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US Out of Southern Africa

By VVAW

The storm clouds of liberation are gathering in southern Africa. The people of Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Azania (South Africa), and Namibia (Southwest Africa) are rising up against the hated system of Apartheid, a racist government policy of strict segregation. Black people in these countries are standing up and fighting against the exploitation and oppression of the white minority governments. Last year the rebellion in Soweto, students and workers, fighting against the police demanding an end to passbooks, living on reservations and slavery-like conditions, kicked off demonstrations throughout the country shaking the foundations of the racist Vorster regime in South Africa. These demonstrations won the support of people throughout the world.

Over 80% of the population in South Africa is Black and yet they are restricted to 13% of the land. The government keeps areas of land for the Blacks. But because of the need to work many Blacks are forced to live in labor camps near the large cities. Every Black must carry a passbook saying where you can travel, work and live. Constant checks are made to see passbooks. In all, these restrictions on the lives of the Blacks tries to tie them to the economic shackles of the large corporations that exploit them.

Not surprising, the United States is the main backer of this colonial settler rule. About 375 US Corporations have large holdings in South Africa, with investments topping $1.6 billion. Companies like General motors, Ford, Chrysler, Texaco, union Carbide and IBM got their hands in the economy, milking southern Africa for all its worth. The wages for Blacks are controlled by law with the average take home pay $30 even though the official government poverty level is $70. To get work, Blacks have to report to government run centers and sign year long contracts, live in government run barracks and not see their families for months at a time.

It's no wonder that the US has for so long backed the regimes of Rhodesia and South Africa. With such conditions the profits are bigger and better for the US ruling class. One managing Director of International Harvester-South Africa summed up the attitudes of his class when he stated, "I am sympathetic to what South Africa is trying to do. I don't want hundreds of Africans running around in front of my house." And what's he sympathetic to? Premier Vorster once stated, "We are for building a nation for whites only. Black people are entitled to political rights, but only over their own people--not my people."

But things are changing. The people of southern Africa aren't taking all this without fighting. And as a result of the armed struggle in Rhodesia and the rebellions in South Africa the regimes in these tow countries are in bad shape. About 1,500 white people are leaving South Africa every month and the economy is crumbling.

So all of a sudden it looks as if the US ruling class is having a change of heart. But are they? No. Carter and his Black front man, Andrew Young are running around denouncing Apartheid and trying to appear as the friends of the Black South Africans. But they're just trying to buy time. Getting a chance to get a new regime in power to represent the interests of the US. Apartheid is a dying system and the US is being forced to re-examine its role.

In the meantime, the chief rival of the US ruling class for control of the world is the Soviet union's capitalist ruling class, who, trying to pose as "friend" of the liberation struggle are actually backstabbers trying to elbow their way in and take the place of the US, the main plunderer of southern Africa. With empty promises and a wallet full of rubles, the USSR hopes to be able to make liberation forces economically and politically dependent on it and use them to ice the US as the Soviets did with the MPLA in Angola.

So Young is hopping all over Africa going from conference to conference. Mondale is meeting with African heads of state, as is Secretary of State Vance. Podgorny of the Soviet union and Castro of Cuba are hugging each other in Moscow after both visited a number of African countries. All this commotion about Africa is a serious thing. Each of the superpowers has a stake in setting up regimes in Africa for their own benefits and none of it is good for the African people. These attempts are part of an overall move toward war between the two superpowers, as was pretty evident when Cuban and South African troops stood in for the USSR and the US respectively, battling it out in Angola. The Soviets won in Angola and the US is desperately trying not to lose in southern Africa. This is why Carter and Company are peddling themselves as the friends of the Black African people.

But not too many people are buying their wares. Discrimination of Blacks in this country is part and parcel of the system of imperialism that is the same enemy of the southern African people. Ever since Black people were dragged to this country in chains and sold as slaves they faced discrimination and oppression. But through the struggle of Black and white American, slavery was abolished and many of the most blatant forms of discrimination were broken down although there still is a struggle going on against national oppression. But as evidenced by the huge amount of American corporations in southern Africa the enemy is the same--the US ruling class. Coupled wit the growing influence of the Soviet Union in Africa and the growing danger of war, it is important for us to recognize that the struggle of the South African people is also our struggle.

When we vets were in the military many of us were sent to fight in Vietnam. First hand, we learned about the nature of US presence there. We were sent to Indochina, not to defend "freedom" and "democracy" as we were told, but to defend the interests of the US ruling class; for example Standard Oil of California and Texaco with oil interests in both Vietnam and South Africa. In Vietnam, Caltex gas stations were everywhere. In South Africa Caltex refines 50% of South Africa's oil imports.

And it's not just in Vietnam that we saw the death and destruction caused by the US. Wherever we were sent we were occupation forces protecting the ruling class: in Europe, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, South America, and elsewhere. It all boils down to the same thing. Everywhere we were sent we were treated and animosity by the people--whether it was in the form of "Yankee Go Home" or in less obvious ways. And rightly so. The people wanted the US out of their countries.

As this article is being written VVAW chapters across the country are planning to join in a major demonstration on African Liberation Day, May 28 in Washington DC and in Los Angles. As part of building for these demonstrations, vets from around the country are donating fatigues to the liberation forces in Rhodesia, led by the Zimbabwe African National Union.

We were used by the rich once but now we vow to Fight The Rich-Not Their Wars and stand shoulder to shoulder with the Black African people who are fighting for the liberation of their countries.

U.S.OUT OF AFRICA!
SUPERPOWERS HANDS OFF!
VICTORY TO THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN PEOPLE!