The crossroads of change

Abstract

Birthdays, like New Years, are celebrations which often result in promised re‐thinks and resolutions concerning our future. Nationalist rule in South Africa celebrated its 25 years of life last month and when the birthday celebrations were over there must have been many in that land who hoped that after the party would come some resolutions which promised hope as opposed to fear. The element of fear within South African environments is perhaps the strongest and most dominant that I have encountered in any country. Fear corrodes the very foundations of society and change: it is natural to resist change just as it is natural to cry when one is hurt, shout ‘ouch’ when pricked with a pin. Fear exists under the veneers of Afrikaner self‐righteousness; it exists despite the materialism of the English society in that country: there is a fear of permissiveness, of immorality, unorthodoxy and, most of all, a fear of new ideas and the change which accompanies them. There is a fear for the future and a fear that accompanies non‐comprehension. When 60 000 are involved in illegal black strikes, as they were earlier this year, and people the world over are forced to become aware of this wave of black strikes as a signal that, despite the efficient authoritarian régime, these black workers can and do organise themselves, it is a warning to us all that their compliancy could be ending sooner than anyone considered.

Citation

KING TAYLOR, L. (1973), "The crossroads of change", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 5 No. 7, pp. 316-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb003325