[Dear Member of the Free South Africa Movement: At the very moment the increasing brutality of the Botha regime threatens to provoke a bloody civil war in South Africa, …]
[Dear Member of the Free South Africa Movement: At the very moment the increasing brutality of the Botha regime threatens to provoke a bloody civil war in South Africa, …]
The issue of apartheid has all but disappeared from the consciousness of most Americans. Far too many Americans now naively think that since Congress has passed the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 "we've already done all we can" to bring democracy to South Africa. It appears that Pretoria's press censorship has succeeded in removing South Africa from our daily news coverage. So TransAfrica plans to launch a dramatic public awareness campaign during the Presidential campaign and ensure that the next U.S. President supports full, global sanctions against the world's last slave nation. Massive grassroots support is needed to insist that the U.S. lead the way toward global sanctions, to economically...
The issue of apartheid has all but disappeared from the consciousness of most Americans. Far too many Americans now naively think that since Congress has passed the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 "we've already done all we can" to bring democracy to South Africa. It appears that Pretoria's press censorship has succeeded in removing South Africa from our daily news coverage. So TransAfrica plans to launch a dramatic public awareness campaign during the Presidential campaign and ensure that the next U.S. President supports full, global sanctions against the world's last slave nation. Massive grassroots support is needed to insist that the U.S. lead the way toward global sanctions, to economically isolate South Africa. In September, TransAfrica will run a full-page ad in USA TODAY (at a cost of $35,792); a rough copy of the ad is enclosed. The aim is to refocus attention on the inhumanity of apartheid that continues and to publicly ask each Presidential candidate to outline his position on total U.S. and global sanctions. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Alan Boesak and other moderate leaders agree that global sanctions may be our last hope to bring a peaceful transition to a full democracy in embattled South Africa. The United States will only impose greater sanctions and use its influence to urge other nations to do so if our next President will openly express our moral outrage toward South Africa's neo-Nazi policies. Only the President's hand-picked representative to the United Nations can vote in the Security Council for strong economic incentives for ending apartheid. The Reagan administration has repeatedly blocked U.N. proposals designed to bring about a peaceful transition in South Africa. In South Africa's recent "whites-only" election, Far Right, white extremists gained power in parliament. The election demonstrated that the Afrikaner minority in power has no intention of easing its authoritarian grip on the African majority. But even the most stubborn authoritarian regimes aren't immune from world opinion and multi-lateral trade embargoes. An overwhelming majority of U.N. member countries already support a united world effort, but they have been stymied by President Reagan's continued support of the Botha regime. Our allies will fight at both the Republican and Democratic conventions to include a resolution supporting global sanctions in each party.
