How Far We Slaves Have Come

Today those in the West are trying to ingratiate themselves with Africa, trying to ingratiate themselves with those who hate apartheid. But the fact is that apartheid was created by the West, by the capitalist and imperialist West.

The real truth is that the West supported apartheid; they supplied it with technology, countless billions in investments, and vast quantities of arms; and they also gave it political support. No, imperialism did not break ties with apartheid, it did not blockade apartheid; imperialism maintained and continues to maintain excellent relations with apartheid. It was Cuba that had to be blockaded, Cuba, where the vestiges of apartheid – that is, racial discrimination – disappeared a long time ago. Cuba had to be blockaded as punishment for its revolution, as punishment for its social justice – but never apartheid. They took some half-hearted economic measures against apartheid, which did not have the least significance.

And now, as Mandela himself told me, they are asking why the ANC is a friend of Cuba, why it has relations with Cuba and – as Mandela told me here – why it has relations with the South African Communist Party, as if the spectre of communism were still haunting the world. They are asking why it has relations with this small country that was always so loyal to the cause of the South African people in their struggle against apartheid? This shows the logic of the reactionaries and the imperialists.

It is well known that the state’s response to our legitimate democratic demands was, among other things, to charge our leadership with treason and, in the beginning of the sixties, to use indiscriminate massacres. That and the banning of our organisations left us with no choice but to do what every self-respecting people, including the Cubans, have done – that is, to take up arms to win our country back from the racists.