A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

 's been very comfortable for the defenders of southern tradition . '' Jackson s

aid the political configurations the Supreme Court condemned last summer in the 

North Carolina case as `` political apartheid '' were themselves a product of ra

cial segregation . `` The reason these lines look the way they is white bankers 

and real estate agents determined where we lived until we got open housing , '' 

he said . Jackson 's dire warnings about the loss of the black majority district

s , and the threats to similar ones for state and local offices , have not caugh

t fire with his audiences , who tend to focus on the anti-violence message . The

 tour has drawn modest crowds , usually of several hundred , and the number of v

oters registered has also been modest . It was about 30 at DeKalb College , a ha

lf a dozen at an Atlanta church and about 45 at an Augusta high school . Jackson

 suggested the tour 's impact might not be immediate or predictable , just his v

oter registration drive through the South in 1983 and 1984 paid unexpected divid

ends , including inspiring activists to run for political office . In addition ,

 newly registered black voters were credited with helping elect white Democrats 

to the Senate at a time former President Ronald Reagan was attracting the suppor

t of conservative white Democrats . `` That 's why I like the crusade thing : It

 's like planting seeds , '' Jackson said . `` You never know which seeds will s

prout , but you know some seeds will sprout . ''

 JOHANNESBURG , South Africa In the two weeks since President Nelson Mandela 's 

inauguration , a host of international organizations have rushed to embrace Sout

h Africa . The country 's new flag flies in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , at the head

quarters of the Organization of African Unity , once one of apartheid 's bittere

st enemies . On Wednesday , South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth , mor

e than three decades after storming out because of objections to its racist poli

tical system . And full re-integration into the United Nations is expected this 

year . But as South Africa re-emerges onto the world stage , its immediate neigh

bors have the most to gain and to lose . They look on with a mixture of expectat

ion and alarm after decades of mutual hostility . The anti-apartheid bloc known 

as the Frontline States Organization formally welcomes its neighbor at a meeting

 in Zimbabwe Friday , which Mandela is attending . The group does so in the hope

 that South Africa 's renewal also will be their own , but member countries fear

 being swamped by its much stronger economy . Already the gravitational pull sou

thward is draining some African nations of their best brains and threatening to 

divert international investment and aid . In Pretoria , the Foreign Ministry 's 

deputy director-general for Africa , Derek Auret , says one of Mandela 's priori

ties in meeting with frontline leaders will be to assess ways of establishing po

litical and economic stability in southern Africa . Auret says South Africa 's p

eaceful transfer of power to Mandela 's African National Congress might encourag

e a settlement of the continuing civil war in Angola and provide a reassuring ex

ample to Mozambique before it holds multiparty elections in October . But the ke

y to stability , he argues , will be ensuring that South Africa 's expected econ

omic growth spills over to neighboring countries . `` Perhaps the best chance is

 in coming together around common economic objectives and achieving collective e

conomic growth , which will lead to all the benefits that this government would 

like to see accrue to South Africans ( and to ) all southern Africans , '' Auret

 said . `` South Africa cannot be an island of prosperity in a sea of poverty . 

'' But Pretoria is keen to discourage exaggerated expectations . `` South Africa

 's potential is a long-term issue , '' Auret said , `` and willn't have any imm

ediate spinoffs for the rest of the continent . '' Some of South Africa 's new l

eaders do feel a deep emotional debt to nations such as Zambia , Zimbabwe and Ta

nzania because they helped hold the line against apartheid over the years . They

 also recognize that assisting their neighbors eventually will conflict with the

ir own government 's interests and priorities . Mandela needs rapid economic exp

ansion if he is to provide jobs and housing to his constituents , yet South Afri

ca 's economy is already three times larger than the economies of the seven fron

tline states combined . It exports five times as much to the continent as it imp

orts . Economists point out that further expansion will likely widen the financi

al gap between South Africa and its neighbors . Among the few African exports in

to South Africa today are professionals doctors from Ghana and Zaire , managers 

from Nigeria , teachers from Zimbabwe . While South Africa welcomes them , the o

ther nations despair at the loss . ( Optional add end ) And domestic pressure is

 building on Mandela to stem the flow of unskilled migrant labor from Zimbabwe ,

 Mozambique , Malawi and Lesotho a vital source of revenue for those nations . T

here are estimated to be at least 2 million illegal immigrants in South Africa h

olding jobs the ANC urgently needs to provide to its own citizens . Other Africa

n nations also fear Pretoria will garner a sizable chunk of what little foreign 

investment and western aid the continent gets . For all the talk of regional coo

peration , the key to South African prosperity lies in trading beyond African sh

ores . The world once heard out Zimbabwe 's President Robert Mugabe when he call

ed for sanctions against apartheid following his own successful struggle against

 white rule . The ANC hopes that if Mandela now tells the international communit

y it has a moral obligation not to turn its back on southern Africa , the world 

might listen .

