SOUTHERN AFRICA COMMITTEE - minutes of December 1, 1970, meeting

Contents: Newsletter • Polaroid • Corporation Task Force • Christmas Greetings • Medical Project • World Student Christian Federation • Bill Minter's Book • Work Nights • U.S. Catholic Conference • Finances • Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights • Demonstration • A Reminder • The minutes say the meeting was attended by Phil Nettleton, Louise Nettleton, Maureen Hawley, Vallerie Clingan, Mary McAnally, Tim Smith, Norm Hatt, Keu Carstens, Sara Freed, Janet Terry, Eleanor Jacobson, Gail Morlan, Marcy Kerr. The minutes say we are sending a letter to organizations we hope to pressure into sending telegrams supporting the demands of the Polaroid workers which are: 1) that Polaroid announce a policy of complete disengagement from South Africa 2) that the management meet the entire company and publicly announce its position on apartheid in the U.S. and South Africa 3) that the company donate all the profits it earns in South Africa to the recognized liberation movements for freedom). The minutes say Tim, Janet H., Mary, and Gail M. met with a man from the Mobilization to End the War in the Churches, a group working on church investments, and have established a working relationship with them. The minutes say the University of Michigan has decided no corporations can recruit on campus if they have subsidiaries in South Africa -- a first; we will ask people on campus to write a case study for us to distribute. The minutes say Janet H. brought a London anti-apartheid group's list of families of political prisoners in South Africa. The minutes say Elly has begun to collect information for a project involving sending medical supplies to liberation movements; any information on drug companies and their policies about giving drugs and their other involvements in Southern Africa would be helpful to her. The minutes say WSCF is sponsoring a meeting of radical research people January 5-9 in Boston; European groups as well as Americans will attend; the purpose of the meeting is to identify key issues, deal with political action, discuss means of communicating results, and develop international cooperation; we will send "The Banks and Apartheid," issues of the newsletter, and the Polaroid background sheet and will bill ourselves as a communications rather than a research group. The minutes say Bill's book, which deals with U.S.-Portugal military alliances and other relationships, will be published in the U.K. and U.S. as part of the Penguin African series. The minutes say the Bishops' Conference may turn out a statement; Tim and others have met with representatives of that group to work on the substance of the statement. The minutes say the Casa de Portugal on 5th Avenue was to host a demonstration Friday, December 4, against Portuguese involvement in Guinea; it was reported that the UN team visiting Guinea would report that Portugal was clearly behind the recent invasion of Guinea, the purpose of which was to destroy PAIGC. The minutes discuss Liberation News Service, Ralph Nader, photos, cartoons, line drawings, Dave Robinson, bookstores, black studies departments, the United Auto Workers (UAW), church relief groups, Louis Simon, corporations in Southern Africa.