State of Emergency

On August 27, the day before he was scheduled to lead a march on Pollsmoor prison, where black political leader Nelson Mandela is serving a life sentence, Rev. Allan Boesak was arrested by South African police under a law that allows for indefinite imprisonment without charges or trial.

In one of his last public statements before his arrest, Boesak responded to several allegations made by Minister of Law and Order Louis Le Grange. Boesak said:

Once again I have been singled out for attack by Minister of Police Louis Le Grange, who accused me of using my clerical robe as "battle dress." According to the minister, the United Democratic front and specifically I must take responsibility for the deaths during the unrest.

The minister must not impose his violent, militarist thinking upon me. I have marched in the face of his armed police, not with guns or casspirs, but with my Bible, my faith in Jesus Christ, and my people's determination to be free. I will do so again. I do not need ''battle dress" or weapons, for the God of justice is with me.

I refuse to take responsibility for the death of our people during the unrest. The whole world knows, and so does the minister, that the unrest in our country is caused by apartheid, by oppression and exploitation. Apartheid is a violent system that can only be maintained by violence, causing ever more violence and destruction. It is not I who have devised this evil system nor do I maintain it. It is not I who have broken up families, or relocated people by the millions, or allow little children to die of hunger. It is not I who have sent in the army and the police to make war on defenseless people. It is not I who have given indemnity to police who cold-bloodedly murder our children. No, the responsibility for the present tragic situation must be taken by Mr. Le Grange and the South African government.

As for me, my resistance to apartheid is based on my calling and faith as a Christian. No power on earth, including the awesome powers at the minister's disposal, will stop me from doing my duty. The minister must do what he must do. My life is in the hands of God.

Boesak's defiance of the government took another form earlier this summer, when both he and the predominantly black South African Council of Churches (SACC) openly called for economic sanctions against the South African government. Under South African law, anyone who calls for economic sanctions or disinvestment measures against South Africa can be arrested for treason.

IN THE UNITED STATES, the question of whether to impose economic sanctions has taken on a new urgency since the South African government's declaration of a state of emergency formalized the state of siege that exists in many black townships. At this writing, a moderate sanctions bill is awaiting final approval by the U.S. Senate. The bill calls for a ban on the following activities: new bank loans to the apartheid government, nuclear cooperation, the sale of computers to government agencies that enforce apartheid, and the sale of Krugerrands—the South African gold coin—in the United States.

Some who oppose sanctions maintain that President P.W. Botha's government is dedicated to "reform." But such talk completely misses the point. Apartheid is not merely Jim Crow segregation writ large. It is systematic injustice, a genocidal structure that pervades every aspect of life in that land. Justice will not be achieved through the minor tinkering of "reform," but through a complete restructuring of the political, social, and economic web that is apartheid; and Botha has consistently opposed the necessary changes.

Some opponents of economic sanctions claim that black South Africans are against such measures. Rev. Jerry Falwell, on a visit to Johannesburg in August, said, "I've yet to find one person—black, white, colored, or Indian—in South Africa who wants disinvestment." Ignoring the risk to those who speak out, he cited a poll indicating that 80 percent of the black population did not want sanctions. The poll, which Falwell later admitted he had not read, was paid for by the Botha government.

A recent London Sunday Times poll reported that 77 percent of urban black South Africans favor sanctions. And according to the recent SACC resolution calling for sanctions, the SACC "believes that the pressure in Western countries for disinvestment and divestment has been most effective in moving white South Africans into a more serious consideration of the cause of the political conflict of this country."

Make no mistake about it: Although a number of companies are now quietly curtailing their financial involvement in South Africa, sanctions alone will not end apartheid. But we cannot close our ears to Allan Boesak, the SACC, and the millions of South Africans whose hopes they embody. Our sisters and brothers who have suffered for decades under apartheid's crushing grip now courageously call for us to take the small step of refusing to give money to their oppressors. As we work, pray, and hope along with them for God's peace to reign in South Africa, supporting the sanctions bill and similar efforts is the very least we can do.

Liane Rozzell was an editorial assistant of Sojourners magazine when this article appeared.