ACOA Steering Committee Meeting November 15, 1972

Contents: Attendance • 1. Staff and Board Items • 2. Bank Signatures • 3. Meeting With Marcelino dos Santos • 4. Office Space • 5. Washington Office • 6. Angola Coffee Campaign • 7. Personalities • 8. U.N. Issues • The minutes say Ben Peterson has left ACOA as fundraiser, and Marvin Rich has started, beginning with the year-end membership mailing. Kay Anderson has joined the staff, initially to do administrative work, shared with Dick Leonard; Bob Van Lierop and Richard Stevens have sent letters resigning from the board; the Steering Committee recommends that the Board accept can Lierop's resignation with regret and thanks for his consistent work and at Stevens be advised that the Committee feels that his resignation should not be acted upon at this time. Edgar Lockwood announced a meeting in Washington of the sponsoring organizations for the Washington office on November 30, 1972; the sponsoring organizations are ACOA, Presbyterian Task Force, the Episcopal, Methodist and United Church of Christ churches. He reported on issues the Washington office is working on: an analysis of the recent elections, the difficulty of reviving the Rhodesian chrome issue in Congress, the South African sugar quota, and the Treasury Department decision on tax credits for U.S. corporations in Namibia. There has been a significant increase in the use of herbicides in Angola and Mozambique; the U.S. has classified a number of defoliants for commercial (rather than munitions) use and sold them to South Africa and to Portugal. ACOA is looking into the report that the Portuguese government has advertised in the U.S. magazine, Argosy, asking for ex-GI's. Research continues on a potential boycott of Angolan coffee. It is likely that all coffee in the U.S. uses Angolan coffee, especially instant coffee. The best boycott tactic is to focus on one brand, such as Maxwell House, the coffee division of General Foods. Coalitions must be built for a boycott campaign, particularly in the Black community. George Houser has spoken with Willard Johnson of M.I.T. who is quite interested and understands the coalition problems. Edwin Ogebe Ogbu, Nigerian Ambassador for the U.N., has been chosen Chairman of the Special Committee on Apartheid. Mohamed Sahnoun, Deputy Secretary General of OAU, will leave the U.S. after the Security Council meeting on Namibia; Houser and Tim Smith will contact him with information on Gulf Oil. Richard Hove of Zanu, Charles Kuraisa of SWANU, and Jane Ngwenya of ZAPU are in New York; SWAPO now has a regular delegation in the U.S. The Security Council is now meeting on the Portuguese Territories; Gil Fernandes of PAIGC, Manuel Jorge of MPLA, and Marcelino dos Santos of FRELIMO are speaking to the Council on their respective liberation movements. The minutes mention Dana Klotzle's death, the Washington Office on Africa (WOA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), African leaders, William Booth, Elizabeth [Betsy] Landis, Andrew Norman, Frederick Schwarz, Timothy Smith, and Janet Hooper.