OMMMITTEE FOR THE

(with B.C.M.H.E.) btm 8'791, ~O&OXI. mww. 02114

the West German electoral system. SWAPO/NAMIB IA UPDATE This would leave the 90,000 whites in Namibia greater power than their The South West African People's punhers alone would warrant. Never- Organization (SWAPO) and Southern theless the South African regime Africa' s frontline states have re- continues to delay an agreement on jected a key provision of the new the method of election, while simul- Western plan for a Namibia settle- taneously continuing its aggression ment. The liberation forces stated against the Namibian refugees in An- on Jan. 23 that the election plan is gola. unacceptable because it would give cont. on p. 2 the Ssuth African-backed minority in the territory the deciding edge in constructing a Namibian constitut-

ion. , This is the latest development in the ongoing diplomatic dance that has put the U.S. and four other Western nations in the position of delaying independence for Namibia. The Western proposals to settle the dispute between SWAPO add South Af- rica, which illegally controls Nam- ibia, have not even been accepted by the Sauth African gavemmertt. This latest prepwal wuM have errated a ce~lfcated'tw(b-%ett plan,Wehd on ion as long as Cuban troops are in cont. from p. 1 Angola. The Angolan and Cuban govern- SWAP0 'has the overwhelming sup- ments, on the other hand, recently port of the people of Namibia, by reaffirmed that Cuban troops were in the accounts of virtually everyone Angola at the request of the sover- who knows the situation there. When eign government, in order to repel Ellen Musialela, who toured the U.S. armed incursions by South African representing the SWAPO Women's troops. At several points since Couslcil in 1980, was asked how much 1976 Cuban tfoop withdrawals were be- of Namibia was controlled by her gun, only to be halted when another organization, she pointed to the South African invaaiora occurred. whole map of the country. It is a The prospects for the immediate situation where the hearts and minds future are for South Africa to con- of the people are with SWAP0 but tinue its stalling tactics and to the daytime military conditions are attack refugees and SWAPO base areas. such that political control is main- SWAPO and the frontline states will tained by Wouth Africa. The politi- continue to resist these attacks and cal situation could deteriorate for gain military advantage inside Namib- the South Africans, however, if the ia. It is impossible to predict when Western Contact Group proposals con- the military and political advantage tinue to be rejected and the shaky will be decisive enough to overwhelm alliance of whites in the DTA (the South African and U.S. intransigence. so-called Democratic Turnhalle Al- But the eventual outcome is inevita- liance) and some African splinter ble: SWAPO will rule an independent groups breaks apart. There is some Namibia in the next few years. This indication recently that this latter is why it is essential for supporters latter alliance is indeed crumbling. throughout the world to increase their material and political support for SWAPO this year. The greater the FIGHTING CONTINUES IN ANGOLA international support for SWAPO, the sooner and less bloody will be the SWAPO receives strong support from resolution of the problem for the Namibian people. For a list of African countries. Angola, which activities in the Boston area where borders Namibia, offers rear bases people can express their support for to SWAPO. South African troops have SWAPO, see other articles in this invaded Angola and now occupy large newsletter. areas of Cunene province; and South --Dick Clapp African-backed UNITA holds on to oth- er towns in southeastern Angola. The war continues to rage on. Every gov- ernment in the world has condemned the South African invasion -- except for Reagan, who says the U.S. will not oppose the South African occupat- DENNIS BRUTUS : POET AGAINST

Somehow we survive and tenderness, frustrated, does not wither. Investigating searchlights rake our naked unprotected contours; over our beads the monolithic decabgw of fascist prohibition glowers and teeters for a catastrophic fall; Boots club on the peeling door. But somebow we survive rvcrancc, deaivation, loss. Patrols uncoil along the asphalt dark hissing their menace to our lives. most cruel, dl our land h scarred with terror, rendered unlovely and unlovable; sundered are we and all our passionate surrender but somehow tenderness survives. (From his first collection. Sircns, Knuckles, Boar, Mbari Publiutioar, Ibadm, 1963.)

