The Michigan Daily-Saturday, June 17, 1978-Page 5
Diag rally honors Soweto dead
By RENE BECKER
Despite the rain about 30 people
gathered on the Diag yesterday to
commemorate the bloody Soweto,
uprising in South Africa exactly two
years ago.
The noon-time rally, delayed 20
minutes due to a heavy downpour, was
sponsored by the Washtenaw County
Coalition Against Apartheid (WCCAA),
and was endorsed by ten other groups.
Each of the organaizations has urged
S. Africa
protest a-
SOWETO, South Africa (AP)-Thou-
sand of blacks shouting "power,"
raising clenched-fist salutes and
singing hymns of freedom packed
churches in this sprawling township
yesterday to mark the anniversary of
the bloody street riots of 1976.
Nervous police in camouflage
fatigues ringed the Regina Mundi
Roman Catholic Church and checked
passing cars, frisking some passengers
and haranguing others.
BUT NO SERIOUS incidents were
reported through the day in sharp con-
trast to the weeks of riots two years
earlier which left more than 600 blacks
dead.
In one isolated incident, six black
policemen used rifle butts to rough up a
group of about 20 blacks before a black
sergeant ordered his men to move on.
Since the rioting ignited in Soweto in
1976 and swept through black com-
munities elsewhere, thousands of
Soweto's most politicized students have
fled to neighboring states, many to un-
dergo guerrilla training.
AND DESPITE periodic official
crackdowns on black leaders,
publications and organizations, hated
apartheid laws have been marginally
relaxed to and some segregated sports,
allow urban dwellers more say in their
44 a N F ,4f//
the University to sell investments in
corporations which operate in South
Africa.
GORDON CRAWFORD of the
Socialist Party, the first of four
speakers at the rally, charged that
American foreign policy contributes to
the apartheid system in South Africa.
He said dealing with the white minority
leaders there and allowing Ameican
corporations to operate in South Africa
enforces the legal racism in that coun-
n blacks
rarthe id
affairs and permit the races to mingle
in selected nightclubs, bars and hotels.
The memorial service at Regina
Mundi on the edge of the sprawling
township outside Johannesburg was the
biggest of three services scheduled for
the day.
For more than two hours, about 3,000
blacks listened to poets, community
leaders and clergymen as they pun-
ctuated impassioned pleas for racial
justice with fierce cries of "amandla"
power and clenched-fist salutes.
DR. NTHATO Motlana, one of
Soweto's most respected leaders, ter-
med the anniversary a "joyous event"
because the 1976 rioting showed "that if
we want to we can change the system."
Motlana, who was detained for five
months after last October's mass
security crackdown on blacks, drew
loud cheers as he said:
"Let us dedicate ourselves until a
new order is brought in, until man is
judged for what he is worth, paid for
what he has done and until the majority
of people are given what is rightfully
theirs."
BISHOP DESMOND TUT, head of
the South African Council of Churches,
told the blacks: "No one will be free in
this country until the blacks are free.
The whites also know that they system
that rules this country is an immoral
try.
"We ask for a solution to Soweto,"
said Crawford. His answer was "to
support the forces of liberation in South
Africa."
Andrew Patton, of the Black Students
Union, said University investments in
corporations doing business in South
Africa provides the base upon which the
Vorster regime operates. He said
University administrators, by investing
in those corporations, "invest in
death-they invest in the degradation of
the people."
PATTON SAID Americans would be
outraged if Cubans invaded California
or if the Soviet Union invaded Wiscon-
sin and the foreign power claimed
ownership. However, Patton claimed,
whites have gone into Africa and called
it theirs. He said "Africa is for
Africans."
Between speakers the group ren-
dered various chants such as "U of M
divest now" or "U of M-USA, out of
South Africa right away." While the
carillonneur played from Burton
Tower, the few people who walked
through the Diag during the protest
showed only passing interest.
Denise Hoppe from the Young
Socialist Alliance told the protesters
their presence demonstrated opposition
to the University's "continuing support
of this racist regime."
HOPPE TOLD the group, most of
whom were wearing black armbands in
honor of those who died in the Soweto
uprising, that one purpose for yester-
day's demonstration was to "get the
truth out," about what the U.S. gover-
nment is doing about South Africa.
Gemadari from the WCCAA said the
South African government spent $1
million last year in the U.S. trying to
convince people that blacks do not suf-
fer in South Africa.
He ruged the crowd to lobby for state
House Bill 6341 which could ultimately
force the University to sell all invest-
ments in corporations with South Africa
operations. He promised that if the bill
is "not passed this year, we will push
that it be reintroduced next year and
the next year and the next year."
Manufacturers ship 57 per cent of
their products by truck, and in some
states, including Massachusetts and
Connecticut, this figure approaches 85
per cent, says the Motor Vehicle
Manufacturers Association.
Canal treaties sealed
(Continued from Page I)
they were stronger ... He gave me the
strength for the struggle."
Referring to opposition to the treaties
and to his leadership, Torrijos said that
"history will convert the critics ... and
will elevate those who sacrifice per-
sonal popularity for national justice."
The treaty exchanging ceremony
marked the culmination of 13 years of
negotiations between the United States
and Panama. It also represents Car-
ter's major foreign policy victory to
date after a seven-month battle in the
U.S. Senate, where the pacts were ap-
proved by idential 68-32 margins with
one vote to spare each time.
The treaties become effective Oct. 1,
1979, six months after Friday's, ex-
change of ratification documents takes
effect on April 1, 1979.
Regents oppose state
aid for private colleges
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'5 eii. system. iweiave won the struggle ani i(Conuedfrom Page3)
S LET THTERM KNOW they have lost.' authorized an "emergency action" for
WE'RE OUT THERE! An armored anti-riot vehicle, a sym- expenditures in 1978-79. The action,
, ,, 0 bol of police authority in South Africa, which University Chief Financial Of-
*WY atood parked near the church. ficer James Brinkerhoff called routine,
N ! Younger speakers at Regina Mundi will continue until the state legislature
IMwere in a more militant mood. One ,
HIGHLY VISIBLE VINYL BUMPER STICKER = spoke of the "fascist regine"' of determines the University's ap-
: $1.49 (includes Postage and Handling)e Premier John Vorster whose gover- ProPriatiore monetary actions, thie
Check or Money Order payable to: a nment advocates separate white and Regents approved a $357,000 renovation
0l DOWNTOWN RUNNER black areas for the two races through a project for the University Hospital's
- P.O. Box 1266 policy effectively meaning whites wield department of physical medicine and
00 t most military, economic and dpatmntolpyscaiedcieln
0 Detroit, Mi. 48231 political rehabilitation. Of that fund, $290,000
$ control, will come from the State Bureau of
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Rehabilitation.
Repair for the 50-year-old Architec-
ture and Design Building roof at an
estimated cost of $122,000 was approved
by the Regents, as well as a new
laboratory on the top floor of the
Chemistry Building for about $150,000.
Getting away from financial affairs
for a moment, the Regents named three
department chairmen and a director
for the Western European Studies Cen-
ter. Robert Howe was reappointed
chairman of the Aerospace
Engineering Department. Prof. David
Bien was named Director of the
Western European Studies Center;
Prof. James Cather will be acting
Chairman of the Division of Biological
Sciences; and Prof. Samuel Clark is to
take over as the acting chairman of the
department of Applied Mechanics and
Engineering Science.
YOU can bowl here
and no one will
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BOWLING
atthe UNION
Open 11 am Mon.-Fri.
I pm Sat.-Sun.