(With special reference to their role in support of United Nations action against apartheid)
by Kader and Louise Asmal
Throughout Western Europe, anti-apartheid movements have come into being in response to an increasing awareness of the evils of apartheid. Thousands of individuals, whose imagination has been struck by the determination of courageous men and women inside South Africa to end the most highly-organised and all-embracing system of oppression the world has known, have come to recognise that apartheid is indeed a "crime against humanity" as declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations. They have joined together to combat the collusion of their own governments with the South African regime and to render what assistance they can to the liberation movements.
These movements have now become an effective counter to the propaganda machinery of the South African regime and its supporters. There have been some dramatic results from the efforts to assist the people of South Africa who are struggling against the system of apartheid, such as the saving of the lives of some who have been put on trial under obnoxious repressive laws. At other times the results of these efforts seemed disappointing, but they have succeeded in keeping open the channels of communication between the people of South Africa, who are mostly black, and the people of Western Europe, who are mostly white; this, in itself, constitutes an overwhelming repudiation of the philosophy of apartheid.
This paper is not a comprehensive study of all anti-apartheid movements in Western Europe. An attempt has been made to indicate the role of these movements and to deal with certain selected areas of work which have a common significance and in which greater cooperation would be valuable.
As the struggle against apartheid and racial discrimination has developed, so the calls to cease collaboration with the white minority governments have become more specific. The anti-apartheid movements, the liberation movements themselves, and the various organs of the United Nations, have all contributed to detailed analyses of the international aspects of the situation and the formulation of precise courses for action in support of those struggling for freedom in southern Africa.
As United Nations resolutions become more specific, the Western European governments have become more reluctant to support them. Even those governments which have given financial aid to liberation movements are reluctant to break all economic links with South Africa. The work of the anti-apartheid groups in researching the areas of collaboration which exist, and in carrying out campaigns to educate public opinion, remains essential in order to secure the widest implementation of United Nations resolutions.
There are now anti-apartheid groups in all the countries of Western Europe, with the exception of Spain, Portugal, Greece and Luxembourg.
The nature of these groups, their aims and objects, and the methods they use vary widely and they are not formally linked in any particular way, although one European conference and occasional consultations have been held. This is partly a reflection of the differences in the links which each country has with South Africa, and partly the result of particular geographical and political circumstances. Most groups have tried to be broadly-based organisations, and their strength lies in the influence they are able to bring to bear in many different sectors of society. They keep in close touch with the liberation movements of southern Africa, and many of them were, in fact, set up in consultation with the leaders of liberation movements. The exchange of ideas and cooperation with the United Nations bodies dealing with apartheid, particularly the Special Committee on Apartheid, has grown considerably over the past few years.
Most anti-apartheid groups were established in the late l950s or early 1960s in response to a growing international awareness of the monstrousness of apartheid. One of the earliest of these groups, the Fonden for Rasfortryckets Offer I Sodra Afrika (the Fund for the Victims of Racial Oppression in Southern Africa) was founded in Sweden in 1959, on the initiative of a few people who had spent considerable time working in South Africa, after an appeal in the press by writers, churchmen and leaders of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party.
In countries such as Britain and Ireland, where there were numbers of black students from South Africa, anti-apartheid groups were initiated in cooperation with local sympathisers. These groups started as boycott movements in response to the appeal of the African National Congress of South Africa for the boycott of South African goods. During the same period, other people in Britain, mainly churchmen, became involved in raising money for the defence of the 156 South African leaders accused in the treason trial, which dragged on from 1956 to 1961. The "Treason Trial Defence Fund", as the group was known, was succeeded by the Defence and Aid Fund with which the Swedish Fund became associated.
The Sharpeville massacre of March 1960 galvanised public opinion into greater action. In Sweden, a second body, the Swedish South Africa Committee, was founded for political campaigns and became very active in the boycott movement. The inspiration came again from those who had lived and worked in South Africa, but the new organisation obtained support from many political leaders. Separate groups for humanitarian assistance and for political action were also founded in Denmark and Norway, and in the spring of 1963, the youth movements of all three countries came together to coordinate action in support of United Nations resolutions calling for a boycott of South Africa.
