D- National strike shuts down country — ony progressive, democratic Yement, led by the ANC, is at the mandate for bring- out change i in South Africa ot lie in the hands of the gima in any form what- ust belong to the people hole,” Yasuf Saloojee, Presentative to Canada fican National Congress Tribune last week. _is fundamental,” he , “because western states nding greater reforms to about by Prime Minis- They still accept Botha Vehicle for change in South ‘SIS a different vision. We Ody can be the instrument fe unless they have a Tom the people as a Main factors accentuate it phase of the struggle: the white, extreme right- Ose basic ideology is that sm (even their emblem re- S the swastika). They are Number. The other factor and some whites) on a paid PY the regime to’ try and Wn the progressive hese are new elements oe) African National Congress ike apartheid South Africa emable”” has been success- €cially in Black areas. Mary structures of peo- Overnment, such as. street €a committees, people’s and, in a new feature this emergence of defence Toduction of Black vigi- - , have been deployed . committees in many townships, some of them armed. ““The most important question now is: Where do we move from ‘ungovernability’? And the ANC has just issued a Call to the Nation via our Radio Freedom and in leaflets, calling on the people to move now from ‘ungovernability to people’s power’. We must move rapidly in the balance of 1986 to ensure the creation of the necessary , structures to ensure self-government spread through- out the country.” The ANC’s Call to the Nation reads in part: eet us in an organized way spread the mood of total civil dis- obedience, including an organ- ized campaign leading to nation- wide refusal to pay all taxes and rents. eLet us make the National General Strike called in obser- _vance of the 10th Anniversary for June 16th the mightiest demon- stration yet of our people’s re- solve to bring the ruling class to its knees. Let every mine, factory, farm and white home be without labor. Let every university and school be emptied of its youth. Let every shop close its doors. Let- every community strike a blow for freedom. eLet us declare freedom of movement throughout our land and set aside a day on which we burn our badges of slavery —-the passes. We have already forced the regime to sound a retreat on ‘the old-style dompas. Now let us resist all other attempts by Botha to deny us free access to any part of our united South Africa, whether by means of new identity documents, bantustans, resettle- aw effort to smash apartheid ment camps, group areas or other racist devices. eLet August 9th — the 30th Anniversary of the women’s heroic march on Pretoria — be a day on which the whole nation moves with our women in the march towards freedom. (On Aug. 9, 1956, over 20,000 women marched to Pretoria protesting the extension of the pass laws to Black women). ; eLet us mobilize everywhere to smash the bantustans and to iso- late the puppets who continue to collaborate with apartheid. The few bantustan office-bearers who are aligning themselves with the democratic movement are show- ing the real way forward. eLet us intensify our armed ac- tivities at all levels. More and more contingents of our people must be armed. Efforts must be redoubled to obtain arms from the enemy and from any other source. Let us influence our peo- ple in uniform to surrender their -arms to the people’s represen- tatives. We must multiply the formation of people’s defence militia everywhere so as to meet more effectively the assault by the enemy's armed forces and treacherous vigilantes and ‘impis’ (the Zulu youth wing which has been formed into a quasi-military formation) which they employ. Our People’s Army, strengthened by the emerging popular militia, must intensify and spread its armed actions across the country. Let. us. strengthen further underground organization and emerge from every campaign with more powerful and united con- tingents of organized mass forces. TRIBUNE PHOTO — TOM MORRIS i Yusuf Saloojee (I), Canadian ANC -careeenintiin at cent Tromp . anti-apartheid rally. Saloojee explained that the apartheid regime will make every possible effort to re-seize the initiative in the next period. It will intensify its repression in an effort to smash the people’s forces. The strengthening and defense of the people’s organizations against the regime’s onslaught is essential. eLet us do all in our power to strengthen the unity of the work- ers and encourage the affiliation to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) of all those democratic trade unions _ who still remain outside its rank: . eAbove