New York, 5 October 1976
(Extracts from statements)1
Leslie O. Harriman (Nigeria), Chairman of the Special Committee:
This is a special meeting - a very special meeting indeed - because this is the first time we have met to commend a Member State for its contribution to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Thirty years ago, at the very first session of the General Assembly, the Government of India brought up the question of racial discrimination in South Africa and made it an international issue. Twenty-four years ago, in 1952, India took the lead along with other Asian and Arab States, during the "Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws" in South Africa, to draw the attention of the United Nations and the world to the danger of racial conflict in South Africa and to call for international action against apartheid.
India, under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, acted for all of us and for the liberation movement in South Africa when most of the African countries were not yet free.
We, in this Special Committee, owe particular appreciation to India for its consistent co-operation. When this Committee began its work on 2 April 1963, the very first document before it was a letter from India offering full co-operation. When this Committee appealed in 1964 for assistance to political prisoners and their families in South Africa, the very first contribution came from India. We found a response from India for every request we made in the cause of liberation of South Africa.
When we speak of India's contribution, we cannot but recall the passive resistance campaigns led by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa itself at the turn of the century, even before he began his long and arduous struggle to lead the Indian people to freedom. We cannot but recall that, as early as 1946, India was the first country which broke trade relations with South Africa at considerable sacrifice, as many African and other countries have done in later years. At that time, South Africa accounted for 5 per cent of India's exports, a much larger percentage than the exports to South Africa today of the Western countries which plead that they cannot implement United Nations resolutions.
We may recall the repeated calls by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for Asian solidarity with Africa. Under his leadership, India consistently advised people of Indian origin in South Africa to identify themselves fully with the aspirations of the African majority. They have followed this advice and have today become an integral part of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, in spite of all machinations of the racist regime to divide people into categories of Black, Coloured and Asian and thereby separate them and frustrate their unity and cohesion.
We hate to refer to the racial categories imposed by the apartheid regime, but we all know, and the liberation movements acknowledge, the significant role played and which continues to be played by many people of Indian origin in the South African liberation struggle.
I need only mention the names of Ahmad Kathrada, who is serving life imprisonment on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and others; of Miss Shanti Naidoo, an adopted grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, who suffered solitary-confinement and torture for refusing to testify against her friend, Mrs. Winnie Mandela; of Mrs. Fatima Meer, the well-known sociologist and president of the Black Women's Federation, who was gaoled recently - with her young son and son-in-law - after a long period of persecution; of Strini Moodley, a young and courageous leader of the Black Consciousness Movement now on trial under the notorious Terrorism Act. These are all leaders of Indian community who have associated themselves fully with the black struggle in South Africa.
Today the struggle for liberation in South Africa is Black - and that includes the Africans, the Asians and the Coloured people in an unbreakable alliance. Any marginal advantages offered to so-called Asians and Coloureds - such as the recent "advantages" given to Coloureds but denied to Blacks to begin to play some role in trade unions in South Africa have had little effect in dividing the Coloureds and Asians from their Black compatriots in the struggle for liberation.
I have had occasion recently to visit India to convey the commendation of the Special Committee. I laid a wreath at the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi in tribute from this Committee, and met Members of Parliament, political leaders, editors, students and others. I was most moved by the preoccupation of the Government and people of India with the struggle for liberation in South Africa.
In that land of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, I found a full understanding of the decision of the oppressed people of South Africa to abandon strict adherence to non-violence in the face of the savagery of the racist regime. For, did not Mahatma Gandhi himself say that violence is preferable to cowardice?
Excellency, I am delighted that you [External Affairs Minister of India] were able to accept our invitation to address the Committee so that all the members of the Special Committee can convey to you their sentiments about the contribution of your great country and its leaders to the struggle for freedom in South Africa.
