Olof Palme - A Tribute

OLOF PALME – A TRIBUTE1 E. S. Reddy [I knew Olof Palme for over two decades and he was always kind and generous to me - a Prime Minister to a mere international servant - only because he knew that I was trying sincerely to promote international action against apartheid. (I was a UN Assistant-General and a long-time head of the Centre against Apartheid.) I happened to meet him in Stockholm on October 31, 1984 - the day of the assassination of Indira Gandhi - and I could see not only his sense of personal loss, but his love and concern for India. I saw him last at the People's Parliament against Apartheid in Stockholm a week before his tragic assassination on February 28, 1986. He walked over to greet me and enquire about my work since retirement from the UN, instead of waiting for me to make a courtesy call on him and pay my respects. E. S. Reddy] Olof Palme always reminded me of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. They were both members of the “bourgeoisie”, who embraced and espoused democratic socialism - with compassion for the oppressed people and respect for their struggles for justice, as well as a vision of a New World Order, devoid of exploitation and humiliation. They were uncompromising in their detestation of racism, fascism and imperialism, refusing to be confined by the claustrophobia of the Cold War mentality. They were aristocrats, who disdained any attempts by the Western powers and vested interests to pressurise them. For many years after the Second World War, India, then a poor and weak country, played a far greater 'international role than its weight in power politics, because Pandit Nehru had a rapport with some of the best intellectuals of the world, espoused causes that are vital to human survival and progress and exercised a powerful influence on world public opinion. After Nehru's death, Olof Palme, leader of a small country in the West, played a similar role. What Nehru achieved in developing the Non-Aligned Movement, encompassing the majority of humanity, Olof Palme extended within the privileged West so that peace and 1

This article was distributed by “Press Trust of India Features” and published in a number of Indian newspapers. It is reproduced here from Mainstream, weekly, New Delhi, February 28, 1987.

freedom, and rejection of war and the Cold War as the destiny of international life have now a wider constituency. The Six Nation Summit is one symbol of that broader unity in the cause of sanity. Neither Nehru nor Palme was power-hungry - and Palme preferred to lose in general elections, rather than change party platforms. Neither resented criticism. Indeed, both were self-critical and were not carried away by the adulation of the masses. Both had as much patience and humility to listen and learn from intellectuals with a social sense or leaders of the oppressed peoples as they had the urge to persuade and preach. They were both men of rare courage, who were most uncomfortable with security precautions, which prevented them from mingling with the people or from carrying on private lives as they preferred. Just as Pandit Nehru's outlook was shaped not ' only by the advance of the Indian national movement but also by his visits to Europe in the 'twenties the 'thirties, Olof Palme's world view was influenced not only by the evolution of social democracy in Sweden but also by his visits abroad, particularly to the United States and India in his youth. Palme studied at Kenyon College in the United States in 1947-48 and then went on a hitch-hiking tour of that country. That developed in him an intense hatred of racism and of the stifling pressures of McCarthyism. Palme's visit to India in 1953 was another great influence - as he explained in his Indira Gandhi Memorial Lecture in January1985 enhancing his understanding of the developing countries and of their need for international solidarity to overcome poverty and inequality. As my own contact with Olof Palme was in relation to freedom struggles in southern Africa, I would like to point to his contribution in support of those struggles. Olof Palme showed concern over apartheid even as a student leader in the early the 'fifties, when he donated blood to South African students struggling against segregation in education. In 1966, as a Cabinet Minister, he chaired the International Conference on South-West Africa (Namibia) in Oxford, an essentially non-governmental conference organised by the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. That Conference had a great influences in leading to the UN decision later in the year to terminate South Africa 's mandate over Namibia.

By 1968, we were anxious in the United Nations and outside to persuade the Western governments to assist the southern African liberation movements. Swedish and some other Social Democratic Parties were making small grants to the African National Congress of South Africa, but no Western country provided governmental aid. Oliver Tambo, President of the ANC, publicly called for such assistance during his visit to Stockholm in June 1968 at the invitation of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid and the Swedish Social Democratic Party. Soon after Olof Palme became the Prime Minister in 1969, the Swedish Government became the first Western government to decide on direct assistance to southern African liberation movements for economic, social and humanitarian purposes. Western assistance to the liberation movements has increased enormously since then and it has also greatly helped combat the efforts of those who sought to complicate the struggles against colonialism and apartheid by Cold War approaches. Another concern of ours was to persuade the Western governments to impose meaningful sanctions against South Africa and that proved extremely difficult. After the Soweto massacre of June 1976, the Swedish government decided in principle to prohibit new investments in South Africa and to call on other governments to do so. Going into opposition soon after, Olof Palme and the Social Democratic Party developed a broader package of sanctions. Sweden and other Nordic States have since been leaders among Western States in imposing sanctions against apartheid. Meanwhile, in 1975, when South Africa sent its forces into Angola, taking advantage of the conflicts between three groups recognised by the Organisation of African Unity as genuine liberation movements, much of the world was confused. The arrival of Cuban forces in Angola at the invitation of the MPLA initially added to the confusion. African States themselves were divided until early 1976. The Swedish Government too was unable to adopt a clear position. - At that time, Olof Palme took the unusual and courageous step of writing a personal article in the press in order to counter any efforts to condone South African aggression and condemn Cuba. By early 1984, there was a serious crisis in southern Africa. While the movement against apartheid was rising inside South Africa, the frontline States had become victims of pressure, blackmail and aggression by the Pretoria regime. Mozambique felt obliged to sign the “Nkomati Accord" with South Africa in March. The Pretoria

regime, pretending to espouse reform at home and peace in the region, hoped to undermine all the gains of the international campaign against apartheid and reinforce close links with the Western Powers. General J. N. Garba, the Nigerian Chairman of' the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid and I met Olof Palme in New York at the beginning of April 1984 to seek his advice. He said that the Mozambican Government had been faced with a very difficult situation. It deserved sympathy and support, which Sweden would continue to provide. At the same time, it would increase assistance to the people in South Africa struggling against apartheid. The generous assistance by Sweden has been of enormous help in turning the tide in South Africa. Leaders of the Frontline States made valiant efforts to preserve their unity against apartheid and to assist Mozambique. A meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Nordic and Frontline States in Stockholm in June, 1984 and a conference of leaders of the Socialist International, with the participation of leaders of the Frontline States and liberation movements in Arusha in September, 1984, were helpful in restoring the unity and morale of the Frontline States, and in focussing attention on international action against apartheid. The Swedish Government, for its part, began to play a leading role in the campaign for sanctions against South Africa. The last major statement of Olof Palme, before his assassination was at the Swedish People's Parliament against Apartheid, calling for sanctions against South Africa and for support to ANC and SWAPO. Olof Palme made a vital contribution to the international efforts for freedom in South Africa, initiated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was therefore, most appropriate that the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding was presented to him posthumously last month - to his widow. It is equally appropriate that the Palme family decided to donate the proceeds of the award to the children of Soweto, who are not merely suffering under apartheid but are fighting heroically against it, in one of the most moving episodes in the struggle for a New World Order.