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From International Socialist Review, Vol.26 No.1, Winter 1965, p.17.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The trial of the noted South African scholar, Dr. Neville Alexander, originally scheduled for December of this year, has been postponed to March 1965. The trial is being held-up because South African prison authorities refuse to allow defense attornies to obtain signatures from Dr. Alexander and his seven co-defendants, who are imprisoned in Robben Island – South Africa’s version of a Nazi concentration camp.
The fact that prison authorities won’t allow his lawyers to see Dr. Alexander and his comrades is further evidence of the maltreatment of prisoners in this camp. Heinous crimes and atrocities are committed against the native African prisoners, including the notorious Tausa “dance” in which the prisoners are made to strip naked before the racist prison guards allegedly to determine whether they are concealing weapons.
Prisoners are allowed to get only one letter and one visit per half year.
Dr. Alexander’s case is one of the most important in the growing world-wide struggle against apartheid. Defense committees for Dr. Alexander and his co-defendants have been formed in many countries, including West Germany, where Dr. Alexander studied, Japan and England.
Funds are urgently needed to support this case. Of the $12,000 which will be necessary to carry through an appeal, about $5,000 have been collected, mainly in West Germany. Your contributions may be sent directly to Franz J.T. Lee (Secretary) Dr. Alexander Defense Comm., University of Tubingen, 74 Tubingen, Froschgasse C 2, West Germany, or to the International Socialist Review, 116 University Place, New York 3, N.Y.
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