"We had come to know him (Olof Palme) not only as a leader of the Swedish people and an international statesman, but also as one of us, a fellow combatant who has made an inestimable contribution to the struggle for the liberation of South Africa..."From Vietnam to Nicaragua, from El Salvador to Palestine, from Sahara to South Africa, across the face of the globe, the flags hang limp and half mast in loving memory of this giant of justice who had become a citizen of the world, a brother and a comrade to all who are downtrodden."
- Message of condolence by Mr. Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congres of South Africa, on the assassination of Olof Palme
In a generation when the response of Western governments to the revolution against colonial and racist domination in southern Africa had been characterized by equivocation and hypocrisy, Olof Palme was one Western leader who had consistently and effectively demonstrated his solidarity with the oppressed people, in words and in action.
Under his leadership, Sweden provided generous assistance to the victims of repression and their liberation movements, and to the newly independent States which suffered enormously because of their geographic location and their refusal to betray Africa. It led the way in the West in sanctions against the oppressive regimes. It thereby reinforced the faith of the African people in non-racialism and countered moves to complicate their just struggle by making the region a theatre of East-West confrontation.
Olof Palme was tireless in his efforts to promote international action against apartheid - especially in the aftermath of the Soweto massacre of 1976, and in the critical period from 1984. He was instrumental in obtaining a firm commitment from the Socialist International in support of the African liberation struggle, and he constantly challenged the major Western Powers which continued to obstruct international action.
I had occasion, as head of the United Nations Centre against Apartheid, to consult with Mr. Palme on several occasions since the mid-1960s on international action against apartheid. He was always abreast of the developments in southern Africa and paid great attention to the views of the leaders of liberation movements whom he met frequently. He was never paternalistic and constantly emphasized that African people must be helped in the context of their choices. He always pointed to the simple and basic moral issues,to the human aspects - the suffering of the people, their aspirations and their legitimate rights.
His commitment was total. If his Government or his party did not take action sooner than they did, or stronger than they did, it was never for lack of will on his part but because he was anxious to educate the people first so as to obtain full support of the nation, and because he wished, as much as possible, to act in a way that other Western countries could follow the example.
I decided to edit this collection of speeches of Olof Palme not only as a tribute to him for his role as the Western leader who has contributed most to the struggle for liberation in southern Africa, but also because of the continuing relevance of his views on the responsibilities of people in the Western world, of democrats and socialists, to act in support of that struggle.
For while apartheid continues to cause enormous suffering, and take a heavy toll in human lives, international action is still frustrated by the obstruction of a few powerful governments. Though the Pretoria regime has committed an unending series of acts of aggression, and has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations, they continue to prevent even a determination that the situation constitutes a threat to international peace and security, and thereby to prevent mandatory sanctions against that regime. The leaders of some of the major Powers persist in plans to bestow respectability and international acceptance on that regime in return for seeming concessions, instead of seeking the elimination of racist domination.
The declarations of Olof Palme who represented the best traditions of the people in the West and underscored the imperatives of international solidarity and cooperation, therefore, deserve continuing attention. The speeches in this collection, except for one in 1966, are from two crucial periods: 1976 to 1978 when he was in opposition, and 1984-86 when he was Prime Minister. They are inevitably rather repetitive as he was trying in different conferences and fora to stress the central issues in southern Africa and the most essential measures to discharge the responsibilities of Western countries. I hope they adequately reflect the commitment and contribution of Mr. Palme.
The contribution of Olof Palme was the result of an abiding commitment since his early youth to human solidarity, especially by the people of the rich countries with those of poor countries and with peoples who are oppressed. When he was only 19 years old, he joined other Swedish students in donating blood to raise funds for scholarships to South African students.
His feeling of solidarity was strengthened by his year`s study in 1948 in the United States where he saw the evil of racism, and by his travel to India and other Asian nations in 1953 as leader of the Swedish student movement.
Soon after the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, when the Nordic student movements set up a scholarship programme for South African refugees, he helped, as a member of the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), to facilitate a grant by the Swedish Government.
As a member of the Cabinet from 1963, he participated in decisions which placed Sweden in the forefront of Western countries in action against apartheid and in support of the African freedom movements. Whatever his portfolio, he spoke out against apartheid and for international action against colonialism and racism.
In 1965, Sweden became the first Western country to advocate binding sanctions by the United Nations against South Africa. In the same year, it made its first contribution to the Defence and Aid Fund and other agencies for humanitarian assistance to political prisoners in South Africa and their families. Next year, when the Defence and Aid Fund was banned in South Africa, it took the unusual step of giving it confidential grants. Sweden has also been a principal contributor to the United Nations and other funds for humanitarian assistance to victims of apartheid and for scholarships for young South Africans - contributing many times its share under any criteria.
