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Dennis Brutus : Poet Against Apartheid

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Dennis Brutus : Poet Against Apartheid 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 APARTHEID 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 Northwestern University, of the INS (Inmigration and Natur- near Chicago. As a native citizen alization Service) as the source of Rhodesia (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- Robben Island 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.
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