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Article: Paying for apartheid. (Comment).(American companies being sued)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- June 2, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Two major lawsuits--filed in the United States against multinational corporations including GM, IBM and Citigroup for aiding and abetting apartheid--are at a critical juncture. Their outcomes could set legal standards by which corporations are held accountable for cooperating with regimes that violate human rights. This possibility has sent shock waves through international corporate boardrooms, which also fear court orders to release files that would expose apartheid-era activities.
The plaintiffs include a diversity of apartheid victims, including prominent author Dennis Brutus, who was shot in the back and imprisoned by the South African security police; ...