The U.S. economic offensive against South Africa : is it working?

Moderator
Repository
DigitalGeorgetown
Person Interviewed
Levin, Sander
Brimelow, Peter
Abstract
Examines U.S. Economic sanctions aimed at ending apartheid in South Africa.
Description
In the 1980s the elimination of South Africa's apartheid system emerged as one of the United States' principal foreign policy goals. President Reagan believed that through a policy of "constructive engagement", positive diplomatic relations would clear the path for reform of the repressive apartheid system. After years of little progress and rising tensions, however, Congress decided it was time to change course. On October 2, 1986 Congress overrode a presidential veto and passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which banned new U.S. loans to South Africa, forbid new American investment, and prohibited the import of certain South African-made products. In addition to the economic sanctions imposed by American lawmakers, large corporations such as Coca Cola, General Motors, and Honeywell began to disinvest from South Africa in a show of support for the aspirations of black South Africans. While some believed that this economic pressure would ultimately force the South African government to abandon the apartheid system, critics feared that these actions would in fact hurt blacks by costing them jobs and crippling them economically. In this episode Representative Sander Levin of Michigan and Peter Brimelow, senior editor of Forbes magazine, discuss South Africa under apartheid. Together they examine the question, what effects will U.S. sanctions and corporate disinvestment have on the struggle for equality in South Africa?
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Date
1987-04-04
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Subject
Location
Africa; Southern Africa; South Africa;
Publisher
WETA-TV (Television station : Washington, D.C.)
 
Blackwell Corporation (Washington D.C.)
 
Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service
 
South Carolina Educational Television Network
 
Extent
28 min.
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