SUPPORT
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THE ANTI-APARTHEID
ACTION ACT OF 1986
SUPPORT A U.S. TRADE EMBARGO
AND CORPORATE DISINVESTMENT
(SANCTIONS) AGAINST THE RACIST
REGIME OF SOUTH AFRICA!
THE WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA • 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002 • (202) 546-7961
Call the Africa Hotline at (202) 546-0408 for three-minute recorded update on the
week's legislation and executive actions affecting southern Africa.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
CALL your Senators’ home offices NOW to make an appointment
to see them or their aides. Demand that they support comprehensive
sanctions against South Africa, such as those in S. 2570.
WRITE to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Richard
Lugar (R-IN), Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-KS), and
Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd (D-WV) to urge them to do all
that they can to expedite the adoption of sanctions.
ORGANIZE a demonstration or other event to call publicly for
comprehensive sanctions. Write letters to the editor or the "Readers’
Comments" page of local newspapers.
The South African police and military have been ruthless In
enforcing martial law. Since June 12th:
• the daily death toll due to political violence has jumped from 5.0 to
8.4, according to police figures;
• more than 3,000 people have been detained, according to most
reliable estimates. (87% of detainees are tortured. They are denied
reading material and are not allowed even to sing or to whistle.)
• 119 popular anti-apartheid groups—including the 2 million-strong
United Democratic Front—are prohibited from meeting or being
quoted in the press.
The South African government has since enacted new "security"
legislation to give police even more sweeping and permanent powers.
This will allow the continued escalation of the regime's terrorism, even
after the termination of the State of Emergency.
South Africa's racist minority regime has declared war on the people
of South Africa. Under emergency regulations, imposed on June 12,
the South African police and military:
• may detain anyone incommunicado (i.e., with no contact with
lawyers, family, or friends);
• may arrest people for wearing T-shirts with “subversive” slogans,
such as “Free Nelson Mandela";
• can use whatever force they deem necessary to enforce the
regulations without fear of prosecution;
• have barred the press from reporting the names of detainees;
information on strikes, uprisings, or troop movements; or "subversive
statements" of any variety.
The U.S. CONGREt
MUST ACT NOW!!
The U.S. House of Representatives has responded to these alarming
developments by adopting legislation which would impose COMPRE-
HENSIVE SANCTIONS on South Africa. The bill:
• bans new and existing U.S. Investment In South Africa;
• prohibits U.S. banks from lending to South Africa;
• bars all trade with South Africa, except for certain strategic minerals;
and
• withdraws U.S. landing rights for South African aircraft.
This bill is now before the Senate as S. 2570. THE SENATE MUST
PASS THIS CRUCIAL LEGISLATION!
• South Africa’s Black community has repeatedly demanded such
comprehensive sanctions in opinion polls and through popular
leaders and organizations.
• Bishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, has
called sanctions the "last hope for reasonably peaceful change” in
South Africa.
• The South African government has no interest in abolishing
apartheid. Only by undermining the economic advantages which
whites gain from apartheid can we hope to hasten the demise of this
abhorrent and oppressive system.
• The U.S. must support the legitimate aspirations of South Africa’s
Black community and publicly reject the racist policies of the
apartheid regime. Black South Africans will remember the role which
the U.S. played in their struggle for liberation.