Apartheid

Just 20 years ago, South Africa was commonly perceived as one of the most polarized, ill-starred places on the planet. Shackled by the racist system of apartheid, or legally enforced segregation, it was a nation divided against itself and shunned by the rest of the world as a pariah state. Today the world is looking at South Africa for very different reasons. This summer the country will become the first African nation to host the World Cup soccer tournament. As one of the most politically stable, democratic and relatively prosperous countries on a troubled continent, South Africa is regarded as a model by many of its neighbors.

The apartheid-era operative dubbed "Dr. Death" for his alleged role in plots to kill black activists is still on the South African military payroll, officials confirmed. Wouter Basson, who once headed the white government's germ warfare program, receives a monthly salary of $6,800 from the South African National Defense Force even though he was suspended in 1999, they said. Basson was acquitted in 2002 of charges involving multiple killings, drug-trafficking, fraud and theft.

\o7These reports are from Robert Salladay's blog, "Political Muscle." To read more of the blog and other exclusive Times Web features, go to latimes.com/calpolitics. \f7* SACRAMENTO -- Standing before a gathering of African American pastors, state Treasurer Phil Angelides on Tuesday claimed that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the apartheid regime in South Africa during the 1970s and '80s.

Sex and politics on the playground. Yes, another coming-of-age story. Two potential drawbacks of such stories are the episodic nature of the telling, and the child's point of view: Episodic narrative fails when it is too disjointed. And a child's point of view -- though often cute -- can be shallow and uncompelling. South African author Michiel Heyns, in his first novel "The Children's Day," does deliver on both elements, one less successfully than the other. But with rich language and characters, as well as titillating humor, the imperfections are forgivable.

Re "Residents Shut Out of West Bank," Oct. 21 Thank you for your report exposing continued practices of apartheid committed by Israel against the people of Palestine. All of us who follow this conflict know this is just another episode in Israel's Machiavellian plan to cleanse Palestine of its indigenous population so Israel can steal what little is left of the land of Palestine. It takes chutzpah for Israel to think it has the right to control every aspect of the daily lives of the Palestinians.

The new U.N. high commissioner for human rights, South African justice Navanethem Pillay, has spent a lifetime quietly toppling barriers and exceeding expectations. So when human rights groups and some American officials expressed skepticism before her appointment Thursday, she said she was used to it. As a member of a minority from an impoverished Indian neighborhood in apartheid-era South Africa, the color of her skin long kept her from becoming a judge. For years, even though she was a lawyer, she could not even sign a contract without her husband's consent.

Re "Back Israel," Opinion, Sept. 1 Ben-Gurion University President Rivka Carmi claims to defend academic freedom even as she suggests that one of her professors leave his job and his own country simply for writing an Op-Ed article published in this paper. That's not academic freedom; it is bullying. She characterizes Neve Gordon's article as "divisive," and yet academic freedom is tested when difficult issues are brought up. She dismisses Gordon's ideas, claiming that he only states his personal opinion.

Making "In My Country" two years ago in South Africa was an emotionally draining experience for veteran director John Boorman. The drama, which opens today, is set against the backdrop of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings that took place in the country from 1996 to 1998 to investigate human rights abuses under apartheid.