In the Netherlands, the first organisation set up was the Comite Zuid-Afrika, which was founded in 1960 by a fairly broadly-based group of people drawn from different political parties. The Comite Français Contre l`Apartheid began to function in 1964, after a number of visits by liberation movement leaders. The Finnish Sydafrikakommitten, the Belgian Comite contre le Colonialisme et l`Apartheid, the Mouvement Anti-Apartheid de Suisse, and groups in Italy and Germany were established in subsequent years.
The aims and objects of all the anti-apartheid movements are basically the same, namely, to help achieve the freedom of the oppressed peoples of southern Africa. All aim to disseminate information about apartheid, to influence the policies of their governments, and to build up public support. However, the precise policies and methods of work differ from group to group, and their activities have broadened over the years to meet the changing situation in South Africa and southern Africa.
All anti-apartheid groups consider one of their principal functions to be the provision of information about conditions in southern Africa as well as the struggle of the peoples in the territories under colonial and racist domination. All of them issue printed material, ranging from duplicated newsletters circulated to members to the monthly newspaper of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Anti-Apartheid News, which by means of eye-catching cartoons, photographs and up-to-the-minute articles and interviews, has consistently maintained a high standard. Established in 1965, the Anti-Apartheid News now has a circulation of between 7,000 and 8,000, and is an invaluable weapon in the British campaign against apartheid. Most groups also publish pamphlets from time to time.
The success of anti-apartheid campaigns depends upon solid information material. Documentation produced by the United Nations, the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, the World Council of Churches and other bodies is frequently of vital importance for their work, especially as it is produced by internationally-known and respected organisations. The South African propaganda machine is, however, highly professional, and the material which they send out to schools and organisations tends to be attractively produced, copiously illustrated, and generally easy-to-read. Factual material alone is not sufficient to counter this; and there is a great need for films of which an increasing number are now available.
The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly called for wider dissemination of information on South Africa and to this end, the anti-apartheid movements have made a tremendous contribution, both by producing their own material and by distributing the publications of the United Nations Unit on Apartheid, if available in the language of the country.
Television and radio services are utilised whenever possible. The fact that anti-apartheid groups are now well-established in most countries in Europe has enabled them to build up their contacts in the press and media. Many groups have been able to set up offices and employ staff, with consequent increased efficiency and continuity of experience. The great strength of the movement as a whole, however, continues to lie in the fact that it is voluntary; even full-time personnel do not look on their work simply as a job.
Some organisations have started purely as humanitarian fund-raising organisations, as was the case with the Swedish and British funds already mentioned. Together with similar organisations in Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and Ireland, and others outside Europe, these organisations constitute the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. The developments in South Africa have led more and more people to realise that no distinct line can be drawn between humanitarian and political assistance. Once the Defence and Aid Fund was banned in South Africa in 1966, it became a political act to raise money for legal defence and assistance to families of prisoners in South Africa. Moreover, people who were at first prepared to give money for humanitarian purposes only came to see that it was useless simply to assist those who were the victims of apartheid laws without, at the same time, taking steps to change the situation, or supporting those who were taking such steps. As a result, in some countries, committees with humanitarian and political aims merged or operated side by side under a single umbrella organisation. In other countries, the distinct and urgent need for humanitarian assistance is more effectively met by maintaining separate organisations.
In the Netherlands, for example, the Comite Zuid-Afrika (CZA) had originally favoured dialogue with the South African Government and with the whites in South Africa, but in the light of its experience in trying to put its ideas into practice, it came to take a position in line with the policies of the liberation movements - that is, of disengagement. Meanwhile, it retained its humanitarian objects. Because some individuals within the organisation preferred to concentrate on one or another aspect of the work, the CZA divided itself into two bodies: the Defence and Aid Fund Netherlands concentrates on fund-raising and the Anti-Apartheid Beweging Nederland operates on the political and activist level.
