[Dear Friends, From October 7-9 an important conference on southern Africa was held at New York University.]

The mailing says this national student anti-apartheid conference brought together three hundred student and community activists from 24 states and led directly to the formation of regional coalitions in the Northeast, South and Midwest; over 75 campuses and 20 community groups were represented at the event whose importance was under scored by the active participation of the liberation movements of South Africa and Namibia--the ANC, PAC, and SWAPO--who sent youth section leaders directly from Africa to attend the conference; the American Committee on Africa organized the meeting with the co-sponsorship of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid and the UN Council For Namibia. The mailing says the key decision of the conference was to call for "Two Weeks of National Anti-Apartheid Action in Support of Southern African Liberation Movements" that will run from March 21, anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, to April 4, 1984, anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination---see full proposal enclosed. The mailing says as an additional point to the Weeks of Action proposal adopted at the conference, the American Committee on Africa is calling on groups to make April 4 a National Armband and Protest Day for Divestment from South Africa-linked firms and against Racism in the USA; during that day we encourage activists to organize divestment protests as well as to distribute black armbands symbolizing solidarity with those who have died in the struggles against South African apartheid and U.S. racism. The mailing says as an immediate follow-up on Saturday November 19 a Northeast Regional Coalition meeting will 11am-6pm be held in Hartford, Connecticut at the YWCA which is being coordinated by the American Committee on Africa and on that same day in Atlanta there will be a Southern Regional meeting coordinated by Tandi Gcabashe (American Friends Service Committee); a Midwest Regional Conference on U.S. Foreign Policy to be held in early 1984 is being coordinated by activists in Chicago. The mailing says ENCLOSED WITH THIS MAILING IS AN ACTION ALERT ON THE DC CITY COUNCIL DIVESTMENT BILL AND MATERIAL ON THE NOV 12 DEMONSTRATION AGAINST U.S. INTERVENTION IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN WHICH WAS UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSED BY THE OCT 7-9 CONFERENCE. The mailing includes CONGRESS TO CONSIDER DC DIVESTMENT BILL by DC Divest, AN APPEAL TO STUDENTS by the November 12th Coalition, and a press release NATIONAL STUDENT ANTI-APARTHEID CONFERENCE SETS DATES FOR COORDINATED SPRING PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. COLLABORATION WITH RACIST SOUTH AFRICA. The mailing discusses Marcia Davis, Laura Heller, Northeast Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa (NECLSA), Selma Ashipala, the SWAPO Youth League, Grinnell College, ANC (African National Congress), U.S. economic ties, Ronald Reagan, constructive engagement, the cultural and sports boycott, academic ties, the YWCA in Hartford, the Southern State Coalition, Donald Van Hoeven, John Graham, Mark Cheatham, Tim Ngubeni, PAC (Pan Africanist Congress), AFSC, anti-racist organizing, the Committee for a Free South Africa, TransAfrica, the Washington Office on Africa, political prisoners, Nelson Mandela, the Security Police, the ANC 3, and New York University.