Barclays Bank & Apartheid Profits

In apartheid South Africa of the 1960s, Dennis Brutus was an outspoken activist against the racist state. He helped secure South Africa’s suspension from the Olympics, eventually forcing the country to be expelled from the games in 1970. He was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to 18 months of hard labor on Robben Island off Capetown, with Nelson Mandela. Brutus was banned from teaching, writing, and publishing in South Africa. His first collection of poetry, "Sirens, Knuckles and Boots" was published in Nigeria while he was in prison. After he was released, Brutus fled South Africa on a Rhodesian passport. In 1983, after a protracted legal struggle, Brutus won the right to stay in the United States as a political refugee. He is now a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Dennis Brutus recently initiated the launch of a campaign against Barclays Bank, demanding reparations for vast apartheid profits. He joined us in our studio last week and begins by talking about his most recent campaign.

Dennis Brutus, South African poet, activist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Calls on Barclays Bank to Pay Reparations for Apartheid Profits - Democracy Now!