By retaining separate organisations for separate tasks, a wider group of individuals is encouraged to contribute to the struggle against apartheid. It may be noted that the United Nations has set up the United Nations Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa and the United Nations Trust Fund for South Africa for educational and humanitarian assistance to victims of apartheid, while the Special Committee on Apartheid deals with political action against South Africa. Many Western European States contribute to educational and humanitarian funds, while they do not support the resolutions on political action. Anti-apartheid groups have played their part in urging their governments to contribute to these funds.
The inspiration for the foundation of anti-apartheid groups generally came from particular events inside South Africa, such as the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the Rivonia trial of 1963-1964, which received widespread publicity. Liberation movement leaders in exile have been invited by these groups to give an authoritative opinion on the events. The United Nations has only recently recognised the liberation movements as the genuine representatives of their countries, but anti-apartheid movements which have not been confronted with problems of an intergovernmental organisation, have been able to do so from the beginning.
One of the principal objects of anti-apartheid groups is to raise support for the liberation movements. Promotional material of the Swiss Anti-Apartheid Movement, for example, indicates that one of its major objectives is "to support the liberation movements in their struggle for their legitimate rights". One of the aims of the Irish movement is "to cooperate with and support southern African organisations campaigning against apartheid". Similar phrases appear in the constitutions of all anti-apartheid movements.
Support for liberation movements is one of the main areas in which the activities of anti-apartheid movements have developed over the years. Fifteen years ago, the question of apartheid was only beginning to be considered internationally. Public opinion was ill-informed and needed to be convinced that apartheid in South Africa was totally wrong. Therefore, anti-apartheid movements placed emphasis on demonstrating the true nature of apartheid to the public. Sympathetic sections of the public were shocked by these revelations but they had yet to accept that there was a case for the use of force against the ruling white minorities. Even some active members of anti-apartheid groups in the early 1960s did not accept that the use of force could not be rejected as part of the struggle.
Thus, support for the liberation movements was, at first, largely confined to moral support, expressed in resolutions, public meetings and information material. Increasingly, the movements were able to promote greater public understanding for material support to the liberation movements. The South Africa Freedom Day, which is observed on 26 June every year, has become a focus for such activity. Leaders of the South African liberation movements are in demand on that day to speak at public meetings all over Europe. The British Anti-Apartheid Movement has an advantage in that it is able to conduct a continuous process of dialogue and consultation with liberation movement leaders since the movements maintain offices in London. Lack of funds and geographical considerations prevent smaller countries, such as Ireland, from holding such frequent discussions, but whenever possible, tours are arranged for these leaders.
Gradually, the policy decisions of anti-apartheid movements concerning the liberation movements have become more militant. A resolution of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1968 called on the Movement "to consult with representatives of the freedom movements of southern Africa upon a concrete programme of international action designed to render moral and material assistance to the armed resistance of the southern African peoples". Even at that stage, however, the material assistance envisaged was of a humanitarian nature, such as medical supplies and warm clothing. It was felt that appeals for such assistance would achieve a greater public response. Student groups have found it easier to embark on general fund-raising campaigns for the liberation movements, though the response was slow. In 1970 the National Union of Students in the United Kingdom adopted a resolution calling for material support for the liberation movements, but it was only in 1972 that this became a reality, when over 2,000 was raised during a special fund-raising fortnight.
Each anti-apartheid movement has to determine its priorities for action in the light of the political stance of its own country. In Great Britain, the principal trading partner of South Africa, the attention of anti-apartheid activists has been directed chiefly at ending economic collaboration with apartheid (at the express request of the liberation movements) rather than at providing aid in the form of funds and equipment for the liberation movements.
