Student Anti-Apartheid Newsletter

Contents: NATIONAL WEEKS OF ANTI-APARTHEID ACTION SPARK SPRING CAMPUS UPSURGE • HISTORIC PROTESTS AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/BERKELEY • WESTERN STATES • STUDENT ACTIONS AGAINST IBM • MIDWESTERN STATES • SOUTHERN STATES • NORTHEASTERN STATES • The newsletter says the "Weeks of Action" protests against U.S. support for apartheid occurred between March 21, anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, and April 6, anniversary of the execution of African National Congress freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu. The newsletter says on 15 campuses, construction of shantytowns (symbolizing the living conditions of South African Blacks) provided a focal point for action, as did the April 4 National Divestment Protest Day commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. during which many groups linked anti-apartheid action to struggles against racism in this country. The newsletter says in addition, around the March 21 Sharpeville Anniversary there were successful efforts to link opposition U.S. funding for UNITA in Angola and for the Contras in Nicaragua; in all anti-apartheid activities occurred on over 100 campuses in 35 states, and more than 300 protesters were arrested during the Weeks of Action. The newsletter says first, there have been serious efforts to link the anti-apartheid movement to struggles against domestic racism; second, there has also been greater stress placed on providing material and political support for the liberation movements of Namibia and South Africa; this political development has underscored that divestment is a means to assist the liberation struggle and not an end in itself; third, direct action involving blockades, sit-ins and building occupations in addition to shanties, has become an integral component of campus anti-apartheid organizing. The newsletter discusses the University of California Berkeley, the UC-Berkeley Campaign Against Apartheid, the United People of Color, the UC Divestment Coalition, UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), the University Placement Center, UC-San Diego, Stanford University, the University of Utah, the University of Wyoming, the Hawaii Committee for Africa, the University of Washington in Seattle, Portland State University, Reed College, Lewis and Clark College, Brown University, the University of Rhode Island, Marist College, Dutchess Community College, Vassar College, the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Northwestern University, Kansas University, Grinnell College, the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota, Macalister College, the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina, Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, the University of Florida, the University of Arizona, Alabama A and M, Duke University, Yale University, Wesleyan University,, the DC Student Coalition Against Apartheid, the University of Maryland in College Park, Georgetown University, John Hopkins, American University, George Washington University, Boston University (BU), Wellesley College, Harvard University, Plymouth State College, Keene State College, Smith College, Citibank, Shell Oil, Mobil Oil, the City University of New York (CUNY), Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Hamilton College, Cornell University, Penn State University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and the University of Connecticut.