SANCTIONS AGAINST THE REPUGNANT APARTHEID REGIME IN SOUTH AFRICA

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89T00234R000200310002-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 23, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 19, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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S 16864
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENAT October. 19, 1988
Whereas Ronald L. Tammen has earned
the utmost respect of his colleagues in this
institution: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That Ronald L. Tanunen is
hereby commended for his unfailing and ex-
emplary service to his country, the State of
Wisconsin and to the United States Senate.
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, I
thank the distinguished majority
leader for his assistance. These two
resolutions concern two remarkable
staff members on the Senate Banking
Committee who have served this Sena-
tor and the Senate so ably.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.
REI, ERRING S. 1964 TO THE
CHIEF JUDGE OF THE U.S.
CLAIMS COURT FOR A REPORT
THEREON
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on hehalf
of Senators EXON and KARNEs, I send
a resolution to the desk and ask for its
Immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 507) to refer S. 1964
entitled For the Relief of Nebraska Alumi-
num Casting, Inc., of Hastings, Nebraska" to
the Chief Judge of the United States Claims
Court for a report thereon.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is
there objection to the immediate con-
sideration of the resolution?
There being no objection, the Se
proceeded to consider the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. T
question is on agreeing to the resolu
tion.
The resolution (S. Res. 507) was
agreed to, as follows:
S. RES. 507
Resolved, That the bill S. 1964 entitled
"For the Relief of Nebraska Aluminum
Castiag, Inc., of Hastings, Nebraska" now
pending in the Senate, together with all the
accompanying papers, is referred to the
Chief Judge of the United States Claims
Court. The Chief Judge shall proceed with
the same in accordance with the provisions
of sections 1492 and 2509 of title 28, United
States Code, and report thereon to the
Senate, at the earliest practicable date,
giving such findings of fact and conclusions
thereon as shall be sufficient to inform the
Congress of the nature and character of the
demand as a claim, legal or equitable,
against the United States or a gratuity and
the amount, if any legally or equitably due
to the claimant from the United States.
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
CERTAIN APPOINTMENTS
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I send a
resolution to the desk and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 508) authorizing cer-
tain appointments.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is
there objection to the immediate con-
sideration of the resolution?
There being no objection, the Senate
proceeded to consider the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The-
question is on agreeing to the resolu-
tion.
The resolution (S. Res. 508) was
agreed to, as follows:
S. RES. 508 -
Resolved, That notwithstanding the sine
die adjournment of the present session of
the Congress, the President of the Senate,
the President of the Senate pro tempore,
the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the
Minority Leader of the Senate be, and they
are hereby, authorized to make appoint-
ments to commissions, committees, boards,
conferences, or interparliamentary confer-
ences authorized by law, by concurrent
action of the two Houses, or by order of the
Senate.
ORDER OF PROCEDURE
Mr. BYRD). Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that Senators may
be permitted to speak in morning busi-
ness for not to exceed 10 minutes
each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER,. With-
out objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest
the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
ROCKEFEI.LER). The clerk will call the
roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to
call the roll.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Senator from California.
SANCTIONS AGAINST THE RE-
PUGNANT APARTHEID REGIME
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Mr. CRANSTON. Mr. President, for
e past several weeks a number of
moratic Senators have been press-
ing for action on S. 2756, the South
Africa sanctions bill which I am spon-
oring together with Senators KENNE-
DY, SIMON, BENTSEN, WEICKER, ADAMS,
MOYNIHAN, BRADLEY, DODD, and LEVIN.
It has become clear that due to the
refusal of virtually all members of the
Republican side of the aisle to cooper-
ate, we will not be able to achieve a bi-
partisan agreement to bring this bill to
final passage.
I've counted this apartheid issue
with great care. A clear majority of
the Senate supports the bill?more
than 50 Senators. But only two of the
certain supporters are Republicans.
All the rest are Democrats.
Unfortunately, there are only 54
Democratic Senators. An overwhelm-
ing majority of them support sanc-
tions. But it takes 60 votes to stop a
debate. So ?we could not end the
debate without the help of a few more
Republicans. We haven't had that
help.
