Word: paroxysm
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Every time a paroxysm of black unrest grips South Africa, followed by a crackdown by the white government of State President P.W. Botha, statesmen and politicians in Western capitals begin asking, Is there a way, any way short of military action for the world to force Pretoria to change its racial policies? Last week, as South Africa's current state of emergency entered its third week, the debate flared once more. Its focus: whether recent events require a major step-up in economic sanctions against South Africa, and whether such pressure would really contribute to banishing apartheid...
There was the expected debunking of the Republican candidate in Cambridge and New Haven, in the newsrooms of the big liberal papers, in the salons of trendy Georgetown. But what startled in the final weeks was the paroxysm of complaint against the voters, who, despite all the entreaties from these learned folks, made up their minds in impressive numbers to back President Reagan. For years these same voters had been praised and pumped up by overpaid TV commentators and underpaid instructors of political science as the most informed and best-educated and therefore the wisest electorate in the world. This...
...decline was depressingly easy to find. About 13% of all 17-year-olds, and perhaps 40% of minority youth, are considered functionally illiterate. In 19 academic achievement tests given in 21 nations, American students never finished first or second and were last seven times. Before Sputnik launched a paroxysm of educational reform in 1957, average test scores were actually higher than they are now. From 1963 to 1980, the average scores on Scholastic Aptitude Tests fell more than 50 points in verbal skills (to 424 out of 800) and 36 points in math (to 466). And there was a pronounced...
...since the carnage that accompanied the breakaway of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 had the subcontinent seen such ghastly scenes of horror. After four years of festering protest and a month of mounting violence, India's oil-rich state of Assam exploded in a paroxysm of communal and religious hatred. In the turbulence touched off by opposition to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to hold state elections, some 3,000 people were believed to have been killed, and Indian officials said that 100,000 others had been left homeless by rampaging arsonists who burned entire villages...
...front runners amply reflect the preoccupations of the Reagan era. Houston Controller Kathryn Whitmire, 35, is running against another Democrat, Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard, on a platform of sound fiscal management. In Miami, where an influx of Caribbean refugees and a burgeoning drug trade have caused a paroxysm of violent crime, Cuban-born Challenger Manolo Reboso, 46, is counting on heavy Cuban support to unseat four-term Incumbent Maurice Ferre. Reboso is an outspoken admirer of the late Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio Somoza and was a leader of Democrats supporting Reagan. Perhaps the most direct, if quixotic, challenge to Reagan...