In the Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, the anti-apartheid movements have been able to concentrate on persuading their governments to make grants to the liberation movements. The Swedish Government and Swedish public opinion have proved remarkably sympathetic to the aspirations of the liberation movements, and the Swedish Government was the first to give direct assistance to liberation movements. The climate of opinion in several other countries is such that, though governments might not be prepared to follow the example of Sweden, public opinion might well do so.
One of the main difficulties at present is that the repression in South Africa is so highly organised that the activities of the liberation movements must of necessity be clandestine and appear unorganised. This creates the impression that there is no focus for more active support. For instance, to the outside observer, the widespread strikes which took place during 1973 in Durban and other major South African cities seemed to lack prior organisation and overall leadership, making it difficult to convert the sympathy, which was undoubtedly felt in many European countries, into concrete assistance to organisations.
Nevertheless, these strikes, which were followed by the shocking shootings at Carletonville, showed that the situation in South Africa was not as rigidified as it seemed. During the latter half of the 1960s the white power structure had looked so enormously powerful that there seemed to be little hope of an early change. In the Scandinavian countries, it had become difficult to recruit voluntary workers for anti-apartheid campaigns while there was an upsurge of interest in territories under Portuguese domination where liberation movements were scoring real successes in the military struggle. (2)
The guerrilla wars in Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique, and now in Zimbabwe, are presently affecting the whole balance of power in southern Africa; as the supporters of the anti-apartheid movements came to realise this, their interest in the whole region has revived.
The most impressive result of Scandinavian solidarity work has undoubtedly been their success in persuading governments to contribute directly to the support of the liberation movements. During 1973-1974 the Swedish Government gave about 3.3 million, of which the greater part is allocated to the PAIGC, FRELIMO, and MPLA. In 1970, the Norwegian Government decided in principle to provide development aid to the liberation movements, and it later gave a grant to the PAIGC of 151,515 Norwegian kroner. The Danish Government increased its contributions to the victims of apartheid from 28,666 dollars in 1965 to 2,400,000 dollars in 1973. Nor is this assistance limited any longer to strictly humanitarian purposes. For example, in 1973, the Government of Finland has decided to support the liberation movements directly and gave a grant to the PAIGC.
Other anti-apartheid movements have conducted their own aid programmes. Though the results were, perhaps, less spectacular in terms of the amount of money raised, they nevertheless mark an important step forward in terms of solidarity. The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, for instance, has run a medical aid scheme for Mozambique. The Swiss Anti-Apartheid Movement has been particularly interested in Namibia and has kept in close touch with its recognised liberation movement, the Southwest Africa People`s Organisation (SWAPO) and makes contributions towards the publication of the SWAPO journal, Namibia News.
In summing up the relations between anti-apartheid groups and the liberation movements, it can be said that the policy of the former is determined broadly by the latter. Basically, it is for the liberation movements themselves to determine policies and to make their demands, and for anti-apartheid groups to respond. There is, however, a considerable amount of interaction on a number of matters. Anti-apartheid groups have been able to provide information to liberation movements about developments in their countries, and have provided technical assistance and advice on the formulation of demands. To this extent they have been partners of the liberation movements in joint campaigns to change public opinion and alter the policy of governments.
Due to this close relationship with the liberation movements, a marked change in the aims of many anti-apartheid movements has taken place; namely, the widening of their scope to cover not only South Africa but also Namibia, Southern Rhodesia and the territories under Portuguese domination. Namibia fell naturally within the concern of the anti-apartheid movements inasmuch as South Africa refused to relinquish her illegal occupation of the territory, in defiance of the United Nations. Anti-apartheid groups became concerned with Southern Rhodesia following the illegal declaration of independence by the Smith regime in 1965, which brought that country closer to South Africa and resulted in a strengthening of apartheid laws there. In the Portuguese-occupied territories, the increasing successes of the liberation movements have compelled Portugal to open up the territories to foreign investment (much of it South African) and to forge military links with Vorster`s regime. It has become increasingly obvious that progress of the liberation movements in any one territory affects the situation in the other territories in the region.
