Women's roundtable conference, Luanda, People's Republic of Angola, 1978 April 29-30, Tape 1, Side 2
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WEBVTT
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Freda Brown: imperial aim.
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We are convinced that this meeting in Rwanda and the coming WIDF council meeting in Moscow
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will decide on further activities on national and international levels
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to strengthen the campaign of solidarity with the women and the people of Southern Africa.
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We should urge that the thirtieth anniversary
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of the Proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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in December this year be used to focus attention
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on the struggle against Apartheid.
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Let us ask, what is Apartheid?
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It is the degrading policy of institutionalized,
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racist domination and exploitation,
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inflicted by a minority regime in South Africa.
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It is a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations
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and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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It rests on the disposition, the plunder,
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the exploitation, the social deprivation of the African people
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since 1652 by the colonial settlers and their descendants.
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It is a crime against the conscience and the dignity of humanity.
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Millions of Africans are being forced to leave their homes.
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Special laws restrict their freedom of movement,
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thus denying the elementary human rights to the great majority of the population.
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And violating the inalienable right to self-determination
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of the people of South Africa.
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This inhuman policy has been enforced by the most ruthless of [[loud noise]].
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Separation is one of the basic policies of the racist regime in South Africa.
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The 4.3 million whites, that is,
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16 and a half percent of the South African population,
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have been allocated 87% of the country’s territory,
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including all the industrial and urban areas
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and the most fertile lands.
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On the other hand, less than 13% of the country
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has been allocated by the racists
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as reserved for the African majority,
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of the 18 and a half million people,
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that is more than 70% of the South African population.
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As a rule, these areas, the so-called “homelands” or “Bantustans”
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are made up of the most barren, infertile, and least industrial developed areas.
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The Bantustans are in fact reservoirs of cheap labor.
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Most African men are compelled to go to the white areas as migratory workers.
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Half the African labor force in the urban area consists of migratory workers,
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who have to live in single-sex hostels that are little better than prisons.
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These men are not allowed to bring their families.
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Their wives are prohibited from settling in the towns
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in order to prevent the so-called “Africanization” of the white areas.
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The Africans have no political rights whatever, outside the reserves.
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They are defenseless before the arbitrary action of the police.
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Under the laws passed by the racists, they are strangers in their own country.
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This is brutally and cruelly stated by Minister Vorster.
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And I quote from the House Assembly debates in April 1968,
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and he said: “We need them to work for us.
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But the fact that they work for us can never entitle them to claim political rights.
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Not now, nor in the future, nor under any circumstances.”
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But he will be shown soon how wrong he is. [[Applause]]
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One expression of this enslavement is the Pass Laws.
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Every African aged 16 and above, whether male or female,
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must always carry his pass with him
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and immediately produce it on demand.
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These pass laws have made criminals of millions of Africans
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and continue to do so at an alarming rate of 2,000 every day.
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This is from [[?]] Richards quoted in the Daily News in April ‘76:
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“During 1969 alone, 4,000 African mothers and their babies
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were detained in prison for these Pass laws.”
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There are laws in South Africa excluding Africans from certain occupations,
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reserving the well-paying jobs for the whites.
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Under the terms of the Apartheid laws, no black person may be put in charge of whites.
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73% of all fuel workers are white.
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And as a rule, the whites enjoy incomes five and even ten times those of Africans.
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Even when virtually the same type of work is involved,
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there is a large gap between the earnings of the two groups of workers.
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Since the- The situation of the African woman is even worse.
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The racist rulers consider the African woman as a slave of slaves.
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Only a very few African women - young girls, single women without children from the reserves - are able to find jobs.
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In 1970, this was the case with only 17% of the female Bantustan population.
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They are forced to accept particularly degrading positions of employment and the lowest of wages.
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As a rule, they work as domestic servants - washerwomen, cooks, nursemaids - in white households.
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Or as agricultural workers on white farms and plantations.
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Or in the factories on the border areas.
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That is, on the border outside the reserves.
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These women are often arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs,
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then reemployed at the same factory,
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but not at the wages they were earning at the time of their dismissal,
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but reduced to that of the unqualified beginner.
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The overwhelming majority of African women
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in urban areas are viciously exploited for low wages.
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They live in overcrowded conditions, mostly in primitive huts,
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often without electricity, gas, water, or storage.
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The African woman who comes from the reserves,
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has permission to work in the white areas,
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are as a rule, housed also in single-sex hostels,
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where mothers are deprived of the right to be with their children,
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because African children are, in the eyes of the racists,
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absolutely useless and should therefore be sent to the reserves.
