If you
have come to help me,
you are wasting your time,
but if you come
because your liberation
is bound up with mine,
then let us work together!
The Aktion Bundesschluss was founded in 1984 as a free association
of church-related groups. At the time being, the Aktion Bundesschluss
consists of 16 groups all over Germany and has a total of about
150 members. The Aktion Bundesschluss is working in partnership
with the South African Council of
Churches (SACC) and its Covenant Programme.
Aim of the Aktion Bundesschluss is to promote ecumenical, global
learning and to practically translate it into action in partnerships
with parishes and communities. The way it sees itself also means
to politically intervene in relations with Southern Africa.
The Aktion Bundesschluss is regionally focused on South Africa,
the subject-matter being the problems of the country and land reform.
It is about the forcible expulsion and evacuation of black communities
by the apartheid system, the aftermath of which is still evident
today. Partnership work involved and still involves direct contact
with such communities, both in the countryside and in townships.
The association gives political, moral and - as far as possible
- financial support to their rightful claims for land to cultivate
and settle on and to a just land reform.
The association points out these problems in this country through
its publications, seminars, events and relevant church services.
To this end, it primarily addresses church-orientated people but
also anyone else that is interested.
Another emphasis of the various groups is the problem of debt relief
and the costs resulting from apartheid. Therefore, the Aktion Bundesschluss
is involved in the campaign Erlassjahr (devoted to debt relief)
and the actions of the International Campaign for Debt Relief and
Compensation in Southern Africa.
Moreover, many groups and members are actively involved in anti-racism
work on the scene.
The Aktion Bundesschluss belongs to the body responsible for KASA
(church committee on Southern Africa) and had, prior to its foundation,
worked with other groups within the umbrella organization KOSA.