 MOSCOW Just when President Boris N . Yeltsin thought it was safe. .. . Just whe

n it looked like Russia 's spasm-wracked political system might finally be on th

e road to stability .. . along came Alexander Sobyanin . Sobyanin , a bespectacl

ed physicist-turned-political scientist , does not look like the kind of man to 

shatter parliaments and constitutions with a single blow . But the numbers he cr

unches pack such a charge that they threaten Russia 's whole new political syste

m by casting doubt on its foundation the Dec. 12 balloting that approved the Rus

sian Constitution and put the current Parliament in place . His computations ind

icate massive fraud in the critical vote . `` These figures are political dynami

te , '' said the respected daily Izvestia . Late last month , the Russian Duma ,

 the lower house of Parliament , ordered its Credentials Commission to look into

 Sobyanin 's allegations . The commission chairman brushed off a proposal for a 

two-week deadline on a commission report , but sooner or later the truth will em

erge . And if Sobyanin is right , it is a truth that nobody particularly wants t

o hear . The trouble began when Sobyanin 's group of Kremlin-appointed sociologi

sts began to analyze the Dec. 12 results , using samples and mathematical princi

ples to dissect overall results . His team has worked over results of every Russ

ian election since 1989 . This time around , charges of widespread cheating abou

nded after the election , mainly from Russia 's Choice , the pro-Yeltsin party t

hat gained only an embarrassing 15 percent of the vote compared to the whopping 

23 percent that went to neo-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party . The

 falsification charges gained credence after local counters took more than two d

ays to send their tallies to Moscow , with many results coming in much later . T

he longer the delay , election monitors know , the more chances for fiddling wit

h the numbers . On May 4 , Sobyanin dropped his bombshell . Quoted in an Izvesti

a article , he alleged that some 9 million votes out of an electorate of 106 mil

lion had been falsified , apparently mainly by regional leaders intent on their 

own election . He identified three types of election fraud padded voter lists , 

ballot-stuffing after the fact and official coercion of voters . He estimated th

at the fraud had largely worked against reformers and in favor of both Zhirinovs

ky and the Communist Party . That calculation , with the prospect that it could 

be corrected and reformers given more seats , was sure to please Yeltsin . But a

ny pleasure was outweighed by horror at the flip side of Sobyanin 's allegations

 that the faked ballots had so plumped up the total voter participation that it 

had passed the 50 percent mark needed to make the referendum on the constitutito

n valid . In fact , Sobyanin believes , only some 46 percent of the population v

oted which means the new charter never really passed . The Russian president had

 thrown every ounce of his political weight behind the constitution , touting it

 as the only way to avoid the kind of political bloodshed that Moscow suffered l

ast fall when the fight between the president and Parliament climaxed in artille

ry fire at the White House , the old Parliament building . Yeltsin 's aides have

 responded to Sobyanin 's charges with outrage and denial . The president 's chi

ef of staff , Sergei Filatov , huffed that the charges `` smell of a well-though

t-out provocation . '' Sobyanin 's group of experts has lost its government offi

ce space and been disowned by the administration . Sobyanin gave an interview la

te last week in a hallway of the Duma and was promptly approached by a deputy wh

o wanted to shake his hand for `` disclosing what we all knew was the truth . ''

 Sobyanin himself does not want to see the Constitution invalidated . He believe

s that if his fraud allegations are proven , Yeltsin can simply hold a nationwid

e public opinion poll asking people if they think the Constitution needs to be v

oted on once again , and the vast majority will decline . ( Optional add end ) I

n any case , Sobyanin believes , his findings are likely to end up as nothing mo

re than a historical footnote because neither the reformers , who want the const

itution to remain in force , nor opposition members , who would lose seats , bel

ieve a challenge to the election results to be in their interest . The Credentia

ls Commission , he noted , does not even have computers with which to check his 

data . At best , he hopes the ruckus over his findings will lead to a change in 

the slapdash laws that would allow such rampant abuse . `` Our main goal is to g

et new election laws passed that would exclude this kind of falsification , '' h

e said . `` We must not let the elections once again fall into bosses ' hands in

 a restoration of the totalitarian system . ''

