Andrew Novak
Research Editor

Andrew Snow/photo editor An anonymous member of GW Voices for a Free South Africa wrote ³Free Mandela² in cement during a March 24, 1986, campus protest.

The anti-apartheid movement was a major cause for GW activists in the 1980s. As the students immortalized their ideals in a rectangle of freshly poured cement that today rests in Kogan Plaza, thousands of miles away Nelson Mandela was still imprisoned, and a brutal police state struggled to survive.

By February 1985, a new student organization formed, GW Voices for a Free South Africa, an official coalition between the Black Peopleıs Union and the GW Board of Chaplains. Bombarding the pages of The Hatchet with editorials condemning apartheid, the organization pressured GW to stop doing business with corporations that cooperated with the white minority regime in South Africa. They did not want GW to be complicit in large-scale human rights abuses.

Then-GW President Lloyd Elliott was skeptical of the effect that divesting in South Africa would have on the majority of South Africans themselves. GW had sold its stock in corporations that were cited for severe abuses, but many students felt that the Universityıs stand did not go far enough.

Elliott was not personally opposed to complete divestiture in Western companies that operated in South Africa. The most serious question, he said in a 1987 interview, ³is the feeling that to (divest) will eliminate the livelihood for many blacks in South Africa.²

While in the long run complete divestiture was probably the best solution, in the short run it would critically and severely disrupt the lives of many people.

Elliott stood firm, but student protests were growing in frequency and intensity. The TransAfrica Forum, a Washington, D.C., think tank, sponsored daily protests outside of the South African embassy. On April 15, 1985, about 100 members of the GW student body participated in a protest.

Some GW students were surprised by the protesters organization and conviction. ³I didnıt think GW students had it in them. Iım shocked and glad as hell to see this many of them,² said Tom Fitzpatrick, who was executive vice president-elect of the Student Association at the time.

A Hatchet editorial commended the protests, noting a definite improvement in activism on campus: ³On many occasions we have agreed that GW students are among the more apathetic of known living species.²

The editors were ³both surprised and elated upon hearing that more than 100 members of the GW community participated fervently² in the protests outside the embassy. The words ³apathetic² and ³selfish² now were words that applied only to U.S. policies toward South Africa, not to GW students.

³But the key to the whole Free South Africa movement is to keep the momentum going,² wrote student Tendayi Mundawarara in a letter to the editor.

And the students did. Fourteen GW students and two members of the Board of Chaplains were arrested at the protest.

Members of the activist groups attended the protest and were pleased with the large turnout. ³I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that GW has been linked to the South African government due to Common Fund investments. Weıre here to say no to that. That we donıt want our tuition money, our residence hall money, any of our money going to South Africa to support apartheid,² said Charlie Mitchell, a member of GW Activist Alliance.

In September 1985, Jesse Jackson came to campus and fired up the anti-apartheid movement. Two months later, a candlelight vigil sponsored by more than 30 student organizations was held outside of Rice Hall. The participating students sought a meeting with the GW administration to discuss divestiture.

On March 24, 1986, the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpsville massacre in which almost 250 black South Africans were killed, GW Voices for a Free South Africa held a protest where Kogan Plaza stands today. About 40 people brought cardboard boxes and organized them into a shantytown. But it wasnıt until the following month that a protest finally forced the administration to agree to sit down and discuss the issue of divestiture with students.

Although the identity of the author of the ³FREE MANDELA² inscription on the cement block is unknown, the memorial is an inspiration to many students. The era of anti-apartheid protests was brief, but the block stayed, even after Mandela was released from prison and the white minority regime fell. It is a powerful reminder of the struggle for freedom and justice that continues today around the world. n