Western countries should not shy away from imposing economic sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa, a South African scholar said.

Speaking to NIU students yesterday in the Illinois Room of the Holmes Student Center, Saths Cooper, a visiting South African scholar from Boston University, said, contrary to arguments by supporters of the South African government, the black majority in the territory would not be harmed adversely by the measure.

He said blacks were prepared to bear any hardships so long as the suffering would lead to eventual freedom.

Cooper said American companies in South Africa employed 70,000 black and white South Africans and had less than 1 percent investment, so a lack of investment would not harm a significant proportion of the people.

He said, however, economic sanctions or external pressure alone would not cripple the apartheid system.

These pressures would have to be backed by the actions of the various nationalist movements as well as internal uprisings, he said.

Cooper explained the youth had become involved in the struggle against apartheid because of the absence of banned political leaders. “They do not want to submit to slow death through apartheid, so must fight to live,” he said.

He also said for the liberation to have any meaning, South African youths must participate in the struggle.

He said apartheid dehumanizes the black man and removes him from being a person. A situation where whites have to be seen as the standard for what is good could no longer be tolerated by the majority.

He acknowledged the apartheid regime had made attempts at introducing some reforms, but said these reforms have not met with the real needs of the people. The people would like to decide—like others in democratic societies—what was best for them, rather than accept the choice of the minority.

He said the education system in South Africa exists to uphold apartheid. Blacks are trained to help prop up the system. That was why he said the youths have taken to destroying educational institutions in the hope of bringing changes to the system.

Cooper said two thousand young people have been killed over the past 3 1/2 years, while another 20,000 have been arrested. He said the deaths and arrests would not deter the struggle for freedom, now involving women in the territory.

He said since the ban on 17 anti-apartheid organizations in the territory, South Africans are now devising new strategies for attacking the system.

Answering questions from the audience, Cooper noted women had contributed to the struggle in South Africa, but because this was a male-dominated society, their role had not been acknowledged.

He denied the South African economy would be completely ruined if blacks were in power, arguing the apartheid system had done more harm to the economy than anyone would imagine.

As to whether most anti-apartheid groups were communist, Cooper said, South African blacks were not concerned with the political persuasions of individuals or groups. What was important is their role in the struggle for freedom.

More than 50 books were collected after the lecture, many of them in the liberal arts and social sciences. Julia Stege, Student Association welfare adviser, said the books were to aid in the education of black youths, as the quality of their education was inferior to that of white youths.