 BEIJING Five years after the crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests , few dissi

dents remain openly active in China 's capital . But the wounds of those days st

ill fester . Ding Zilin 's son , a gentle high school student named Jiang Jielia

n , was shot to death by China 's army one day after his 17th birthday in the mi

litary assault on the unarmed demonstrators June 3 and 4 , 1989 . There still ha

s been no accurate public accounting of how many people were killed in the massa

cre . The Beijing regime says about 300 died , mostly members of the military tr

ying to restore order . Many human-rights activists believe the death toll excee

ds 1,000 , mostly students and workers protesting the government . Ding , a 57-y

ear-old philosophy professor , has doggedly documented more than 100 of these de

aths . Her courageous research and contacts with other victims ' families have c

ost her her teaching job and brought her heavy surveillance . And with the arriv

al of the Tiananmen anniversary , her harassment has been round-the-clock . ( Be

gin optional trim ) Ding is a special case in that she is the rare relative of a

 victim willing to speak out . But the official pressure that has been brought t

o bear on her life is typical . Six plainclothes agents roost across the street 

from her apartment at People 's University in northwest Beijing . More hang arou

nd the building 's other three sides . Recent visitors have been interrogated fo

r hours after they left her apartment . She is allowed out only for necessary ch

ores . `` My home is a special prison , but even a special prison doesn't need t

hat many watchdogs , does it ? '' Ding says . `` I 've lost too much , '' she sa

ys . `` I 'm not allowed to teach . Anything I write will not be published . Thi

rty percent of my salary was taken away . My colleagues were told not to have an

ything to do with us . These are the things that were taken away from me that th

e eye can see . But right now they 're taking away things that the eye can't see

 . `` I just want some peace and privacy . I just want some peace with my son . 

'' ( End optional trim ) There aren't many dissidents left in Beijing now . Some

 , such as the father of China 's modern democracy movement , Wei Jingsheng , ha

ve been arrested again . Others , such as leading labor activist Han Dongfang , 

have been allowed to go abroad but not return home . Still others , such as form

er Tiananmen student leader Wang Dan , have left Beijing for the anniversary . V

irtually all others have been warned by the government to keep quiet . Thousands

 of armed police reportedly have been brought into Beijing 's suburbs in recent 

days . Police were rechecking the residence permits of those living near Tiananm

en Square . The square itself is thick with plainclothes agents , some openly br

andishing walkie-talkies while trying to pose as tourists . At the heart of the 

square , the Monument to the People 's Heroes , where the last of the Tiananmen 

protesters waited for the lethal advance of the Chinese army , is cordoned off b

y a chain as it has been since 1989 . Signs there admonish against unapproved ``

 commemorative activities , '' `` the laying of wreaths or garlands , '' taking 

pictures or even `` joking or playing . '' The fear inherent in these warnings u

nderscores that the Tiananmen massacre remains an open wound on the Chinese body

 politic . This contrasts starkly with China 's remarkably rapid international r

ecovery from the debacle , a recovery capped by the recent ending of the U.S. th

reat to withdraw China 's favorable trade status . Economically , these are the 

best times for the world 's largest nation . Many Chinese are freer than ever , 

except in challenging their government . But in terms of domestic politics , the

 Tiananmen wound still could play a major role in overturning this regime . The 

much anticipated death of China 's ailing 89-year-old patriarch , Deng Xiaoping 

, will likely launch a scramble for scapegoats for Tiananmen , with the various 

factions within the leadership trying to tar each other if not Deng with the bla

me . A measure of how politically unresolved the massacre and the preceding `` c

ounter-revolutionary '' protests remain here is the case of Bao Tong , the most 

senior official jailed in connection with the 1989 protests . Bao , 62 , was the

 top aide to former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang , Deng 's reformist heir w

ho was toppled from power in Tiananmen 's wake and who remains in political limb

o . Human rights groups say Bao , sentenced to prison until 1996 , is seriously 

ill , perhaps with cancer . He has had five operations while in jail . But altho

ugh China has released many well-known dissidents in the past few years in respo

nse primarily to U.S. pressure , Bao remains in solitary confinement at the noto

rious Qincheng Prison north of Beijing one of thousands believed still imprisone

d because of the Tiananmen protests . `` They can't release Bao without resurrec

ting Zhao Ziyang , and they can't resurrect Zhao without reversing the Tiananmen

 verdict , and they aren't at all ready to do that , '' a Western diplomat says 

. But underneath the Tiananmen taboo , pressure builds . Seven dissidents led by

 Wang , the former Tiananmen leader recently issued a public letter to China 's 

legislature , asking it to `` untie the knot in the people 's hearts '' by reass

essing the Tiananmen protests . The Tiananmen knot , they said , holds back Chin

a 's `` political development '' . `` The movement was a nationwide popular patr

iotic movement , '' the dissidents wrote . `` We believe the government 's chara

cterization of it as a riot and a counter-revolutionary rebellion is unjust . ''

 Other dissidents aren't waiting for a reversal of the Tiananmen verdict , havin

g gone underground to organize workers under the banner of a recently formed gro

up called the Labor Alliance . Some of its founders already have been arrested .

