In S. Africa, a New World Is Still Awaiting Its Birth : Apartheid: De Klerk can make history rather than hysteria. He can end the brutal system.

The human heart--even when heavy with sorrow, hardened by fear, weakened by mistrust, or tested by bitterness born of violence--must never become so scarred or so hardened as to leave no room for hope, healing and redemption.

A transformed heart can change the course of history.

From Hungary to Berlin to New York to Virginia, ancient walls are tumbling down. The racial and ideological cataracts that have blinded so many are falling away. As people reach out across broken barriers to find new understandings and relationships, a new world is born.

And it is waiting to be born in Southern Africa.

We have seen the Berlin Wall come down as the dividing line between two worlds. We have seen voters in Virginia, the cradle of the Confederacy, and in New York, New Haven, Durham, Cleveland and Seattle choose candidates who represent coalition over polarization.

In our time, we have also seen Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, leaders of nations that were sworn enemies, make peace at Camp David.

I saw George Wallace, once the chief advocate of apartheid in America, reach out at the end of his career to African Americans. Many years after his segregationism, I stood by Wallace’s bedside, prayed with him, and talked of the need to create a New South. And he agreed.

Now a new day is ripe to be born in Southern Africa. The same day L. Douglas Wilder was elected governor of Virginia and David Dinkins mayor of New York City, the walls were coming down in Namibia. After 74 years of colonial rule by Pretoria, the people of Namibia lined up to elect a founding constitutional assembly to set the course for an independent and free nation. Over the course of five days, more than 95% of the registered voters went to the polls, many of them waiting in line for two or three days just to cast their ballots--and what resulted was victory for the people of Namibia.

Despite the years of broken promises and dashed hopes, there are new signs of the possibility of meaningful change in South Africa itself. Several weeks ago, Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Allan Boesak met with President Frederick W. de Klerk, a step in the right direction.

This was followed by the joyous occasion of the release of Walter Sisulu, founding member and leader of the banned African National Congress, and seven other key anti-apartheid activists. Their release triggered a massive and unprecedented rally of 70,000 people, sponsored by the ANC, which was permitted to occur without any violence from the police forces.

Other cracks are appearing in the wall of apartheid, such as the desegregation last week of whites-only beaches and possibility of reconciliation in the Angolan war. Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner of apartheid for decades, has moved from prison cell to clinic to private house arrest. Last week, he received 84 visitors, including many anti-apartheid comrades.

South Africa is both treasure and tragedy. The treasure is in the people, the vast resources beneath the soil, the strategic trade routes with ports facing the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The tragedy is in the ugly laws and operations of apartheid, the state of emergency, the violent repression, the banning of the ANC, and the imprisonment of Mandela.

De Klerk could become to South Africa what Mikhail Gorbachev has become to the new Soviet Union. De Klerk could cast his lot with those forces in the world seeking democratic reform, reconciliation, bridge-building, national unity over racial division, coalition over violence, and hope over despair. If he chooses, De Klerk can make history rather than hysteria. He can end the brutal system of apartheid and stop organizing around hatred and oppression.

The arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Lies run fast, but they have short legs. No lie, including a racial lie, can live forever. A power-sharing solution can be found even in South Africa, where, like lions and lambs, ancient foes will lie together and none will be afraid. We must envision a meeting between Tutu, Boesak, Mandela and De Klerk. All can find peace in the valley.

We live in a pregnant, if difficult, moment in world history. Change is in the air, and a new order is possible. Those who care must look to the olive branch rather than the gun. Even in the depths of apartheid in South Africa, there are Africans and whites who care--and dare to keep hope alive. If East and West Germans can take down the Berlin Wall, if Begin and Sadat can make peace, if the sons and daughters of slaves and slave-masters can find common ground, then the moral force of healing and hope can transform South Africa. It’s only an attitude away.