Given the certainty of a Republican
filibuster that was certain to succeed
because we lacked the 60 votes it takes
to end debate by voting cloture, and
given the press of other business?
drugs and tax corrections, to cite two
examples?the leadership quite prop-
erly concluded it would be pointless to
bring up the measure. We'd already
been frustrated by Republican filibus-
ters against minimum wage, child care,
and parental leave. The Republcians
talked, talked, talked, and kept all
three issues from coming to a vote.
I deeply regret that Republican Sen-
ators have blocked bipartisan support
for action on this vital legislation.
As the principal sponsor of this
measure, I regret that the Senate will
not act on final passage this year.
But this is not the end of the battle.
We'll be right back early in 1989. And
then, relieved of the time pressures
that closed in on us this year, we will
do our utmost to bring the matter to a
successful vote.
We will surely get a cloture vote.
Senators will have to stand up on the
issue and be counted publicly, as I
have counted them privately.
Mr. President, this is by no means a
new proposal. A version of this bill has
been before the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee for more than 16
months. Eight separate committees of
the House and Senate have reviewed
It. The full House has passed it. And in
an historic Senate Foreign Relations
Committee vote last month, that dis-
tinguished panel has endorsed the
comprehensive sanctions bill. Progress,
in many respects, has been remarka-
ble.
, Two years ago, the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee worked together in a
bipartisan fashion to craft modest
South Africa sanctions legislation.
The Senate made a pledge in passing
that bill; we made a promise in adopt-
ing a mild compromise measure.
We made a solemn commitment in
the 1986 legislation to revisit the issue
12 months later and to enact stronger
sanctions if the situation had not im-
proved.
The situation in South Africa has, in
fact, grown far worse.
More than 30,000 people have been
arrested for resisting apartheid in the
last 2 years.
Thousands of children have been ar-
rested.
Many of those children have been
tortured by the regime's police.
And in recent weeks the machinery
of the apartheid state has turned on
the churches.
Virtually all groups opposed to
apartheid have been outlawed.
A legal case is being prepared by the
apartheid regime against Bishop Tutu.
And the offices of the South African
Council of Churches have been devas-
tated by bomb blasts.
The South African night is growing
darker?and alternatives to violence
and civil war are being extinguished
daily.
We in this Chamber have a very lim-
ited ability to influence these grim de-
velopments.
But we have, I believe, a moral obli-
gation to act, to use the modest power
we have to help those who have none.
And we promised in 1986 that we
would act again.
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October 19, 1988 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE
I therefore find unacceptable the po-
sition of virtually all Republican Sena-
tors that we do nothing. That is what
the Republican Senators have said to
us by refusing to work with us to craft
a bipartisan bill: "Even though the sit-
uation has gotten worse, do nothing
about apartheid."
The United States is not a ,pitiful,
helpless giant. We can provide leader-
ship, we can fulfill our commitments.
In the face of the horrors which
have accelerated over the past few
weeks in South Africa, we in the
United States should not sit on our
hands just because it is an election
Year at home. ?
I therefore regret the position taken
by most Republican Members of this ?
body.
We on the majority side have sought
to be accommodating. We have sought
to reach an agreement that would
serve U.S. national interests and move
this bill forward. It was in that spirit
that I accepted the only modification
proposed by any Republican Senator
in the Foreign Relations Committee?
to delete the provision of my bill gov-
erning access to future oil leases in the
United ?States by firms involved in
South Africa- So we have been respon-
sive.
The United States have a vital inter-
est in making clear our commitment to
freedom for the people of South
Africa. This is a moral obligation, to
be sure. But' it is a strategic Imperative,
as well. For some day liberty Will come
to the oppressed millions in South
Africa. It is in the interests of the
United States to have stood with them
in their struggle for freedom.'
Mr. President, I am disappointed
that my bill, S. 2756, has not received
support from more . Senators 'on the
other side of the slate. I believe the
time has come for us to stand up and
be counted on the question of doing
business with the apartheid regime. I
call upon all my colleagues to support
sanctions legislation. And I pledge
that I will afford them that oliportuni-
ty anew by pressing antiapartheid leg-
islation early in the new Congress. I
hope that we will, then enjoy biparti-
san cooperation to end United- States
trade with South Africa and to with-
draw American investments in the
apartheid system.
