140 South African Whites Protest by Rejecting Military
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — More than 140 white South Africans, including an army captain who renounced his rank, said today that they will refuse to report for compulsory military service on grounds that the military defends apartheid.
Simultaneous announcements by the objectors--ranging in age from 18 to the mid-30s--were made in Cape Town, Durban, Grahamstown and Johannesburg.
A statement issued by 48 men in Cape Town described themselves as “loyal South Africans” who could not serve in the Defense Force because it “violently maintains and propagates a fundamentally unjust and oppressive system.”
The mass announcement follows the July 25 sentencing of 25-year-old South African David Bruce to six years in jail for refusing to serve.
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