At the Heavenly Gate in Beijing hope is born!

On 4-5 November, in Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China (PRC), we participated in the first ever Summit Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Forty-eight African countries that have diplomatic relations with China attended the Meeting, 41 of them represented, notably, by their Heads of State and Government.

We took advantage of our presence in Beijing to transform Monday 6th into an Official Working Visit to the PRC, enabling us to engage President Hu Jintao and other government and business leaders of the PRC in bilateral talks.

Like all occasional visitors to China, we could not but marvel at the many signs of progress that are so visible along the streets of Beijing. That progress stands out as the palpable expression of the sustained annual rate of economic growth that we have come to expect of China, of 10% or more.

The FOCAC and bilateral meetings took place at the Great Hall of the People, located on the famous Tiananmen (Heavenly Gate of the Peacemakers) Square that constitutes the heart of Beijing. To get to the Square we travelled every day along the wide boulevard, Changan Street, the busiest thoroughfare in the city, which is flanked on both sides mainly by modern high-rise buildings.

But to arrive on Tiananmen Square is to come face to face with the fact of the long history of this extraordinary country, China.

We could not miss the striking traditional building on one side of the Square, the Tiananmen Tower, originally built in 1471 during the Ming Dynasty, marking the front entrance to the Forbidden City, the complex of palaces that served as both the seat of government and residential precinct of the Emperors of China and other aristocrats. For many centuries, until 1911, when feudal rule was finally defeated, leading to the installation of Sun Yat-sen as the Provisional President of the new Chinese Republic, only members of the royal family and other nobles were allowed to enter the Forbidden City.

But today, Tiananmen Square is also home to the 1952 Monument to the People's Heroes, which carries an inscription by the late Mao Zedong, which says, "The People's Heroes are Immortal", the imposing Great Hall of the People, built in 1959 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the revolutionary victory of 1949, the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall which also serves as Chairman Mao's mausoleum, and the China National Museum, with the History Museum within it housing cultural relics that date back 1,700,000 years.

Once you are on Tiananmen Square, it requires only a moment's reflection to understand that you are now among an ancient people that is today 1.4 billion strong, and which is accustomed to thinking in the long term, easily understanding what Confucius meant when he said a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Indeed, reflecting the capacity simultaneously to encompass both the ancient and the modern within the mind's eye, when he opened the FOCAC Summit Meeting, President Hu Jintao said:

"Though vast oceans keep China and Africa far apart, the friendship between our peoples has a long history and, having been tested by times, is strong and vigorous. In the long course of history, the Chinese and African peoples, with an unyielding and tenacious spirit, created splendid and distinctive ancient civilisations. In the modern era, our peoples launched unremitting and heroic struggle against subjugation, and have written a glorious chapter in the course of pursuing freedom and liberation, upholding human dignity, and striving for economic development and national rejuvenation. The progress and development of China and Africa are a major contribution to the advancement of human civilisation."

Speaking later at the Official Banquet, he said: "As a Chinese saying goes: 'Bosom friends know no distance. Even living ten thousand miles away, they still feel close to each other like neighbours.' Though with vast distance between us, the Chinese and African people are as close as neighbours and brothers. China's friendly contacts with Africa date back to the second century BC. Zheng He, a famous Chinese navigator in the Ming Dynasty, reached the east coast of Africa four times, writing an important chapter in the history of China-Africa relations."

Great achievements in development

It therefore came as no surprise that President Hu Jintao could speak to us of the goals that China had set itself for the period 2000-2020, which timeframe, to this ancient land, represents nothing more than a step or two in the continuing journey of a thousand miles. In this regard, when he spoke at the Official Banquet, the President said:

"Over the past 28 years since it started reform and opening up, China has made great achievements in development. However, China has a large population, a weak economic foundation and there is still uneven development in different regions. China's per capita GDP ranks after 100th in the world. The living standard of its people is not high, and China faces many problems and challenges in economic and social development. China is still a developing country.

"The Chinese people are now endeavouring to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way and accelerate the socialist modernisation drive. Our overall goal is to quadruple the GDP of 2000 by 2020 so that we will achieve greater progress in economy, democracy, science, education and culture, make the society more harmonious and ensure a better life for our people. As China develops itself both economically and socially, the Chinese people will continue to provide assistance and support to the African people in an effort to achieve the common development of China and Africa."

