A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund

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A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund

"At the time of his death in August of 1987, Bayard Rustin was Co-Chairman of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and President of the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund. He was Chairman of Social Democrats USA, was a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and was a life member of Actor' Equity." [1]

In 1988 they received a grant for "Project South Africa's 1989 program activities in the United States $25,000 11/23/1988" from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. [2]

Notes

In South Africa the League for Industrial Democracy "has been active in the defense of imprisoned black trade unionists. It cooperated with another AFL-CIO affiliate, the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, to work on a civil rights defense group in South Africa. (11) A. Philip Randolph, a labor group closely associated with the AFLCIO, received funding from NED for this project. (12) Black union members across South Africa are suspicious of the AFL-CIO and its affiliate the AALC. According to a report in the American Labor magazine, black workers feel that the AFL-CIO promotes the same position as the white government and big corporations. (15) The Johannesburg Sunday Tribune charged that the AALC spoke against apartheid but had the approval of the South African government to conduct activities within the country with U.S. government funds. (15) In 1986, the AALC was approached for funding by friends of the UWUSA, a union federation associated with Inkatha leader Gatsha Buthelezi. (16) UWUSA opposes U.S. economic sanctions and competes with the non-racial Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). (16) However, Michael Lesko of AALC stated that financial aid had never been given to UWUSA, and that the AALC does not work with Buthelezi's group in any way. (6)

"Nontheless, a spokesman for COSATU said,"We believe that certain sections of the AFL-CIO have been very divisive in their relation to the worker movement in South Africa... According to the information we have, key individuals within certain of their deparments have very suspicious links with the US State Department and intelligence circles"(16).

...

"The A. Philip Randolph Institute is a labor organization that provides the link between organized labor and blacks. (21) APRI's original purpose was to broaden the civil rights movement begun by Martin Luther King to one that would demonstrate a national unity for political, economic, and social justice for blacks. Today, APRI is funded primarily by the AFL-CIO and follows the political philosophy of the Social Democrats, USA. (22,23)

"The Social Democrats, USA (SD/USA) is group with socialist roots that shifted in the 1970s to a philosophy of neoconservatism. (24) Members of the Social Democrats dominate the International Affairs Department of the AFL-CIO which includes FTUI, AIFLD, the AALC, and AAFLI. These groups played an important role in carrying out the foreign policy of the Reagan administration. (24)" [3]

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References

  1. Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph Institute, accessed February 25, 2010.
  2. A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, MEdiamatters, accessed February 25, 2010.
  3. League for Industrial Democracy, Political Research Associates, accessed February 25, 2010.