"In Jamaica, for the first time in my life I didn't have to be against, I could be FOR, and do things for what I was interested in. Also, Jamaica became a crucial element in the setting up of this Non-Aligned Movement, an anti-imperialist, anti-South African scene, because when I came here, they knew NOTHING about South Africa. The colonial government here, even the self-governing government, got its information on Africa from the Colonial Office, which demonised Kenyatta and the Mau Mau. I was appalled at a man like Norman Manley not knowing what was behind all this.
"And so I began a quiet thing here talking to the leaders, and once the leaders got the hang ... emotionally they knew but they didn't have the facts, you see ... so I had to tell them about Kenyatta, just as Mandela wasn't a wild, communist terrorist and things like that. So Jamaica was the first to line up behind India in the boycott of South African goods. India was the inspiration for the boycott of trade, with South Africa and Jamaica following close behind, even before it became independent, when it was still self-governing."
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...peter-abrahams
"And so I began a quiet thing here talking to the leaders, and once the leaders got the hang ... emotionally they knew but they didn't have the facts, you see ... so I had to tell them about Kenyatta, just as Mandela wasn't a wild, communist terrorist and things like that. So Jamaica was the first to line up behind India in the boycott of South African goods. India was the inspiration for the boycott of trade, with South Africa and Jamaica following close behind, even before it became independent, when it was still self-governing."
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...peter-abrahams
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