ANC, boycotts and nascent relations http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.naip100008 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org ANC, boycotts and nascent relations Author/Creator Sellström, Tor Publisher Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Uppsala) Date 1999 Resource type Articles Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Sweden, Southern Africa (region), South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1961-1962 Source Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Uppsala) Relation Sellström, Tor. Sweden and national liberation in Southern Africa, Vol. I. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1999. 176-214. Rights By kind permission of Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (The Nordic Africa Institute). Description Part of a study on National Liberation in Southern Africa: The Role of the Nordic Countries, hosted at the Nordic Africa Institute Format extent 40 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.naip100008 http://www.aluka.org ANC, Boycotts and Nascent Relations ANC, Boycotts and Nascent Relations The Nobel Prize to Chief Luthuli Of all the contacts established between Sweden and the political opposition in South Africa, by far the most important was with the African National Congress. Its political objectives "to strive for the attainment of universal adult suffrage and the creation of a united democratic South Africa on the principles outlined in the Freedom Charter"1 were widely supported, and the movement would over the years occupy a hegemonic position in both the Swedish antiapartheid movement and at the official level. The position was to a large extent achieved through the extraordinary diplomatic skills of Oliver Tambo and the early efforts by resident ANC members, such as-above all-Billy Modise? What really brought ANC to the fore-particularly in Swedish church circles and in the non-socialist political centre-was, however, the granting of the Nobel Peace Prize to the ANC President- General, Chief Albert Luthuli, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in December 1961. Behind the award was the leading Swedish anti-apartheid activist Gunnar Helander. As a CSM missionary in South Africa, Helander had in the 1940s worked closely with Luthuli-both within the Natal Missionary Conference and at the secular Institute of Race Relations-becoming deeply impressed by the future national ANC leader. Refused a visa to re-enter South Africa in 1957, together with Olof G. Tandberg of SFS he conceived the idea of proposing Luthuli for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his stature as a Christian and a politician, since 1952 leading the non-violent resistance of the black majority.3 No African had then received the coveted prize,4 but true to his nature Helander actively raised the proposal in newspaper articles and on the radio. As parliamentarians were among those entitled to submit proposals to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, he wrote to Evert Svensson, a Social Democratic MP and a leading representative of the Brotherhood Movement. In turn, Svensson lobbied his fellow parliamentarians and managed to get the signatures of 34 Swedish MP's on the decisive submission? Luthuli's candidature was at the same time supported by Albert Schweitzer, the famous German missionary 1 'Constitution of the ANC', A.J. Luthuli, President General, and O.R. Tambo, Secretary-General, January 1958. 2 See, for example, interview with Anders Johansson, Eskilstuna, 19 November 1996, where Modise is described as "a major source of inspiration" for the early Swedish anti-apartheid movement. 3 Interview with Gunnar Helander, VsterAs, 12 February 1996. 4 Desmond Tutu, at the time General Secretary of the South African Council of Chuthes, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk shared the prize in 1993. With two presidents as peace laureates, ANC occupies a unique position among national liberation movements in the 20th century. The more than three decades between Luthuli's and Mandela's awards also bear witness to ANC's exceptionally long road to freedom. 5 Evert Svenssor 'Fredens r6st' ('The voice of peace') in Viistgita-Dewokraten, 30 October 1961. ANC, Boycotts and Nascent Relations doctor who had won the prize in 1953, and by Sir Charles Morrison, the vicechancellor of the University of Leeds in England. The announcement that Albert Luthuli had been awarded the Peace Prize was made in late October 1961.1 It made big headlines in the Swedish press, which, naturally, highlighted the situation in South Africa in general and the role of Luthuli and ANC in particular. Per Wastberg wrote a full-page article in Dagens Nyheter in which he presented the laureate, arguing that the peace prize falls like a weapon in the hands of the unarmed. The Africans will see it as a confirmation that the work by Luthuli and by his party to make Africa part of the world, belonging to all, constitutes work for global peace. A more worthy man could not be honoured together with Dag Hammarskjold.2 A number of factors contributed to the deep impact the announcement had in Sweden. The prize ceremony was, to begin with, to be dedicated to both Luthuli and Dag Hammarskjdld, the Swedish UN Secretary General who had died in Africa on a peace mission only a month earlier. Equally important was that Luthuli was personally known by Swedish missionaries from different denominations and that the churches strongly supported the decision by the Nobel Committee. In addition, the fact that ANC was an 'unlawful organization' and that Luthuli had been under a banning order since 1959-confining him to his Natal home in Groutville-further underlined the cruelty of the apartheid system.3 Finally, as soon as the announcement was made, a number of concerned organizations, such as the Brotherhood Movement,4 the Social Democratic Laboremus association in Uppsala5 and the National Council of Swedish Youth,6 invited Luthuli to Sweden as well. However, the South African government only granted him a travel document to Norway.7 This further raised public awareness about the situation in South Africa. 1 The award was formally granted for 1960. 2 Per WAstberg: 'Fredspriset till Afrika' ('The peace prize to Africa') in DagensNyheter, 24 October 1961. 3 A couple of days before the ceremony in Oslo, a seventeen-year old Swedish sailor was, in addition, detained in Durban under the Immorality Act and flogged. His female companion was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The young sailor stated to the press that he could "not understand that medieval ways of thinking still remain in a country where Western descendants are in power". The social democratic Stockholms-Tidningen concluded: "Again and again we must bring home that flogging and racial hatred are bloody realities in South Africa. [We must] rivet this fact to every individual's conscience, so that when he or she sees a South African fruit in a shopfront, the image of a bleeding, flogged back of a seventeen-year old will simultaneously appear" (Stockholms-Tidningen, 6 December 1961). 4 Cable from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the Swedish legation in Pretoria, Stockholm, 25 October 1961 (MFA) and Evert Svensson in Viistgbta-Denokraten, 30 October 1961. 5 Laboremus: 'Protokoll frAn styrelssammantrAde' ('Minutes from board meeting'), Uppsala, 1 November 1961 (UPA). 6 SUL: 'Verksamhetsberattelse for tiden 1.7. 1961-30.6. 1962' ('Annual report for the period 1.7. 1961-30.6. 1962'), p. 9 [no place or date] (AJC). 7 Travelling to Norway, Luthuli passed in transit via Gothenburg, where his old friend Gunnar Helander joined him on the flight to Oslo. After Luthuli's death, Helander revealed that he had asked Luthuli if he was not tempted to stay in Norway or in Sweden as a political refugee. Luthuli had brushed the idea away, stating that his place was in South Africa, among his own people (Gunnar Helander: 'Albert Luthuli' in G6IIeborgs Handels- och Sjbfarttfidning, 24 July 1967). Returning Tor Sellstrbm ANC President-General Albert Luthuli on his way to Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 9 December 1961. (Photo. Pressens Bld) The Nobel ceremony took place in the Oslo City Hall on 10 December 1961, in the presence of the exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo and other members of the liberation movement based in Europe, among them Billy Modise from Lund.1 The award was, however, not entirely uncomplicated for ANC. On the one hand, it acknowledged the movement and served as a strong political weapon, although Walter Sisulu, ANC's former Secretary General, later conceded that "we had not, I must confess, by that time attached such an importance to the Nobel Prize".2 At the same time, some members were worried that the award would negatively affect the movement's relations in Africa and confirm a view spread by PAC that ANC was a moderate organization, more acceptable to whites than to blacks.3 Above all, the announcement was made when the ANC leadership around Nelson Mandela was actively preparing for the launch of armed sabotage actions.