The demo-mobsters
Sir: Pace Randolph Vigne (Letters, 14 February), I would say that George Gale's description of Peter Hain as a 'character- istic child of our time' (7 February) is a well-merited sneer. It may well be that the fifteen year old hero read the funeral ser- vice for an executed murderer in Pretoria. But it is generally accepted nowadays that fifteen is about the maximum age for a political thinker and our current nineteen- year-old Hain is clearly past it and as con- fused as they come.
Like George Gale and, I am sure, the great majority of SPECTATOR readers, I abhor apartheid quite as strongly and sin- cerely as Hain, but I beg leave to question his political integrity. I feel that it is sound sense to regard a witness who ducks cross- examination as strongly suspect. I took part in a correspondence in the Observer re- cently and challenged Hain (to whom I was replying) to tell us how even a successful outcome of his campaign to stop the com- ing Springbok tour would make a tittle of difference to the position of the Bantus; and to explain how he defines his square circle (as I called it)—`non-violent' occupa- tion of other people's property against their expressed will and in an admitted at- tempt to prevent them following their law- ful pursuits. Young Hain suddenly lost the urge to write.
I would like Mr Vigne (assuming that Master Hain remains silent) to tell us the answers and perhaps also to tell us where his master has denounced the people who have infringed his principle of not pro- voking clashes with the police.•'Non-violent occupation' is precisely calculated to invite clashes with the police and it seems to me that no good cause can be served by the way these people play Humpty Dumpty to make words mean just what they choose.
Until they clear up these points, the demo- mobsters will leave me with the view that you won't bring freedom to the natives in South Africa by denying it to the natives of England.
L. E. Weidberg 14 Templewood Avenue, Hampstead, Lon- don Nw3
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