African Activist Archive

Mailing seeking contributions to The Africa Fund. The mailing says the Holiday season is always a time to remember friends - and I want to take this occasion to thank you deeply for your support of The Africa Fund; the past year has seen enormous advances in the campaign against apartheid -- and the major contribution The Africa Fund has made would not have been possible without your generous help and encouragement. The mailing says yet, at this time there are also other friends I am thinking of. As you read this letter, over 20,000 people -- nearly half of them children -- have been detained in South Africa under the State of Emergency; they live with the daily threat of torture. The mailing says Rev. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a Catholic priest, was so badly tortured during one 20-hour interrogation session that he could barely stand up afterwards. The mailing says I have met a number of courageous people who have been fortunate enough to be released from this nightmare of detention and torture; and I want to share with you what they have all told me --- that if Americans care about the plight of the political prisoners, they should intensify the pressure for effective sanctions against apartheid. The mailing says with your help, we made important progress toward answering their plea this past year; but there are critical challenges ahead and we cannot fail these oppressed South Africans at this important juncture. The mailing says with just a little more effort on the part of each and every one of us we can continue to change the course of history in South Africa. The mailing says when Congress passed the Anti-Apartheid Bill over President Reagan's veto, it expressed the American people's repugnance for U.S. support for apartheid; but unfortunately, this bill still falls short of the complete end to investment and trade that black South Africans are risking their lives to demand; we need to pass a really effective sanctions bill in 1987. The mailing says over 70 American corporations have announced that they will withdraw from South Africa; but some, like IBM and General Motors, are withdrawing in name only; they will continue to do business in South Africa under a new corporate guise; we can't stop our pressure until they stop subsidizing apartheid. The mailing says nineteen states and 70 cities have acted to withdraw $18.5 billion from corporations that invest in South Africa; we want to double that total in 1987. The mailing says we look to the year ahead with a renewed spirit and renewed efforts to bring an end to the daily brutality inflicted on so many individuals and to bring justice and peace to a beleaguered people; our work won't end until apartheid has been brought down.

African Activist Archive

[The Holiday season is always a time to remember friends – and I want to take this occasion to thank you deeply for your support of The Africa Fund.]

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