Browning Joins Call To End South Africa Loans
Episcopal News Service. February 20, 1986 [86028]
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 20) -- Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning was among the signatories of a telegram sent by the Churches' Emergency Committee on Southern Africa calling on U.S. banks with loans to South Africa not to renew the loans or approve any new ones "until apartheid is dismantled."
Citing reports of proposals for renegotiation, the telegram said, "The Churches' Emergency Committee on Southern Africa is convinced that the evil system of apartheid must end and believes that these negotiations provide a unique opportunity for U.S. bank representatives to present the strongest possible opposition to apartheid."
"In response to the urgent pleas from our brothers and sisters in South Africa and after prayerful consideration," the telegram continued, "we have concluded that economic pressure on South Africa is the most important non-violent method for bringing an end to the apartheid system. We agree with church leaders in South Africa that the rescheduling of South Africa's debt should be made contingent upon the resignation of the present regime and its replacement by a government which represents all of South Africa's people."
Members of the Emergency Committee also made plans to send delegations for talks with the chairman of each of the banks involved: Citicorp, Chase Manhattan, Irving, Republic, Bankers Trust, Manufacturers Hanover, J.P. Morgan, Bank America, North Carolina and Chemical.
A memorandum distributed at the Emergency Committee meeting explained that the $13.6 billion had been lent to private South African banks, but that they in turn had made the money available to the South African government. The loans provide the capital for this economically beleaguered government to oppress its population, the memorandum said. "American banks are aware of this fact.... However, the current crisis in the South African economy has resulted in a moratorium on the repayment of loans by the South African banking community and a request that those loans be rescheduled or 'rolled over.'"
In other actions, the Churches' Emergency Committee voted to hold a Public Policy Briefing and Advocacy Day in Washington at a date to be determined later, but probably in the spring. It would be coordinated with the expected introduction of legislation in Congress relating to U.S. involvement in South Africa.
The Committee also voted to promote national observance of the 10th anniversary of the Soweto, South Africa, uprising on June 16. Efforts will be made to hold a large ecumenical worship service in Washington.
Committee endorsement was given to two projects of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility: an effort to get church members to send one million post cards protesting the involvement of three U.S. computer firms in South Africa and a consultation scheduled for May to deal with the issues of South African divestment and disinvestment.
The Feb. 10 meeting, held at the Interchurch Center, was the first for the Churches' Emergency Committee. A decision to organize the group was made Jan. 13 at an ecumenical gathering of 150 church leaders in Washington. That gathering was held to follow up on an international meeting Dec. 4-6, 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, that the World Council of Churches and its Programme to Combat Racism sponsored at the request of member churches in South Africa.
Participants in the World Council of Churches meeting adopted a Harare Declaration asking churches throughout the world to observe the June 16 anniversary, oppose the bank loans "rollover," support South African movements working for liberation and take other actions in opposition to apartheid. Church leaders from the United States at Harare pledged that they would renew their efforts against apartheid when they returned home, and the Jan. 13 meeting was part of their attempt to keep that commitment. The Episcopal Church has participated in these meetings and, at its recent Executive Council meeting, affirmed the Harare Declaration.
The Rev. Avery Post, president of the United Church of Christ, and the Rev. M. Lorenzo Shepard, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., serve as co-conveners of the Churches' Emergency Committee on Southern Africa.