Dennis Brutus' poetry against apartheid

The future of the interngtion- one indeed toward a man who has ally acclaimed South African poet worked energetically against racism Dennis Brutus is entangled in court and apartheid for years. proceedings and red tape, A quick For the past ten years, Dennis reading of the case might suggest Brutus has been a professor of Eng- bureaucratic bungling on the part lish at , of the INS (Inmigration and Natur- near Chicago. As a native citizen alization Service) as the source of (he was barn there, but of Brutus' troubles. But Dennis grew up in South Africa and consid- Brutus is an exiled actirist who is ers himself to be a South-African), considered by the South African he carried a British pssport. But government to be one of its most when Rhodesia becivee independent dangerous opponents. And in these Zimbabwe ia April 1980, Britain days of reaction and cold war post- cancelled his passport. By the uring, the official political clim- the Zimbabwe had issued him a new ate here in the U.S. is a chilly one, he was late in applying for cont. on p. 4 "Brutus" cont. from p. 3 exit visa, but should he ever re- the periodic U.S.-visa extansion turn he.would be immediately im- which allowed him to continue work- prisoned for having travelled on an ing here. Then for nearly six expired document. months the INS district office in Chicago claimed it couldn't find THE McCARRAN-WALTER SNAG his file, and otherwise delayed a ky doesn't Dennis Brutus simply resolution to .the case. As a re- leave the U.3. and reapply for a sult the poet's iaaigration status visa, the only remedy for his cur- became illehl. rent illegal immigrant status? In The has formally agreed an interview last January he said that Bensde Brutus originally fell that he would be willing to leave if into vialation through no fault of he had reasonable assurances that he his mm. So why, then, does the would be able to return. The danger U.S. gevernment conrinue to Bursue which lurks behind such a strategy, such a flawed case? And why did however, is the McCarran-Walter Act. U.S. 'iaaaaigrstion judge Irviag The 1952 law, part of the McCarthy Schdartz uphold last Nove*r a de- era crackdown on dissent, makes it cisien that Brutus is "deprtable?" possible for the U.S. to bar anyone hmers to these questions are considered to be a communist or com- found in Bratus' past activiaiies. munist sympathizer. If the U.S. In 1963 Brutus challenged the South government chooses to honor the de- African Qlylarpic Committee on its mented logic of the South African exclusion of blacks from teams (a regime, which concludes that anyone direct violation of International who opposes apartheid is a commun- Olympic Committee rules). For this ist, then Brutus could be forbidden he was banned, or placed under reentry. house arrest, in South Africa. Moot recently Brutus has ap- Brutus continued to press his ob- plied for political asylum in the jections to apartheid in sports and U.S. The court has not yet ruled on was then arrested for violation of this. the banning order under the "Sup- Although Dennis Brutus holds a pression of Copnnunism Act,'' a legal Zimbabwean passport, residence there ' would place him a11 too conveniently blanket used by the South African arm rulers to smother diverse challeng- within range of the long of the South African police. As he es to apartheid, whatever their secret political origin. often points out, Joe Gqabi, an ANC As a result of this arrest, freedom fighter with whom Brutus had Dennis Brutus served 18 months at been imprisoned, was shot and killed last summer in Salisbury. All evid- prison. When he com- pleted his sentence, the government ence points to South African in- made a deal with him: he could volvement. leave South Africa on an expired LABORING UNDER APARTHEID

