BLACK
SECTIONS your voice in the Labour Party and more escalates, vances in the townships.
Botha's announcement, on Tuesday 5 March, that he was lifting the state of emergency Was greeted with cynicism. The state of emergency, the Guardian points out, was "little more cosmetic exercise in view of the draconian - DOWCE. already held by the security forces Even as Botha lifted it he announced that existing legislation would *to enable authorities to deal with continued incidents of unrest without subjecting the population to the inconvenience of a state of majority black population, who have been subjected to the inconvenience of a racist state since the last century, visible as strike action by gold miners and as the UDF scores significant adincreasing confidence their confrontations with the In the Vaal Reefs Tegne mine, owned by the "progressive' Anglo-American company over 12,000 NUM members have resumed the which they started on March briefly suspended in protest at police detentions.
And a further 7-10,000 striking the Blyvooruitzicht mine, owned by the Rand Mines company, OVCI bonus payments.
In several townships the population is clearly deprive the beginning to apartheid state of any etfective authority. In Alexandra, the scene of huge uprisings the week before last, the stooge collaborationist town council has been driven out and the resistance taking over many of its functions even collecting taxes for its own purposes.
In Bela Bela, a general against rent increases has almost paralysed the nearby white coun try LOWN Warmbaths And the ANC has begun to organise bomb attacks on apartheid targets deep inside the country, which even the authorities admit could not have been carried out from across the borders with the front line states.
This resistance, and the nervousness provokes among the apartheid regime's backers - the US and UK governments has won one real concession: the release detainees. The scale against which this action must measured, however, is made clear in a letter from Amnesty International to PW Botha just before his latest announcement.
It points out several thousand people have been held, WITHOLI trial, for political reasons; that the government deliberately killing people for taking part in anto apartheid demonstra tions, TOLC that 'abuses of human rights continue daily and have increased markedly over the past year.
Torture, says, iS widespread and uncheckCU This horrific will not reform or volun tarily ena lls barbarous treatment of the black ma¡ority because its practices are rooted in the entire system of apartheid. The black people of South Alrica nave moved ont step further towards overthrowing It C
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*RALLY TWENTY-FOUR black people have been killed by police since South Africa's president magnanimous- ly lifted' the state of emergency declared last year. But the rising confidence and determination of black people since COSATU was formed is more
London District Council Calls upon all supporters of the Printworkers to attend a major