Records of the WCC Programme to Combat Racism

Press releases and publicity from the early stages of the World Council of Churches' programme to combat racism, 1969-c.1971.

World Council of Churches is a worldwide Christian inter-church organisation that was formed in the Netherlands in 1948. Its aim is to 'work for the reunion of all Christian Churches and to establish a united Christian presence in the world'.
The World Council of Churches' Programme to Combat Racism was launched in 1969 and operated into the 1990s. It was formed in response to a 1968 mandate from the Council's Fourth Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden. The Programme’s special fund for liberation movements marked a change from verbal protest against apartheid to more material actions, such as disinvestment in South Africa and providing material support for resistance movements. In September 1970, an executive committee accepted a recommendation to allot $200,000 to 19 organisations, including 9 African Liberation Movements. The political programme continued to play a highly visible and controversial role in international debate about white-minority rule in Southern Africa from the 1970s. It funded a number of liberation movements while those groups were involved in violent struggle, including UNITA and the MPLA in Angola; FRELIMO in Mozambique; SWAPO in South West Africa/Namibia; the Patriotic Front in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe; and the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress in South Africa.

The Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of York was founded early in 1972. A multi-disciplinary centre for southern African studies it drew on staff from its parent departments of Politics, History, Sociology and (initially) Economics. Its core activities centred on postgraduate teaching and research and its aim was to extend expert knowledge and understanding of Southern Africa. The first group of graduate students to take the interdisciplinary one year B. Phil in Southern African Studies started in October 1973 and a Board of Studies in Southern African Studies was established to oversee the course. The Director of the Centre was Professor Christopher R. Hill. The Centre soon expanded its provision to offer an MA in South African Studies and well as research degrees. It also hosted visiting scholars and research fellows. From 1973 it also held specialist conferences.
When it began, the Centre offered the only tailor-made UK course that dealt specifically with southern Africa. it was the only centre concerned with this part of Africa, which the Hayter Committee that had established Area Studies elsewhere had left out. The Southern African Studies Trust was formed in 1972 to raise funds for the Centre.
The Centre for South African Studies' documentation project was launched in October 1974 with the aid of an award from the Leverhulme Trust. Its aim was to gather extensive collections of manuscript and printed material relating to southern Africa. For the purposes of the project, Southern Africa was defined to include Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Namibia and the Republic of South Africa. The search for material was focused on material held and available in the British Isles. It reached arrangements with governments to receive various government publications and took in gifts and deposits of publications, ephemera and government publications, as well as personal archives. The printed and archival material was kept in and administered by the University Library until the archives were later transferred to the Borthwick Institute.
In 1983 the Centre became part of the University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS). The Centre was closed in 1995.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

A small collection of WCC documents gathered by the Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of York in the 1970s.

World Council of Churches is a worldwide Christian inter-church organisation that was formed in the Netherlands in 1948. Its aim is to 'work for the reunion of all Christian Churches and to establish a united Christian presence in the world'.
The World Council of Churches' Programme to Combat Racism was launched in 1969 and operated into the 1990s. It was formed in response to a 1968 mandate from the Council's Fourth Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden. The Programme’s special fund for liberation movements marked a change from verbal protest against apartheid to more material actions, such as disinvestment in South Africa and providing material support for resistance movements. In September 1970, an executive committee accepted a recommendation to allot $200,000 to 19 organisations, including 9 African Liberation Movements. The political programme continued to play a highly visible and controversial role in international debate about white-minority rule in Southern Africa from the 1970s. It funded a number of liberation movements while those groups were involved in violent struggle, including UNITA and the MPLA in Angola; FRELIMO in Mozambique; SWAPO in South West Africa/Namibia; the Patriotic Front in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe; and the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress in South Africa.

The Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of York was founded early in 1972. A multi-disciplinary centre for southern African studies it drew on staff from its parent departments of Politics, History, Sociology and (initially) Economics. Its core activities centred on postgraduate teaching and research and its aim was to extend expert knowledge and understanding of Southern Africa. The first group of graduate students to take the interdisciplinary one year B. Phil in Southern African Studies started in October 1973 and a Board of Studies in Southern African Studies was established to oversee the course. The Director of the Centre was Professor Christopher R. Hill. The Centre soon expanded its provision to offer an MA in South African Studies and well as research degrees. It also hosted visiting scholars and research fellows. From 1973 it also held specialist conferences.
When it began, the Centre offered the only tailor-made UK course that dealt specifically with southern Africa. it was the only centre concerned with this part of Africa, which the Hayter Committee that had established Area Studies elsewhere had left out. The Southern African Studies Trust was formed in 1972 to raise funds for the Centre.
The Centre for South African Studies' documentation project was launched in October 1974 with the aid of an award from the Leverhulme Trust. Its aim was to gather extensive collections of manuscript and printed material relating to southern Africa. For the purposes of the project, Southern Africa was defined to include Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Namibia and the Republic of South Africa. The search for material was focused on material held and available in the British Isles. It reached arrangements with governments to receive various government publications and took in gifts and deposits of publications, ephemera and government publications, as well as personal archives. The printed and archival material was kept in and administered by the University Library until the archives were later transferred to the Borthwick Institute.
In 1983 the Centre became part of the University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS). The Centre was closed in 1995.

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are not expected.

Welch, Claude E. "Mobilizing Morality: The World Council of Churches and Its Program to Combat Racism, 1969-1994." Human Rights Quarterly 23, no. 4 (2001): 863-910.

Published

GB 193