African Activist Archive

Testimony by Patrick Hagopian on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania Southern Africa Solidarity Group quotes former South African Prime Minister Vorster to bolster the argument for divestment: "Each trade agreement, each bank loan, each new investment is another brick in the wall of our existence." Hagopian says South Africa is desperate to shed its image as a pariah state. South Africa's dependence on foreign corporations in crucial areas such as oil, high technology, manufacturing, and armaments gives one reason to believe that a pattern of numerous such divestments will have a cumulative effect. Uniquely in South Africa, explicit racism constitutes an essential defining characteristic of the legal, political, and economic system. Hagopian says South Africa is intensifying the "homelands" policy, and has forcibly removed three million people and dumped them in supposed "homelands" which neither they nor their ancestors may ever have seen. Hagopian also addresses these questions: What about 'Constructive Engagement'? Cannot pressure be brought to bear using "work codes" rather than divestment? Won't black people in South Africa suffer because of divestment? • U.S. Business is an obstacle to change in South Africa Won't we suffer financially if we divest? Hagopian mentions the United Nations General Assembly, "crime against humanity," pass laws, "white" areas, the Sullivan Principles, Employees' Retirement Fund, American Cyanamid, Firestone, C.B.S., Warner Communications, the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Desmond Tutu, Ford, Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), General Motors (GM), and Goodyear.

African Activist Archive

Investor Responsibility Concerning Investments in Banks and Other Business Entities Doing Business with the Republic of South Africa

Testimony before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House of Representatives Finance Committee Regarding House Bills 802, 803 and 804

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