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Announcing Dennis Brutus Announcing Dennis Brutus http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.acoa000296 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 Announcing Dennis Brutus Alternative title Announcing Dennis Brutus Author/Creator American Committee on Africa Publisher American Committee on Africa Date 1966 Resource type Circulars Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, United States Coverage (temporal) 1966 Source Africa Action Archive Rights By kind permission of Africa Action, incorporating the American Committee on Africa, The Africa Fund, and the Africa Policy Information Center. Description Announcing. Dennis Brutus. Apartheid. Exile. South African Non Racial Olympic Committee. SANROC. Political Prisoners. Detention. Format extent 3 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.acoa000296 http://www.aluka.org ANNOUNCING DENNIS BRUTUS ANNOUNCING DENNIS BRUTUS POET TEACHER SPORTSMAN SPEAKING ON: I WAS A PRISONER ON ROBBEN ISLAND and TOPICS RELATED TO APARTHEID ABOUT MR. BRUTUS Dennis Brutus, South African Poet, Teacher, Sportsman, tempered by the furnace of racial oppression and brutality, is, above all, a dedicated fighter for freedom. As one of South Africa's "Coloreds" (people of mixed race), he speaks about the South African situation with a knowledge and understanding derived from his own long and bitter experience. In 1961 he was banned from the classroom after 14 years of teaching for daring to believe in the equality of all children, white and black. In 1962 he was banned from publishing any of his own writings. A long-time member of anti-apartheid organizations such as the Coloured Peoples' Congress, he and other leading Non-white sportsmen formed the South African Non Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC) to fight racial segregation in sports. In 1962, while President of SANROC, he was banned from membership in this and all other organizations, banned from meetings, from speaking and from any political activity. In 1963 he was arrested, but escaped to Swaziland while on bail in an attempt to reach an Olympic meeting in Germany, where he hoped to organize international opposition to segregation in S. A. sport. Traveling through Mozambique, on a valid Rhodesia passport, he was illegally arrested by the Portuguese Secret Police and handed over to the South African Security Police. They brought him back to Johannesburg under armed guard. "No one," he says, "knew that I was back in South Africa. The police could have done anything to me - no one would have known." In a desperate escape bid he jumped from the police car in a crowded city street, was shot in the back and rearrested. Sentenced to 18 months at hard labor, he spent that time on Robben Island -the notorious political prison and concentration camp where men such as Nelson Mandela are now serving life sentences for their opposition to racial oppression. "Prison condition were as grim and barren as they could be," he says, "with a great deal of brutality from the warders". On his release in 1965 he was served with fresh bans and was placed under house arrest. He could not support his wife and seven children under these conditions, nor was it possible for him to continue his fight against apartheid. He was, therefore, eventually forced to leave South Africa on an exit permit- a document which prevents him from ever returning home. Presently Dennis Brutus is living in London, working on the staff of the International Defense and Aid Fund there. His single aim: to help other South African leaders tell the world about conditions in South Africa so that with political and material support the battle for freedom will at last be won. PURPOSE OF THE TOUR 1. To acquaint Americans more closely with the present situation in South Africa, and particularly to present the condition of the 5,000 political prisoners through the personal experiences of Mr. Brutus, himself confined for 18 months on Robben Island. 2. To inform sport-loving Americans and sport organizations of the color discrimination practiced in South Africa, and to urge their cooperation in a world boycott of South African athletes and their refusal to compete against all-white South African teams. 3. To raise money to bring practical assistance to the victims of South Africa's racism through the AFRICA DEFENSE and AID FUND of the American Committee on Africa (U.S. affiliate of the International Defense and Aid Fund). Large sums are needed, not only for the legal defense of those who continue to be charged under the apartheid laws, but also for basic aid to their families: aid so they will not be dispossessed for non-payment of rent; aid so black children will have the fees that keep them in school; aid so there will be enough food to keep them alive. SPONSORED BY AMERICAN COMMITTEE ON AFRICA 211 EAST 43 STREET, NEW YORK N.Y. 10017 TOUR FROM FEB. 23 TO MARCH 31 To make an engagement with Mr. Brutus in your community, write: MRS. MARY-LOUISE HOOPER AMERICAN COMMITTEE on AFRICA 211 East 43 St., New York, N.Y. 10017 (212) TN 7-8733.
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