SOUTH AFRICA
By Susan Craig
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For more than twenty years the Unity Movement of South Africa has stood for a united and independent struggle of all nonwhites against a whole system of cpnression and segregation, and for liberation. It was in 1943, during the ferment created by the Second World War, that the All-African Convention, a federal body uniting all the existing organizations of: the African people, sent out a clarion call for the unity not only of all Africans but of all sections who suffered under a common oppression, the Africans, Coloureds and Indians.
This was the most important step that the nonwhites had taken up to that time in their struggle against oppression. For the first time they demanded equality for all men and women in South Africa, irrespective.of race, color or creed. It marked a complete rejection of racialism, It marked a rejection of the alleged inferiority of the black man and all the political machinery employed by the white state for his economic exploitation and racial oppression,
In calling for an independent struggle, the Unity Movement emphasized that a complete break-away from the tutelage of all white herrenvolk parties was absolutely essential for the creation of a truly national organization determined to wage a successful struggle for liberation,
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This was a revolutionary step. To reject inferiority and claim full equality was to reject the whole policy of segregation practiced by the South African state. Today that policy stinks in the nostrils of the world under the name of Apartheid.
When the All-African Convention sent out its call for unity, .a tremendous response came from many Coloured organizations united under a federal body called the National Anti-~CAD; that is, opposed» to the projected Coloured Affairs Department which, like the already existing Native Affairs Department,.was to treat the Coloured people as outside the body politic of the ¢ountry.
Together, the National Anti~CAD and the All-African Convention formed what was then called the Non-European Unity Movement [NEUM] , a name selected to emphasize the oppression common to all sections of the nonwhites, This later became simply the Unity Movement. At its first general conference, more than 150 organizations and branches were represented, ;
The leaders of the Unity Movement went straight to the core of all the social and economic disabilities suffered in common by the nonwhites; namely, lack of political rights.
In December 1943, they drew up a ten-point program for full democratic rights. This was to constitute the basis of a principled struggle against segregation and the whole South African system of oppression, Described as "a programme representing the minimum demands and fundamental needs of all sections of the people,” it was to have far-reaching effect on the outlook and attitudes of the oppressed, There were to be other leaders who rejected the concept of a united and independent struggle freed from the manipulations and influences of white herrenvolk parties; but when they addressed the people, they, too, echoed the great call for democratic rights, For these demands had become part and parcel of the political thinking of all the oppressed.
Here, then, are the ten democratic demands formulated by the Unity Movement:
(1) The franchise; i.e., the right of every man and woman over the age of 21 to elect and be elected to Parliament.
This means the end of all political tutelage, of all communal or indirect representation, and the granting to all Non-Whites the same universal, equal, direct and secret ballot as at present enjoyed exclusively by Whites.
_ (2) Education. Compulsory, free and uniform education for all children up to the age of 16, with free meals, free books and school equipment for the needy. This means the extension of all educational rights, at present enjoyed only by White children, to
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all Non-White children, with the same access to higher education - on equal terms, oe :
(3) Inviolability of person, of one's house and privacy. This is the elementary Habeas Corpus right. The present state of helplessness of the Non-Whites before the police is an outrage of the principles of democracy.
(4) Freedom of speech, press, meetings and association, This means the abolition of the Riotous Assembly Act, directed specifically against the Non-Whites, «it embodies the right.to combine, to form and enter Trade Unions on the same basis as Whites.
. (5) Freedom of movement ‘and occupation. This means the ‘abo= lition of Pass Laws and restriction of movement and travel within the Union of South Africa. It means the right to live and look for work wherever one pleases.
(6) Full equality of rights for all. citizens without distinction of race, colour or sex. This means the abolition of all discriminatory Colour Bar laws.
(7) Revision of the ‘land uestion in accordance with the above. The relations of serfdom at present existing on the land must go, together with the tniquitous Land, Acts, and the restrictions on acquiring land. Os -
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(8) Revision of the civil and criminal code in accordance with the above. This means the abolition of feudal relations in the whole system of justice -- police, magistrates, law-courts ‘and prisons -- whereby the punishment of the same crime is not. the same, but. is based on the skin-colour of the offender. There must be complete equality of all citizens before the law.
: (9) Revision of the system of taxation in accordance with the above, ' This means the abolition of the Poll-tax on Africans, or of any other tax applicable specifically to the Non-Whites, or discrimination between Whites and Non-Whites.
