April 12, 1988 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 6489 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS SANCTIONS: THE CONGRESS' the President's veto and passed these sanc­ son, it is important to reflect on just what CURSE ON THE PEOPLE OF tions? When President Reagan vetoed the they thought they would achieve in the SOUTH AFRICA Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, he did not heady days of October 1986 when Congress do so under disdain for the South African overrode a White House veto to secure the blacks. He foresaw the effect these sanctions first humiliating defeat of a hitherto all­ HON. PHILIP M. CRANE conquering President. OF ILLINOIS would have on the black community. But why It is perhaps not too cynical to suggest IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES did so many Congressmen ignore his warn­ that that was part of the attraction. But ings? Was it a lack of foresight? Or did they Tuesday, April 12, 1988 other motives were confused and contradic­ simply use the black's struggle to enhance tory. For some-the high-minded rather Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, as Americans we their own public image? than the ruthless-excommunication was all feel a burning desire to help the oppressed I challenge my colleagues to open their the only way to convince Pretoria of the people of the world in the struggle against minds and put the interests of the South Afri­ error of its ways; white South Africans their tyrants. We observe these people's tire­ can blacks ahead of their own. Instead of would feel the pinch and, putting wealth less fight to secure a better future for their searching for praise from the media, we need above racism, would force their government children and embrace their struggle as if it to search for answers. Answers which will to change, thus effectively preventing the expected bloodbath. For others revolution were our own. We share in their pain, sorrow, assist the black community achieve economic was the solution, not the problem. Sanc­ frustration, and especially their commitment. prominence as the. first step in securing a tions, they calculated, would so impoverish However, many times these feelings lead future of freedom for their children. black South Africa that, with nothing left some to foolishly embark on a quest to cure For a deeper insight into the present situa­ to lose, it would rise up against its fatally the world of it's many ills. The world has tion in South Africa, I highly recommend an ar­ weakened white oppressors and thus usher come to realize that an American on a cru­ ticle entitled "The Scandal of Sanctions" in in the Utopia where all men were equal in sade can be as threatening as the Red Army the March 1988 edition of the American Spec­ poverty and which would no longer make itself. Such is the case in South Africa today. tator. any claim on America's conscience

e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

19-059 0-89-17 {Pt. 5) 6490 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS April 12, 1988 Botha, however, miscalculated in one im­ Motors, which sold out to local management the radical National Union of Mineworkers portant respect. His own attempts at which in turn promptly fired 500 black to put the question directly to workers in reform-however, despised by the rest of workers, removed itself from the Sullivan South Africa's coal industry. The discrepan­ the world-had weakened his image among code enforcing social responsibility pro­ cy between the opinion of the union execu­ his more conservative followers. If South grams and integrationist work practices tive and its members is not difficult to ex­ Africa was under threat they wanted an among American companies, and began sell­ plain. The NUM leadership, like that of even stronger man. The result was substan­ ing its products to the South African gov­ other radical black unions in South Africa, tial gains by the far right-wing parties and ernment. believes that capitalism is the ultimate the unseating of the liberal Progressive Fed­ Indeed, the effect of disinvestment on the enemy of the socialist state it seeks to in­ eral Party