- Mr. President, I note that seated on
the floor is a Senator who has been a
leader in the battle against apartheid,
the Senator from Illinois, num. SIMON,
who recently went to South Africa be-
cause of his concern about what is
happening there and about what is
not happening here. I am delighted
that he will now speak to the Senate
on his first-hand observations in that
beleagured, unfortunate country.
Mr. SIMON addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Senator from Illinois.
Mr. SIMON. -First, I commend my
colleigtie, Senator CRANSTON, for his
leadership. I also commend Senator
WEICKER and Senator KENNEDY for
their leadership.
I did have, as Senator CRANSTON just
mentioned, the experience just a few
weeks ago of being in South Africa.
South Africa is a time bomb. I cannot
tell you whether that time bomb is
going to explode 6 days from now or 6
months from now or 6 years from now.
But explode it will. That explosion is
going to be heard in a variety of ways
all over the globe, in ways I cannot
predict, nor can anyone else. Apart-
heid is going to go. The only question
Is whether it is going to go after mas-
sive violence or before massive vio-
lence. There will be meaningful nego-
tiations between the white leadership
of South Africa and the real black
leadership. The only question is, does
It come before massive violence or
after massive violence. There is no
guarantee the sanctions legislation is
going to work, but there is a guarantee
that if we simply mouth pious tirades
and say "naughty-naughty," that is
not going to work. That has been the
history.
I remind everyone?and I do not
need to remind the Senator from Cali-
fornia, who is probably the only living
American who was ever sued by Adolf
_Hitler because he Wanted to get the
original Mein Kampf printed in the
United States?in the United States
half a century ago, when Hitler was
doing what he .did to the Jews, we
were saying, "Oh, this isn't right,"but
we were not putting any economic '
muscle to it.
Maybe?we cannot rerun history?if
we had had some kind of economic
sanctions against Germany at that
time the German people"-wOUld have
changed; we would not have had the
massive bloodshed we had.- We cannot
rerun that but we can learn from his-
tory.
I know there are some who say sanc-
tions is not the answer. I had whites in
South Africa tell me that. Incidental-
ly, among the whites overwhelmingly
they were opposed to sanctions; among
the blacks, the leadership overwhelm-
ingly for it. And to those who .say,
"Well, the blacks in South Africa are
opposed to sanctions."? I simply point
out you basically have three major
labor union groups where-they have
nonwhite leadership now, ne of the
signs of progress, and there are some
signs of progress in South Africa. But
those labor union leaders say we want
sanctions.
Shortly before I was there, in the
one group which met, 870 unions
unanimously supported sanctions be-
cause they recognized sanctions are
the alternative to violence.
I visited three of the black town-
ships. Township is a kind of a pleas-
ant-sounding name to what is there.
We have townships in Illinois. You
may have townships in West Virginia.
I do not know. Townships in South
Africa 'are racially segregated, restrict-
ed areas where. people have to live,
several hundred thousands'of them,
S 16865
blacks living there, with no water, no
sewers, miserable schools, and all the
rest that you can imagine.
I remember particularly visiting
with one man. When I said, "The lead-
ers of your Government tell me that
sanctions will hurt blacks,'! he, said, 'I
am 50 years old. I have three children.
I have been suffering for 50 years. If I
can suffer a little more and get free-
dom for my three children, I am eager
to do it."
That is frankly the attidude of the
majority of blacks who are sensitive to
this issue.
Chief Buthelezi, the head of Zulus,
was out of the country. I had lunch
with his deputy. They are opposed to
sanctions. It has to be added that he
occupies his position with the approv-
al of the Government, and blacks in
key positions who are there at the suf-
ferance of the Government have taken
the attitude that sanctions will not
work.
There is debate here about the
impact of sanctions. There- is no
debate in South Africa about the
impact of sanctions. They feel it. They
feel it very, very severely. They feel it
In loss of trade. They feel it in interest
rates in South- Africa. That is a major
way they are feeling it. - ? ?
Some people say ? sanctions by the
United States alone is not the answer,
and they are correct. We need to have
multilateral sanctions, and here let me
say particularly to our 'friends in
Japan, do not try to undercut- the
United States in its attempt to see
that justice comes to South Africa by .
moving in 'and getting the trade, That,
In the long run, is not going to help ?
Japan, it is not going to help the ?