As we would expect, there are some in the world who, at best, think that it is paradoxical that a developing country with a relatively low per capita GDP, as correctly described by President Hu Jintao, can, at the same time, commit itself "to provide assistance and support to the African people in an effort to achieve the common development of China and Africa". At worst, these see this commitment as constituting nothing more than deceitful demagogy.

As a movement we should, by now, be familiar with this expression of scepticism or cynical rejection. In this context questions have also been raised about the international activities of our democratic Republic. The question is posed about how, given all the pressing challenges of poverty and underdevelopment we face in our country, deriving from the long period of colonialism and apartheid, we can also find the time and the resources, however limited, to honour our principled commitment to the practice of international solidarity, especially with regard to the rest of our Continent and the African Diaspora.

However, regardless of what the sceptics and the cynics may think and say, there are a few important matters that our Continent must consider with the greatest seriousness, in its own fundamental interest.

At the centre of these is that one of the most central and urgent challenges we face is the improvement of the standard of living and the quality of life of the masses of the African people. Like the PRC, and as President Hu Jintao said, we must achieve greater progress in economy, democracy, science, education and culture, make our societies more harmonious and ensure a better life for our peoples.

Again as President Hu said, we too must achieve all this within the context of "reform and opening up", understanding the inevitability of the globalisation process within which we must realise our goals, which results in the development of the integrated world market that was foreseen by earlier political economists such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Necessarily, among other things, this means that Africa must make a serious effort to define her relationship with the dominant economies in contemporary human society.

In its 2005 ranking of various countries by GDP, presumably expressed in terms of nominal exchange rates, the World Bank says that the Chinese economy is the 4th biggest in the world, with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 12th positions occupied by the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, and India. (The World Bank says the US GDP is nearly US$12.5 trillion, the Chinese US$2.23 trillion, the UK US$2.2 trillion, and the Indian US$785.5 billion.)

A similar US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) series, which measures the 2005 GDP of various countries taking into account purchasing power parity, puts the Chinese economy as the 2nd biggest after the US. In this series, Japan, India, Germany, and the UK rank as 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. (This series says the US GDP is US$12.3 trillion, the Chinese US$8.9 trillion, the Indian US$3.7 trillion, and the UK US$1.8 trillion.)

The World Bank ranks South Africa at 27, immediately preceded by Norway (25) and Denmark (26), and followed by Greece (28) and Ireland (29). It says our GDP amounts to US$240 billion. On the other hand, the CIA ranks South Africa at 24, immediately preceded by Thailand (22) and Argentina (23), and followed by Poland (25) and the Netherlands (26). It says our GDP amounts to US$541 billion.

Regardless of which one of these series, the World Bank or the CIA, is the more accurate in terms of measuring the relative sizes of the economies of various countries, the fact of the matter is that Africa must recognise and respond to the fact that the Chinese economy is one of the biggest in the world. (The South African economy - by far the biggest in Africa - is, relative to the Chinese, very small, regardless of whether we use the World Bank or the CIA figures. This emphasises the need for us as Africans correctly to respond to the realities of the world economy, but without defining ourselves as helpless and pitiful victims of globalisation, whom the rest of the world must treat as mere recipients of charity, described as humanitarian assistance.)

Importance of Africa

At four times its 2000 size by 2020, 14 years from now, as indicated by President Hu Jintao, the Chinese economy will be that much more significant as a global player. As yet another indication of the global weight of the Chinese economy, reflecting its international competitiveness, the international media reported while we were in Beijing that the PRC foreign currency reserves had hit the US$1 trillion mark, the first time in human history that any country had achieved this level of reserves.

For the PRC to quadruple its 2000 GDP by 2020 means that it will require enormous quantities of capital, the necessary labour power and huge volumes of raw materials, including energy resources, as well as intermediate products. Thus, objectively, Africa is strategically important to China as a source of raw materials, including oil and gas.

The visualised GDP growth also means that the standard of living of millions of Chinese people will improve. Among other things, this says that these masses will demand and have the money to buy greater quantities of meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Again objectively, Africa will increase in importance to China as a source of these non-mining but important primary products.

To pay for the import of all these products from Africa and others from the rest of the world, China will have to sustain its export drive. This means that Africa will continue to grow in significance as a market for China's industrial products and services, enabling her to obtain the foreign currency she needs to pay for her imports.

To summarise the foregoing, and to use a phrase well known to economists, other things being equal, this means that for no fault of the Chinese, the economic relationship between Africa and China would replicate the historic colonial economic relationship in terms of which Africa served as a source of raw materials and a market for goods manufactured in the countries of the colonisers.

