arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Dear World Leaders,
In recognition of your principled stand against "land invasions" -- made clear by your powerful response to the recent escalation of the Zimbabwean land crisis -- we write to inform you that your participation in the World Conference Against Racism in
Durban will make you complicit in exactly that which you oppose.
As you sit to "address" the issue of racism -- which, as you know, is the legacy of colonial and apartheid land dispossession --
you should know that the rightful owners of the conference site have not been consulted about the event being held on their
property. Since "land invasions" include any occupation of property without the consent of the legitimate owner, we kindly
request that you seek such permission before proceeding with your event.

We suggest that you begin application procedures immediately, as it will take time to consult the millions of landless South
Africans who are the rightful owners of the city of Durban and the remaining 122-million hectares of the country's land.
Knowing how you value the "rule of law", we remind you that possession of stolen property -- even if second-hand -- is a
common law offence.

We hereby inform you that these lands were home to various people, including the Khoi and San, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana,
Venda, Sotho, Ndebele, Swazi, Pedi and Tsonga nations, prior to the arrival of Dutch colonists in 1652. We also inform you
that the subsequent expansion of the British and Boer Republics was enforced against these indigenous peoples through the
barrel of the gun, in a manner which makes the current deprivations of the white farmers of Zimbabwe look like a Sunday
school picnic.

The colonists of South Africa, however, did not complete their quest to steal the land through wars of conquest -- partly
because they were bad farmers who depended heavily on the successful agricultural production of African farmers to feed
them. That's why they needed racist laws to confine Africans to 13% of the land and force them into labour for white farms,
mines and factories.

Without these laws the colonists could never have built the big corporations, like Anglo-American and De Beers, that have
entrenched white property ownership in the "new" South Africa. Together with their allies at the World Bank and IMF, these
big corporations have locked post-apartheid SA into a "market-led, willing seller-willing buyer" land reform programme that
forces us to buy back our stolen land. This guarantees that apartheid beneficiaries profit twice while 19-million poor rural
people remain landless and seven million poor urban people are homeless -- and living below the R300 (US$37) monthly
poverty line.

Without these laws and policies, the property-owning elite could never have built the plush International Convention Centre
where you plan to meet. Now that you know the full story, we trust that you will withdraw your planned participation in the
upcoming land invasion, pending proper application to the legitimate owners of the property in question.

Sincerely,

The landless masses of South Africa