A Summary of Civil Resistance in South Africa in the 1970's and 1980's
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Module
History
Institution
12th Grade
The attached document above is a summary of Civil Resistance in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. This is the summary that I used to study for this section for my final IEB History examination. The document summarises Civil Resistance, Opposition, Black Consciousness, Steve Biko, BMC, Government...
Civil Resistance in South Africa: 1970s and 1980s:
The 1970s saw a change with the rise of black consciousness and the
growth of worker and student movements. This resulted in the Soweto
Uprising in 1976, which was an uprising which marked the beginning of
the end of apartheid.
After the Sharpeville massacre, there were minimal uprisings in South
Africa and the government increased state control over media, gave the
police the power to detain people for indefinite periods without trial and
placed critics under restriction orders or house arrest. The state also
became increasingly militarized.
In the early 1970s, the tide began to turn against the apartheid
government. The economy started to decline because of the 1973 world
oil crisis when oil-producing countries of the Middle East raised the price
of oil. There was also a lack of skilled labour as a result of Bantu
Education. In 1973, general dissatisfaction led to a wave of strikes
involving 60 000 black workers, mainly in Durban and the East Rand.
This resulted in increased wages and the first independent black trade
unions being established. In the 1980s. The government implemented a
new strategy called the ‘total strategy’. This involved some reforms to
prevent further resistance and maintain power. African workers were
also given limited trade union rights.
The Opposition:
After they were banned in 1960, the ANC and PAC established armed
wings to operate underground. They planned to fight a guerrilla war to
overthrow the government. After the banning of these organizations,
some sent leaders out of the country to set up headquarters in exile. It
was difficult to infiltrate the government at the time due to the increased
military presence and the ring of white controlled allied countries to the
north.
, Nature and Aims of Black Consciousness:
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new generation of black students
began to organize resistance within SA. Black Consciousness was an
attitude of mind, rather than a political movement. The use of the word
black was a direct challenge to the apartheid term ‘non-white’. The
movement defined black people as all those who were oppressed by
apartheid. Its main aims were:
- Raising self-respect and confidence of black people to liberate
themselves.
- Promote pride in black identity, culture and history.
- To stop working with white liberals in multi-racial organizations, but
to encourage them to educate other white people to change their
attitudes.
- To promote unity amongst black people by mobilizing them to fight
against apartheid, against the divisions caused by ‘separate
development’.
Steve Biko:
He became active in student politics through the National Union of South
African Students (NUSAS). However, NUSAS was dominated by white
liberals and in 1968 Biko broke away to form SASO, a separate union for
black students. He believed that blacks should not rely on help from
whites (even if they were against apartheid) but should lead their own
resistance. This meant rejecting the non-racialism of the ANC and the
Freedom Charter.
He believed that it was only through violence that colonized people could
free themselves from this psychological oppression.
The Black Consciousness Movement (BMC):
This movement was a broad term for several different organizations
which were formed in the early 1970s.
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