MANY residents of Port Elizabeth will remember March, 1985: a traumatic time of resistance to apartheid, rising violence and the deployment of the SADF in the townships. The SADF was an army based on the conscription of white men, many of them our sons and brothers.

We took a stand supporting their right to freedom of conscience, to refuse to serve in an army which was engaged in a violent conflict against black youth, our peers and fellow citizens. We established a branch of the End Conscription Campaign and gave support to conscientious objectors such as Philip Wilkinson.

In taking this stand we were supported in PE by such outstanding human rights spokespeople as PFP MPC and Black Sash leader Molly Blackburn, MP Judy Chalmers and other Black Sash members, Bishop George Irvine, Bishop Bruce Evans, Bishop John Murphy, Rev Mcebisi Xundu and many other religious leaders. We also had the full support of the UDF leadership, including Eastern Cape president Edgar Ngoyi and ANC MP (then Pewo chairman) Ivy Gcina.

Through campaigns calling for the removal of troops from the townships, and Working for a Just Peace, where we worked with Peyco youth in Walmer township in renovating a creche, we demonstrated non-racial solidarity and constructive, non-violent action were positive solutions to apartheid war and oppression. Through the late 1980s, the register of those who refused to serve in the SADF grew, until conscription was finally ended in 1993.

This year, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ECC, and in PE we are planning a series of exciting events in November. The idea is not only to remember the achievements of the ECC, but to support the right to freedom of conscience for people everywhere, and to challenge South African youth today to think about issues of service to the nation, the meaning of patriotism, appreciation of human rights, and the importance of exercising individual conscience.

We are hosting an Israeli conscientious objector and a Palestinian activist on November 4 and 5. They will be speaking at NMMU and at St John’s Methodist Church on November 4.

Other events will take place at Uptown Theatres on November 19 and at Red Location Museum on November 21. Members of the public are invited to receive more information on the mailing list – please e-mail tboulle@iafrica.com – and to visit the national website of this event at www.ecc25.org. – Janet Cherry, Lovemore Park, Port Elizabeth