FIGHTING APARTHEID

25 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september/october 2024 :: RMTnews The film London Recruits, which is due out later this year and features a very handsome actor playing me!, concentrates on the people who took part in the leaflet bombing, which rocked many cities in South Africa in 1971. It gave hope to millions, but some comrades paid a very heavy price. Captured, tortured and long prison sentences were handed out to some. By the early 1970’s the Apartheid regime had succeeded in suppressing any opposition to its racist laws. The African National Congress (ANC) leadership was either in prison with life sentences or in exile, forced to flee their homeland. The regime boasted that they would be in power for a thousand years. So called separate development was here to stay. Get used to it. Virtually all opposition was illegal. The catch all “suppression of communism” act effectively banned all opposition to the whites-only regime. Even the mildest of dissent would not be tolerated. Democratic change through the ballot box was impossible, as democracy, as we understand it, was for a tiny minority of the South African population, and all peaceful protest was met with the utmost violence. Almost all ANC members who were not in prison had to go into exile, to avoid arrest and torture. The leadership in exile, led by Oliver Tambo, faced a problem: how were they going to carry on their liberation struggle from outside? Oliver Tambo asked a young comrade Ronnie Kasrils if he could organise some people to go into South Africa posing as tourists, would-be immigrants, business people or honeymoon couples. They were to carry out agitational work and some basic rules were drawn up. They would have to be white, as they would not attract suspicion and only white people had freedom of movement. They had to be committed to the overthrow of the racist regime and they must be willing to undergo basic training and understand the risks they were taking. Most people selected were working class activists and trade unionists. They had been on demonstrations against the Apartheid regime and against the US war in Vietnam. Most were members of the Young Communist League. Some were London School of Economics students and some of these were in the International Socialists. Once selected, recruits were asked to undertake various missions to South Africa or nearby countries. They were told that if caught they would face a MINIMUM of five years imprisonment with no remission; five years would mean five years. Some of the tasks that the recruits were asked to undertake included learning how to construct and explode leaflet bombs. These were not designed to harm anyone (which they never did) but to get information to the African working class on their way home from work. Remember, you couldn’t just hand leaflets out on street corners. To advocate equal rights for all South African citizens was illegal. Explosives were smuggled out in false bottomed suitcases. In the false bottom was gunpowder, timing devices, and leaflets advocating freedom for all. Some recruits set up street broadcasts using amplified cassette players that delivered messages of solidarity and calls to action. Some were tasked with the delivery of monies and forged passports and passes, others smuggled agitational material hidden on board tourist ships. Recruits posing as a honeymoon couple smuggled men and arms from Zambia to Botswana, close to the South African border, and in 1986, a tourist safari company was set up using a truck modified with secret compartments to smuggle arms to the liberation forces. No-one got paid for these activities, these were acts of international solidarity and some were to pay a heavy price for their actions. Two, Alex Moumbaris and Sean Hosey were arrested, tortured and imprisoned for many years. The film London Recruits will be released in November and we are calling on trade union branches to support the launch by arranging a showing at their local independent cinema. To sign up, visit bit.ly/LRPeoplesRelease. We also need to raise £65k from the trade union movement to secure the release of the film. You and your branch can donate at https://bit.ly/LondonRecruitsFilmF und FIGHTING APARTHEID London Recruit Steve Marsling calls on branches to help a film about the struggle in South Africa to make the big screen