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The policy of Apartheid, and particularly migratory labor,
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one of its economic pillars,
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makes it impossible for the overwhelming majority of African women
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to live normally and legally with their husbands,
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the fathers of their children, except for two weeks annual leave.
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The result is ripped families, uprooted children,
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bigamy, prostitution, homosexuality,
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drunkenness, malnutrition, and, a high infant mortality rate.
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Shortage of jobs and extreme poverty results in illness and early death.
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Today, almost 80% of the African population lives in extreme poverty.
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Diseases like kwashiorkor, scurvy, cholera, beriberi,
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gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, all the results of malnutrition,
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are widespread and are the common cause of high rate of infant mortality.
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Life expectancy of the African in South Africa
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is about 35 for men and 40 years for women.
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In fact, probably even younger.
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Comparable figures for whites are 65 and 72 years.
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Infant mortality rates of African children is amongst the worst in the world.
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A report from [[S. Verison?]], quoted in the Sunday Tribune
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on June 27, '76, says that 75 children,
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African in color, die every day
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from the lack of proper and adequate food.
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Another report estimates that 20% of all children born alive
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die before reaching the age of one year.
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And almost 30% die before their second birthday
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because medical care is totally inadequate.
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[[Wisterkoff?]] Scott, in a study of child malnutrition in Soweto district in '76 said
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"There is only one doctor for 44,000 Africans.
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For the whites, the ratio is 1 in 400.
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And in a report of WHO, it says that every 30 minutes,
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2 black children die in South Africa."
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A report by the United Nations, in June 1977,
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under the title "Implication of Apartheid on Health and Health Services in South Africa,"
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gives the following figures for infant mortality per thousand births.
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For whites in South Africa in '71 it was 20 per thousand.
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For Africans it was 95 per thousand.
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And for Africans in Transkei-Bantustan it was 216 per thousand.
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We believe we must take the opportunity, both to be the preparation for,
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and during International Year of the Child,
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to arouse the world to take action on behalf of the children of Southern Africa.
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We must make their plight widely known,
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and their courageous struggle supported.
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The decade of the year '70 by the World Congress held in ‘75,
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will hold an international conference in the International Year of the Child in 1979,
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and in the preparation of the reports and of the conference,
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we will ensure that the women, the children, the people of Southern Africa
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will have the opportunity to speak to the conference and, through that conference,
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call for solidarity in their struggle for their freedom, independence, and their basic human rights.
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The aim of education of African children under Apartheid
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is to give them just sufficient knowledge to become wage slaves and low paid.
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And, in addition, it will support connections and direct them
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as regarding the whites as masters and themselves as servants.
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Whereas education is free and compulsory for white children,
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books and other teaching aids do not have to be paid for,
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African parents must pay for their children’s schooling,
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for all books, for teaching aids, for uniforms.
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And in addition, they must contribute financially to the cost of building schools.
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The South African racist regime spent only 29 Rand
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per African pupil in the ‘73-‘74 year,
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but 495 Rand for the white pupil.
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Child labor among Africans is widespread.
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It is not unusual for boys and girls aged 8 or 10 years
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to work for white farmers.
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They get still lower wages than the adults
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and are less able to defend themselves against the intense exploitation.
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It is impossible to measure the cruel toll
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taken on black men, women, and children
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through the violence, persecution, and rapation.
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The children grow up in an atmosphere of hopeless insecurity,
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denied the simple continuity of family life.
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Protest and attempt to bring about a change from Apartheid
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are inhibited by the fear of the Bureau of Social Security
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enforced by informers and agents.
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Arrest carries with it terror of social isolation and brutal torture.
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According to reports, around half a million people are detained in Vorster prisons,
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98% of them Africans.
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Killing opponents of Apartheid has become quite legal.
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Of 48 persons known to have died in detention
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while under interrogation by the security police
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up to the end of ‘77,
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38% were officially said to have died by suicide,
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12% are said to have died by falling down stairs,
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others by falling out of high windows in the interrogation building,
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and 26% are said to have died of illness.
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But the ANC estimates that the number is in fact much higher.
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But despite all the brutal fascist terror of this minority regime of South Africa,
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the women, the people, and even the children -
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and you’ll hear it from the congregations -
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are daily demonstrating their courage, their determination,
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and their willingness to die in the fight for freedom.
