Report of 'Ie Executive Committee to the National Commaittee
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REPORT OF 'IE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO THE NATIONAL COMMAITTEE, REPORT OF 'IE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO THE NATIONAL COMMAITTEE, MEETING HELD AT FRIENDS' HOUSE ON 8.10.62 1. FINANCIAL REPORT: The statement of income and expenditure for the three months July to Sept. gives the .finan~ial position of the Movement, but it is necessary to add the following points to get a complete picture of the financial aspect of our work, a) Since the re-organisation of the'Movement in July, the Executive appointed a Finance sub-committee of sixteen members with responsibility for fund-raising, membership and local committees. This sub-oemmittee has met four times during August and September, a period notorious for political inactivity. This system has worked well'and attendances have been good. Many constructive suggestions have been mAde, some of which have been put into operation, b) .Abdul inty is responsible to the Executive for the 'membership campaign; therefore no mention of this aspect of the Finance committee's work will be made in this section. c). From the beginning it was recognised by the Finance sub-co-mmittee that the Movement could not let its political work be impeded by financial difficulties. Since the financial support we obtain is limited to members and well-wishers, it was necessary to have some permanent source of incomIe which will pay off the office and secretarial expenses, hich amount to' 64 per month. The Treasurer bab therefore set up a Guarantors' Fund; the intention being to ask guarantors to sign Banker's Orders or to pay a regular sum of money for at least the--ex-t-12 months. So far £12 per month-has been guaranteed in this way, in sums ranging from 5/- a month to £5 a month.. He. feel'she need hardly stress to National Committee members the immedidteneed to eithr -act' as a.guaran-tor themselves or to get their friends to do so. d) The printing of the "Unholy Alliance" booklet and the setting up of the new membership campaign have meant that our printing account has risen steeply (£198. 8. 6), and we have to bear this fact in mind. On the other hand we must not let outstanding debts inhibit us from launching any major political campaign : experience, has taught us that a campaign sets in motion a momentum of its own and it brings its financial income. But members of the National. Committee have a responsibility to help in obtaining the initial capital to" mount the coming October campaign. The Executive Committee authorised the Admin. Secretary to plade an order for 5,000 A-A badges (cost £38.7.6d) and to purchase a secondhand typewriter at not m&re than £35. Both these items are essential fo our work and the Treasurer was instructed to make the expenditure. Itmigtb necessary therefore to obtairf a loan to cover our immediate needs . tt woud indeed be a tragedy if the important political work of the Moyveen was curtailed at this critical juncture in South Africa's history by 4 lack of funds. e) Fund-raising activities: il) guyFawkes Partyfor children and adults o N er4Ith at 6l Gloucester Crescent, N. ,.l.(from 4 p.m.) (Th? been let forthe party by the courtesy of Mrs. Berger. ii) Jumble Sale in December. iii) Suoporters Association Sche - beng * vanGeldre, to start-later this month. ,oaert at Westi- BalH e next yearw"thvLSO a piai,,'*WOySimon (still at negotiatiV sage). S s_ apasuretowo htheofficers and members of ..e..t three m th, even though most of the work is concerned with the drudgery of raising toney¥ Co-operation has been forthoming : special thanks ti Grace Oerger ,f6i r-nibe again putting her house at our disposal for the Guy Fawkes Party, and helping to organise it, and to Mazizi Kunene to collecting nearly 150 for the Movement in the last three months, K Asmal Hon, Treasurer. 2. MEMBERSHIP REPORT: The membership scheme has been welcomed by very many of our sIppOrterso who have joined and are now helping to recruit new members. In September we printed 5,000 membership forms, all of which have been sent out - to our past contacts, to individuals and organisations upon request, to political party conferences, enclosed in copies of "Unholy Alliance" booklets sent and left in bookshops. 