In South Africa the life of a funeral several days later, police trade uniqniat deapgndS *'meire than opened fire on the 8uwmers and commitment - it takes courage. The killed one person - "a~cidentally.~~ gevernment fears the growing It was Thozamile's girlfriend arid strength of the labor mevement and an activist in her own right. Thoz- is using terror and other tactics to amile continued his work as a union try to break it. Thozamile Gqweta leader. So, in December the govern- is one union leader the gevernment ment detained him again. It still has sought to crush. When he first holds him today. His life is thus emerged as a labor organizer in at stake, since 47 men have died in 1979, the police tried to bribe him, detention in recent years. The most offering hom $50 a week to inform on recent death was last month when his union. He refused, and the po- food and cannery organizer Neil lice responded by detaining him Aggett died mysteriously. without charges in prison four times Thozamile Gqweta is a threat to in 1980. Still, his union grew and apartheid. The union which he Thozamile continued to lead it when leads, the South African Allied out of prison. Then in March 1980, Workers Union, is one of the nat- 11persons unknown" set fire to his ion's fastest growing and most mil- house after first wiring the door itant unions. The labor movement shut from the outside. Thozamile poses a fundamental challenge to managed to escape through a window. aparthejd,which is built on a sys- In November they struck again, tem of low wages for blacks. These this time succeeding in burning his wages, often below the starvation family's home to the ground and kil- level, bring high profits and at- ling his mother and uncle. At their tract U.S. and other multinational "LABORING" continued from p. 5

corporations. While the labor move- ment is still small, its rapid growth is evidenced by the doubling of the number of strikes between 1979 and 1980. Workers at a number of U.S. companies have struck in the last two years; among them are Johnson & Johnson, Goodyear Tire, Holiday Inn, Borg-Warner, and Mason- ite, Other U.S. firms, including Colgate-Palmolive and Kellog, have faced other forms of labor unrest.

LABOR TAKES A POLITICAL STAND South African unions are not I I bread and butter" organizations. They frequently move beyond shop floor and wage issues to demand em- powerment for all workers and for the black community. Some unions are co- operating in a wider national cam- paign to promote the "Freedom Chart- A~~~~.~~.~,onth. er" which proclaims : "We, the people increase. I united Natians/Contact of South Africa declare for all our country and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live with each other* In August eleven in it, (that) the people shall govern trade union groupings case together (and) share in the country's wealth On joint strategies The (and) the land shall be shared among this unity became clear in those who work it." February when one million black work- Many unions have developed ers throughout the country struck. strong community ties which have In a symbolic half-hour work stop- !bolstered the uniens in their cen- page, they protested the death of frontations with large corporations Neil Aggett in detention. The port and the powerful gevernment. Strikes of was completely shut have often been successful because sf down, and numerous factories ground community boycetts of products and to a halt in other cities. community opposition to scabbing. Unisns threaten South Africa For example, at the Ford Motor Plant with more problems than higher wages in Port Elizabeth, management was un- and lower profits. As the labor able to find scabs ts replace the movement expands, it brings people 700 striking blacks, despite soaring together, politicizes them, and pro- unemployment in the area, vides organizing experience which is In the past year, unions have important in the wider struggle for actively sought increased cooperation freedom. cont. on p. 7 "LABORING" continued from p. 6 Thozarnile Botha, who led a strike at a Ford Plant in South Africa in 1979, had this to say about the links between workers' struggles and struggle for national liberation: GOVERNMENT AND MANAGEMENT COLLABORATE "Black workers in South Africa do not see their struggles as separate from Recognizing the threat that the national struggle of the op- unions pose, the South African gov- pressed people of the country. They ernment has actively aided corporate see their struggle as part and par- management in busting unions. Be- cel of the national struggle and sides Gqweta, many other labor act- their demands are no longer just ivists have been harrassed, de- economic demands, they are both ec- tained, put under house arrest, or onomic and political. They realize driven into exile. The New York that so long as the apartheid system Times recently revealed that the exists in South Africa there will be government had been holding secret no meaningful change. People are meetings with corporations to pre- prepared to sacrifice. The aim is pare a common stand against unions. to change the system as a whole. When the workers at Johnson & John- People are not seeking for reforms, son and two other East London com- they want radical change. " panies struck, the minister of labor -BBB flew to the city to urge the firms to "hold out." These measures, however, won't quell the labor movement. In the long run, both the government and the corporations would like to coopt the movement by offering some minor concessions (e.g. small pay raises and the right to strike under very narrow conditions) in return for working within the system. Working within the system would mean giving up organizing against apartheid it- self. It would mean accepting the inequality between black and white and the lack of political rights for blacks. With no political rights,the labor movement would be weak indeed. Most unions are refusing the govern- ment's cooptation order. "BRUTUS" continued from p. 4 Even in exile, Brutus has con- Associates, 53 W. Jackson Blvd., tinued to work against apartheid, Suite 1264, Chicago, IL 60604, for especially by protesting South Af- verification. Financial contribut- rica's participation in internation- ions to help with legal fees are al sports, such as the recent sorely needed, and can be mailed to Springbok rugby tour. He is the Dennis Brutus Defense Committee, 39 author of eight books of poetry, and S. La Salle St., Suite 3825, Chicago, a new one, Salutes and Censures, is IL 60603. f orthcomlng . -Bonnie Bishop DEFEND DENNIS BRUTUS The Black Congressional Cauc- us, Julien Gibbs, president of Am- herst College where Brutus now teach- r es, U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas, and DENNIS BRUTUS BENEFIT Silvio Conte, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts have joined the featuring PETE SEEGER growing movement to stay the poet's 7:30 PM March 7 deportation, Your help Is needed to Northeastern University keep the pressure on, to stop the de- Alumni Hall portation, and to urge the INS to ac- Tickets $6 and $7 cept Brutus' application for politi- Info: 524-2255 or 522-3260 cal asylum. Letters of support should be addressed ta BUiot Abramrrs', Assistant Secretarg far Rights, Depart- ment of Stam, 2261 "C" St., Washing- ton p.C. %52#. Copies- -must be sent to Bmtuis' attorney's'at Mahaoad C

