The Great Crocodile Dies ( General ) by David Boaz
P. W. Botha, who was prime minister of South Africa as the struggle against apartheid reached its climax, has died at 90. In 1988, I attended a conference organized by South African libertarians in neighboring Swaziland. When I arrived at the conference and approached the registration table, the first thing I saw was a stack of bumper stickers reading "I ? PW." I was appalled -- libertarians proclaiming their support for the boss of the apartheid state?
Then I got closer and realized it wasn't a heart, it was a tomato, as in "I PW." Why a tomato? My hosts explained to me that the bumper sticker expressed solidarity with a protester who had thrown a tomato at the State President. Well, that's better, I thought.
Botha was pushed out of power soon after that by F. W. de Klerk, who freed Nelson Mandela from jail and negotiated the end of apartheid.
Posted on October 31, 2006 Posted to Cato@Liberty
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