restraining the
Minister of the Interior from preventing his departure, "the liberty
of the subject is affected here, which is a most serious matter"),
it raises questions of a very serious character for all those who believe
in the United Nations as the hope of mankind. The United Nations will
be debating questions affecting the whole future of the Indians in
South Africa, but their leaders are muzzled and may not exercise the
elementary democratic right of furnishing information to the Assembly.
Such actions by a member State, which pretends to subscribe to the
principles of UNO, make a mockery of it and sap its moral foundations.

The Nationalist Party had a six-point programme to deal with the
Indians:

(1) Repatriation. In collaboration with India and/or other countries
to repatriate or transfer elsewhere as many Indians as possible.

(2) Indian "Penetration".
Indian movement and penetration must be strictly controlled.

(3) The Cape. The Cape urban areas must be protected against Indian
penetration.

(4) Mixed Living. The Indians must not be allowed to live amongst
the other sections of the population.

(5) Trading Licence Restrictions. The granting of Trading Licences
to Indians outside their own areas must be curtailed.

(6) Family Allowances. Family allowances to Indians must stop.

The Nationalist Government is already putting into practice their
programme:

(1) Dr. Malan has made it clear that he is prepared to meet India
and Pakistan at a round-table discussion only in order to discuss repatriation
and not on the basis of the UNO resolution.

(2) An Act has been passed to deprive the Indian community of even
the limited communal franchise offered to it in the 1946 Act. Although
the Indian community has never accepted the communal franchise, it
strongly condemns the motive that Indians shall not have any form of
representation at all.

(3) The Minister of the Interior has stated that he is considering
the appointment of a commission to investigate Indian penetration in
the Cape Province and to impose further restrictions on the Indians
in Natal.

(4) Dr. Malan declared in Parliament that complete segregation of
the Indians is planned.

(5) The Minister of Social Welfare has cancelled all applications
from Indians for State relief.

(6) As far as trading rights are concerned, Mr. Eric Louw's Department
of Economic Affairs is expected shortly to promulgate restrictions
on the issue of trading licences to Indians.

(7) Indians resident in South Africa for as much as 15 years and
domiciled within the country are being deported to India for minor
offences.

(8) The 1946 Act is being rigidly applied by the present Government
and a growing number of prosecutions are taking place which threaten
the livelihood of many Indian families.

India has appealed to the highest tribunal once again to give fresh
and urgent consideration to her case against South Africa.

The situation as far as the Indians are concerned has deteriorated
seriously and unless timely and firm action is taken, the Indian community
in South Africa faces disaster, ruin and extinction.

Case for Immediate United Nations Intervention

The doctrine of the supremacy of the white race over the black races,
which is the State doctrine of the Union of South Africa and which
has set South Africa on the road to Fascism, is a direct challenge
to all the concepts of freedom and equality for which mankind has fought
and suffered through the ages. The world must not forget that the crime
against the Jews in Germany was only a prelude to the greater crimes
against all humanity. So the attacks against all who stand for human
decency there.

Neither in the
name of "white civilisation" nor in the
name of "Christian Trusteeship" can the inhuman doctrine
of race superiority be accepted in this age. The United Nations has
many difficult problems before it, yet, despite its limitations, it
has established a very high standard of judgement and impartiality.
A very grave responsibility rests upon the United Nations. South Africa
faces the prospects of racial conflicts on an unprecedented scale which
not only menaces the African continent but the peace of the world.
Can our civilisation rise to the challenge of the pernicious doctrine
of race hatred?

The dark races which comprise the majority of the people of the world
have their eyes on this session of the Assembly of the United Nations,
hoping that this terror which destroys all their desires and aspirations
for a better life, which herds them into ghettos, which robs them of
human worth and dignity and which makes cattle of men, will not only
be condemned as it has been in the past, but that effective action
will be taken against it, and the first step taken to eradicate it.

Is the world going to stop Dr. Malan and his race-maniacs or is it
going to show him the green light, that he may go ahead unhindered
to build his fascist State?

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