Baqwa Talks About Racism In South Africa

Jeffrey Baqwa, an organizer of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, told a group of about 20 students in Emerson Hall yesterday afternoon to continue protesting against apartheid.

"Our enemies use our names best when we are dead. Steven Biko is now said to have been working for racial equality. That is not all we want. We want the land to be given back to the indigenous people," Baqwa added.

Baqwa said black South Africans' fear of possible reprisals poses the major obstacle to ending apartheid. "Our goal is to liberate the African people both psychologically and physically," he said.

"The pressure group creates a political atmosphere that allows us to carry on. If four or five companies withdraw, and 500 remain, the most important thing you will have achieved is the right atmosphere for us to carry on," Baqwa added.

Baqwa, in the U.S. for a three-month speaking tour, was forced to leave South Africa when the black consciousness movement was banned in October, 1977.