You are yourself a seasoned freedom fighter, a renowned underground leader in the "Quit India" movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 when he called on the people to "do or die" for freedom. In South Africa this today has also become the slogan -not just a slogan, but the inevitable reaction of a people who have been driven into the wall by centuries of exploitation, persecution, dehumanization and enslavement.…
YASHWANTRAO B. CHAVAN (Minister for External Affairs of India):
On behalf of the Government of India may I express my deep sense of appreciation to you and to the members of the Special Committee against Apartheid for the signal honour in convening a special meeting to commend my country for its contribution to the world struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
It is true that it was India which first brought before the United Nations in 1946 the question of racial discrimination in South Africa. We claim no merit for it, because at that time practically the whole of Africa and large parts of Asia were still under colonial domination. It was therefore India's duty on attaining independence to come to the United Nations and enlist the support of other Member States in the common struggle against colonialism and racism.
I would also recall that the struggle for India's independence owed a good deal to the experience gained by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa in the organization and conduct of passive resistance campaigns against unjust laws. It was therefore natural that India should have come to the United Nations to internationalize the campaign against racial discrimination. The fact that this was done during his lifetime must have been a source of some satisfaction to our great leader Mahatma Gandhi. …
Neither science nor religion recognizes any fundamental division in the human species on racial grounds. Nor do they postulate the superiority of any one race over others. Mahatma Gandhi defined race in the following words:
"All those who can have children of one another belong to the same race."
Mahatma Gandhi was the universal man.
The evolution of the jurisprudence of the United Nations on the question of racial discrimination makes interesting reading and I should like to recall some of the important stages. It is not often remembered that at its very first session the General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that "it is in the higher interests of humanity to put an immediate end to racial persecution and discrimination."
India's initiative in 1946 in the United Nations established three conclusions: firstly that racial policies are not matters within the domestic jurisdiction of Member States; secondly that racial policies impaired friendly relations between States; and thirdly that the treatment of all racial groups within a State should be in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1952 India together with twelve Asian and Arab countries declared in the United Nations that a race conflict in South Africa resulting from the policy of apartheid would constitute a threat to international peace and security. that view was widely accepted by the General Assembly nine years later in 1961.
Eleven years ago, in 1965, the General Assembly for the first time drew the attention of the Security Council to the fact that action under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter was essential in order to solve the problem of apartheid. In 1967 the General Assembly condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity.
In 1968 the General Assembly recognized the right of the people of South Africa as a whole to self-determination and to majority rule based on universal suffrage. In 1970 the General Assembly recognized the legitimacy of the struggle of the people of South Africa to eliminate apartheid by all means at their disposal. The General Assembly also declared that the racist regime of South Africa was illegitimate and had no right to represent the people of South Africa.
This Committee has thus been given a very clear mandate by the General Assembly to do everything possible in conformity with the United Nations Charter to eradicate the evil of apartheid. It can look back on the twelve years of its work with much satisfaction, though not yet with a sense of fulfilment.
I congratulate this Committee and its Chairman for their work in publicizing the campaign against apartheid and the situation regarding political prisoners, in spearheading the move for an arms embargo, and in extending support and solidarity to the liberation movements. This Committee is also the driving force behind the United Nations Trust Fund for South Africa.
It gives me much pleasure to announce that India will substantially increase its contribution to this Fund. Furthermore, the Government of India will be glad to assist in the wider dissemination of the publications of the United Nations on apartheid.
Mr. Chairman, the struggle in South Africa against apartheid is entering its final phase. There is no doubt that it will succeed. Apartheid is a lost cause, and it stands universally condemned. The struggle for freedom and racial equality began in the minds of men centuries ago. There is no substitute for freedom, and there is no alternative to equality. Man's unfinished revolution is in South Africa and this Committee has a major role to play in bringing it to a successful conclusion. I wish this Committee speedy success in what is perhaps the noblest and oldest cause in the United Nations.
GUEORGUI SHEVEL (Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) :
… Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, its great leader, from the very first years of existence of the United Nations, India has played a great role in the fight for the liquidation of colonialism and racism on this globe. It is most timely today to recall that it was precisely India 30 years ago that initiated the launching in the United Nations of the question of the liquidation of the criminal system of apartheid.