 Its leader , Liu Nianchun , reportedly is in hiding . An urban workers ' rebell

ion is one of Beijing 's worst nightmares , and conditions are brewing for a big

 one . State enterprises two-thirds don't turn a profit have reached the point w

here they must go bankrupt or lay off millions of workers from their previously 

guaranteed jobs ; they 're only being kept afloat by state deficit spending . Re

ports of illegal strikes are on the rise . Inflation and corruption , the two ke

y concerns driving the 1989 protests , are as bad as then , if not worse . To ma

ke matters more volatile , with the gap between urban and rural incomes widening

 , millions more peasants have filtered into China 's cities where they could we

ll serve as a ready supply of dry kindling for the next major flare-up . ( Optio

nal add end ) The Chinese leadership 's answer to this daunting situation has be

en to try to run faster than the rapidly rising expectations of its more than 1.

2 billion people allowing more opportunities to make money while stressing that 

those opportunities rest on `` stability , '' meaning the maintenance of the Com

munist Party 's absolute power . But expanding even just economic freedoms has a

 price . Many of Beijing 's dictates already are largely irrelevant in huge part

s of China , which are aflame with the fever of speculation . Nevertheless , the

 regime has run fast enough and retained enough of the appearance of control tha

t party chief Jiang Zemin had the confidence to openly declare recently that it 

had been necessary to use lethal force to break up the Tiananmen protests in ord

er to continue China 's economic reforms . `` A bad thing has been turned into a

 good thing , '' he said . `` As a result , our reform and opening program has f

orged ahead with steadier , better and even quicker steps . '' But for Ding , th

e mother of one of Tiananmen 's dead , Jiang 's logic is so absurd as to almost 

not warrant a response . `` To achieve stability , politically or economically ,

 isn't there another way to do it than killing ? '' she asks . `` I don't need t

o say anything else . Anyone with a conscience understands . ''

 SEOUL , South Korea Ask sixth-graders here about Japanese comic books , and the

ir eyes light up . Slam Dunk , a macho basketball player , is hot , says one boy

 . So are Dragon Ball , a futuristic space warrior , and Dr . Slump , a mad scie

ntist who designed the perfect robot girl . Japanese comics deliver the ultimate

 in thrills , chills and `` interesting stuff with girls , like nakedness , '' h

e said . `` We all like Japanese comics better , because Korean comics are too s

issy . '' That is exactly what worries Kwag Young Jin , a Ministry of Culture bu

reaucrat , and other officials . Bootleg Japanese comics may be runaway hits , t

hey say , but the violence and sex rampant in them are twisting young Korean min

ds . Likewise , they predict , if samurai movies were freely shown , violence wo

uld increase as people imitate the slashing warriors . To hear Korean officials 

tell it , all that stands between their refined Land of Morning Calm and a helli

sh descent into Japanese cultural vulgarity is an import ban on Japanese movies 

, music , videos and other forms of pop culture . The ban was adopted in 1945 , 

after South Korea was freed from 35 years of Japan 's repressive colonial rule .

 It remains the most prominent symbol of the lingering sense of han , or bitter 

resentment , that many Koreans still feel toward the Japanese . ( Korean officia

ls acknowledge the ban also protects their media markets from well-financed Japa

nese competitors . ) But now the long-entrenched prohibitions may soon be lifted

 . Earlier this year , President Kim Young Sam broke the taboo and pushed Korea 

closer to reconciliation with its erstwhile enemy by declaring in a goodwill ges

ture that the ban should be ended . Saying it conflicts with global trends towar

d open markets , Kim ordered the Ministry of Culture to review how and when this

 should be done . The review is expected to be finished this month . At issue , 

however , is far more than whether Koreans will get to see samurai slasher flick

s or Dragon Ball videos . The ban reflects what Kwag called the Korean people 's

 `` complex feelings of jealousy , contempt and hatred all mixed together '' tow

ard Japan . It has become a lightning rod for centuries of accumulated grievance

s : Claims that Japan robbed Korea of cultural treasures in raids of priceless a

rt and decimated its national identity by forcing Koreans to adopt Japanese cust

oms , language and names during the colonial period . To make matters worse , th

ey say , Japan still refuses to acknowledge adequately its cultural debt to Kore

a . Scholars say that Koreans introduced everything from the tea ceremony and fl

ower arranging to temple architecture and kabuki during waves of migration to Ja

pan beginning in the fourth century . Some even claim that Japan 's indigenous r

eligion , Shintoism , stemmed from Korea 's shamanism and that the Imperial fami

ly originated from Korean aristocrats in Japan . ( Most Japanese authorities rej

ect that view . ) Against this backdrop of bitterness , talk of Slam Dunk and Dr