Reductio Ad Absurdam

HARVARD'S RIGHT WING has opened a new front in the effort to subvert attention from the divestment issue. In the most recent issue of the think-tank-subsidized Harvard Salient, editor Thomas Firestone '86 calls on the University's governing Corporation to divest from USSR-related firms, and in so doing to cease "bankrolling the Kremlin." But what the Salient, the Republican Club, and individual conservatives are really trying to do is confuse the issue with meaningless comparisons which create a false reductio ad absurdam.

Whether or not the Soviet Union is somehow "more evil" than South Africa is not a relevant issue. What is relevant is what we can do to help remedy the regrettable situations in both countries.

Divestment by universities of South Africa-related stock quite probably affects a minority regime which dotes on America's business dollars and diplomatic muscle. Protests here are front-page news there: divestment-related actions have helped prompt sanctions from Congress.

To propose, on the other hand, divestment from the USSR is nonsensical. Divestment and sanctions are the first tangible tools of pressure used by the U.S. and its citizens to remold South African society. In order to influence the Soviets, by contrast, we spend hundreds of billions in defensive and offensive weapons every year. The USSR is our stated enemy. South Africa is not, though it should be. Our foreign policies reflect this difference quite clearly, whether or not the Salient acknowledges the fact, and there is no divestment parallel that can be drawn with integrity.