Questions and Answers on South Africa Sanctions

Contents: 1. What are "sanctions"? • 2. What are the goals of sanctions against South Africa? • 3. Isn't South Africa too strong to be hurt by sanctions? • 4. Isn't it useless for the U.S. to adopt sanctions if other countries don't agree? • 5. Who is calling for sanctions against the South Africa regime? • 6. What sanctions have already been imposed on South Africa? • 7. What effect have these sanctions had so far? • 8. Who opposes sanctions against the South African regime? • 9. Aren't sanctions a "cop-out," giving up on constructive change? • 10. What about the argument "sanctions don't work"? • 11. Did sanctions work in the case of Rhodesia? • 12. Wouldn't Blacks be hurt most by sanctions? • 13. Won't sanctions damage South Africa's neighbours? • 14. Won't the Afrikaner regime just retreat into the laager? • 15. How long will sanctions take? • 16. Won't sanctions increase the level of violence and forestall the possibility of peaceful change? • Voices for Sanctions • Sources • Notes • The pamphlet says inside South Africa the struggle against apartheid is escalating dramatically. Black South Africans demanding full political and economic rights have made parts of South Africa ungovernable and are increasingly challenging white political power. The government talks of reform but has responded with unprecedented, vicious repression. By mid-1986 more than 2,000 people had been killed, and the death toll was growing by 40 a week. The pamphlet says Black South African leaders have called repeatedly for support from the U.S. and other Western countries in the form of sanctions against Pretoria. The pamphlet says the U.S. administration has opposed sanctions, but local efforts to enforce "people's sanctions" have already had an effect; across the nation, states, cities, institutions and individuals are withdrawing billions of dollars from corporations still involved in South Africa. At least 40 U.S. companies have completely withdrawn from South Africa, and many U.S. banks have stopped all lending. The pamphlet includes quotes by Winnie Mandela; Bishop Desmond Tutu; Elijah Barayi, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU); Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia; Rev. Arie R. Brouwer, General Secretary, National Council of Churches; and Rev. Jesse Jackson. The pamphlet includes excerpts of a resolution passed at the 26th International Convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The pamphlet discusses mandatory comprehensive economic sanctions, trade embargoes that ban imports and exports, financial relationships, bank loans, corporate investment, mineral wealth, gold, diamonds, strat8gic metals, chromium, cobalt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), American banks, short-term loans, the Sharpeville massacre, the Soweto uprising, Azanian Peoples Organization (AZAPO), South African Council of Churches (SACC), anti-apartheid activists, NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks, Republican Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean, new investments in South Africa, Krugerrand sales, European Economic Community, Commonwealth countries, the arms embargo, the oil embargo, OPEC, the African National Congress (ANC), Harry Oppenheimer, Anglo American, Chief Gatsha Buthelezi of KwaZulu, the Reagan administration, and "constructive engagement."