Washington, DC — Actor and Activist Harry Belafonte joined the 10th anniversary celebration of the Arthur Ashe Foreign Policy Library of Transafrica Forum, Tuesday night. Ashe, a U.S. tennis star who, as Belafonte put it, "maybe with a romantic naivete," visited South Africa in the early 1970s hoping that his star power could help break down apartheid's walls; he concluded that it could not and began working with Transafrica.
Ashe decided to create the library "because he understood the importance of knowledge and information," said Belafonte. Today, under the banner of "Justice for the African World" the library and think tank provides reading materials to activists and scholars; it also conducts seminars and book events and sponsors film programs around issues related to Africa and the African diaspora.
These programs have increased and accelerated under the leadership of Bill Fletcher who replaced Transafrica's first president, Randall Robinson, two years ago. "I am grateful for the new life that has been breathed into Transafrica," said Belafonte.
There is a great need for support, says Transafrica's Fletcher, acknowledging that finding the money to keep going has been difficult. "Once upon a time it was popular to support organizations like ours when we were going against certain enemies -- colonialism, apartheid, white rule in Zimbabwe; but now we are seeing something else.... We need a foreign policy in this country that is constructive instead of destructive, cynical and racist."
In his brief remarks, Belafonte said that celebrity confers duty, something many of today's entertainers do not seem to understand. "So many who have gained celebrity [now] have left the field of activism barren."
Belafonte also addressed the controversy that surrounded remarks he made about Secretary of State Colin Powell in October 2002. "My criticism of Colin Powell was to criticize policy. He knows exactly where he is and he knows exactly what he is doing and he is doing it because he wants to do it. Although he has the right to make those choices, we also have the right to let him know that there is going to be no free ride on this train."
