Why I Will Go to Prison
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Why I will go to prison http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1976_01 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 Why I will go to prison Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 1/76 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Apartheid; Suttner, Raymond Publisher United Nations, New York Date 1976-01-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1975 - 1976 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description Raymond Suttner, a lecturer in Law at the University of Natal,was sentenced in November 1975 "to seven and half years in prison on the charge of preparing and distributing pamphlets supporting the aims of the African National Congress and the Communist Party of South Africa. Format extent 4 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.nuun1976_01 http://www.aluka.org NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* January 1976 WHY I WILL GO TO PRISON by Raymond Suttner, Lecturer in Law, University of Natal ENote: Raymond Suttner, a lecturer in Law at the University of Natal, was sentenced in November 1975 to seven and half years in prison on the charge of preparing and distributing pamphlets supporting the aims of the African National Congress and the Communist Party of South Africa. This issue contains the statement made in court by Mr. Suttner._J Nlorthwest(: rn' -University Library Evanston, Ill. 76-02422 All material in these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledqement, toether with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated. No. 1/76 It I have furthered the aims of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. This was carefully considered. I want t. tell the court why I acted in this way and still consider it correct. From my earli.ist encounters with black people I have been aware of the contrast between my own livtig circumstances and theirs. I felt, from the beginning, that it could not be right that some people, merely because they were black, should have to live with less than they needed. In my home background I was encouraged to treat all human beings with dignity and respect I learnt that a man's colour is no indication of his worth. I learnt that black people had hopes and worries like everyone else, that they needed health and security, food and shelter. Nothing that I learnt as I grew older seemed to justify the situation where the rights that people have, the disabilities that they endure, the place where they live, where they can work, who they can love should all be determined by the colour of their skin. At school and especially at University I used every opportunity to argue against racism and for a common society where Black and White could liV together in peace and justice. Despite wha.t I heard from most Whites, I came to ftel that equal rights was not something to be feared but the basis for real security. With all that was claimed for apartheid, there were, nevertheless, few who would argue that it could benefit all people, or that it could benefit all people equally or that it could even provide(Isufficiently for all people. Notwithstanding its rechristening as "separate development", none of the main features of apartheid have changed. The black people have never sought Bantustans and similar unrepresentative institutions. Their real leaders have made it clear that they consider the whole of South Africa to be their homeland and that they will accept nothing less than their right to share fully in its power and prosperity. South Africa belongs to all who live in it The suppression of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), the Communists and other allies in the liberation movement has meant that we do not hear calls for equality in one undivided South Africa, as frequently as we should. Their banning may have crdated the illusion of wider acceptance of apartheid than there in fact is. Wle do not hear the most outspoken critique of apartheid nor what this movement would substitute for it. It is hard to find out what the ANC and its allies stand for. We generally only hear what its opponents say about them. I have been cut off from information about the ANC and the Communist Party for most of my life. I was told of the evils of these organizations and heard all the charges of their alleged villainy. I was never allowed toohear their answer. In trying to find a meaningful political role in our situation, I sought information about the ANC and its allies. When I read their literature and heard their aims, I saw that they did not, as their detractors snggested, advocate indiscriminate violence nor the setting up of a tyrannical regime. I found that they had simple aims - to make a new society that would benefit not a few, but all. "South Africa" in the words of the Freedom Charter, "belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and ... no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people." - 2 - My own political e:perience, mainly as a university student, and what I knew of our political history, had led me to conclude that radical criticism no matter how valid, is either ignored, rejected as illegitimate or suppressed. Even in quite legal activities militants stand a good chance of finding themselves banned, arrested without trial or with other restrictions. When I studied their background, I had little doubt that the banning of the ANC and Communist Party were undemocratic and unjustified acts. There had been no evidence of these organizations using violence before they were made unlawful bodies. Similarly their turn to violence could hardly be called unprovoked or without cause. What response had their many years of non-violence received? Chief Albert Luthuli, a man of peace, if ever there was one, gave this ansVer: "Who will deny that thirty years of my life have been spent knocking in vain patiently, moderately and modestly at a closed and barred door? What have been the fruits of my many years of moderation? Has there been any reciprocal tolerance or moddration from the Government? No! On the contrary, the past thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws restricting our rights and progress until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all." For many years I participated in protest activities - organising petitions, holding placards, marching and various other demonstrations against racial discrimination. None of these or similar protests had any effect. But what is more, the government denied our right to oppose them - leaders were banned or arrested without trial. Around 1969 I started to ask myself whether I was doing this out of habit or whether these activities were achieving anything. The Minister of Education had left few illusions about their impact when he said in one statement that student petitions went straight into his wast paper basket. Every year new laws made protest more difficult. Yet every year seemed to make opposition more necessary. Although black people grew increasingly dissatisfied, it made little impression. The white people did not have to consider the views of thoe(c who were disenfranchised. The only course open I could see no possibility of ending apartheid through appeals to the government and that was virtually the only course open to opponents accepting our constitutional framework. I continued to read about and discuss ANC policy. 1hat I heard and read strengthened the admiration that I had felt for the selflessness and dedication of men like Albert Luthuli, Bram Fischer, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada and Denis Goldberg - some of the leaders in the liberation movement. I came to feel that I could contribute most by aiding the ANC and its allies. I came to believe that the course that they followed was the only way to achieve freedom in our country. It is true that this means supporting a policy including the use of violence. The lav under which I am charged does not ask the court to enquire what precipitated the violence. The court cannot dismiss these charges because the ANC and its allies were forced to take up arms. It cannot rule that ANC violence is a response to the violence of the apartheid regime. Yet there are factors in the ANC decision that make it abundantly clear that they did not desire violence, that they use it reluctantly.