The immensely important point however is that other things are not equal. What is not equal is the appreciation by the Chinese leadership and people that taking today's first step is as important as completing the journey of a thousand miles, many years hence. They know that the China-Africa partnership, which has material value both to China and Africa, has meaning only to the extent that it is durable and long lasting, based on mutual benefit.

The artefacts in the China National Museum and the entrance on Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City constitute a daily reminder of the fact that, necessarily, protracted time separates today from tomorrow, and that merely to seek immediate gain today would be to put into jeopardy sustained benefit over the days that follow.

What is not equal is that the Chinese people and leadership understand that "the effort to achieve the common development of China and Africa", as President Hu Jintao put it, serves the fundamental interests of China. China understands that she can only prosper on a sustainable basis if Africa prospers on a sustainable basis. For this reason, the President of China reached into the rich store of the ancient wisdom of the Chinese people, and said, "'Bosom friends know no distance. Even living ten thousand miles away, they still feel close to each other like neighbours."

He said this fully cognisant of the reality that the relationship between bosom friends and good neighbours has meaning only to the extent that such bosom friends and neighbours can turn to each other and one another at the critical moments when they have to lend each other and one another a thimble of salt and a small bottle of soya sauce. Such need can only arise among similarly poor neighbours who share an obligation imposed by history and circumstance to seek mutually beneficial cooperation and build an equitable relationship of interdependence.

Other things are not equal because, despite today's and tomorrow's size of the Chinese economy, and as President Hu Jintao said, "In the modern era, our peoples launched unremitting and heroic struggle against subjugation, and have written a glorious chapter in the course of pursuing freedom and liberation, upholding human dignity, and striving for economic development and national rejuvenation."

In this context, renascent Africa, whose leaders had signalled their intent by joining Chou En Lai at the historic Bandung Afro-Asian Conference in 1955, as fellow freedom fighters, fought that China should take her rightful place among the nations of the world, including the UN Security Council. Similarly, liberated China did what she needed to do to help ensure that Africa freed herself from the yoke of colonialism and apartheid.

Continuing this tradition, the Declaration of the Beijing Summit said: "In the new century, China and the African countries should enhance their traditional friendship and expand mutually beneficial cooperation, to achieve common development and cooperation."

In this Declaration, China and Africa committed themselves "Properly (to) handle issues and challenges that may arise in the course of cooperation through friendly consultation in keeping with China-Africa friendship and the long-term interests of the two sides."

Further to give concrete expression to their cooperation, China and Africa adopted the sector-specific Beijing Action Plan (2007-2009), based on the shared imperative to "promote friendship, peace, cooperation and development", and to "advance the new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa in keeping with" the FOCAC Beijing Declaration.

To advance these goals, President Hu Jintao informed the African leaders that even as she remained, still, a developing country, China would among other things, in the next three years:

• double her 2006 development assistance to Africa by 2009;
• over the next 3 years provide preferential credit to Africa worth US$5 billion;
• establish a US$5 billion development fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa;
• cancel all interest-free government debt owed to China by Africa's highly indebted and least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China;
• radically open up the Chinese market to products from Africa's least developed countries by removing all tariffs on 440 products;
• help train at least 15,000 African professionals, provide general scholarships for 4,000 African students by 2009 to study in China, build rural schools in Africa, deploy agricultural experts in Africa, and open special agricultural technology centres in Africa; and,
• help significantly through the development of the African health infrastructure and the provision of drugs, to intensify Africa's fight to defeat the malaria pandemic that is rarely spoken of, including by the United Nations.

When he announced this focused programme of support, President Hu Jintao also said: "China values its friendship with Africa. To strengthen unity and cooperation with Africa is a key principle guiding China's foreign policy. China will continue to support Africa in implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and in its effort to strengthen itself through unity, achieve peace and stability and economic revitalisation in the region and raise its international standing.

"Both China and Africa are cradles of human civilisation and lands of great promise. Common destiny and common goals have brought us together. China will remain a close friend, reliable partner and good brother of Africa. Let us join hands and endeavour to promote development in both China and Africa, improve the well-being of our peoples and build a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity!"

Commitment to NEPAD

At Tiananmen Square President Hu Jintao committed an ancient nation of 1.4 billion people, that is at work to achieve its own new renaissance, to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and African unity, and therefore our own efforts as Africans to break out of the suffocating condition of endemic poverty and underdevelopment.