JOIN THE SPRING WEEKS OF ACTION -- MARCH 21 TO APRIL 4

FROM ~~RCH21 TO APRIL 4 ORGANIZATIONSACROSS THE STATE"ME PLAIMING EVENTS TO CELEBRATE THE CONTINUING STRUGU IN -lHK#THERW- AFRICA, A SWAP0 SPEAKER WILL BE IN PBSTMI', WE WILL *&~TICIPATEWITH OTHER GROUrS IN PROTESSW AT THE -ffl$'FNATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON S ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS MEETING, SEE ATTACHED FLYER FOR DETAILS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THESE AND OTHER ACTIVITIES, BCLSA POT LUCK SUPPER

April 14 "The Liberation Struggle in Northern Ireland" 6:30 supper 7:30 presentation by Jane O'Brien and Gary Hicks 46 Waverly St. Brookline for info. call 738-5663

HELP US

We need -- to publish this newsletter; to organize and conduct teachins and film shcrws on southern Africa; W keep abreast of events in southern Africa; to challenge the racist, exploitative, and sexist activities of Amrican corporations at hme and abroad; to e2pose U.S cyxemamtal col- labo~timwith the minority regime in South Africa; to diserdit South Africa's rmltimillion dollar pmpacpnda mew. We real istime. I& ask mlfto at least $1.00 a nth, and mre if you can, to support ow we&. Send contributiom to:

BCLSA Box 8791 Boston Mass 02114 San Francisco PosWrBrlg.delLNS MEDICAL AID FOR ZIMBABWE B.C.M.H.E. 735 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA 0221 5 Our Zimbabwe medical aid drive continues. Two members of BCLSA are ob 3 4% now working in Zimbabwe in Mt. Sel- 23 E-. inda, near the border. - F 8El do one as a nurse. In her last letter 2cha 02 she conunented on the conditions in the hospital there: "I'm in charge of a the pediatric ward. There are sever- al little premies (premature babies) in home-made incubators. Many of the beds don't have sheets. The hospital doesn't have hot water, and until last month all the washing was done by hand. Now they have a couple of washing machines. I think what they need most at the moment is money so that they can buy some of the things they need." Contributions are tax-deducti- ble and should be made out to BCMHE and sent to: BCLSA Box 8791 Boston, MA 02114