(10) Revision of the labour legislation and its application to the mines and agriculture. This means specifically the revision of Industrial Conciliation and Wage Acts, the-elimination of all. restrictions and distinctions between the White workers and the Non» White worker; equal pay for equal-work; equal access to Apprenticeship and skilled labour, This means the liquidation of indentured labour and forcible. recruiting for labour on,mines and White farms. It means the abolition of the old Masters and Servants Act.
With the above ten-point program, the nonwhites staked their claim as equal members of the South African state. <A resolution adopting the ten-point program stated: “Only the realisation of the
10-Point Programme can bring about true democracy in South Africa, can bring peace and security to all the people of our country and terminate the strife and division."
The formation of the Unity ‘Movement meant a sharp break with old political attitudes. The rejection of the alleged inferiority . of the black man, and the claim to full equality, involved new methods of struggle.
The Unity Movement recognized that the white government policy of segregation and what was called "trusteeship" was an-iné strument of domination over the nonwhites. With the lie of the > inferiority of the black man, it imposed on them special segregatory institutions such as the Native Representative Council acting under a white overseer; Location Advisory Boards (operating in African locations in cities) and Bungas (councils) operating in rural areas under a white Native Commissioner, With the so-called Native Representation Act, it had also created the farce of "Native" elections for three white members -- "Native Representatives" -- to represent Africans in a white parliament of 153 members.
The Unity Movement therefore adopted the totally new policy of noncollaboration, which it 'defines.as "an active policy involving the refusal to assist the oppressor in operating those separate institutions for our oppression. . It means the rejection and active BOYCOTT of all Separate elections under the Native Representation Act Lof 1936].'
In their campaigns throughout the country, especially in the Transkei “Native-Reserve"™ in the Eastern Cape Province, the leaders of the All*African Convention and the Unity Movement successfully inculcated in the people the use of the boycott weapon of struggle.
In a mounting tide of opposition to the machinery of bogus representative councils and elections, the Transkei Organised Bodies, representing many peasant organizations, called upon the "Native Representatives" (whites) and the African members of the Native Representative Council to resign. It expelled those who stood for’ | election to the Council and those who took part in the voting.
It was in 1946 that the rising temper of the African people. precipitated the adjournment of the Native Representative Council. By 1947 white candidates canvassing in the Transkei for the coming elections were told outright by the peasants that they. had no right to come there to address them against their decision. to boycott all sham elections. The whole trick of separate representa= tion and bogus councils, they said, was designed to keep their eyes away from the only place where laws are made =~ in parliament.
As resistance on the part of the African peasants to the in= creasingly fascistic measures of the Nationalist. (Verwoerd) govern-
ment spread through the "reserves," they took up a slogan of the true liberatory struggle: Land and Liberty -- Land and Political Ri ights.
This is the liberatory struggle that the Unity Movement of South Africa stands for. It is the national liberation movement of the oppressed peoples of South Africa, It knows the struggle will be long and hard but it shall not cease the’struggle until liberation for all is achieved,
BOURGUIBA'S PROPOSAL ON ISRAEL
Jerusalem
On April 21, Tunisia'ts President Habib Bourguiba captured the headlines with his "new" plan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict -- to set up a federation of states of the Arab East. that would include Israel,
A superficial analysis might lead one to conclude that this is a very revolutionary proposal, It happens to be true that only . the real integration of Israel in its geographical environment could ever solve this tragic problem. ; oe
But Bourguiba didn't propose anything really new. The scheme has been offered before in various forms by others in official or semi-official Arab circles. During the Bandung conference ten years ago, a similar proposal was adopted with the approval of the Arab delegations.
Coincident with Bourguiba's proposal, an interview with Nasser. appeared in the French magazine Réalités in which the head of the United Arab Republic advanced ideas not too different from those of Bourguiba. These hinged on Israel opening its gates to Arab refugees who want to return to their homeland and paying compensae tion to those who don't want to come back. He has made similar proposals repeatedly in press declarations from 1955 to 1964,
Nasser's differences with Bourguiba, therefore, do not pri-+ marily involve this subject. Nasser's attacks on Bourguiba, as made for instance in a speech not so long ago, have centered on the pro= imperialist and neocolonialist position of the Tunisian president, particularly in the conflict between Egypt and West Germany.
(However, in a speech May 1 in Cairots Republic Square devoted mainly to Egypt's internal problems, Nasser rejected Bourguiba's proposal out of hand. Nasser said he refused to accept coexistence with Israel, "which is an imperialist base." Unfortunately, he had nothing to suggest but the completely unrealistic demand to implement
the 1947 resolution of the United Nations on the partition of Palestine. This demand, which has also been advanced by the Communist parties of the countries in the Arab East, is in complete opposition to the interests of the Arab socialist revolution. )
What Bourguiba really sought was to pose an "alternative as against Nasserts,"* This was correctly and gladly noted in the. April 25 issue of the Tel-Aviv daily Haaretz... The revolutionary trend in the Arab world is becoming more and more of a threat to imperialism, That is why a pro-imperialist alternative is required that would help to isolate Algeria and Egypt. Bourguiba's proposal would help fill this need.