all, let us act in unity. Let us strike with one fist. Every action, whether local, regional or national, must involve all sections of our people. The workers, youth, women and other strata among the oppressed must everywhere move in an organized way together. The Black masses — African, Coloured and Indian — must continuously find ways of engaging the enemy together and _than ever before in our history. defeating its policies of divide and rule. And those among us who exploit the people’s offensive to — engage in acts of thuggery and hooliganism must be isolated and stopped from carrying out their anti-social activities. We have reached a point of no return. The historic conditions necessary to ensure the collapse of the apartheid system have taken shape in greater measure But much still needs to be done to 7 destroy it once and for all. * * * ‘**The next months are perhaps the most crucial period in the en- tire history of our struggle,’ Sa- loojee emphasized. “‘It is a time for a battle of initiatives. We have captured it. The Botha regime is trying to recapture it. And the Western states are trying to cap- ture it from us as well. But this initiative has been won by our people at great expense. We are not prepared to lose it. TERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris Xternal Affairs - Minister “pede. He then might have Ugh feet to shoot himself in. ee Clark rose to his full k to ‘‘explain’’ ‘tnment really couldn't do about imposing suas IS against apartheid. ~ ly to pleas from ay P Desmond Tutu, Clark have to wait until hear- e findings ‘of the Eminent Ns’ Group set up by the Mmonwealth. Ybvi Joe Clark, 1g for Mulroney, who $ for Ronald Reagan, was the EPG as a cover for ‘hothing while Pretoria Up its repression, now ing armed right-wing ites on Black townships. June 5 the Eminent *s Group made its Public. They said ‘‘the Only answer that could “nce South Africa to come Settlement .. Clear setback for Clark ultoney and their man in hited Nations, Stephen tk should have been a in the Commons last | that his - arliament that his Tories — lieves. sanctions are- Lewis — all of whom have been - spouting - the “*sanctions-will-hurt-Blacks”’ argument of the country’s rul- ing ‘minority. It will be interesting to see ‘what other fig leaf these Cana- dian apologists will find to avoid complete sanctions in face of overwhelming evidence _ and pressure to bring apartheid — down. _ ‘Evidence’ in advance Last week’s Tribune carried an interview with Nicaragua’s- consul in Toronto, Pastor. Valle-Garay, where — he discussed planning going on in Washington to get enough votes in the U.S. Congress to pass Reagan’s 100-million con- tra aid bill. Valley-Garay was talking then about the new face lift being given the assorted bands _ Ofcontras as the vote nears. He _. described the effort to turn a gang of killers and thieves into Nicaraguan ‘‘patriots’’ so the Congressmen would vote ‘yes = The New York Times, June 8, in a fascinating story shows just how this vote manipula-. tion is carefully planned by the White House. It says that Reagan will charge Nicaragua with being supplied with Soviet arms, that the first Soviet freighter in 18 months was seen in a Nica- raguan port (it arrived early in May) and that there is a “‘new crackdown”’ on political op- position in Nicaragua. ate All this, says White House aides, will convince Congressmen to vote the right way. The aides even told the press they suspect Soviet mili- tary equipment will be used to fight contra attacks. Percep- tive. \,_ It’s interesting how the New York Times can tell in advance what Reagan will announce as ‘new evidence’ days later. The scenario recalls his: per- formance on national tele- _ vision against Grenada where he conjured up the ‘Soviet threat’’ before invading the i is- . land. New York’s child poverty Almost to the day Reagan postured at the White House © ‘*Hands Across America’’ against hunger in the nation, the New York’ Times Magazine, June 8, ran a story. on child poverty in that city. “Terming the picture ‘‘a crisis’’, the story said 700,000 abused so badly they had to be -removed from their homes. Days later Time magainze New York kids (40 per cent) ~ live in families with incomes below the poverty level. Other data: 3,000 babies are born drug addicts each year; 10,000 live in shelters; 12,000 were issued. a_ self-congratulatory special geared to the Statue of © _ Liberty centenary and July 4 extolling all things U.S. It didn’t mention the kids in New York City. The New York Times Magazine June 8 issue on child poverty in _ just one major U.S. city contrasts with Time Magazine asiening July 4th pump up special.