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One of the good problems involved in trying to put the history of the movement against aparthei d into written form has been the con- tinuous activity and growth. Each time I thought that I could take pause and compile my thoughts, clippings, minutes from meetings, old flyers, etc., new developments would occur. Most recently the effort of the City to establish a "sister-city" relationship to a township known as Postdam in South Africa has stirred quite a controversy. And finally, and I believe more importantly, I am most happy to announce that on December 9, 1988, on the eve of Human Rights Day, a statewide organization, Wisconsin Against Apartheid, was born. I will turn back to both of these issues as I try to do justice to a most important movement for justice, peace and equality. The Free South Africa Coalition was born in March of 1985. It was on March 19 that some thirty people were murdered by South African police. These people of Langa were merely trying to attend a funeral of some fri ends who had also been murdered by the pol ice a few days earlier. It was exactly 25 years earlier, March 21,1960, that 65 unarmed people had been murdered in Sharpeville. Time flies for the rest of the world, while it stands still in Sharpeville, Langa and the rest of South Africa. The day following the Langa massacre, Presi- dent Reagan happened to be holding an unrelated press conference. During the question and answer period, Reagan was asked to comment about hi s thoughts on the Langa massacre. After some babb 1 i ng about that nation's internal strife, Reagan said" well you know, some people are out just looking for trouble." It was this clearly fascistic j .J outlook that so angered enough of us Mi lwaukeeans that we had to organize our outrage. Credit should first of all be given to the national movement that had already been building due to the efforts of an organization called Transafrica. It was on Thanksgiving Day, 1984, that Randall Robinson, director of Transafrica, Mary Frances Berry and Congressman Walter Fauntory were arrested in front of the South African Embassy for pro­ testing against apartheid. I believe that this was the initial spark that set fire to the current nationwide movement. Since that day, as a matter of principle, people have been arrested on a regular basis, famous and non-famous, protesting against apartheid. This is not to diminish the role that other very important anti-apartheid organizations have played in our country, such as the Washington Office on Africa, or the U.N. Centre Against Apartheid. It was in January 1985 that an ad hoc group of individuals called ) together a rally to protest apartheid at St. Agnes Church in Milwaukee. A couple of hundred people attended, but there was no followup. Added to this, the organizers of that event had no credible base in the Milwaukee Black community. This was the rally at which Alderman Michael McGee criticized Stevie Wonder's arrest at the Washington embassy as insincere and insignificant. He further sarcastically remarked about Stevie wearing a "big fur coat" during his protest. 1. for one, resented th is attack on one of my heros and was ab 1 e to re 1 ax when the woman sitting next to me said, "Yeah, but it's okay for him [McGee] to stand up there with his $30 Izad shirt on." I looked at the 1 ittle alligator on McGee's shirt and laughed. One thing that I have learned from my years in the movement is a lesson from Karl Marx, and that is to 'never oppose anything progressive', especially in ~ublic. 2 With Reagan's remakrs ever on my mind, I quickly called on members of the community who I knew to be both progressive and sincere. As I look back, it was the activists of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression who provided the initial boost that gave birth to the Free South Africa Coalition; namely, Booker Collins, Art Heitzer and Jan Schlichting. must confess here to some old ultra- leftist ideas that must have snuck into my thoughts; my first inclina- tiori was to padlock the doors of the Federal Building. It was Booker Collins who reminded me that there was not substitute for mass struggle. That was over three and a half years ago. Instead, we called a public meeting to determine how to respond to the murders in Langa and Ronald Reagan's sickly response. After a good deal of discussion we all agreed that it was necessary to organize a demonstration. At first, it was felt that we could hold the demonstration to coincide with the anniver- sary of the assasination of Dr. King, April 4. Instead, the consensus was that we just did not have enough time. We would hold the first of many protests on April 12, 1985 at the Reuss Federal Plaza, on Third and Wisconsin Avenue. The Coalition building process began as we solicited the endorsement and participation of about a dozen organiza- tions. Approximately 40 people attended the emergency rally. This was the beginning of the as of yet unnamed coalition. We began to meet regularly at St. Galls Catholic Church on Center and King Drive. It was soon after that, that we came up with the name, Free South Africa Coalition, together with our five point program: 1. Mandatory sanctions: total divestment and the cutting off of all economic and political ties to South Africa by our country. 2. To conduct on-going education about South Africa and apartheid and gather support for the 1985 Anti-Apartheid Act of the U.S. House of Representatives. 3 3. Freedom for all political prisoners. i ncluding Nelson Mandela. 4. Boycott all Shell Oil products as requested by the South Africa Oil Workers . South African Congress of Trade Unions and the AFL-CIO. 5. Support for the South African freedom struggle. This calls for support of the African National Congress and the Freedom Charter. As I recall, there was one dissenting voice who thought our support for the Afri can Nat i ona 1 Congress mi ght be percei ved as too radi ca 1 or that we might scare off some of the broader. less radical members of the Milwaukee community. After some discussion, it was overwhelm- ingly resolved that we would not back down on our principled belief in the African National Congress as the vanguard liberation movement of the South Afri can peop 1 e. History has proven us correct; those who have opposed the South Afri can peoples I quest for freedom do not . " ) oppose it on the grounds that the African National Congress is the vanguard organization. Instead, we have come across more openly rascist views such as, lithe Blacks are not ready to govern themselves, II or "if the Blacks take control, they will wipe out all of the whites. II It is amazing how a racist mind works; somehow. it is thought that once the great Black majority of South Afri cans is free, that they wi 11 somehow become 1 i ke the oppres sor. I heard these views expressed at a Methodist Church in West Bend. Wisconsin. There is need for a great dea 1 of education and en 1 i ghtenment. I must also add that these overt views of ignorance have been the exception to the rule. As I have traveled to different parts of the state. I have found a great deal of concern and support for the Black people of South Africa. It is critical that we continue to mobilize support and public l / opi ni on i n favor of an end to aparthei d. When South Afri ca is free, 4 it wi 11 be important that our government knows that it wi 11 not be ab 1 e to i ntervene on beha If of its present ally to save them from communism, black nationalism, or to save the lives of the Americans who are there (as in the case of Grenada). We have a 1so 1 inked the question of bann i ng nuc 1 ear weapons to the struggle to end apartheid. Who is to say that the first nuclear bomb dropped mi ght not be on South Afri can soi l? Wi th South Afri cans being driven to the most barren sections of the country, who is to say that the South African fascists might not wipe out the Black popula- tion in a single blow? The time to be outraged is now, before it is too late.