Bourguiba serves both French and American imperialism. And while they have divergent interests in the Arab world and they are divided by interimperialist contradictions, they could use a common alternative to the Arab revolution.
At each meeting of the Arab heads of state, conflicts which reflect the contradictions between reaction and revolutionary needs become more and more acute,
Hassin Haikal, a journalist in Nasser's inner circle, very clearly expressed the Egyptian regime's attitude toward Tsraél: "One must frankly stase that a collision (between the Arab top conferences and the possibilities of the Arab revolution) is approaching, and if there is no escape from ’such a collision, I would unhesitatingly choose the possibility of the Arab revolution, as it is the only road which leads to the main goal. Also there is no, doubt that Israel represents the main danger to the Arab revolution, ~ because on the one hand it is backed by imperialism, which is still in power in many parts of the Arab world through its interests, commitments and relations, and on the other hand it supports Arab reaction and fosters its retreat in the face of imperialism, This means that the conflict with Israel does not take place in a vacuum but is linked with the aggressive powers of world imperialism on the one hand and with local feudalism, reaction and its exploitive ruling positions on the other." (Haikal seems to have forgotten that not 6nly imperialism but also the Soviet Union actively participated in creating the state of Israel in the 1947-49 period.)
The quotation clearly indicates the anti-imperialist road the Nasser regime is traveling. If this is placed in the context of revolutionary potentialities in Egypt, it is possible to better understand the fears of imperialism and the real background of Bourguibats statement.
In its April 13 issue, the Hebrew daily Haaretz reproduced an interview with De la Gorce, a "left" supporter of de Gaulle and collaborator of the weekly Jeune Afrique, which enjoys Bourguibats patronage. De la Gorce knows his way around the Arab world and he
is much in favor of Bourguiba's pro=French and neocolonialist activities. Nevertheless he is realistic in this interview. He states that Bourguiba's proposal of a federation can't solve the problem of Israel, because Bourguiba is an agent of the West. He doesn't state, of course, that Bourguiba is linked to the Zionist regime of Israel precisely because of his political nature. .
"They (the left forces in the Arab countries) write and. speak against Israel, but for them it is a secondary business. In their circles there is none of the deep hostility existing among the. nationalists. Their main critérion is whether Israel remains allied to the Western bloc, whether it is a tool of America, The more Israel appears to be an ally of the USA and the West, the more. the - Egyptian left regards it as an enemy, a tool of the imperialist camp eeethey certainly don't assume that war is the only solution, that Israel should be destroyed. This means that any step taken by Israel to prove that it is not. linked to the West, any shift in its balancing act between the blocs, would strongly influence Egypt and the Arab world,"
Continuing, he says that "if in the future a positive solution can be found (for Israel), this could be accomplished only by a left revolutionary state, strong enough not to fear the accusation that it has capitulated to the West. Bourguiba's greatest weakness is the fact that he is allied to the West....The job will have to be done by a strong, left leader.” ‘(Emphasis added. )
The conflict between Israel and the Arabs can only be solved in alliance with the Arab revolution, against imperialism. It cannot be overcome by nice-sounding phrases from a neocolonialist like Bourguiba, The conflict in the final analysis involves the struggle of the Arab revolution against an imperialist bulwark in its own sphere. What is required is the socialist unification of the Arab world and its federation with a socialist Israel,
H-BOMB TEST STILL PROVIDING DATA
When the U.S. exploded a hydrogen bomb March 1, 1954, the natives of Rongelap and Ailingae in the Pacific were *accidentally" exposed to the fallout. Up to 1957 they were reported to be still in good health. Today the effects are beginning to show up. Pig-= mented moles, miscarriages, noncancerous (thus far) lumps in thyroid glands and some stunting of growth have afflicted the 82 victims. The moles have appeared on the skin where it was directly exposed to radiation. Boys poisoned by the dust at the age of five, show signs of slow growth of bones. The symptoms are directly associated with radioactive strontium and radioactive iodine ingested from contaminated water and contaminated foods.
THE ALEXANDER BLEVEN
[The following ballad to the tune of a Canadian folk song was composed by Shiam Nislem and sung by him at a benefit social in London for the prisoners in the