Joe Slovo Quotes
I think it is tragic that a situation should arise where civilians on any side are killed. But it is almost a cliche to say that it is virtually unavoidable and this isn't unique to us alone.
Slovo, Joe. Interview by BBC, 1986. Quoted in Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, vol. 2, Macmillan, 1998.
In every major war in the United States there have been government activities contrary to law, most of which were embarrassments when discovered years later and in retrospect most of which did not help the war effort in any way but undermined the sense of law and order either by not enforcing certain laws (profiteering in WWI or violence against war protesters in the Vietnam War), passing new laws that in retrospect were unjust or unconstitutional (incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII) or by engaging in illegal activities (illegal spying and detention in the Iraq War.)
This is true. There never has been any International law that made a belligerent responsible for civilian damages and deaths that were the result of collateral damage. However, the United States over the years, more so than any other country. Provided huge amount of aid to the citizens of the enemy nations although there was no legal obligation to do so.
Joe Slovo was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
