Statement to the press on the day of Nelson Mandela's release from prison after 27 years. He emerged from Victor Verster Prison looking healthy, proud and unbroken. Mandela continues to inspire people around the world. The statement reports that people in the African-American community of Rhode Island and other members of RI Divest gathered to mark this historic occasion and celebrate Mandela's release. Freeing Mandela and unbanning the African National Congress (ANC) and other antiapartheid groups are significant but nonetheless small steps on the road to a free, unified and democratic country, where the universal franchise is granted and there is majority rule. The white South African...
Statement to the press on the day of Nelson Mandela's release from prison after 27 years. He emerged from Victor Verster Prison looking healthy, proud and unbroken. Mandela continues to inspire people around the world. The statement reports that people in the African-American community of Rhode Island and other members of RI Divest gathered to mark this historic occasion and celebrate Mandela's release. Freeing Mandela and unbanning the African National Congress (ANC) and other antiapartheid groups are significant but nonetheless small steps on the road to a free, unified and democratic country, where the universal franchise is granted and there is majority rule. The white South African government will strive to remain in control and to tinker with the apartheid system and put a good public relations face on it. It will attempt to divide and conquer the black majority, perhaps by trying to divide the nation into a series of "minorities" and promoting a system of "shared government" where privileged whites can retain a veto (much like the U.S. Senate). When negotiations begin, the whites must not be allowed to retain the power to prevent fundamental changes to apartheid. We must be prepared for South Africa to put an economic and political stranglehold on neighboring African nations, which they continue to destabilize, including Angola, Namibia, and Mozambique. The statement thanks Senators Pell and Chafee, Congresswoman Schneider, and former Congressman St. Germain for supporting the 1986 economic sanctions bill against South Africa. The statement calls for no easing or relaxation of those sanctions until apartheid is ended, or until the leadership of the ANC calls for such. The statement says a Community Celebration sponsored by RI Divest and the RI Mandela Release Committee is scheduled for February 18 at the Pond Street Baptist Church. The statement mentions Joseph Newsome and Winnie Mandela.
