[Dear Member of the Coalition: On July 23rd, I and others representing Coalition members met with representatives of several national groups also interested in planning for a national conference …]

Mailing about plans for national conferences on southern Africa. Member groups of the Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa (CLSA) had responded generally favorably to the East Coast Subcommittee's proposal for a conference and had asked this group to seek co-sponsorship with other groups also planning conferences on southern Africa. A meeting was held July 23 with representatives of the U.S. delegation that attended the World Conference Against Apartheid, Racism and Colonialism in Lisbon in June. Groups previously contacted last spring in an attempt to call a People's Congress Against Racism and Apartheid and representatives of the National Black Coalition on Southern Africa were also invited, as were representatives of labor unions and black organizations. The mailing included a final draft Call to a People's Assembly Against Racism and Apartheid agreed on at the meeting, a draft Conference Agenda, with attached notes on parts of the agenda clarified so far in discussion on July 23), notes on discussion at the meeting, and an outline of organizational structure for the conference. At a meeting of the Coordinating Committee on August 13, work committees will be selected, and finances and sponsorship proposals drafted by a small work group will be discussed. These people attended the July 23 meeting: Gene Jones, Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC) (NYC); Prexy Nesbitt, American Committee on Africa (ACOA) (Bank Loan Campaign); Paul Irish, ACOA; Pat Whaley, Third World Center at Princeton Univ. (ACOA summer intern);Marsha Bonner, Third World Center (ACOA summer intern); Jeff Richardson, Third World Center (ACOA summer intern); Sandy Pollock, World Peace Council; Tony Monteiro, NAIMSAL; Chris Root and Ted Lockwood, Washington Office on Africa; Jim Bristol, America Friends Service Committee; Michael Simons, Third World Coalition - AFSC, Phila.; Vince Klingler, UPCAR, Phila.; Melba Smith, Women's Division, United Methodist Church; Paul Pumphrey, Anti-Apartheid Movement, USA, Washington, DC; Judith Bourne, National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL); Anne Taft, Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy; Carole Collins, Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa; Charlene Mitchell, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; Representative of the United Electrical Workers; and a representative of Congressman Conyers. These people were unable to attend: Pat Robin, legislative representative, International Longshoremen Workers Union; Tyrone Golden, Bay Area World Peace Council and American Federation of Teachers; Bernard Lee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Jack O'Dell, People United to Save Humanity (PUSH), Sylvia Poitier, City Commissioner, Florida; National Black Coalition on Southern Africa (NBCSA); Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU); Congressional Black Caucus; Carlton Goodlet, American Association of Black Publishers; Furriers Union; Mohamed Kenyatta, Black Theology Project; United Presbyterian Church, USA; Koko Farrow, United Church of Christ Commission on Racial Justice (UCC); Young Women's Unitarian Association, Judy Claude, American Baptist Church; National Lawyers Guild; AFSCME; and District 1199 National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFL-CIO. The mailing says the U.S. government has vetoed every attempt at the United Nations to impose mandatory arms and economic sanctions against the racist South African regime; it has failed to implement sanctions against Rhodesia for which it voted in the United Nations, and violates the United Nations Decree protecting Namibia's resources. The victories over Portuguese colonial rule in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, the advance of the liberation fighters of the Patriotic Front and SWAPO in Zimbabwe and Namibia, and the growing organized resistance in South Africa are of historic importance. The mailing also mentions the OAU (Organization of African Unity), ANC (African National Congress), PAC (Pan Africanist Congress), United People's Campaign Against Apartheid and Racism (UPCAAR), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the inalienable right of all people to freedom, self-determination, and independence, racism, colonialism, economic exploitation, U.S. corporations, banks, common struggle against oppression, shipments of weapons, nuclear materials and technology, oil, trade union rights, the civil rights movement, the Wilmington Ten in North Carolina, the Carter administration, liberation movements, Cleveland Robinson, Julian Bond, Rosemary Mealie, ZAPU, and ZANU.