Chitra Karve, ACTSA’s chair, writes to all our supporters:
Today I am writing to you about ACTSA’s future, and to ask for your consideration as our most committed supporters, to support our Bridge to the Future fund. In the last year requests from our regional partners for campaign support have grown.
There are many reasons for this and we’ve made a short video summarising how ACTSA’s work needs to continue, because what we are asking is significant – for ACTSA to be able to deliver on its promise to regional partners, to stand with them against injustice ‘no matter what’, we must build a fund so that we can harness the energy of a new generation of solidarity activists.
ACTSA is needed more than ever to connect younger activists in the UK and in Southern Africa to take action together. Yes, apartheid was defeated; but we appreciated it would take more than a historic vote for robust democratic institutions and new civic organisations to take root, safeguarding the foundations of peace and justice.
That’s why ACTSA supports civil society in the entire SADC region to address the centuries of damage wreaked by colonialism and racism. Thirty years on from our founding, alarming global developments prove that constant vigilance is needed to protect human rights, whether race or gender equality, trade union rights, or rights to a fair trial. Civil society and solidarity movements are under threat everywhere, facing forces which seek to divide. Joint action between people who share a passion for equality and racial justice continues to be critical.
Although Covid-19 increased isolation and threatened the existence of solidarity, ACTSA sees increasing determination by younger people to act. They are speaking up for justice and know acutely that current trade agreements are not fair and can damage the climate. They are unwilling for gender and race discrimination to continue in new forms, for instance, in how vaccines are provided. They are organising against corruption. And ACTSA has responded to this new, urgent energy for social and economic justice.
But so that the baton for justice can be taken up consistently, ACTSA needs to raise its game. Your support for our Bridge to the Future fund will equip us to recruit more volunteers and interns, to provide advice and resources for protests, to extend our communications on social media, and to upgrade our IT to use cutting-edge solidarity methods.
Thank you
To our existing supporters, who have journeyed with us over decades. You’ve written letters and signed petitions, you’ve marched, sung and stood with posters demanding freedom for political prisoners. You have led campaigns in your local areas. You have supported projects such as women living in rural Swaziland (Eswatini) to create their own campaigns for rights; and many of you are still linked to the region through friends and family, through trade unions or faith communities, and through partnerships with academia or business. And through your support of ACTSA.
An enormous amount has been achieved. Now, a new generation of Southern African leaders has arisen who are building on the foundations laid before – and they are asking ACTSA for renewed solidarity with them. Their vision of the future has a direct line to the principles expounded by Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, Rahima Moosa, Nelson Mandela, Ruth First, Walter Sisulu, Sam Nujoma, Graça Machel, Andimba Toivo ja Toivo, Frene Ginwala and many more. We’re linking these young Southern African leaders with young people across the UK who believe together more is possible.
However, for us to sustain this work for the next decade, connecting young leaders with the support networks they need, we have to build a fund to reliably take that leap into the future.
We need you, our supporter family, to start off that fund so that we can ask others to join ACTSA and build our bridge to that future. That does not mean ACTSA will have a bigger staff team – the Bridge to the Future fund will enable us to support a corps of ‘street and screen’ activists, working alongside people in the region, and a full-time campaigns worker.
Without this extra funding for our organisational capacity to reach the next level and the next chapter, ACTSA’s future will be limited.
You can give today by choosing the Donate button at the top of this page and give by credit card; or by making a bank transfer (details at end) or by sending us a cheque.
We hope to raise £100,000 from our members over the next year. On average, that would mean every member giving us £50 across 12 months, in addition to your normal giving. That’s £4.50 per month. While this may be possible for some members, others are already giving at their limit. Some members have told us that we’ll benefit from a legacy in their will. Others have indicated they will top up their giving for the year, and some people have said they’ll give us a one-off large gift.
Do feel free to write or call if you’d like to discuss your contribution to the Bridge to the Future fund at any time.
Recently we’ve all faced unwanted financial challenges. But in many ways it is, coupled with covid, the younger generation which has been hit hardest. They want us to raise our sights and be there for them and their future. I hope you will feel able to help ACTSA do exactly that?
Thank you for all you have already done.
Sincerely and in solidarity,
Chitra
ACTSA bank details:
Lloyds code: 30-90-89
Account: 351 539 60
Account name: ACTSA CIO