The great son of India, Mahatma Gandhi, played a great role and took a direct part in launching nationalist struggle against colonialist and racist practices, not only in India alone, but in South Africa as well.
The socialist countries have always been and are today on the side of nations fighting against imperialism, colonialism, racism and apartheid. They have always given and are giving today direct and many-sided material, political and moral assistance and support in that struggle. This basic guideline also defines our position of consistent and firm support for the peoples of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia who are fighting for the liquidation of apartheid and colonialism.
The historic transformations that have taken place in the world, and more particularly on the African continent after the adoption in 1960 of the initiative of the Soviet Union of the historic Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, are an excellent evidence of the success in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism, racism and apartheid. They confirm the vital necessity of strengthening the unity of all the progressive forces of the world today against our common foe. …
We are happy to note that the delegation of the Ukrainian SSR has excellent relations of business-like co-operation with the representatives of the non-aligned developing countries in this Committee, the Special Committee against Apartheid, including the delegation of India, in fulfilling the important tasks facing this Committee in the liquidation of the criminal system of apartheid. The co-operation with the Indian delegation in this matter dates back to the second part of the first session of the United Nations General Assembly in the autumn of 1946, when the then Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR, Mr. Dimitri Manuilski presided over the joint meetings of the First and Sixth Committees, which on the initiative of India were examining the question of racial discrimination in South Africa.
I am very happy to use this opportunity to once again point out the outstanding contribution of India to the struggle for the liquidation of apartheid, racism and colonialism, for peace and security of nations, and to thank the distinguished Minister for External Affairs of the Indian Republic, Mr. Chavan, for his important statement made here in the Special Committee.
CARLOS T. ALZAMORA (Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations):
…It is a particular pleasure for me to associate myself with this tribute on behalf of the Latin American members of the Committee, which represent a geographical region where all the races and cultures of the world converge and, through their fusion, have contributed to the greatness of our continent. From that derives our condemnation of all manner of racial discrimination and our special condemnation of apartheid, which is a practice which not only breaks the spiritual and moral unity of a nation but today threatens and endangers international peace and security and therefore demands more than ever the Organization's intervention.
….a time when the arrogance of the racist regimes is being brought down by the struggle of the people and by international pressure, at a time when we see the dawning of the liberation of southern Africa, the tribute which we, today, pay to India and to Foreign Minister Chavan for India's valuable contribution to the struggle against apartheid acquires in turn the meaning of a historical ratification, To this struggle, Peru and the Latin American countries here represented pledge their total support and faith in the unremitting and ineluctable triumph of freedom and dignity for all the peoples of the world.
The CHAIRMAN:
The next speaker on my list is the distinguished representative of Ghana.
The independence of Ghana in 1957, under the leadership of the late Mr. Kwame Nkrumah, was perhaps the beginning of the resurgence of a new Africa. Soon after independence, Ghana took over from India the burden of leadership in the discussion of apartheid in the United Nations. It took the initiative to convene conferences of independent African States and of African peoples and freedom fighters of southern Africa to organize continental support for the liberation movements in southern Africa and their struggle. …
FRANK BOATEN (Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations):
It is appropriate that this Committee should wish to commend India for her long struggle in the United Nations and in other international fora for freedom, independence and human dignity. The leadership of such immortals as Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru provided the people of India with inspiration and courage during their long fight against colonialism and imperialism, for human dignity and the right to manage their own affairs.
Their inspiration affected many other people all over the world. Indeed in their fight for freedom, the people of my own country, Ghana, took a great deal of encouragement and inspiration from India's example. The achievement of the independence of India provided us a further proof of the supremacy of the will of people over colonial oppression and exploitation. Our resolve to pursue our objective of independence was thereby strengthened and nurtured to fruition. India's independence dealt a telling blow on colonialism from which it was never to recover. It was a blow which signified the beginning of the end of that pernicious system.
India took the leading role in assailing South Africa's institutionalized racism of apartheid, before independent black African States became Members of the United Nations. It was through such efforts that the international community awakened for the first time to the reprehensible implications of the system. Thirty years ago India raised the question in the United Nations and kept it before the international community until we from Africa arrived on the scene to give it the dimensions which it has since assumed.
