FRIENDS, Capetonians and fellow South Africans:
Switch off your cellphones and give me a moment of your time. I come to examine the life of Jeremy Cronin, not to praise him. His background suggests that of all white men, he is not a racist. Yet the noble Julius has told you that Cronin is a white political messiah. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and quite effectively has Cronin answered it, describing himself as completely unfazed by Julius's attack.
For Julius is an honourable man.
So are the ANC Youth League all honourable men, or will be when they cease to be youths.
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There is much else about Cronin that must have driven Julius into attacking him Cronin was never my friend, he just suffered in the struggle, and for that he has my respect and admiration. But Julius says he uttered white supremacist sentiments, and Julius is an honourable man.
Cronin, a philosopher, poet and nearly a Catholic priest, was so appalled by what the apartheid government was doing to black people like Julius (though Julius had yet to be born) that he joined the underground SA Communist Party to play an active role in bringing about a more just society.
Are these the actions of a white racist?
I recall the day, in 1976, when Cronin and fellow white activists David and Sue Rabkin were arrested on the instructions of Boss, the Bureau for State Security, for consorting with the ANC and distributing SACP pamphlets. These were grievous crimes in terms of the Terrorism and Internal Security Acts. When Cronin came to trial, the prosecution even asked the judge to consider the death penalty, but instead he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Hardly the punishment normally dished out to a white reactionary, yet Julius is an honourable man.
When Cronin was in the racially segregated Pretoria prison, they threw him in the white section. Somehow this didn't turn him into a racist.
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