United 'States, and ,it is not going to
help South Africa. ? , '
We should be having a multilateral
approach. We should be leading in the
United Nations instead of vetoing'thern
legislation there.
I cannot overstress the fact that this
is a time bomb.
Let me give you one example. I vis-
ited a hostel: A hostel is a kind of
pleasant-sounding word in the United
States. It is not that in South Africa.
Hostels are where menU live who
cannot bring their families to the
places, they work. Eight ? men live in
tiny, little rooms.
I visited with one man who has a
wife and five 'children. He visits his
wife and five children once a year. Let
me tell You that if somebody hands
that man a stick of dynamite and says
!'Tomorrow we are going to rebel
against this system," he is ready.
We have to show him that change
can come about peacefully. '
One of the discouraging signs is
among the whites generally and obvi-
ously there are exceptions. When I
talk about whites and blacks there are
exceptions on both sides. But whites in
general have viewed someone like'
Bishop Tutu as an extremist. Young
blacks, the radical Young blacks, vie*.
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S 16866
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE October 19, 1988
him as an Uncle Tom, as someone who
believes you can bring about change
peacefully, and they do not believe
him.
To the extent that the Government
In South Africa resists any, change, to
that extent, they are inviting the very
violence that they say they oppose.
There are signs of hope. One is that
in the unions I mentioned there is
progress. Another is more and more
banks are going to the universities and
In the universities clearly the stu-
dents, white and black, understand the
change that is going to have to be part
of the future. And if we could wait 40
years that would evolve naturally, but
we cannot wait 40 years.
A third sign of progress is on the re-
ligious front. The religious communi-
ties, the leadership, clearly are on the
right side.
Archbishop Hurley, the Roman
Catholic, Bishop Tutu I mentioned,
Reverend Bosack who is with the
Reform Church, the Council of
Churches.
? I had a marvelous visit with Profes-
sor Heyns. Professor Heyns is the
former moderator of the Dutch
Reform Church ?which is the big
church in South Africa. He and some
others have issued a document saying
"Our previous scriptural defense of
apartheid is wrong" and spelling out
why it is wrong.
There are signs of progress. But in
the Government there, there is a rigid-
ity. There are those in Government
who will whisper to you "We have to
change." But they have not come for-
ward. We need a Sadat frankly in
South Africa.
I had some fine visits with leaders of
Government, had a 1-hour meeting
scheduled with Pik Botha, the Foreign
Minister, which turned out to be 1
hour and 45-minute visit, a very good,
frank exchange.
There are leaders in South Africa
who if the right circumstances were
there could move forward, but I think
we have to create those circumstances
here. We have to send a signal to the
business community that change has
to come.
Now there are business leaders who
are moving in the right direction, in-
cluding the two principal business
leaders in South Africa.
But there is a temerity also and they
are frightened by the Government.
You have to remember this Govern-
ment has more political prisoners per-
haps than any government on the face
of the Earth, certainly one of the top
three. It just can take people arbitrar-
ily and put them in prison. So there is
some concern.
. I am a little older than the Presiding
Officer here, and I go back to the days
? of the civils rights struggle here. I was
involved in that. I could remember
when the Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce adopted a resolution
saying, "Let's do away with segrega-
tion in the South." It was like a
?church bell tolling at midnight. We
knew the change was going to come.
That signal from the business com-
munity has to be there is South
Africa.
There is a willingness on the part of
the business community to go along.
There is at this point not the leader-
ship that there has to be, and that has
to come.
We have to remember that blacks in
South Africa cannot vote. There is no
trial by jury. There is not a single
black Judge in all of South Africa.
I visited one trial where 18 members
of the United Democratic Front were
up for advocating change. There they
were before the white judge-18
blacks. There was clearly not a felling
on their part that they can get justice.
There is this feeling of hopelessness
and despair on the part of the blacks,
a feeling of fear-on the part of whites,
and an awesomely small amount of
communication, real communication
between the two.
We have to lead. There is no other
government on the face of the Earth
that has the power to lead that this
Nation has. We are one-fifth of the
world's economy. We have to use that
power responsibly, and we do it not
with a pious "we have solved all our
problems," because we have not. You
know that and I know that.
