25th Anniversary of Free South Africa Movement: Solidarity Works

The union movement played a big role in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. In marches, political action and direct action, the Free South Africa Movement in the United States proved that international worker solidarity works. And its ripple effects impact not only workers-but each person on our planet.

Speaking last night at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., in honor of the 25th anniversary of The Free South Africa Movement, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:

Victory over apartheid meant victory over racism, exploitation and abuse.

The anniversary served as a fundraiser for the advocacy group TransAfrica, co-founded by AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy. Said Holt Baker:

TransAfrica, you can count on the AFL-CIO standing in partnership with you as we work today to secure justice and equality for the men, women and children of Colombia, Darfur, Haiti, Zimbabwe and around the world. Like our people here in America, they cry out for jobs, justice and freedom.

The Free South Africa Movement began in November 1984, when four people went to the South African Embassy for a meeting with the ambassador to discuss the violations of human rights under the apartheid system.

At the end of the meeting, the participants refused to leave as people gathered outside and picketed the embassy. Within a week, public demonstrations against South African consulates and corporations tied to South Africa spread throughout the nation. Over the course of a year, more than 4,500 people were arrested nationwide and grassroots campaigns developed in more than 40 cities. Union members played a significant role in the protests and local campaigns. The protests and other public pressures moved Congress to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986.

Holt Baker praised the work of many union members who stood up early in the fight against apartheid, in particular AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Lucy, who is president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).

Trumka, who was president of the Mine Workers at the time, forged solidarity between U.S. mineworkers and South African mineworkers. Lucy, one of the founders and main catalysts behind the Free South Africa Movement, led an AFL-CIO delegation to South Africa to monitor the first democratic election in 1994.