Because he leads and represents millions of people who are themselves continuing victims of poverty and underdevelopment, he understands that the innate impulse towards human solidarity, towards brotherhood and sisterhood among the poor, would never allow that China gets seduced to adhere to the advice - on my way to the top, may I never meet friends!

There are some in the world who fear this message of hope and the possibility it presents to define the process of globalisation in a manner that benefits the poor of the world. They see the developments exemplified by the China-Africa Partnership as a threat to their selfish interests, as the blind adherents of the PW Botha of 1948, who was buried in George, South Africa, three days after the conclusion of the historic FOCAC Summit Meeting in Beijing, China, saw the birth of a non-racial and non-sexist democracy in our country as a threat to their selfish interests.

The latter had convinced themselves that domestic apartheid in South Africa was a good thing both for them and us, in the same way as the former seem to have convinced themselves, even against their own long-term interests, that global apartheid is a good thing both for them and us, the wretched of the earth of Africa, the African Diaspora and the rest of the developing world.

Twelve years after our liberation, the proven fact is that the freedom of the black oppressed in our country opened great vistas of opportunity, prosperity, global access and freedom from fear that our erstwhile white oppressors could never have imagined.

It is equally true that the prosperity of the billions of poor people across the globe, especially Africa and the South, would open vistas of opportunity, prosperity, global access and freedom from fear for the rich North, that many from this part of the world find difficult to imagine and act upon, despite the benefit they have derived from the rapidly growing prosperity of the Chinese people!

Each of these, the domestic and the international Jeremiahs, within the context of their circumstances, will, with regard to the China-Africa Partnership, do everything possible to project what is manifestly good as inherently evil, so that we, who have dire need of 'close friends, reliable partners and good brothers' become frightened of those who come to us genuinely extending a hand of friendship, partnership, brotherhood and sisterhood, as the Chinese people did at the beginning of November 2006 in the stately rooms of the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.

As happened with regard to our future as a winning nation, when, at the Union Buildings, Tshwane, in May 1994, the peoples of the world came together to celebrate the installation of Nelson Mandela as the first President of liberated South Africa, so did it happen that at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in November 2006, Africa and China joined together to take the first step in a journey of hope that is as long as a thousand miles.

When we addressed the FOCAC Summit Meeting, moved to borrow words and images from the inspiring message immanent in the 2010 African FIFA Soccer World Cup that is yet to come, as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are yet to be, we said - we must adopt a dynamic approach to our strategic partnership, so that we all win in Africa, with Africa, and similarly win in China, with China.

Blockade of Cuba

End the collective punishment of the Cuban people

The countries of the world have overwhelming rejected the United States' economic blockade of Cuba with the adoption this week of a resolution in the UN General Assembly calling for an end to a blockade that has been in place for four decades.

This is the fifteenth consecutive year that the resolution has gained the support of the UN General Assembly, with 183 countries supporting the resolution. Four countries - the US, Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau -voted against the resolution, and one - Micronesia - abstained.

Together with a broad range of South African organisations and individuals, the ANC has consistently called for the blockade to be lifted. In its 1994 conference resolutions, the ANC described the blockade as "a gross violation of the right of the Cuban people to choose their own social system". It said the blockade was wholly unjustified and tantamount to an act of war. This position has been reaffirmed in subsequent ANC conferences.

Despite world condemnation, the US has sought to intensify its economic, cultural, political and social assault on the Cuban people. In doing so, it continues to defy the principles of international law, world opinion and the sovereign rights of the Cuban people.

One of the consequences of the blockade is that Cuba cannot export any product to, or import any merchandise from, the US. Cuba cannot trade with subsidiaries of US companies in third countries. It cannot receive US tourists. It cannot use the dollar in its transactions with foreign nations; and does not have access to credit from multilateral, regional or US financial institutions. Its ships and aircrafts cannot touch US soil.

The US government has applied the extraterritorial provisions of the blockade with increasing severity, imposing strict restrictions in international trade.

According to Cuba's report on the 2005 UN resolution: "The incidents in which companies and citizens from the US and other countries have been persecuted or reprisals have been taken against them are copious. The financial harassment of any Cuban economic or commercial operation has been stepped up in a wide range of markets; the bans and restrictions placed on travel, the sending of remittances and academic exchanges in the various spheres have been reinforced and punitive measures against investments and tourism in Cuba have been increased."