But we have also made great
progress in this country. I do not mind
saying I am proud to be an American,
proud of the fact that we can now go
no matter what your background, no
matter what your race, you can go
anywhere in the country, eat in a res-
taurant, stay in a motel, go to school.
That is great progress in my life-
time.
South Africa can make progress, too.
South Africa has the potential to be
the industrial center of all Africa, but
South Africa has to get rid of this
cancer of apartheid they have and we
have to send the message. I hope in
the next session of this Congress we
do that.
I point out this system of apartheid
requires repression on the part of the
people there. While I was in South
Africa, Newsweek magazine came out,
and the Presiding Officer can see that
and I do not know if anyone else can,
but in every issue of Newsweek they
had Nelson Mandela's picture. There
someone in the Government took a
long time to cut off Nelson Mandela's
picture out of every Newsweek maga-
zine.
That system has to change and to
the South Africans who say, "Well,
blacks cannot govern themselves," go
right next door to Botswana, where
there is a free system, greatest eco-
nomic growth of any developing coun-
try on the face of the Earth, multiple-
party system, complete freedom of the
press and everything else.
South Africa can have the same.
Whites, blacks, coloreds and Asians
the divisions they have there, can
work together to develop that country
into a great country.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I be-
lieve that it is time to call a halt to
"business as usual" with South Africa.
It is time for Americans to stop send-
ing profits to aparthied, and it is time
for American corporations to stop
paying taxes to Pretoria. That is why I
support S. 2756, and that is why I will
work for its passage during the 101st
Congress.
This year, this legislation was passed
by the House of Representatives and
approved, with minor modifications,
by the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee. Before the House took action
on this legislation, we in the Senate
worked long and hard to build the
same kind of bipartisan coalition on
South Africa that had been so success-
ful in 1986. We were unsuccessful in
that effort, and I fear that the politics
of 1988 intruded. Whatever the
reason, our counterparts on the other
side of the aisle were unwilling to
engage in the kind of dialog necessary
to resurrect the partnership that had
been so successful 2 years ago, and
this legislation regrettably came to the
floor of the Senate on the basis of
party-line votes.
I believe that an effective American
policy against aparthied can only be
sustained if it has strong bipartisan
support. For this reason, I plan to
work closely with Senators on the
other side of the aisle and with the
new President to draft new legislation
that will follow-up on and strengthen
the landmark legislation of 1986.
Four years ago, I had lunch with
Bishop Desmond Tutu and Reverend
Allen Boesak in my office. The pur-
pose of that meeting was to discuss
the situation inside South Africa.
They were concerned because the
United States was in the midst of a
Presidential campaign, but no one
seemed concerned about United States
policy toward South Africa. Bishop
Tutu and Reverend Boesak told me
about the brutality of the violence
that was going on inside South Africa
at that time, and they were unhappy
about the fact that the Government of
South Africa had been so successful in
its efforts to persuade world opinion?
including the Reagan administration?
that aparthied was a thing of the past
and that fundamental reform was un-
derway inside South Africa. They were
particularly concerned about the si-
lence from America in the face of such
violence against black people in South
Africa. They told me that America's
policy of "constructive engagement"
was viewed as proapartheid by most
South Africans and had prompted pro-
found anti-Americanism among the
majority of the people inside South
Africa. It was four years ago that they
invited me to come to South Africa to
see for myself.
During that trip, I saw first-hand
the suffering caused by apartheid, and
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I felt first-hand the anger and disap-
pointment with America.
Since that lunch four years ago and
since my trip to South Africa in Janu-
ary 1985, 2,500 people have been
killed, 30,000 more have been detained,
and countless thousands have been
tortured and beaten in South African
jails?many of them children. Today
no one can deny the truth. Apartheid
is alive and well in South Africa, and
millions of people still live in bondage.
But, beginning in 1985, the Ameri-
can people rose up to demand a
change in our policy toward South
Africa. The Congress took action, first
in 1985 then again in 1986, to make it
absolutely clear where the American
people stood on the issue of apartheid.
And one Of the reasons that Congress
passed the sanctions legislation in
1986 was to reject "constructive en-
gagement," to show all the people of
South Africa that the American
people were on the side of freedom in,
that country, and that we would no
longer be passive or silent or complici-
tous in Pretoria's policy of apartheid.
