Word: idaf
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Since then, however, the government in Pretoria has significantly tightened the enforcement of apartheid laws and repressed any signs of dissent. In 1966, the IDAF was banned and has been forced to smuggle aid into the country through what Gomes calls "cloak and dagger means...
Despite this constraint, the IDAF has continued to exert a strong positive influence in South Africa. During a recent testimonial dinner in Cambridge, Woods spoke in emotional terms of "the hundreds of people I know of" whom the IDAF has helped. And a Black South African studying in this area who asked not to be identified says the IDAF "has saved lives, supported countless families of prisoners, and proved to be a big thorn in the side of the government...
...Kenneth N. Carstens, the IDAF's executive director for the United States, explains, the organization cannot cite specific examples of people it has helped for fear of reprisals against those people, their lawyers and their families in South Africa...
This fact of life makes the task of fundraising extremely problematic, because it is difficult to elicit funds for a cause whose effectiveness cannot be documented, Carstens says. Nonetheless, the IDAF raises millions of dollars a year that make their way to South Africa. But of the 10 national committees--in England, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, New Zealand, India and the U.S.--the American branch contributes the smallest amount, last year about...
Carstens explains that this is because the U.S. government gives no support to the IDAF. By comparison, the Swedish government contributes over $2 million a year. "The sad truth is that the least sympathetic governments of all are those of the United States and England," Carstens says. "So much for conservatives concerned for justice...