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The African National Congress invites friends and supporters of our liberation struggle to join with the South African people in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the formation of the ANC. This anniversary year has been dedicated to the pursuit of the objective of united national and international action. For this purpose the National Executive Committee has proclaimed 1982 as the Year of Unity in Action.
On January 8th, 1912, representatives of the African peoples of southern Africa assembled at Bloemfontein. From all parts of South Africa, from the Rhodesias, Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland had come peasants and chiefs, workers and professionals, ministers and traders. They were all involved in the struggle against British colonialism and in particular against the consolidation of British-Boer domination as evidenced in the formation, two years earlier, of the so-called Union of South Africa.
All those who had gathered recognised the predominant need to unite all the African people, to merge their strengths into an organisation that would serve as an instrument of their liberation as a unified nation. The conference of 1912 thus marked not only the birth of the ANC but also of a nation: the consolidation of a national consciousness which has since grown to embrace South Africans of various ethnic and racial origins.
A loyalty of a new type was born in the creation of the ANC - a non-tribal loyalty, a loyalty which was inherently anti-colonial and would in the course of time develop to become non-ethnic, nonracial and anti-imperialist.
The formation of the ANC was a continuation in southern Africa, under new historic conditions, of the anti-colonial and national liberation struggles which had begun with the advent of colonialism. During the course of the past 70 years, that struggle has acquired global dimensions and has developed into an irresistible force. Great colonial empires have collapsed and disappeared from Asia, Africa and Latin America, yielding place to new independent sovereign States with a total population comprising nearly two-thirds of mankind.
In the continuing worldwide struggle for freedom, peace and social progress, the ANC has taken positions of solidarity with all peoples fighting against colonialism, fascism, racism the exploitation of man by man and any other manifestations of imperialism. Speaking from the people`s daily experience of British-Boer rule in Pretoria, the ANC warned against the granting of the mandate over Namibia to Pretoria, and consistently supported the peoples of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in their opposition to being incorporated into the Union of South Africa.
The ANC, acting in the name of the oppressed, exploited and democratic majority in South Africa, was fully involved in the international movement which led to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity and the Non-Aligned Movement. The ANC has been an integral part of the liberation forces of Africa, which, waging united struggles, have pushed the boundaries of freedom from the north of the continent to the Limpopo and Kunene rivers in the south. In the process, the ANC has won for the South African liberation struggle many powerful and dedicated allies, friends and supporters among the great majority of the peoples of the world. The regional unity we achieved in 1912, has merged with an ever-growing and ever-advancing alliance of world progressive forces.
With the liberation forces in Namibia and South Africa together confronting the South African regime, the long and protracted struggle for the total liberation of Africa has now witnessed its final and most difficult phase. The peoples of Namibia are marching heroically and triumphantly behind SWAPO to the conquest of their independence. Within South Africa the ANC leads a seasoned and invincible fighting movement of the oppressed, exploited and democratic masses whose urgent and non-negotiable goal is to liberate their country and all its people.
Through the years we have remained resolute in the face of ruthless and brutal repression. We have refused to sell our South African birthright for a mess of bantustan pottage. We have demonstrated our readiness to make sacrifices and die in the course of achieving the free and democratic South Africa projected in the Freedom Charter. We have created a people`s army, Umkhonto we Sizwe, that is acknowledged as a skilful highly trained and courageous force, capable of attacking the enemy`s most prestigious and vital installations and bases. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary on December 16, 1981, this army will increasingly feature as an effective weapon against the forces of racism and fascism.
Through these 70 years we have maintained, consolidated and extended our unity and we have forged a powerful alliance across race, colour, religion and territorial boundaries. But the apartheid system has not been destroyed. The occasion of the 70th anniversary provides a challenge, especially with reference to our capacity not only to intensify the struggle but to do so in unity. We call upon the international community to stand resolutely with us, to match the unity in action that is being and will be further demonstrated throughout South Africa, in this coming year, with an intensive mobilisation in support of the intrinsically linked liberation struggles of the Namibian and South African peoples.
In 1982, the Year of Unity in Action, we must revitalise our campaigns, intensify our resistance, launch new offensives and gather additional forces for the final onslaught and defeat of racism and fascism in South Africa.
Our Victory is Certain!
O. R. Tambo
President,
African National Congress