FRIGHTENED MEN
THE PROBLEM OF SOUTH AFRICA, by Herbert Tingsten; Victor Gollancz, English price 12/6. ‘THis tough little book is strong medicine for those who cling to the hope that for every human problem there is a human remedy somehow available. It is hard after reading these concise and hardhitting pages to see what solution lies ahead for South Africa. Mr. Tingsten is an able, experienced, European liberal who equipped himself for a visit to South Africa in the old-fashioned way by reading solid books and thinking out the problems that he proposed to investigate. He appears to have made admirable use of his time and to have set out the results clearly, fearlessly and with an occasional pungent phrase that cuts deep. If there is to be criticism it is, perhaps, that with all his balance and solid background, he has not fully entered into the mentality of white men in Africa who feel that only by drastic policies uncompromisingly enforced can they save their lives and cultural values. For frightened men, reason is sometimes
beside the point. Nor can experience guide. South Africa has embarked on a project without historical parallel. Ruling castes have endeavoured to make themselves permanent, yet the power of modern weapons is a new factor, together with the vast numerical preponderance of those who wear: the indelible badge of colour to mark their lowly status. Nevertheless, the author believes "that the possibility of a settlement without violent conflict © still exists." This is an act of faith, which proves that. hope: dies hard, but the book as a whole gives it little support. What South Africa needs, plead her spokesmen, is sympathetic understanding, not criticism of her desperate efforts to keep alive. Mr. Tingsten supplies material towards understanding, tough material dispassionately displayed by an outsider. The reader must find in his own heart the sympathy which men of good will extend to fellow humans wrestling with half-acknowledged despair.
F. L. W.
Wood
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560406.2.23.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 870, 6 April 1956, Page 12
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327FRIGHTENED MEN New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 870, 6 April 1956, Page 12
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