African Activist Archive

Paper published at the request of the Special Committee against Apartheid, prepared by Prexy Nesbitt, formerly Director of the Africa Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, D.C. and national Coordinator of the Campaign to Oppose Bank Loans to South Africa (COBLSA) in New York. The paper says the work of anti-apartheid groups worldwide is at a critical juncture. The last several years have seen a growth, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in the work of anti-apartheid and solidarity activists everywhere. In November 1978, a tremendous organizing effort led students throughout the state of California to march and picket more than 500 branches of the Bank of America – a lending institution which had loaned over $188 million to South African entities. Transnational corporations (TNCs) and Western capitalist governments continue to play an increasingly critical role in keeping the apartheid regime afloat. Pamphlets issued during the mid-20^th century by Alphaeus Hunton, W. E. B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and the Council on African Affairs put out a resounding cry for international action against banks then making loans to South Africa especially after the new Nationalist Government came to power in 1948. In 1976, 1977, and early 1978 - as the Soweto struggle sharpened, as the students' school boycotts, the ensuing trials, arrests and deaths all grew - more and more campuses activated to cut their schools' financial linkages to South Africa. In March 1978, the Nigerian Government ordered all public sector agencies to close their accounts with Barclay's Bank of Nigeria because of the parent Barclay's large portfolio of credit to South Africa. The paper also mentions Senator Dick Clark, Bank of America, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Motorola Company, the Ford Motor Company, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski, Carter Administration, South African Minister Roelof Botha, Lucy Mvubelo, Helen Suzman, Gatsha Buthelezi, Nicholas Wiehahn, and Pieter Koornhof. Contents: Introduction • Role of the anti-apartheid movement • The "divestment" movement • Shareholder "activism" • New strategies • International co-operation • Future activities • Conclusion

African Activist Archive

NEW STRATEGIES FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATE COLLABORATION WITH APARTHEID

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Coverage Africa

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