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As early as 1913, women at Mangaung, in South Africa,
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successfully fought against the extension of special permits
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which restricted their free movement.
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On the 9th of August in ‘56,
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20,000 women marched to Pretoria in protest against the Pass laws,
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and the evils of Apartheid.
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This date is now honored and has become South African Women’s Day.
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We warmly greet the courageous women of South Africa
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who have dedicated their lives to the cause of their country.
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We salute Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, who are now banned.
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Women like Florence Matomela, who died in prison due to lack of medical care.
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And Dorothy Nyembe who is serving a 15-year jail service.
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We are proud of the courage displayed by the youth and the children of South Africa
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in the Soweto Uprising, and Mamelodi, in Langa, in Gugulethu, and Athlone.
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They symbolize the courage that the South African people
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and their determination to crush the fascist regime.
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And the slogans that they shout, the words they inscribe on their banners, are not new.
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They are the same ones that their parents used under the ANC:
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“Amandla Ngawethu” - “Power to the People.”
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We pledge to intensify our solidarity action
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for the immediate and unconditioned release of those in prison,
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detained, restricted, or exiled for their opposition to Apartheid.
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The South African racist regime is only able to continue its regime of murder and plunder
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because of the support it receives from its Western trading partners -
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the USA, Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Israel, and Japan -
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because of the 10,000 million in foreign capital invested there,
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and the massive trade it conducts with its Western partners.
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In Security Council, the guilt of the West is exposed by the vetoes
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of the USA, Britain, France, in opposition to the African proposals
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supported by the Socialist countries for the imposition of economic sanctions.
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The International Anti-Apartheid Year provides the opportunity
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for the intensification of the campaign to sever all links
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with the evil, brutalized regime of Apartheid.
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It took 14 years of continually increasing pressure
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before the Western three in the Security Council
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were forced to accept world demands for the imposition of the arms embargo.
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As the crisis in South Africa mounts,
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let all progressive humanity pledge that it will not tolerate
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or delay, but demand immediate imposition of economic sanctions.
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The threat of the Apartheid regime in South Africa
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is not directed alone against the South African people.
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It has been exposed as the bastion of racism and colonialism in Southern Africa
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and is a menace to all independent African states,
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to world peace and security.
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It has continued to illegally occupy the territory of Namibia,
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extended Apartheid, and rapidly miti-, militarized Namibia.
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They are using the northern borders of Namibia for acts of aggression
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and subversion against neighboring Angola, Zambia, and the South African army
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and its UNITA and Chilean mercenaries.
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Its support of the illegal Smith minority regime,
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its growing military integration with NATO countries,
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and in particular, great collaboration between the Federal Republic of Germany
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and the South African regime in constructing a uranium enrichment plant
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and nuclear reactor in South Africa,
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and a new role of order to South Africa
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in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean areas,
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are all matters which should cause grave concern
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to those who desire to ensure world peace and security.
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We women have to accelerate action,
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together with other peace loving forces in the world,
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for the complete isolation of the South African minority regime.
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We should hold protest demonstrations at the South African embassies and the diplomatic missions,
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particularly in countries whose governments are involved in collaboration with the South African regime.
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Demanding the immediate cessation of this support
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and demanding immediate implementation of the UN resolution
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on the mandatory arms embargo against South Africa,
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and for me, to all collaboration in the nuclear field.
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We also need to promote action for ratification and implementation
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of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid,
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which has so far been ratified by only 38 countries,
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mostly the Socialist and developing countries.
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Dear friends, the imperialist maneuvers in Southern Africa have increased.
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Recently, only we have witnessed shuttle diplomacy,
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and so-called peaceful solutions to settle the Zimbabwe conflict.
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The latest Anglo-American initiative,
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outside the United Nations framework, pursues a double strategy.
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On the surface, these two countries appear to be engaged
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in a search for what they call a peaceful solution,
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while beneath the surface, they are acting in complicity
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with both South Africa and Rhodesia in their aggressive adventures.
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We support the correct position of the Patriotic Front of Zimbabwe,
00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:10.000
emphasizing that the responsibility for decolonizing Zimbabwe
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lies squarely with the British as the colonial power,
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and that meaningful negotiation must take place between Britain
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and the Patriotic Front as the legitimate representative
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:30.000
of the broad masses of the colonialized people of Zimbabwe.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:35.000
Any transfer of power must be complete and total.
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:40.000
There can be no question of neocolonialism in Zimbabwe.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000
The neocolonialism lends itself to manipulation
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:53.000
by those powers with vested political and economic interests in Zimbabwe.
