Far From Brooklyn

In 1982 I went to a lecture by the poet Dennis Brutus, one of the giants in the fight against apartheid.

I had thought the lecture was meant to be a discussion of ways to pressure South Africa to end apartheid, but instead it was more of an instructional session on forcing universities to divest – that is, to remove from their investment portfolios any securities that were associated with South Africa.

At some point I raised my hand and asked if it was clear that divestment was the best way to end apartheid (it is now indeed apparent that this was an enormously effective tactic, but at the time I wasn’t sure).

Brutus gave me a withering look and then said to the others in the room (about 20 of us, as I recall) that it was important to remember that CIA operatives were everywhere, infiltrating the movement.

Dennis Brutus died yesterday at age 85.

Photo credit: Prof. Dennis Brutus of South Africa and American lawyer Nathan Williams debate about the role of the WTO, Dec. 2005; “fuzheado” via Wikimedia Commons.