In spite of the release of Nelson Mandela, the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), and other positive steps in South Africa, the larger dimensions of apartheid remain untouched. Several South African communities are still threatened with removal or incorporation into "homelands" against their will. During the past 18 months, seven communities in the United States - Atlanta, Berkeley, Louisville, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Wichita - have established linkages with threatened black communities in South Africa, and Seattle and Chicago also are moving toward establishing linkages. The mailing urges people to call on the South African government to recognize emerging democratic structures...
In spite of the release of Nelson Mandela, the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), and other positive steps in South Africa, the larger dimensions of apartheid remain untouched. Several South African communities are still threatened with removal or incorporation into "homelands" against their will. During the past 18 months, seven communities in the United States - Atlanta, Berkeley, Louisville, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Wichita - have established linkages with threatened black communities in South Africa, and Seattle and Chicago also are moving toward establishing linkages. The mailing urges people to call on the South African government to recognize emerging democratic structures like civic organizations, residents associations, or action committees as legitimate representatives of their communities. During the past 30 year, 3-1/2 million black South Africans have been moved against their will. Although old-style removals where communities were loaded into trucks and moved a gunpoint are no longer occurring, all vestiges of forced removals policy should be stopped. Anne Poirier is named as the contact for information.
