Word: biko
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...never be able to risk saying that in public. While still in the country I myself had to avoid taking a public position on divestment--otherwise I knew I would get chopped. But I favored divestment, and all other kinds of pressure, from the morning we heard of Steve Biko's death...
...like fashion prematurely honored a short-term settlement, reached for the exigencies of the moment--namely, the American desire for withdrawal. Perhaps the Nobel Committee should reevaluate the difference between short-term diplomacy and long-term commitment to human justice and lasting peace in the spirit of Steve Biko...
...already chosen violence. South Africa chose institutionalized violence when it erected its system of apartheid decades ago, and every time it strengthened that system in recent years with bantustans and pass laws. South Africa chose violence at Sharpeville in 1960, at Soweto in 1975, with the murder of Steve Biko last year. Supported by South Africa, Rhodesia chose violence with its raids last week. When the two countries are not choosing violence, they are backing and filling, stalling for time, as in the now-on, now-off elections in Namibia, as in the mockery of a transitional government in Rhodesia...
...with many foreign affairs, it is all too easy to dismiss Biko's murder as something distasteful, but far away. The South African tragedy, however, extends far beyond the borders of the bantustans such as Soweto; in fact, through American companies with operations there, it reaches all the way back to investors in this country, up to and including Harvard. The presence of these U.S. dollars propping up Vorster's government--directly or even indirectly--mocks the concepts of justice and equality...
...Southern African Solidarity Committee and the United Front in this work against this great evil. The task will not be easy, and with an important but unfortunately unexciting slate of case-by-case reviews in the offing, it will take real dedication. But the memory of Steve Biko and all he stood for compels us to do no less. It may be a new year, but the goal remains the same: Harvard and U.S. dollars out of South Africa...