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• 1 2019-12-11T01:08:50-05:00 Students protesting Harvard's South African Policy 5 plain 2020-03-17T19:29:56-04:00

  President Bok argues in his open letter of explanation that divestment is a bad tactic against apartheid in South Africa. A familiar argument against divestment is that corporations can do more against apartheid by staying and pushing for change from within. While this tactic can be very effective in some situations, it is completely inappropriate for South Africa at this time. Again and again the South African government has demonstrated that it will not bow to pressure on certain key issues. President Bok may believe that if American corporations only educate and improve the living and working conditions for enough Blacks in South Africa then change will evolve, but the South African government has flatly denied the possibility of Blacks ever getting enfranchised. There are educated Blacks in South African with comfortable living and working conditions: they still can't vote, and various ministers in the South African government have made it perfectly clear that the recent Constitutional dispensation is not a prelude to universal democracy. Seventy percent of the population of South Africa are excluded from political participation, and the stated policy of the government holds no promise of hope at all. Under these circumstances to think that pressure from within will have any effect is to fly in the face of all the facts.  Another meaningless assertion by President Bok in his letter is that Black South Africans are divided on the question of divestment.