St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-03-20
English Papers Say;
African Sparks
Moy Soon Set That
Continent AbIuxe
BY RUDOLPH DUNBAR

London, England - 80 the old
bloody pattern of colonial struggle
begins to repeat itself. In the end
we cannot win. There are $50
Africans to every European in
Nyasaland. In this age, they will
not permanently accept inferior
status. This is basically a matter
for Parliament. African suspicious
are now so deep that the way out
is probably to separate Nyasaland
from Federation, and link it with
other African territories, either
inside or outside the Common
wealth, as the Africans themselves
decide.
The one thing certain is that
rifle bullets and tear gas will not
solve the problem" So said Rey-
nolds News Editorial.
Here is a statement from the
Sunday Pictorial on the crisis in
Nyasaland:
The sparks which have been
struck in Africa last week may
soon set a continent ablaze How
high do the flames have to reach
before the Tories begin to notice
that the temperature is at boiling
point? They are quick enough to
grow excited over violence on their
door step. Bloodshed in Britain
rightly disturbs them. Many Tory
Members signed the all-party mo-
ton to investigate the alleged
beating up of young John Waters,
the boy from Thurso in Scotland
Many Tory M.P.s put their
names to a Labour M.P.s motion
to ban the sale of flick knives.
Yet, when violence flares in Nyasa-
land, the Empire-minded Tories
refused to consider an all-party
commission to investigate the
cause"
I quote here excerpts from the
Sunday Observers Editorial:
THE troubles that have broken
out in Central Africa carry dang
ers for this country. There is a
risk of dividing the nation - as
happened in America in the last
century and in France last year
with one half dedicated to uphold
ing the rights of a threatened
white society and the other half
equally committed to supporting
the rights of the Africans.
1.-The African political demand
for equality now spreading from
territory to territory is, at last,
being recognized as a fact that
cannot be ignored. But we have
not yet decided how to treat it.
Should we treat this movement as
we have treated all demands for
political advancement within our
own country since the seventeenth
century, lie, as demands that
should not be repressed to the
point of explosion? Or should we
treat the advancement of the Az
ricans as a threat to our civiliza-
ton itself, which therefore must
be repressed, as the French and
Russian aristocracies treated the
demands Of their equally illiterate
common people? The factor of
race and color adds a powerful
emotional component but the prob
lem is the same.
THE British Government today
finds itself in an extremely diff
cult position in relation to Central
Africa. When it designed the Fed
Grafton five years ago, it trans
ferred considerable powers into
the hands of the already self-gov-
erning European settlers in South
ern Rhodesia, who had been clam
oring for this Federation.
But it retained ultimate respon-
sibility for the two Protectorates,
Nyasaland and Northern Rhodes
ia. The Government deliberately
chose to ignore warnings of the
danger Of transferring power to a
white minority, which would try
to make it difficult for Westmin-