Word: moral
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Second, SASC doesn't seem to be able to decide whether it supports divestment more for economic or for moral reasons. It's natural for them to equate Harvard's divestment with practical, positive change in South Africa. It would be difficult to maintain commitment to a cause without the hope of it achieving some great and just result. But when questions are raised concerning the possibility that withdrawal of Harvard's "investment" in South Africa might have only a minimal economic impact on conditions there--or perhaps even a negative one--divestment activists are quick to respond that divestment...
...economic and moral arguments are two very different rationales for divestment. One says that divestment can bring about much-desired change for the oppressed in South Africa, while the other simply asserts it to be a moral necessity. One holds out the possibility of easing the plight of Blacks in South Africa, while the other only holds out the possibility of easing the consciences of those lucky enough to be here in North America...
...also in some sense perhaps mutually exlusive. A purely moral motivation for divestment should not be sullied by resort to its likely practical benefit. If the moral case for divestment is strong enough, opponents of apartheid should not have to make economic arguments for it as well...
Finally, even SASC's purely moral arguments for divestment are often weak and inconsistent. The activists push it on the premise that it is intrinsically immoral for Harvard to invest in a nation whose regime is based upon so fundamentally wrong a premise as that of South Africa. That may very well be so. Yet, when asked why they do not also favor and agitate for divestment from other despicable regimes--the Soviet Union, Chile, etc.--the typical response is that divestment from South Africa is more attainable and holds out greater prospect for change than divestment from other regimes...
...racial dilemna there makes the apartheid regime easy to target. But if the reasoning behind choosing South Africa to take a symbolic stand against illiberal regimes worldwide is its convenience as a target for humanitarian outrage, than clearly divestment from South Africa itself is not the clear, specific moral imperative divestment activists make...