In March 1966, Mr. Palme chaired the International Conference on South West Africa, organized by the British Anti-Apartheid Movement in Oxford. This Conference not only drew attention to the brutal oppression in the territory but helped crystallize opinion in favour of ending South Africa`s mandate to administer the territory. After the International Court of Justice disappointed hopes of a judiicial remedy by its abortive verdict of July 1966, the United Nations General Assembly terminated the mandate on October 27, 1966, by an overwhelming vote.
In April 1966, Oliver Tambo, leader of the African National Congress of South Africa, visited Stockholm at the invitation of the Social Democratic Party. Olof Palme invited him home to celebrate the coming of spring with his family on April 30, 1966 - in a gesture of recognition of the liberation movement - and marched with him in the May Day parade the next day. Thus began the close friendship of Olof Palme and Oliver Tambo. In subsequent years, Mr. Palme established close personal relations with leaders of other southern African liberation movements.
When Olof Palme became Prime Minister in 1969, the situation in southern Africa was cause for serious concern. The white minority in Southern Rhodesia had declared unilateral independence and South African forces had moved into that country in open defiance of the colonial Power, the United Kingdom. Wars between colonial and racist authorities and liberation movements were taking place in Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia and Namibia. The repression of the African people had increased. The "unholy alliance" of the minority regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia, and the Portuguese fascist regime, posed a challenge to the world.
Yet there was little international action. The liberation movements and their friends had to make persistent diplomatic and political efforts, including especially the mobilization of the public in the Western countries, to obtain even slight progress in international action.
Again Sweden, together with other Nordic States, was the most responsive to appeals from Africa and the United Nations, and Olof Palme played an important role.
The liberation movements required greater international assistance, as their needs had greatly increased with the launching of armed struggles and the establishment of liberated areas in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. They had so far been able to obtain assistance, however, only from the Communist countries, mainly in kind, and modest amounts from poor non-aligned countries and public organizations in the West.
The Swedish Government decided in 1969 to give direct assistance to African liberation movements, and was the only Western country to do so for several years. It increased the assistance year by year and by 1986, it had contributed well over 700 million kroner to the liberation movements in southern Africa, the popular movements struggling against apartheid in South Afria and Namibia, and the victims of oppression.
Progress on sanctions against South Africa proved more difficult. While several smaller Western countries had followed the Swedish example by supporting proposals for sanctions in the United Nations, it was not possible to obtain a binding resolution from the Security Council because of the vetoes or threats of vetoes by Britain, France and the United States. Sweden and the other smaller States felt that sanctions must be binding and universal to be effective and action by them alone would serve little purpose. That meant no action at all, even by Sweden except for discouraging Swedish businessmen from new investments in South Africa.
After the Soweto massacre in 1976, however, Sweden and Norway led the Western States, by taking national action to stop investments in South Africa, while pressing for binding measures in the United Nations. Olof Palme and the Swedish Social Democratic Party, then in Opposition, proposed in Parliament the prohibition of new investments in South Africa and initiatives in the United Nations to promote such action by all countries. Administrative action was taken forthwith and legislation prohibiting new investments was adopted in 1979.
This was the beginning of a series of actions by Sweden such as the ending of air links with South Africa, stopping of visa-free entry to South Africans, support of sports, cultural and other boycotts of South Africa, extension of the investment ban to include transfer of tenchnology, and most recently the virtual ban on trade with South Africa.
Palme was outraged by the continuing violence against schoolchildren in South Africa after the Soweto massacre, the attacks by the racist regimes against neighbouring countries, and the hypocrisy of the major Western Powers in condemning apartheid while continuing even military cooperation with the Pretoria regime. He was also gravely concerned over the danger of superpower conflict in southern Africa.
He played an important role by devoting considerable effort from 1976 to promoting action by the Western world, especially by the Socialist movement, in support of the oppressed people of southern Africa.
Addressing many conferences on southern Africa, he constantly emphasized that there can be no neutrality in southern Africa, that there was no middle ground between the oppressors and the oppressed, and that there can be no reform of apartheid or compromise with apartheid.
Rejecting criticism of liberation movements for resorting to armed struggle, he warned that people in the West should not moralize against those who were forced, by the intransigence and escalating brutality of the oppressors, to resort to violent resistance. He pointed out that the cooperation of Western governments with the racist regimes in southern Africa helped cause the situation.
