statements, expressing support for the Alexander Defense Committee and denouncing the reactionary move of the Justice Department under President Johnson to compel the committee to register as the "agent of a foreign principal," were released to the press by the ADC. June Ow: .
{In view of the: ‘brazen nature of the Justice Department's attack, it is expected that similar declarations of opinion will be voiced on a wide scale both nationally and internationally.
[Protests should be directed to the White House and. copies should be sent to the Alexander Defense Committee, end. Floor South, : 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003. ]
*x* * x
Mel Wulf, Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union:
* the! Povernment "s demand that the Alexander Defense Committee: register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act is a perversion of'‘*the purpose which:-that .statute is supposed ‘to. serve. The Act was intended to disclose thé relationship | betWeen'’a domestic agent and a foreign power by..whom he is employed. It, was never intended to require registration by a domestic eroup organized to defend an individual against persecution by a foreign government.
"The statute inevitably imposes restraints on freedom of speech. Because of its vague language, it presents the danger of infringing the freedoms of Americans engaged in perfectly lawful activity which the government for some reason finds objectionable. It must, therefore, be construed very narrowly and not used as aweapon of harassment as it obviously is being used against the . A.D.C." .
Executive Committee, Emergency Civil Liberties. Committee
"The proposal of the Department of Justice that: the Alexander Defense Committee register as a foreign agent is clearly wrong as a matter of policy and law. The Alexander Defense Committee is engaged in raising funds to support the families of: South Africans who are imprisoned for opposing apartheid. It is not employed by, is not responsible to, and is not an agent of a foreign government or other principal. The families which it helps are its beneficiaries, not its masters. It is a cruel absurdity to extend administratively to such charitable purposes a statute intended by Congress to regulate very different conduct."
Rowland Watts, President, © ~— Workers Defense League:
"The ‘demand that the Alexander Defense Committee register as an agent of a foreign principal is an utterly ludicrous example of the absurd Foreign Agents Registration Act. The Committee is specifically established to defend victims of the foreign totalitarian power of the Republic of South Africa. It is not the: agent of any foreign principal; indeed its purposes make it the agent of all the people of the United States who believe in freedom and democracy for all the world." —
George Houser, Executive Director,’ American Committee on Africa: 8
"It is ridiculous for the Department of Justice to order the Alexander Defense Committee to register as a foreign agent. As I understand it, A.D.C. is an American organization whose policies are set by officers who are all American. No ‘foreign principal' can set policy for this committee. :
"The object of the Foreign Agents Registration Act is to make clear to the American public the interests that are being furthered by the activities of organizations in the U.S. receiving ' funds or final guidance from abroad. There is a multitude of organizations in the U.S. whose program supports one kind of cause or another abroad, but whose funds and. guidance come from within the U.S. The A.D.O. , L have always: assumed , is one of these.
"Ordering the A.D.C. to register seems therefore to be either an act based on misinformation.or a technique for discrediting it. In either ease, the order should be rescinded." |
Stokele Carmichael, - ‘Chairman, Student Nonviolent - Coordinating Committee:
"This order is typical of the theory and operation that is characteristic of the American political establishment. If you don't conform to their ideas of ‘American society' you are harassed and persecuted. Having. ourselves been: victims of similar harassment, we of SNCC protest this political persecution of the Alexander! Defense Committee and urge that it be stopped. "
Paul Booth, National secretary,
Students for a Democratic Society:
"The United States government has always been very ready to denounce. apartheid in its rhetoric but never able to do the things necessary to bring it down. Now its attack on this committee (the Alexander Defense Committee) for defending. the victims of Verwoerd
must be added to a list which includes its promotion of U.S. investment in South Africa and its.opposition to a program of realistic sanctions."
MANIFESTO OF