But since we passed that legislation,
this administration's policies have con-
tinued without interruption. Despite
that legislation's demand that the
American Government work with
other countries to develop a coopera-
tive and coordinated policy against
apartheid, this administration has?on
at least two occasions since 1986?
vetoed antiapartheid resolutions in
the Security Council. Despite that leg-
islation's demand that the American
Government recommend new sanc-
tions if there has been no progress in
dismantling apartheid inside South
Africa, this administration continues
Its steadfast opposition to new sanc-
tions. In fact, "constructive engage-
ment" is alive and well in the halls of
the White House and in the back
rooms of the State Department.
Now it is time to send another mes-
sage. Now it is time for the Congress
to take action again. Now it is time for
America to terminate its ties to apart-
heid.
With this legislation, we will say
once again that America still cares.
With this legislation, we will act once
again to show that we are willing to
lead. With this legislation, we will try
once again to overcome.
There are those who say that sanc-
tions do not work and will not work. I
say that they have never been tried.
There are those who say that sanc-
tions will hurt those who we are trying
to help. I say that the South African
people are willing to sacrifice because
the suffering of apartheid is far worse
than any suffering that will be caused
by these sanctions.
There are those who say that the
road to freedom in South Africa is
through economic growth, and that
"black empowerment" cannot be
achieved by restricting black economic
opportunity. I say that "black
empowerment" has not been achieved
despite 40 years of economic growth
and will never be accomplished so long
as the political chains of apartheid
remain intact.
There are those who say that sanc-
tions will only make matters worse
inside South Africa, that there is a
white backlash in that country which
will only strengthen apartheid's hold
on that land. I say that the backlash
began long before America adopted
sanctions, and that today America
should respond to the pleas of the
black majority, not to the appeals of
would-be reformers. Apartheid must
be eradicated, not reformed.
To the architects of apartheid in
Pretoria, this legislation will say:
"America is still here. The American
people still care. So long as you pursue the
policy of apartheid, we will be your adver-
sary?in every forum, in every country, on
every continent of our common planet.
To those white and black South Af-
ricans who still work to end apartheid,
this legislation will say:
We are with you now as we have been
with you in the past, as we will be with you
in the future. Working together, we will one
day prevail over racism and injustice in
South Africa.
To our friends and allies throughout
the world, this legislation will send a
message:
Join us in the struggle. You too have a
stake in freedom for the people of South
Africa. You too are involved. You too can
make a difference. But we must work to-
gether if we are to succeed.
With this legislation, the Senate will
end America's complicity with apart-
heid. With this legislation, the Senate
will establish America's place in histo-
ry as a real and proven champiOn of
human freedom?not only in Europe,
Asia and Latin America but in Africa
as well. With this legislation, the
Senate will inspire millions of free-
dom-loving people throughout the
glove to carry on the struggle.
I pledge to do what I can to make
certain that this legislation gets early
consideration on the floor when the
101st Congress returns to Washington,
DC in January.
Mr. WEICKER. Mr. President, I rise
today to express regret that time will
not allow action on the Anti-Apartheid
Act Amendments of 1988, S. 2756.
How little it costs us to speak out
against apartheid. How great a price
paid by the people of South Africa. In-
convenience on our part; imprison-
ment and death on theirs.
Two years ago, the United States
ended long years of silent complicity
which had masqueraded under a colos-
sal misnomer: "constructive engage-
ment." As we suspected all along,
there was nothing constructive about
It. Two years ago, we imposed sanc-
tions on South Africa and, to a modest
extent, our allies followed suit. We did
so with, the full understanding that
those sanctions amounted to no more
than a first step in dismantling apart-
heid. They were a foundation on
which to build.
The time has long since come to add
new brick and mortar to that founda-
tion. A GAO study commissioned by
Senator KENNEDY and myself found
that South Africa has lost more than
$400 million in trade with the United
States because of sanctions. However,
along with five of our major allies, we
still accounted for 81 percent of South
Africa's imports and 78 percent of its
exports in 1987. And, while there are
only half as many United States com-
panies in South Africa today as in
1984, the value of United States direct
Investment has risen owing to rein-
vestment of earnings.