10,000 more forms have just been printed. The membership figure stands at the moment at 200 but we are confident that, during the next two months in particular the proportion of new members per weeks will increase substantially. Now that the academic institutions are open we should be able to draw many members from them. Also, other organisations which are sympathetic to our work will soon be approached and asked to inform their members to join us. Local political parties, trade union branches and areas, religious, and co-operative groups, etc. will be also requested to inform their members about us. Due to the holiday season, as well as lack of helpers in the administrative field, we have not done as much as we would like to but now that the students are back we will soon have an efficient machinery organised which will be able to utilise the general support for us in this country, and channel this so that their goodwill may constructively help us fight apartheid. A. Minty Membership Organiser. 3. COMPOSITION OF EXECUTIVE: As elected at the last National Committee meeting: Actingchairman DavidEnnals JaneSymonds Vice-chairman KeithLye LionelMorrison Hon. Secretary Rosalynde Ainslie Martin Ennals Hon.Treasurer KadarAsmal RaymondKunene Admin. Secretary : Dorothy Robinson Vella Pillay John Eber The first meeting of the new Executive decided to co-opt two more members - Abdul Minty and Grace Berger - but to hold the other two places for co-option open for thp time being. The following sub-tm,.ttees have been set up to deal with particular aspe'-o of our work, and A. Mint7 was appointed at Membership Organiser (which .t WaI e reed should carry with it membership of the E.C.), Lionel Morrison Publinity Secretary, Grace Berger -Speakers, Organiser. Keith Lye was given special responsibility for S.West Africa and Martin Ennals for the High Commission territories. A local committees organiser will be appointed, meanwhile work on this is being done by A. Minty and G. Berger. Finance eub-cgmmittee K. Asmal chairman) R.Ellams A. Minty (membership organiser) C. van Gelderen G.Berger R.Kunene S. Clements A. Minty D.Robinson M.Henry J. Phillips 0. Jibowu D. Lewitt J. Baker gont!nd.. 3. Publicity Sub-Committee: L.Iorrison(Chairman) D.Long K.Lye(S.WestAffica) G.Potter V. Ennals (High Comm. Territories) J.Hymans R.Ainslie M.Friedmann R.Bernard D.Robinson Tz-ade Union Sub-Committee: R.Ainslie R.Ballin S. Clements R. Ellams 4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR M8dBESHIP OF NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It was agreed to invite Lord Hemingford and Mr. Harry Nicholas to become sponsors of the Movement. This would leave four vacancies. The Executive agreed to recommend to the National Committee that Bishop Reeves be invited to become a sponsor, and that the E.C. be allowed to use its own discretion in filling the remaining places to avoid undue delay by referring back to the National Committee. Mr.Anthony Steel as a representative of C.A.R.D.S. has agreed to serve on the National C6mmittee, and the President-elect of the N.U.S. - in his personal capacity. Other organisations invited to send representatives to the National Committee were: Equity; Musician's Union, A.U.T., and U.N.A. Equity had replied saying that they did not feel they could appoint a representative, and Mr. Peter Plouviez has been asked to serve on the Committee in a personal capacity. 5. GENERAL REPORT: Following the successful press conference to launch the "Unholy Alliance" booklet, further reviews appeared in the press and orders flowed into the office during the rest of July, August and September.. We have sold almost 2,000 copies qnd have no stock loft. Orders came in from South, East and 'est Africa, many countries in Europe and from America, and from bookshops and individuals all over Britain. After the arrest of Nelson Handela and Cvalter Sisulu a press statement was issued, asking for messages to be sent to Mandela on the day he appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court. Many messages were sent direct, and others were sent c/c the office. These latter have been sent to South Africa and have reached Hardela's family. A poster picket was held round Trafalgar Square to mark the day of the court hearing, and gained press publicity and was mentioned on the BBC. We were only able to hold the picket after intense negotiations with the Police, who at first refused permission for the picket.. Arrangements are now being made for a further protest on Monday, October 15th, the day Mandela and Sisulu's trial is due to begin. Press statements were also issued about the- caese of Mr. Adeline da Silva Simoes, a young Portuguese interpreter who was deported by the S.African Police in secrecy to Mozambique, and is now held in prison there. -Protests were sent to Dr. Verwoerd and the Governor-General of Mozambique, and the International Commission of Jurists has been acquainted with the facts of this case, as have Amnesty and Justice. Other press statements issued during this period included one on the banning of the Congress of Democrats, and one about the showing of two S.African Govt. films at the Edinburgh Film Festival. A meeting was arranged at Brighton during the week of the Labour Party Conference with Mrs.