Conservative values: Republicans that supported Apartheid, some still in office

December 8, 2013

By Anomaly

Republican power brokers such as Grover Norquist, Jeff Flake and Jack Abramoff all launched their careers seeking to keep trade open with apartheid South Africa. Two of those, Norquist and Flake are still politically active today. Abramoff is a disgraced former lobbyist convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. At the time, it was lucrative to support Apartheid, whether it be from lobbying, or to boost one’s career in Conservative circles.
In light of the influx of hateful comments on Facebook after Nelson Mandela’s death was announced, certain Republicans epitomize the problem with their supporters lack of critical thinking skills.
In July of this year, the Nation published an article which describes each role they played in the conflict.









Grover Norquist was heralded as a ‘freedom fighter’:

GOP tax guru Grover Norquist became enamored with the conflict in South Africa and went there to extend his support. Norquist ran College Republicans from 1981 to 1983 and went to South Africa in 1985 for a “Youth for Freedom Conference” sponsored by South African businesses. While other college students, such as Barack Obama, had been active in anti-apartheid work, this conference was seeking to bring American and South African conservatives together to end that movement. In his speech there, Norquist said, “The left has no other issue [but apartheid] on campus. Economic issues are losers for them. There are no sexy Soviet colonies anymore.” A few months after the conference, Norquist went to Angola to work with Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader that Abramoff valorized in his film. Norquist became a ghost-writer for Savimbi’s essay in Policy Review. When he returned to Washington, he was greeted in conservative circles as a “freedom fighter,” and he proudly placed an “I’d rather be killing commies” bumper sticker on his brief case.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ):

A few years later and much further along in the anti-apartheid movement, a young Jeff Flake (now a senator from Arizona) became active in lobbying for South African mining interests in the late 1980s and early ’90s, after returning from his Mormon mission to South Africa. As a graduate student at Brigham Young University, he testified against an anti-apartheid resolution in the Utah State Senate and then became a lobbyist in Washington for Smoak, Shipley and Henry, a lobbying firm specializing in representing the South African mining industry. Flake went on to personally represent the Rossing Uranium plant in Namibia, which had been a major target of anti-apartheid activists for its discriminatory and unsafe practices.

There are others. Think Progress has a list, including the Heritage Foundation:

Heritage Foundation says Mandela is no “freedom fighter.” “Americans nevertheless have reasons to be skeptical of Mandela,” the foundation warned as he planned to visit the United States in 1990. “First, Nelson Mandela is not a freedom fighter. He repeatedly has supported terrorism. Since Mandela’s release from prison and his subsequent refusal to renounce violence, the Marxist-dominated ANC has launched terrorism and violence against civilians, claiming several hundred lives.”

The Heritage Foundation comes as no surprise, nor would any other racist organization. And of course, there was Dick Cheney who to this day, does not regret his support in keeping Nelson Mandela imprisoned.
Republican commenters on Facebook and other social media sites have something in common with their teachers.
In the 1960s the National Review predicted the end of white rule would result in “the collapse of civilization.” White rule in Africa. 
While I’ve mentioned here on a couple of posts that there were a few Republicans that did not support Apartheid, by and large, most did. In a 1986 bill which cut virtually “all U.S. economic ties with South Africa, requiring American companies to cease operating there within 180 days” lawmakers had to override Reagan’s veto.
Sens. Thad Conrad, Orrin Hatch and Reps. Hal Rogers, Joe Barton, and Howard Coble all voted against imposing sanctions on the regime, thusly voted in support of Apartheid.
All of the aforementioned have been unusually quiet since Mandela’s death was announced.