Why the discrimination?
Sir: Commenting on the moral hypocrisy of politicians, Mr Stanton (21 May) refers to President Carter's supposed 'impartiality' on universal 'human rights' as a modern exception. I wonder.
Why is the US Government's emphasis upon the Russian internal situation not matched by similar attention to the greater denials of freedom in the vast slave-camps known as (mainland) China and (occupied) Tibet? Why are other missionary Marxist regimes, from Vietnam to Cuba, the objects of gradually growing solicitude, rather than the targets of indictment for repression? Why is American officialdom relatively indifferent to the horrors, discriminations and tyrannies in plural societies other than Rhodesia and South Africa? Domestic lobbies and voting 'constituencies' obviously count for more than objectivity or humanitarianism.
The current antics of Messrs Mondale and Young in confronting the multinational complexities of southern Africa suggest that the present Administration is motivated not only by another fit of— highly selective — world-crusading 'liberalism', but also by a dangerously misconceived view of long-term Western security and economic interests. An authentic policy of justice might hold, for example, that the Afrikaner people have as much right to independent existence and self-government within their own homeland as the Israelis in theirs; and an intelligent politics of civilisation might
• indicate that non-white progress cannot be assured by surrender to black minority Marxist terrorism under the empty slogans of 'majority rule'.
D. L. W. Ashton 70 Eden Road, London E17
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