In August, the House of Representa-
tives took the necessary next step by
voting to put new restrictions on loans
to and investment in South Africa and
to widen our trade ban to include
crude oil, other petroleum products,
and most other commodities. In Sep-
tember similar legislation which I co-
sponsored was introduced in the
Senate, but election-year politics,
being what they are, killed it for this
year.
Meanwhile, apartheid is alive and
uglier than ever, if not as visible to the
American people, owing to press cen-
sorship which worsens with each pass-
ing week. If there is one point on
which supporters and opponents of
sanctions agree, it is that the situation
in South Africa is deteriorating. The
two largest antiapartheid newspapers,
the New Nation and South, have been
shut down. Others have been threat-
ened with like treatment. Some 30,000
individuals have been detained with-
out charge. As many as 10,000 are chil-
dren. These detentions routinely in-
volve physical abuse and torture.
Almost all antiapartheid organiza-
tions, including the United Democratic
Front, have been outlawed. Men in
boots carrying banners with swastika-
like emblems can freely march in the
name of racism and repression, while
peaceseekers in clerical robes are
thrown in jail for speaking of liberty.
People of conscience, here in the
United States as elsewhere, have an
obligation to act, and to act now. Yes,
It is an election year but that should
be reason for speaking out even louder
and demanding that candidates do the
same.
In September, the Senate took note
of the fact that November 9, will mark
the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht,
the Night of the Broken Glass. Acting
on orders that stemmed from Hitler
and his henchmen, storm troopers and
other Nazi sympathizers staged spon-
taneous demonstrations against Jews
all across Germany?bashing in the
windows of homes, businesses, and
synagogues, setting fire to them, and
shooting men, women, and children as
they tried to escape the flames.
Thirty-thousand men were rounded up
and sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, and
Sachsenhausen.
Many Senators spoke out against
the atrocities committed that night in
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S 16868
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ? SENATE October 19, 1988
1938. Would that as many were as
vocal about the atrocities committed
daily in South Africa, 1988.
It makes some people nervous,
others indignant, when you mention
Nazi Germany and South Africa in the
same breath. But the parallels are
there in fact, not merely in rhetoric.
In South Africa as in Nazi Germany,
the law is used to subjugate an entire
category of human beings. After walk-
? ing the streets of Soweto, Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel wrote:
Without comparing apartheid to Nazism
and its "final solution"?for that defies all
comparison?one cannot but assign the two
systems, in their supposed legality, to the
same camp.
We have a duty to denounce?and
disassociate ourselves from?the dehu-
manizing practice of apartheid. All of
us?Congress, the President, American
business, and the American people. We
must stop doing business with apart-
heid and, at the same time, do what-
ever we can to strengthen the front-
line nations of southern Africa. They,
too, have suffered because of Preto-
ria's policies.
Nelson Mandela must be freed. So
must the many thousands whose
names we do not know. Freedom of
speech and of the press must be re-
stored. And the race laws must go in
favor, as the Freedom Charter of 1955
put it, of a "South Africa that belongs
to all who live in it, black and white."
If we do not work toward these ends,
then 5, 10, or 50 years from now, our
children will look back on our genera-
tion as we look back on the era of the
1930s and ask: "How could you be
silent?" "How could you stand by and
do nothing?" The children of South
Africa are asking these questions
today.
"The struggle is my life," Nelson
Mandela once wrote. We must put our
political freedom to work, such that
this struggle becomes the centerpiece
of our South Africa policy. I am here
to put my colleagues on notice that
this struggle will continue in the
Senate next year.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise to
ally myself with the insightful com-
ments of my friend and colleague from
California.
I wholeheartedly agree with Senator
CRANSTON that the critically important
issue of working to end the racist
apartheid regime in South Africa has
been tradically lost in the politically
motivated maneuverings of the Presi-
dential season. As far as I understand,
there are enough votes in this body?if
we were to cast them today?to move
S. 2756, the Anti-Apartheid Amend-
ments of 1988, forward to final pas-
sage. As you well know, Mr. President,
this legislation was reported favorably
by the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee on September 23 and was over-
whelmingly passed by the House on
August 11.
While my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle dawdle about?decry-
ing ? such precipitous action by the
Senate, the situation in South Africa
continues to deteriorate with the na-
tionwide state of emergency still in
brute forces, the media virtually
blacked out and the courageous foes of
apartheid in South Africa suffering
under an unprecedented ban on their
activity.
