White Boy Running

January 1, 1988
Born and raised in a South African Irish Catholic family and hence set apart from the ruling Afrikaners, poet-novelist Christopher Hope has always been keenly aware of the pernicious effects of apartheid on both blacks and whites. In this sad, sensitive book, describing his first visit to South Africa in 13 years, he examines current conditions against the backdrop of his own memories: the increasing violence, uncertainty, anxiety and militarization of civilian life, the near-starvation in the midst of plenty, the significant gains in the 1987 election of the white Right ("They have never allowed their principles to interfere with their desire to make money''). The ``granite structures'' of apartheid are crumbling, he states, but in the end it is the great silent, underfed, unemployed people who pose a far larger threat to the government than the deliberate military incursions of the guerrillas or the fine fury of the extensive black townships.