ANGOLA
MOZAMBIQUE
6UINE
Support
Their
Liberation
Struggle
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to present programmes to political, worker, church and school groups. Thus, the
establishment of an effective Speakers'
Bureau is a current priority. We have also
developed a literature list and mobile
literature stand which have had wide use,
and there has been a major effort to gain
access to the media, including our own
production of several television programmes.
However, our most ambitious undertaking to date in this sphere was to
participate with some 20 other groups in
the mounting of a «counter-conference)>
in Ottawa at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting
(August, 1973); this was the ((People's
Forum on Southern Africa and the
Commonwealth)), with special emphasis
on the theme ((Zimbabwe: the missing
Delegation)). A woman from TCLPAC
served as co-chairperson of the steering
committee and generally our committee
played a very active role in the coalition.
As many as 300 people attended sessions
during the three-day forum, with speakers
Cinema of Solidarity in Toronto
including representatives from most of
the Southern Africa Liberation Movements, Mr. Malecela, the Tanzanian Foreign Minister, and speakers and analysts
from a wide range of western support
groups. The Forum did earn a measure
of media coverage for the Southern
African struggles, provided for a useful
exchange of information among activists,
and helped open new lines of communications with other groups.
One of TCLPAC's three sub-committees
concerns itself primarily with such ((public education)) but this is only one of the
group's functions. As much as possible
we intend that education (of ourselves
and others) should lead to action, even
in the short-run. Thus, a second subcommittee is concerned with ((leverage)) —
the attempt to bring pressure to bear
upon Canadian institutions to modify
their actions and lift their support of the
Portuguese to even some degree. A first
priority here was to determine the precise extent and character of Canadian
complicity in Portuguese colonialism;
much of the early work of the leverage
sub-committee therefore was devoted to
research in this sphere, leading to the
writing of several brief position papers
(for internal distribution and for sale)
and a longer document on Canadian complicity which is now in press. Fortified
by this on-going analysis we worked with
Dr. Bosgra of the Angola Comite, for
example, when he came to Canada as
part of his mission to various ((moderate»
NATO countries, a visit designed to stimulate their coordinated opposition to NATO
within the alliance. We were able to
stimulate some parliamentary activity on
this issue, though with relatively marginal
effect it must be admitted. We also
organised parallel campaigns around the
question of Canadian recognition of Guine when that country established itself
as an independent state.
However, direct economic action - protest and publicity, ethical investing and
institutional purchasing campaigns, boycotts - has seemed an even more promising tactic, and as a result we have
recently been concentrating our attention
upon Gulf Oil Canada Ltd.. In April
several of our members fired the first
shots in this campaign by attending the
Gulf Annual General Meeting, eliciting
new information about Gulf operations
in Canada (the large quantities of Angolan oil coming to Point Tupper in Nova
Scotia are ((merely)) cleaned here, we were
told and then sent on to the United
States!) and announcing our concern.
But even more forthright steps against
Gulf are now in train which will make
this a focal point of our activity in coming
months. In addition, we hope to cooperate more actively than we have thus far
with groups in Canada which have established the boycott of Angolan coffee as a
weapon of great promise, especially in
Quebec. We think that Mozambican
cashews may offer a similar target (particularly if a supply of ((liberated)) cashews
from free Mozambique can be guaranteed as a substitute) for campaigns which
not only bear some promise of having an
economic impact but which also provide
a focus for claiming public attention.
Here the leverage and public education
functions converge.
A third sub-committee also focusses upon
action - the action of providing material
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