Mr. President, this legislation has
been with us for over 16 months. In
June, the Foreign Relations Commit-
tee held 3 days of public hearings on
United States policy options toward
South Africa and the committee met
for 2 days in early September to con-
sider S. 2756. I join my friend from
California in regretting?deeply re-
gretting?that our colleagues on the
other side of the aisle persist with a
policy of "do nothing" and fail to
stand up and be counted when it
comes to taking a public stand against
the horror of apartheid.
As the leading proponent of democ-
racy in the world, the United States
can no longer effectively condone
apartheid by passively condeming it.
We must take a lead in actively and
aggressively ending apartheid?before
it it too late. It saddens me -that my
colleagues on the other side of the
aisle are preventing our Nation from
sending a signal of action and resolve
toward the Government in South
Africa while sending a signal of hope
and support to our bretheren strug-
gling for their freedom.
Finally, Mr. President, I join Sena-
tor CRANSTON in his conviction to
bring this legislation up again in the
earliest days of the next Congress.
Perhaps then, our Republican col-
leagues will join their Democratic col-
leagues and commend to the strug-
gling men and women in South Africa
not only words of solidarity, but acts
of conviction that, at long last, will
make our words unassailable.
Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I suggest
the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to
call the roll.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. With-
ut objection, it is so ordered.
RECESS FOR 1 HOUR
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, while con-
ferences are going on, I think it would
be well for the Senate to recess. Mr.
President, I ask unanimous consent
that the Senate stand in recess for 1
hour.
There being no objection, the
Senate, at 3:59 p.m., recessed until
4:59; whereupon, the Senate reassem-
bled when called to order by the Pre-
siding Officer (Mr. PRYOR).
Mr. McCLURE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Senator from Idaho.
ATTENTION A ITH,ACTED TO
THE NEED FOR NUCLEAR MA-
TERIALS
Mr. McCLURE. Mr. President, the
headlines of the Sunday, October 9,
New York Times sounds a warning,
"Reactor Shutdown Could Impede Nu-
clear Deterrent". Suddenly the Nation
and the media have become interested.
Tuesday, October 11, every major
newspaper and television news show
made a front page story of what was,
for far too long, an issue buried, if re-
ported at all, in small type or with one
camera shot.
The attention is appropriate. The
Nation's defense complex, which pro-
duces the materials for our nuclear de-
terrent, is in deep trouble. The
Sunday, New York Times article, by
Keith Schneider, reports that
If the two-month suspension at the Na-
tion's only manufacturer of vital material
for nuclear warheads continues for several
months, the United States might be forced
to start deactivating nuclear warheads to re-
cover radioactive elements for use in higher
priority weapons, according to senior Ad-
ministrative officials.
This warning was given almost ex-
actly a year ago, at a hearing before
the Senate Energy and Natural Re-
sources Committee. At that time, I
had grave concerns about the safety
problems found at the Savannah River
reactors during the National Academy
of Sciences review. I feared the threat
to our nuclear deterrent if the reactors
could not operate because of these
problems. Dr. Robert Barker, Assist-
ant to the Secretary of Defense for
Atomic Energy, repeated to the New
York Times, the ominous words he
spoke at our hearing,
To have these reactors not operational is
tantamount to unilateral nuclear disarma-
ment.
Mr. President, this warning is one
that I and a few others?in Congress
and at the Department of Energy and
the Department of Defense?have
been giving for almost a decade. Until
recently, I've wondered, like that
haunting phrase from the Broadway
play, 1776, "Is anybody there? Does
anybody care?"
However, during the past few
months, the number of people who do
care have been joining the chorus and
slowly the critical state of the plants
that provide the Nation's sole source
of tritium and plutonium has begun to
receive the attention it should have
had years ago.
At last.
But it took so much to get that at-
tention. It took three aging reactors
being shut down for an extensive
period of time for safety reasons. It
took operating errors and obvious evi-
dence that, in spite of 30-some years of
operating, too little was known about
these reactors. It took the discovery
that there had been 30 significant inci-
dents at the reactors over the years,
and more than 500 forced outages. It
took DOE safety experts reporting
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