Taking Action
What did the people of South Africa do to regain their civil rights?
Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance. Non-whites responded to the new laws with agitation. An organization called the African National Congress turned to boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. In the early fifties they began their Defiance Campaign, together with some of the South African Indians. The government arrested 8,500, which outraged many more, and tens of thousands mobilized for defiance.
In 1956, the government indicted 156 opposition leaders, including Nelson Rolihiafia Mandela, leader of the African National Congress. The African Nation Congress issued what it called a Freedom Charter, asserting that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it, "black and white," and it called for universal suffrage and the individual freedoms found in the U.S. Bill of Rights.
The British government was less than thrilled over the new repressions in South Africa. With criticism from other Commonwealth nations, the white majority in South Africa approved a new constitution that in 1961 withdrew their nation from the Commonwealth and made South Africa a republic.
By now, the Communist Party of South Africa, originally all white, had joined with blacks and Asians against the repression. Already the Party had been banned by the Communism Act of 1950, which denied people the right to function peacefully in the political party of their choice. But with the oppressions, communism was gaining. The Communist Party worked "underground." Blacks joined the Party, and the government and police had another charge against its non-white opponents. They associated anti-Apartheid politics with communism and used this in an attempt to gain favor in the West, including the United States. It didn't work well.
In March, 1962, while posturing righteously against the Communists and perpetrators of rebellion, government forces created what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. In the black township of Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, police fired on a crowd of about 10,000 that had gathered in front of a police station to protest against pass laws, the police killing 67 and wounding 186, including 40 women and 8 children, most of them shot in the back while trying to flee.
On November 6, 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning apartheid policies. On August 7, 1963 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 181 calling for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa, and that year a Special Committee Against Apartheid was established to encourage and oversee plans of action against the regime.
The ruling National Party continued on course and outlawed the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-Africanist Congress, forcing these two organizations to join the Communist Party underground. For awhile, only black labor activists were making protests. The ANC had been committed to non-violence, but regime brutality was making peaceful protest too dangerous and impractical. ANC leaders, led by Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, considered the tactics of armed revolution and allied their movement with the Communists to form Spear of the Nation (Umkhonto we Sizwe).
In 1963, diligent government forces discovered Umkhonto's headquarters and found there the leader Nelson Mandela. They arrested Mandela and others, and in 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement was created by tertiary students influenced by the American Black Power movement. BC endorsed black pride and African customs and did much to alter the feelings of inadequacy instilled among black people by the apartheid system. The leader of the movement, Steve Biko, was taken into custody on 18 August 1977 and was beaten to death in detention.
In 1976, secondary students in Soweto took to the streets in the Soweto uprising to protest against forced tuition in Afrikaans. On 16 June, police opened fire on students in a peaceful protest. According to official reports 23 people were killed, but the number of people who died is usually given as 176, with estimates of up to 700. In the following years several student organisations were formed to protest against apartheid, and these organisations were central to urban school boycotts in 1980 and 1983 and rural boycotts in 1985 and 1986.
In parallel with student protests, labour unions started protest action in 1973 and 1974. After 1976 unions and workers are considered to have played an important role in the struggle against apartheid, filling the gap left by the banning of political parties. In 1979 black trade unions were legalized and could engage in collective bargaining, although strikes were still illegal.
At roughly the same time, churches and church groups also emerged as pivotal points of resistance. Church leaders were not immune to prosecution, and certain faith-based organisations were banned, but the clergy generally had more freedom to criticize the government than militant groups did.
Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance. Non-whites responded to the new laws with agitation. An organization called the African National Congress turned to boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. In the early fifties they began their Defiance Campaign, together with some of the South African Indians. The government arrested 8,500, which outraged many more, and tens of thousands mobilized for defiance.
In 1956, the government indicted 156 opposition leaders, including Nelson Rolihiafia Mandela, leader of the African National Congress. The African Nation Congress issued what it called a Freedom Charter, asserting that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it, "black and white," and it called for universal suffrage and the individual freedoms found in the U.S. Bill of Rights.
The British government was less than thrilled over the new repressions in South Africa. With criticism from other Commonwealth nations, the white majority in South Africa approved a new constitution that in 1961 withdrew their nation from the Commonwealth and made South Africa a republic.
By now, the Communist Party of South Africa, originally all white, had joined with blacks and Asians against the repression. Already the Party had been banned by the Communism Act of 1950, which denied people the right to function peacefully in the political party of their choice. But with the oppressions, communism was gaining. The Communist Party worked "underground." Blacks joined the Party, and the government and police had another charge against its non-white opponents. They associated anti-Apartheid politics with communism and used this in an attempt to gain favor in the West, including the United States. It didn't work well.
In March, 1962, while posturing righteously against the Communists and perpetrators of rebellion, government forces created what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. In the black township of Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, police fired on a crowd of about 10,000 that had gathered in front of a police station to protest against pass laws, the police killing 67 and wounding 186, including 40 women and 8 children, most of them shot in the back while trying to flee.
On November 6, 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning apartheid policies. On August 7, 1963 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 181 calling for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa, and that year a Special Committee Against Apartheid was established to encourage and oversee plans of action against the regime.
The ruling National Party continued on course and outlawed the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-Africanist Congress, forcing these two organizations to join the Communist Party underground. For awhile, only black labor activists were making protests. The ANC had been committed to non-violence, but regime brutality was making peaceful protest too dangerous and impractical. ANC leaders, led by Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, considered the tactics of armed revolution and allied their movement with the Communists to form Spear of the Nation (Umkhonto we Sizwe).
In 1963, diligent government forces discovered Umkhonto's headquarters and found there the leader Nelson Mandela. They arrested Mandela and others, and in 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement was created by tertiary students influenced by the American Black Power movement. BC endorsed black pride and African customs and did much to alter the feelings of inadequacy instilled among black people by the apartheid system. The leader of the movement, Steve Biko, was taken into custody on 18 August 1977 and was beaten to death in detention.
In 1976, secondary students in Soweto took to the streets in the Soweto uprising to protest against forced tuition in Afrikaans. On 16 June, police opened fire on students in a peaceful protest. According to official reports 23 people were killed, but the number of people who died is usually given as 176, with estimates of up to 700. In the following years several student organisations were formed to protest against apartheid, and these organisations were central to urban school boycotts in 1980 and 1983 and rural boycotts in 1985 and 1986.
In parallel with student protests, labour unions started protest action in 1973 and 1974. After 1976 unions and workers are considered to have played an important role in the struggle against apartheid, filling the gap left by the banning of political parties. In 1979 black trade unions were legalized and could engage in collective bargaining, although strikes were still illegal.
At roughly the same time, churches and church groups also emerged as pivotal points of resistance. Church leaders were not immune to prosecution, and certain faith-based organisations were banned, but the clergy generally had more freedom to criticize the government than militant groups did.