Contents: WHAT IS THE PRESENT US POLICY TOWARD SOUTH AFRICA? • WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE THE EXECUTIVE ORDER? • WHAT ARE BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS DEMANDING? • WHAT DO BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS THINK OF SANCTIONS? • WHY WORK FOR SANCTIONS? • 1. Investment in and trade with South Africa is morally wrong • 2. Sanctions are the only remaining means of hastening the abolition of apartheid and minimizing the bloodshed which occurs every day under white rule • 3. US interests are best served by served by supporting the legitimate aspirations of South Africa's Black majority and by distancing the US from the racist policies of the South African government • RESPONSES TO COMMON...
Contents: WHAT IS THE PRESENT US POLICY TOWARD SOUTH AFRICA? • WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE THE EXECUTIVE ORDER? • WHAT ARE BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS DEMANDING? • WHAT DO BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS THINK OF SANCTIONS? • WHY WORK FOR SANCTIONS? • 1. Investment in and trade with South Africa is morally wrong • 2. Sanctions are the only remaining means of hastening the abolition of apartheid and minimizing the bloodshed which occurs every day under white rule • 3. US interests are best served by served by supporting the legitimate aspirations of South Africa's Black majority and by distancing the US from the racist policies of the South African government • RESPONSES TO COMMON ARGUMENTS AGAINST SANCTIONS • 1. Sanctions would only hurt Blacks • 2. The South African government is making reforms as quickly as it can • 3. We should try to do something "constructive" • 4. Sanctions don't work. Other countries will quickly take our place • The report says US policy in southern Africa has always been concerned more with confronting perceived "Soviet influence" in the region than with helping the people of southern Africa to shed colonial rule and achieve self-determination; the US has therefore consistently allied with the white minority government of South Africa because of Pretoria's anti-communist zeal; President Reagan's policy of "constructive engagement" with Pretoria perpetuates this alliance; it portrays the present regime as "reformist" and relies on white concessions as the means to social change in South Africa. US officials have rarely met with leaders of the Black community. The report says on September 9, 1985 President Reagan imposed weak and limited sanctions on South Africa under Executive Order 12532; the move blocked Congressional adoption of a more stringent sanctions package; President Reagan's mild response to the escalation of state terrorism against the people of South Africa has been starkly inconsistent with his harsh reaction to alleged Libyan involvement in isolated terrorist acts. The report says since last September, the crisis in South Africa has grown alarmingly; the death toll has risen to more than five people per day, in spite of the lifting of the State of Emergency on March 7, 1986; 171 people died in political violence during March, making it the bloodiest month in two years of rebellion; troops continue to occupy the townships and have begun to hunt down and assassinate opponents; over 2,000 children are in detention, and an estimated 87 per cent of all detainees are subjected to torture. The report says South Africans do not want to reform apartheid; they want to dismantle it. The report says they are demanding universal franchise in a unitary state and the participation of all South Africans in the creation of a new society. The report says the pleas of the South African delegation to the World Council of Churches' Emergency Meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe in December 1985 were pivotal in that meeting's strong declaration of support for complete and immediate sanctions. The report says sanctions advocates have been consistent in their demands: complete disinvestment by foreign firms, an international ban on trade with South Africa, and a blanket withdrawal of all bank loans to South Africa. The report says South Africa is the only country in the world which has enshrined racism in its constitution; US investments in South Africa fuel the apartheid economy, provide the technology through which apartheid is maintained, and reassure whites of the stability of their control. The US is South Africa's major trading partner; the US also maintains military and intelligence ties with Pretoria which further expand the government's power. The report says the government has made no response to the immediate demands of Black organizations: the release of all political prisoners, the unbanning of all organizations, the return of all exiles, and the withdrawal of troops from the townships. The report discusses the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Rev. Allan Boesak, Dr. Beyers Naudé, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, cheap black labor, attacks on anti-apartheid activists by vigilante groups, General Motors (GM), apartheid laws, the sales of vehicles to the South African security forces, oil, and computers.