But for India's exemplary initiative, we would not have had such a strong foundation upon which to build a superstructure from which we have continually launched our persistent attacks on racism, racial discrimination and apartheid. Perhaps it will not be an exaggeration even to say that this Committee, which has spearheaded the struggle since its establishment in 1963, may not have come into being at the time it did but for India's pioneering efforts.
The isolation of the racist regime of South Africa owes its origins, to a large extent, to the sacrifice made by the Government and people of India. At a time when she could have expanded her trade and diplomatic relations with the racist regime, she steadfastly put justice and the human dignity of the people of South Africa above selfish ends. Unlike the majority of the European developed countries, which make pious statements of abhorrence of the apartheid system but continue to encourage the racist regime by economic and military collaboration, India took the extreme step by breaking diplomatic relations with that regime in complete disregard of the huge loss of revenue which could have accrued to her from expanded relations. …
It is my pleasure to welcome the Minister for External Affairs of India and to convey through him to the Government and the people of India our sincere gratitude for the contribution they have made towards dignity and respect for the human person regardless of race, religion and culture.
Mr. IMRAD IDRISS (Chief of the Directorate for International Organizations in the Foreign Ministry of Indonesia)
Today I am deeply honoured to speak on behalf of the Asian members of the Special Committee, as well as on that of my own delegation….
In 1946, at the second session of the United Nations General Assembly, Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Chairman of the Indian delegation, eloquently set forth the reasons for India's opposition to racial discrimination:
"India firmly believes that imperialism, political, economic or social, in whatever part of the world it may exist and by whomsoever it may be established and perpetuated, is totally inconsistent with the objects and purposes of the United Nations and of its Charter."
The principles cited by Mrs. Pandit in 1946 have inspired the ensuing struggle against the evils of apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa which now, at last, is beginning to bear fruit in the weakening and impending eradication of that odious system.
India's contribution to this struggle throughout the years has indeed been a driving force in the efforts of the international community as a whole. When India first raised the question of racial discrimination at the United Nations, the world was dominated by States which still possessed enormous colonial empires. India's voice was thus one of the few that could be raised to champion an unpopular cause, at that time, namely the cause of the peoples oppressed by racism and colonialism in southern Africa and other regions of the world.
India's contribution was not limited to the assistance which it was able to give at the United Nations alone, however great though that aid was in itself. The shining example shown by many of India's leaders, above all that of Mohandas K. Gandhi, inspired many leaders all over the world to fight for freedom and justice. His personal experience of racial discrimination in South Africa was an important element in the creation of the strategies and tactics Mahatma Gandhi used in the struggle against imperialism in his homeland. Prime Minister Nehru, a pioneer and co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, time and again made clear his belief that India's freedom would remain meaningless so long as other countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America remained under foreign domination and so long as freedom was denied to people anywhere in any form whatsoever.
Consistent with this background, for thirty long years since the question of racial discrimination was raised at the United Nations, India has continued to offer both moral and concrete support to the struggling peoples of the world, in particular to those of Africa, and to warn the international community of the great dangers of apartheid. Perceptively, the Indian delegation foretold the peril to international peace and security that was inherent in racial discrimination. It predicted that the seeds of a major conflict along racial lines with continental and world-wide repercussions lay in a continuation of apartheid.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we pay tribute to India's pioneering efforts to elevate the question of racial and national oppression in South Africa into a major international issue. Its consistent and successful efforts, together with those of other Afro-Asian countries, to mobilize concerted and co-ordinated action by the international community to combat and eradicate the evils of racism, apartheid and colonialism merit the gratitude, not only of the oppressed peoples of South Africa, but of the entire international community. They unquestionably mark a momentous contribution to the struggle for universal peace, freedom and a just world, and constitute one of the brightest chapters in the history of our Organization.
Footnotes
Source: Solidarity with the struggle for freedom in South Africa.Tribute to the India. New York: United Nations Centre Against Apartheid, 1976