He denounced moves by the major Western Powers to give assurances to the apartheid regime in return for its cooperation in facilitating negotiated settleemnts in Rhodesia and Namibia. He pointed out that the Pretoria regime would cooperate only if there were sanctions and pressure, and that the issue ultimately was apartheid itself.
He stressed that lack of action by the United Nations should not serve as an alibi for passivity as regards action at the national level. He proposed a programme of action - including an end to all military cooperation with racist regimes; pressure on the major Western Powers for binding sanctions by the United Nations; unilateral national measures, pending such binding sanctions, especially on ending investments in South Africa and stopping loans to South Africa; support to liberation movements and the oppressed people; assistance to the independent States in southern Africa; and encouragement of action by churches, trade unions and other organizations in support of liberation.
He became a sponsor of the World Campaign against Military and Nuclear Cooperation with South Africa, initiated by Abdul S. Minty, to ensure the full implementation and the strengthening of the United Nations arms embargo against South Africa.
He stressed constantly that democratic socialists should identify themselves with the struggles against oppression. The Social Democratic movement, he pointed out, had arisen as a liberation movement of people denied political and human rights. It must be a movement of workers and other people oppressed through history, and the parties in Europe must be linked in solidarity with the oppresed people of Africa.
As he said at the Socialist International Congress in Geneva in 1976:
"Democratic socialism should never stand on the side of colonialism and racialism. In each individual instance we must stand on the side of the poor and oppressed peoples and give our support to the continued struggle for liberation in southern Africa.
"It is not only a question of contacts and dialogue but of identifying ourselves with the liberation struggle of the oppressed majority of this planet."
He was instrumental in obtaining a resolution at that Congress declaring full solidarity of the Socialist International with the struggles in southern Africa, andled a mission to southern Africa in 1977. The commitment of the Socialist International was valuable since Social Democratic parties were in power in several Euroeapn countries and were influential in several others.
The crusading efforts of Palme in support of African liberation were greatly appreciated not only by the liberation movements but also by the Organization of African Unity and United Nations bodies. The United Nations awarded him a gold medal in 1978 in recognition of his great contribution to the international campaign against apartheid.
When Olof Palme returned to power in 1982, Zimbabwe had become independent. But the Pretoria regime had increased attacks against neighbouring States and repression against the rising resistance in South Africa and Namibia. It was encouraged by the policy of "constructive engagement" pursued by the Reagan administration in the United States and the stubborn opposition by the conservative governments in Britain and West Germany to any sanctions against it.
A critical situation arose in 1984 when Mozambique was obliged, because of devastation from South African aggression and destabilization, to sign the Nkomati accord with South Africa. It appeared that the frontline States were weakening while resistance in South Africa was rising. The Pretoria regime hoped, with the encouragement of some Western Powers, to break through its isolation and assert suzerainty over the whole of southern Africa.
Olof Palme recognized the need to lend greater political and material assistance to the frontline States and to find ways to support the resistance movements inside South Africa, especially the United Democratic Front and the independent trade unions. Assistance from Sweden to the frontline States increased rapidly, amounting to more than 300 million dollars in 1986. Sweden became the principal source of support to the movements struggling against apartheid inside South Africa in the face of brutal repression.
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Nordic and frontline States which Sweden organized in June 1984, and the meeting in September of the Socialist International with the frontline States and liberation movements, of which Palme was the moving force, contributed significantly to protecting and advancing the resistance to the South African aggression and repression.
At the same time, the Swedish Government increased national sanctions against South Africa and took initiatives to strengthen the Nordic programme of action against apartheid. It worked closely with Non-aligned States to secure stronger United Nations action in response to the upsurge of resistance in South Africa from 1984 and the imposition of a State of Emergency.
Olof Palme continued till the end of his life to promote action for the emancipation of Africa. His last major address was to the Swedish People`s Parliament against Apartheid, a week before he was assassinated: he concluded it with a call that "we must live up to our responsibility for bringing this repulsive system (of apartheid) to an end."
I would like to express my gratitude to the Palme family for permission to publish these speeches, especially to Mrs. Lisbet Palme who is actively continuing efforts in support of the children in southern Africa struggling against oppression. I must also express my great appreciation to Anders Ferm, Hans Dahlgren and Anders Bjurner in Sweden, Nikhil Chakravartty in India, and many others, for their encouragement and help.
And to Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, who has played a historic role in rousing the conscience of the world to the moral issues posed by apartheid and continues to identify himself totally with the struggle of the people of southern Africa, for agreeing to write a foreword.
E.S. Reddy
New York
June 1989