00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:58.000
Britain must prove her capability and her determination
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after the successful conclusion of a constitutional conference
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:08.000
to effectively and promptly implement every agreement reached.
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The Smith regime has to date murdered hundreds and hundreds of men, women, and children
00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:22.000
under the pretext of fighting guerrillas of the liberation forces.
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:27.000
Over 6,000 are in detention in prison.
00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:32.000
Villages in rural areas have been grouped into concentration camps,
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:36.000
ironically called 'protected villages'.
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There are about 90 of these villages.
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:46.000
In the last two years the Smith regime has carried out numerous raids,
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:50.000
Mozamb- Botswana, Zambia,
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.000
murdering hundreds of men, women, and children.
00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:02.000
A particularly brutal massacre was carried out in Zimbabwe, on the 6th of May last year.
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About two hundred men, women, and children, attending a wake
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at [[Guava?]] Village near Port Victoria were suddenly surrounded by the Smith forces.
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People were machine gunned indiscriminately.
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They were bombed by aircraft on the suspicion that guerrillas were in the crowd.
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68 men, women, and children were killed.
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:36.000
We pledge to the women and the people of Zimbabwe that we shall continue our solidarity
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with their struggle to destroy colonialism, racism, and fascism in their country.
00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:50.000
Dear friends, at this moment, the United Nations General Assembly
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:53.000
is discussing the question of Namibia.
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There can be no solution without the complete withdrawal of South Africa
00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:04.000
and all its armed forces and the release of all political prisoners.
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:11.000
South Africa must respect Namibia’s territorial integrity,
00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:15.000
and South Africa and the major Western powers
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:23.000
must recognize the United Nations Council for Namibia as the only legal authority.
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:28.000
We denounce the racist South Africa vicious maneuvers
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:34.000
and intrigues to legalize its illegal occupation of Namibia.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:40.000
These maneuvers find expression in the Turnhalle tribal talks
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000
meant to fragment the country on a tribal basis,
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:49.000
and such schemes as a so-called “advisory council”
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.000
and then the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference,
00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:02.000
all aimed at the perpetuation of South Africa’s colonial domin-, uh, domination over Namibia.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.000
Faced with the solid resistance of the Namibian people,
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:10.000
led by their organization SWAPO,
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:16.000
the racist regime stepped up its brutal and fascist acts of oppression
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:20.000
against the men, women, and children of Namibia.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:26.000
These include mass arrests, detention, imprisonment,
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:33.000
torture, intimidation, assassination, and execution of the SWAPO members,
00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:42.000
such as the execution of Philemon Yanangolo on May the 31st in 1977.
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:46.000
We reiterate that all support for SWAPO
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.000
and the Namibian people struggling for their liberation and national independence.
00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.000
And together with a campaign of moral and political support
00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.000
for the liberation movements of Southern Africa,
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.000
we shall step up the campaign of material aid
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.000
which is a valuable contribution to their struggle.
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:13.000
Friends, the struggle against colonialism and oppression
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:18.000
is an essential part of women’s struggle for equality.
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:25.000
The peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, the Cape Verde Islands,
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:31.000
San Tomé, Principe have defeated the colonial regimes,
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:35.000
and have joined the other independent African states
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:41.000
taking the road that can mean social progress and a happy life for their people.
00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:47.000
But we must specially redouble our solidarity with San Tomé
00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:52.000
where the imperialists are seeking to reestablish military bases.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:57.000
Women in their organizations in these countries
00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:01.000
have made and are making special contributions
00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000
to removing the remnants of imperialist, colonialist influence and exploitation
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:13.000
and advancing towards economic and social transformation.
00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:19.000
The outstanding contribution of the Angolan Women’s Organization
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:25.000
to the struggle against illiteracy, they received the official recognition of UNESCO
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.000
in the form of the [[?]].
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:37.000
We continue our support for this wonderful work of our national organizations in the literacy field.
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.000
We’ve established literacy centers in Angola, Portugal,
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:45.000
Namibia with the support of UNESCO.
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:50.000
And we now plan to establish a literacy center in Mozambique,
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.000
as well as in cooperation with our national organization.
00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:00.000
We propose to study the question of opening further cen-, centers
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:03.000
in cooperation with our national organization.
00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:07.000
The problem of illiteracy,
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:14.000
which has a prominent place in the world plan of action for the decade of women,
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:15.590
is our permanent
00:32:18.816
