Word: africa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...that Brundage will attempt to postpone a final decision for as long as possible, despite daily Mexican and Communist demands for an immediate IOC decision. Brundage hopes the blustering will die away in time for the Olympics, but Frank Braun, president of the South African Committee, has said South Africa "will under no circumstances withdraw from the Games." And the protesting Africans regard this as an important demonstration of their immature political muscle...
...often happens, the key to a compromise may lie with the Soviets, whose position is not yet totally clear. Moscow has a few choices. By joining the boycott, the Kremlin would improve relations with black Africa, gaining ground on Communist China, which can't compete anyway. On the other hand, Moscow could use its influence to torpedo the boycott, hoping to gain more from the prestige of Olympic victories than from the benefits of the boycott. As a third possibility, and not completely out of character, the Soviets could strike a compromise by continuing their denunciation of the South Africans...
...Soviet dilemma resembles the plight of the American blacks who are contemplating a boycott of the U.S. Olympic team. Both groups of protestors must choose between the uncertain rewards of a controversial political move and the proven inspiration of substantial Olympic success. But the boycott against South Africa's presence has an obvious and specific goal--to bar the country from the Olympics. This gives it a greater justification than the black American protest, which has no motive other than a vague desire to arouse white America's attention to the misery of the ghetto...
Evidently Brundage hopes the furor over South Africa will grow quiet in the two months he expects to pass before the IOC's executive board discusses the issue. Then, if the controversy still exists, there would be another period of months before the 72 nations could assemble. Brundage may well feel that by then, just before entries close in August, the excitement generated by Olympic trials throughout the world will chill the dispute. At any rate, he intends to procrastinate...
FIRST, will the boycott, if it succeeds in ousting South Africa, have any effect on that country's apartheid policies? Many observers feel Johannesburg would respond to exclusion with repressive, not reform- ing, measures, Brundage reportedly holds this view as do some of the South African blacks. One black sports official there said the proposed boycott "is a slap in the face to us." South Africa's oppressed majority regards any concessions from the government as valuable, no matter how small, and does not want to lose this...