I am indebted to Marvin Shilmer for the info, on his excellent site.
Link .http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/03/malawi-savage-betrayal-by-watchtower.html
I was so pleased to see the actual cards that caused all the trouble, after wanting to see it for so long, that I post it today.
First, the background in case anybody does not know the terrible events that happened. In the late 1960's to early 1970's Jehovah's Witnesses were cruelly persecuted and subjected to the worst possible beatings, rape torture and death. Many of them fled the country and lost homes and possessions . The reason for this was their refusal to join the one political party of the state and to carry the Party Card. Around the World J W's do not join Political Parties, viewing such an act as siding with Satan's world and rejecting the Kingdom of God as the rightful government . They could have avoided the trouble if they would only carry one of these cards.
Translated as :
Now, what do we make of the offending card? I had anticipated that it must have contained some strong endorsement of the Malawi Congress Party and its leader Dr Hastings Banda and a rejection of any other government, but ....the wording is pretty bland really IMHO.
Consider what Jehovah's Witnesses are permitted to join and still remain in good standing with their faith :
1) They may belong to Trade Unions, even though they are quasi-political organizations.
2) If a Country requires its citizens to carry identity cards bearing the state name and symbol, there is no objection.
3) When a Danish Witness family were denied Canadian citizenship, The Watchtower 1976 December 1st page 712 reported that "The single obstacle to a grant of citizenship,' writes Ian Hunter of the University of Western Ontario law faculty, was the fact that, in taking the oath of allegiance, they would not agree to participate in any war effort"......So I deduce from that the family were willing, with The Watchtower's blessing, to swear allegiance to The sovereign and state of Canada , just excepting going to war.
4) It has been well documented here on this site that while this was happening in Malawi, the Witnesses in Mexico were permitted to bribe local officials to obtain a document that said they were excluded from a military call-up, although they remained technically on the military reserve.
5) The Watchtower Society in the 1990's signed an agreement with the United Nations Organization to become a NGO committed to upholding the U N Charter and supporting its interests.
6) When a Witness applies for a National Passport they have no objections to signing statements of loyalty to the state. Of course the Malawi document IS still a membership of the Congress Party. But I venture to suggest that in a one party state, membership does not carry the same political implication as it would do in a free society. Malawians were not so much making a choice for that government as simply obeying the "Superior Authority's" rule to carry a card that implied little more than an identity card. The responsiblity for the heinous acts rest squarely on the Congress Party thugs and its then leader , Dr Banda, but a responsible religious organisation might have weighed the matter more carefully and adopted a more flexible approach in these special circumstances. Is the torture ,rape and murder of a large number of your members really less important than holding this worthless card? I suggest that a really Godly organization would do more to protect its people from evil men....