[Dear friend: On Sunday evening, June 4 of this year, Rev. Allan Boesak spoke these prophetic words to an audience of 2000 people in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Providence …]
[Dear friend: On Sunday evening, June 4 of this year, Rev. Allan Boesak spoke these prophetic words to an audience of 2000 people in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Providence …]
This funding appeal describes events in South Africa since Rev. Allan Boesak's visit to Providence six months ago. The ruling National Party renewed its State of Emergency, former President P.W. Botha met with jailed African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, and the whites-only election reelected the National Party under Frederick W. de Klerk. Tens of thousands of Black South Africans participated in a Defiance Campaign to protest segregation and their exclusion from the election; their nonviolent protests were met with tear gas, whips, police dogs, and bullets, leaving 26 people dead. Public demonstrations were allowed for the first time in years, and tens of thousands of...
This funding appeal describes events in South Africa since Rev. Allan Boesak's visit to Providence six months ago. The ruling National Party renewed its State of Emergency, former President P.W. Botha met with jailed African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, and the whites-only election reelected the National Party under Frederick W. de Klerk. Tens of thousands of Black South Africans participated in a Defiance Campaign to protest segregation and their exclusion from the election; their nonviolent protests were met with tear gas, whips, police dogs, and bullets, leaving 26 people dead. Public demonstrations were allowed for the first time in years, and tens of thousands of anti-apartheid activists took to the streets. ANC leaders addressed a rally of 70,000 people in Soweto, and the Johannesburg City Council voted to desegregate some of the city's facilities. Walter Sisulu and seven other members of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were released from jail, but F.W. de Klerk has not released Mandela and 3000 other political prisoners and has not lifted the ban on organizations and restrictions on individuals. In Namibia, South Africa has thwarted the independence process by military attacks on SWAPO's troops and intimidating voters and election workers prior to the pre-independence elections. The South African government has bowed to increasing internal and international pressure; anti-apartheid activists have held firm on basic pre-conditions to negotiations. Rhode Island Divest will maintain pressure on South Africa through public education about apartheid and U.S. policy toward southern Africa and through news releases, vigils, a forum on "U.S. Foreign Policy and Africa," and meetings with Rhode Island's Congressional delegation. RI Divest also plans to work with students at the Community Preparatory School in Providence to collect and ship clothing to the Heal the Wounds Campaign in Zimbabwe for refugees. The South African government spends millions of dollars annually on public relations and lobbying members of Congress; with a fraction of those resources, the anti-apartheid movement has created the climate needed for the U.S. to enact sanctions against South Africa in 1986. The mailing mentions Senator Claiborne Pell, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Rev. Frank Chikane, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Bush administration, the liberation struggle, repressive laws, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
