The Wrong Tactics

THE WANING YEARS of student radicalism saw the South African system of apartheid as perhaps the ultimate symbol of social injustice in a world rife with oppression and misery. The obvious link between the subjugation of the country's Black population and our corporate brand of capitalism provided an easy target for the self-righteous indignation that is the unique province of student protest. There were cries of anger for Harvard to divest all its holdings in corporations dealing with South Africa. Students responded with moral outrage to charges that such an action would have no effect on corporate policy.

Now, three years and $50 million later, the question of what selling the Citibank stock--or divestiture--actually symbolizes still remains. Perhaps it was a moral gesture on the part of the Corporation or perhaps a response to political pressure exerted by the students of several years ago. But, it means no benefit for the Blacks of South Africa and no real sacrifice for the students at Harvard who have fought so hard for divestiture. And South frica is only the tip of the iceberg of sys tematic injustice that oppresses and impoverishes people throughout the word, while preserving the ungodly affluence of our own society. Until each of us defines and shapes a genuine personal commitment to make the world a better place than it is today, such "moral statements" as the sale of the Citibank assets and the cries for divestiture will only be tokens of our trifling need to appease our own guilt.