Equality of Human Beings
The infamous policy of apartheid, which is the device employed by the white minority regime in South Africa to perpetuate its rule, has been roundly condemned by nearly all members of the United Nations. That policy, racist in concept and rooted in slavery, contains within it the seeds of its own violent destruction. It is a flagrant violation of the concept of equality of human beings regardless of colour or race. We see already the beginning of its end, and we hope it will be peaceful. We extend our sympathies to the victims of racist oppression in Soweto and Cape Town.
We hope that the white rulers in South Africa, in order to avoid further loss of life and property, will give up the policy of apartheid and replace it with a forward-looking enlightened policy that will enable all persons, regardless of race or colour, to live together on a basis of complete equality. The intention of the white South African Government to grant so-called independence to Transkei and to create similar Bantustans is no solution. It is nothing more than the logical extension of the policy of apartheid and is intended to create satellite black areas without any real independence. It will intensify racial discrimination rather than eliminate it, and it should be rejected by the United Nations.
Disarmament Measures
Turning now to some important problems, may I mention that while we have welcomed the state of detente in East-West relations, we have always stressed that efforts to consolidate and intensify detente should respond positively to the anxieties and aspirations of the rest of the world. This can best be done through meaningful disarmament measures, through implementing agreed measures for securing a rational and equitable new order, and through non-interference in the internal affairs of developing countries. It is only through such steps that detente can spread to all regions and create its own momentum for establishing mutually co-operative and beneficial relations between all states.
The frightful dilemma facing mankind today is the incredible accretion of enormous military power by a few countries and their seeming inability to de-escalate the arms race. They seem to be under a strange compulsion to race faster and faster in order to remain in the same position of parity. The price of this parity is reported to be of the order of US $ 300 billion per annum at present. Despite the astronomical waste involved in the diversion of vast resources for achieving the so-called balance of strategic power or mutual deterrence, war continues to remain a likely consequence. It is significant that the United States Secretary should have cautioned that "any one of the current regional crises could blossom into a larger conflict."
