A nickel ain't a nickel anymore Z A} 3 a t ite FROM OUR C [= 3 (yeu KIDDING ? REE a Cin ee {=a OF Childrenand empty wine bottles: Story of Strijdom’s South Africa HAT do. Prime Minister Johannes Strijdom’s apar- theid policies mean to the great African majority of the people of South Africa? Here, in this story from New Age, progressive South African weekly, is conveyed a glimpse of the poverty and , degrada- tion that apartheid and all it represents inflict on the Afri- can people. . «ate * See * FF Main Road in Capetown, 0 in the lower part of Dis- trict Six, near the railway tracks, there are several nar- row, cramped streets with the typical English names of Dor- set, Nelson, Invery, and Minc- ing Lane. They are flanked on all sides by drab single-storied houses and big, grimy tene- ments squeezed in among warehouses. Inside, the stair- cases are broken and worn and littered with rubbish: veget- able peelings, cigarette butts, sweepings and pieces of brok- en plaster. The walls are sticky with lay- ers of dark grime accumulated over decades. The corners are crowded with cobwebs, and cockroaches have unrestricted right of way. The stench of faulty plumbing and decay drowns the aroma of mean eooking. Inside the tiny rooms the families are crowded in. The men are shifty-eyed, hard and suspicious; the women are haggered, dishevelled, un- kempt and worn. The child- ren ragged, snot-nosed, starv- ed and aged before their time. ei 3 5 © One day recently, a little boy, wandering about the filth-piled lanes, came across a large number of empty wine bottle. Upon further investi- gation he discovered the open doors of a liquor warehouse which had apparently been broken into and looted by-un- known persons. Empty bottles were strewn about. Quickly the word went down the mysterious grapevine that runs throughout the slums all o over the world, Children gath- ered in hordes. Empty bottles were money. At least a penny each. They gathered bottles in armloads and carried them away. Near- by dealers in empty bottles were overwhelmed with them. The children bought frozen suckers,. ice cream, candy, and went to the movies. Then the police, apparently investigating - the robbery, rounded up more than twenty of the children, the youngest seven and the eldest fourteen. Some of the children allege that they were beaten, punch- ed, kneed and manhandled in the police-station. One little boy had a broken mouth, but it is difficult to establish whether or not he received it from a guardian of the law. The policemen, they allege, wanted information about the robbery of the warehouse. A few of them were kept in the cells for two days before be- ing released. The other morning all of them appeared before the Juvenile Court in Cape Town and were sentenced to four strokes each with a cane. A man from the winery said that $120 worth of bottles were missing. TERE ae A representative of the South African Colored People’s Organization who visited the parents, spoke to them about the great struggle for libera- tion that was going on, the struggle for better housing, education, food, the ‘Freedom Charter. The parents listened quietly, with hard faces. Sometimes they nodded, sometimes they voiced their approval. A little glimmer of hope for the future seemed to appear. OPEN Lifeitselfmanship J. P. HILLSTROM, Vancou- ver, B.C.: That pamphlet on Lifeitselfmanship you review- ed in your last issue should really be made required read- ing for all leftwingers, and particularly, I would say, some members of the LPP. For example, here are a few more phrases that could well be dispensed with: Political climate (there is a change in), Alienation of our resources (to foreigners?). Crisis (CCF in, Liberals in, Conservatives in, Socreds in, etc.). Whither (the CCF, the Lib- erals, the Conservatives, the Socreds, etc.). Hewers of wood and draw- ers of water (we don’t want to be). Tens of thousands (dollars, people, voters). Vast changes have taken place. Developments have _ fully confirmed (the correctness of our estimation). Special mould (we are peo- ple of a). New winds are . blowing (prelude to changing climate). Well, I could go on.and on. Most of these are culled from memory of political reports I have heard. Some, no doubt, have appeared from time to time in the Pacific Tribune. I am indeed glad that the paper now seems to be battl- ing for better English, and an end to leftwing jargon. We'll do our best W. SHAW, Whonnock, B.C.: The drive for subs for the PT 1s NOW on, and never was it more necessary to win new readers for our paper. I have the! promise of a FORUM couple of new subs; asked a CCF member sider subscribing and vited to call again. Our press club ag we would endeavor 10) expired subs renew new sub per membé the period of the dm We aim to do our H. VIGOR, Kelown% I want to thank J. the criticism of my P letter . advocating workers party, but asf sure if my meaning W4) understood. ; I done by LP across Canada, and platform of the ; what I meant in parule in relation to a 04 broad workers’ party: en is very important. cali important is the edu ) work that must be a the workers, LPP, to build the * of such a broad P# will sometime have the country. Anonymous will ELAINE JOHNSON couver, B.C.: In a rect Tom McEwen criticlZ ( mous letter writer y know some people man, but circums it impossible for the™ ; under their own n@ thP