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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.

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