With the progress of the liberation movement in Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique, separate committees have been established in many countries to direct solidarity campaigns and to raise money and material assistance for the liberation movements. Cooperation between these committees and anti-apartheid movements is generally close. In Ireland, where such separate committees do not exist, the Anti-Apartheid Movement has widened its aims to cover all the territories of southern Africa.
In 1962, the United Nations General Assembly decided to set up a Special Committee on Apartheid to study and report on developments in South Africa and to recommend action to the General Assembly and the Security Council. The Committee has gradually developed into a channel of communication between the United Nations and the many non-governmental organisations, including and most importantly, the anti-apartheid groups all over the world. In addition to hearing petitioners and experts at the United Nations Headquarters, it has followed the practice of visiting other countries, from time to time, to meet the representatives of these groups and to exchange ideas with them.
This exchange of views is of tremendous value in enabling the General Assembly, an assembly of representatives of governments, to take into account the views of many people whose ideas may differ from those of their governments, but who are united in anti-apartheid groups which collectively represent a significant body of opinion in Western Europe.
The visits of the Special Committee and its delegations also help in bringing developments at the United Nations to the attention of many who might otherwise remain unaware of them. Anti-apartheid groups have close affiliations with trade unions, various political parties, students and church bodies, at the local as well as the national level. Because of these links, the publications of the Unit on Apartheid, the magazine Objective: Justice and other United Nations publications reach much wider readership than would otherwise be the case. The resolutions of the United Nations are made known to countless individual readers of the material distributed by anti-apartheid groups.
The Special Committee is the organ of the United Nations with which anti-apartheid movements have maintained closest and most direct contact. The Special Committee of 24 on decolonisation and the United Nations Council for Namibia have also established occasional contacts with the movements, and it is hoped that these contacts can be improved and made more regular. Recently, the Security Council Committee on sanctions against Southern Rhodesia has also invited non-governmental organisations to cooperate in discovering and reporting breaches of sanctions.
A number of anti-apartheid movements have now applied for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Commission on Human Rights, through its Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts and the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, has undertaken major studies on the gross violations of human rights in southern Africa.
Several specialised agencies of the United Nations are also concerned with the struggle against apartheid. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) does a great deal of educational work in the area of racism and racial discrimination, which includes apartheid. It has published a valuable study entitled The Effects of Apartheid on Education, Science, Culture and Information in South Africa, and intends soon to publish an educational kit on apartheid for use in schools. This kit was originally prepared and tried out in a pilot version by a group of teachers in Great Britain.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has also done valuable work since 1964 on the rights of workers and trade unions in southern Africa, and helped in the organisation of the International Trade Union Conference against Apartheid, held in Geneva in 1973, with the encouragement and support of the Special Committee on Apartheid. Here again, anti-apartheid movements play a valuable role in transmitting the fruits of the work of the ILO to both trade union branches and individual workers. The British Anti-Apartheid Movement has a special trade union section which publishes information material for workers and arranges trade union conferences on southern Africa.
These bodies issue documentary material and hold international conferences and seminars from time to time. Anti-apartheid groups, except insofar as their members may be invited as experts to read papers or to present evidence, do not by and large come into direct contact with them. Such contact would indeed be difficult in the case of smaller anti-apartheid groups, which do not possess the personnel or funds to devote to this task. This is not to say that an exchange of information is not useful, but only to stress that a small national group, which relies on volunteer workers and is constantly under-financed, must select its priorities very carefully and may decide to concentrate on influencing its own government. Thus the work of the Special Committee on Apartheid, by acting as a channel of communication between the United Nations and non-governmental bodies, takes on great importance.
(1) From "Notes and Documents", No. 4/74, March 1974
(2) See Skovmand, Sven, Scandinavian Opposition to Apartheid, United Nations Unit on Apartheid, "Notes and Documents", No. 23/70.