Most recently, US President George Bush established a "Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba", which has produced a succession of plans to further undermine the sovereignty, security and economic stability of Cuba. This has been accompanied by "an uncontrolled and irrational escalation of the policy of the economic, commercial and financial blockade on Cuba. The persecution and repression of all those around the world who have any link with Cuba have reached unprecedented heights".

According to conservative estimates the direct economic damage to Cuba caused by the blockade exceeds $86,000 million, an annual average of $1,832 million. This figure does not include the direct damage to the country's economic and social objectives through the use of sabotage and terrorist acts encouraged, organised and financed in the United States, which totals more than $54 billion, nor does it include the value of the products that it was not possible to produce or the damage caused by the onerous credit conditions imposed on Cuba.

In the last year, the direct economic damage to Cuba caused by the blockade exceeded $4,108 million. In 2005 at least 38 countries were affected by the extraterritorial provisions of the blockade on Cuba.

According to the Cuban report, the fines handed down by the US government to US citizens for visiting Cuba and purchasing Cuban goods increased by 54%. Last year the number of Cubans residing in the US who travelled directly to Cuba fell by 54% in relation to 2003, when additional restrictions were not in place. In the first half of 2006, 73% of the requests for visas made by Cuban officials to visit the US for various work-related reasons were denied by the State Department.

"For the fiscal year of 2006 alone the US government set aside more than $37 million on illegal radio and television transmissions to Cuba with the aim of stimulating internal subversion. This figure represents an increase of around 10 million dollars with relation to the amount approved under the same heading for 2004," the report said.

The blockade is just one of a succession of US efforts to undermine the sovereignty of Cuba, stretching back almost to the creation of the United States. In 1783, the second US president, John Adams, said the island was a natural extension of the North American continent, and that the continuation of the United States made its annexation necessary. The best way to achieve that, he reckoned, was to let Cuba remain under Spanish rule until it could be seized directly. An independent Cuba could never to be allowed. That remains the US attitude to this day.

In 1898, the US military intervened to prevent the Cuban people from attaining their right to be free. After 30 years of battle against Spanish colonialism, Cuba was denied the independence and sovereignty it sought.

For more than half a century, US administrations subjected the Cuban people to colonial rule, while their monopolies exploited their national heritage with the assent and complicity of successive governments and the imposition of brutal military dictatorships.

The Cuban revolution of 1959, which defied US hopes to dominate the hemisphere, led to a campaign, sustained over four decades, to restore Cuba as a vassal of the United States. As early as 12 February 1959, action aimed at this end was set in motion when a decision was taken not to return to Cuba the $424 million of National Bank reserves, stolen by the ringleaders of the Batista dictatorship when they fled to the US.

A few weeks later, in a memorandum from the US State Department, the Secretary of State, Christian Herter, defined these "initial acts" as "economic war measures". In another document, from April 1960, it is stated that any conceivable method must be used promptly in order "to withhold funds and supplies to Cuba) thereby causing starvation, desperation and the overthrow of the government".

As the Cuban report to the UN notes: "Two thirds of the current population of Cuba were born under this policy and have never known any other. The Cuban people have had to suffer, survive and grow under very difficult conditions imposed by the one and only superpower, which with this policy seeks to destroy the resistance and the example of dignity and sovereignty set by Cuba."

The intensification of the economic blockade coincides with the unjust imprisonment in the US of five Cubans working for the Cuban government to protect Cuba from invasion and terrorism organised, funded and launched from Miami. To fulfil this mission they had infiltrated some of the Miami-based organisations responsible for these acts.

Instead of acting against the terrorist groupings based in Miami, the US government arrested the five on espionage charges and put them on trial in Miami - the one place in the US where a fair trial would have been impossible. The five are now serving lengthy prison terms despite having engaged in no activities that threatened the national security of the US.

The international campaign to free the five, like the campaign to end the blockade, is based on the inalienable right of all nations to have their independence and sovereignty respected, and to live in peace and security.

The South African government, in its report to the UN Secretary General on the implementation of the 2005 resolution, said: "South Africa does not support the embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba and has continuously sponsored this resolution in the General Assembly."

It said South Africa has worked actively to strengthen bilateral relations with Cuba, including cooperation in the economic, commercial and financial spheres: "To that end, a Joint Bilateral Commission between the two countries was established in December 2001 to oversee the myriad of projects that are in existence. The fourth session of the Joint Bilateral Commission between South Africa and Cuba took place in September 2005 in Havana, and was led by the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma."

"It is expected of South African Government departments that are actively pursuing projects with their Cuban counterparts to report on progress made at every session of the Joint Bilateral Commission. The South African Department of Trade and Industry is responsible for driving the economic and commercial relationship with Cuba and is one of the most important role players in this regard. Furthermore, visits to Cuba by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and the Deputy Minister of Communications have recently taken place to investigate the possibilities of increased cooperation between the two countries."

More Information:

• Cuba vs Blockade
• 'Free the Cuban Five', ANC Today Vol 6 No 36

Anti-apartheid archives

Unique record of struggle returns to South Africa

A major historical resource was returned to South Africa this week with the hand over to the ANC of a copy of the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Video Archive.

The archive, which consists of 190 hours of video material filmed by Dutch filmmakers and the ANC Video Unit over a period of 20 years, was handed over by Fons Geerlings, General Secretary of African Skies Project and a former General Secretary of the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM).

The archive contains a wealth of unique and mostly unknown material, mainly video documentaries and productions on the struggle against apartheid and related footage. The bulk of the material in the archive was shot during the period 1982-1994 by filmmakers connected with the Dutch AAM and independent filmmakers. In many cases the video productions are the result of close collaboration between the ANC Video Unit and the Dutch AAM. The archive also contains material from Angolan and Mozambican television and from Dutch television.

African Skies is a foundation for audio-visual archives and productions on Southern Africa. It was founded in 1995, shortly after South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. The roots of African Skies can be found in the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement, the solidarity organisation that existed between 1970 and 1994. The Dutch AAM facilitated and sponsored the foundation of African Skies.

"The ANC, together with the people of South Africa, owe the African Skies Foundation a profound debt of gratitude for the invaluable work they have done in restoring to this region a vital record of an important period in its history.

"The restoration and compilation of the archive is an outstanding example of the selflessness and spirit of solidarity that characterised the response of the Dutch people to the struggle for democracy in South Africa. It is a humbling reminder of the contribution of organisations and individuals around the world to the achievement of freedom in our country and region.

"This archive will form an important component of the archives of the liberation movement. We hope and trust that this archive can be used to inform and educate and stimulate discussion among our people, and be used as a resource for students and researchers," the ANC said in a statement released this week.

Compiling the catalogue was an important part of the aim of African Skies to repatriate this visual history to archives in South and Southern Africa. The foundation collected additional archival material, watched and described all the material, cleaned the old tapes, and transferred all material to digital format.

The Chairperson of the African Skies Foundation, Hedda van Gennep, said: "Glancing through the archive is a moving experience. It shows the main campaigns of the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement, the confrontations with politicians, the building of a mass movement. It means also leafing through the history of the ANC: watching the very first visit of ANC President Oliver Tambo to the Netherlands up to the visit of President Nelson Mandela. It means watching the numerous artists and activists presenting their case in Holland. Many became outstanding public figures, but many, like painter Thami Mnyele, were killed during the struggle. A considerable part deals with the aggression against the frontline states in Southern Africa."

In 1982, the Dutch AAM got involved in filmmaking through independent filmmaker Maarten Rens with the filming of the first main anti-apartheid cultural conference, the Cultural Voice of Resistance. With hindsight it meant the start of many productions that followed the core activities of the Dutch AAM. It led, in 1975, to the establishment of the AAM video group and the start of an intensive cooperation with the ANC Department of Information and Publicity (DIP) in Lusaka. The video group was instrumental in assisting the ANC to establish its own video unit. Various productions, shot in Holland and in Southern Africa, were made together with the ANC Video Unit or with individual ANC members.

More Information:

• African Skies Project

Achievement Awards

A reminder to submit entries for excellence

All ANC structures are reminded to submit their entries for the ANC's annual Achievement Awards, which identify the best-performing ANC, Women's League and Youth League branches and group of local councillors.

The following awards will be made:

• Sol Plaatje Award for the best performing ANC branch,
• Charlotte Maxeke Award for the best ANC Women's League branch,
• Anton Lembede Award for the best ANC Youth League branch,
• ZK Matthews Award for the best performing group of ANC councillors.

The awards are named after outstanding cadres of the ANC, whose individual qualities of commitment and selflessness are an example to every ANC member. During their lives, each of these people made an immeasurable contribution to the struggle for freedom and a better life.

More Information:

• ANC Annual Achievement Awards

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