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Summary Civil Resistance
This summary is bullet pointed and provides an in-depth summary of Civil Resistance in South Africa. Part of the Grade 12 IEB History Syllabus
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Chloë van Beukering Grade 12 History SyllabusCivil Resistance
Black Consciousness
- Had its roots on university campuses, especially those universities created under apartheid law
for Black students, such as Fort Hare
- Many students joined Students Representative Councils in order to express their political
grievances
- Many joined the non-racial National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) which
operated in all universities
- The driving force behind BC was Steve Biko
- Born in King William’s Town, in what is now the Eastern Vape
- Entered the University of Natal in 1966 to study medicine
- Whilst at school Biko became involved with NUSAS, but was dominated by white liberals and
failed to represent the needs to black students
- Biko resigned in 1968 and founded the South African Student’s Organisation (SASO)
- Biko and the BCM were influenced by the Black Power Movement (and the Black Panthers) in
the US
- As well as by protest leaders such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael who called for
black pride and solidarity
- Encouraged Biko to copy their refusal to submit to racism and to raise assertiveness and self-
reliance among black people
- Also influenced by Anton Lambed, first president of the ANC Youth League, the student
protest movement, the growing independence of other African States, and by the ideas of
Pan-Africanism and the PAC
- Result: creation of a new pro-black, radical doctrine under the banner SASO
- Biko’s definition: “cultural and political revival of an oppressed people”
- Rejected working within the “white” resistance organisations and the ANC for its multi-racial
approach which contradicted the aims of BC
- Despised apartheid collaborators such as the leaders of the Bantustans or homelands
- By 1971, the BCM had grown into a formidable force throughout the country
- In an attempt to incorporate a wider support base, Biko established the Black People’s
Convention (BPC) as well as Black Community Programmes (BCP) in 1972
- Biko expelled from university for political activities
- In 1973, helped establish a black trade union, the Black Allied Workers Union which worked
with the BPC
- Biko not anti-white, and welcomed the contribution of white people to the struggle
- However, was adamant that black people themselves needed to take charge of their own
liberation and in this way renew their pride and self-worth
Achievements of the Black Consciousness Movement
- Biko established a wide network of organisations committed to BC ideas
- SASO worked as part of a larger umbrella student protest movement: the Black People’s
Convention that included SASM, Black Allied Workers Union and the BPC
- BPC also established the Black Communities Project to organise self-help shames such as
economic co-operatives, literacy campaigns, health projects and cultural forums
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,Chloë van Beukering Grade 12 History Syllabus
- These projects empowered African people and gained support from black businessmen,
intellectuals and community leaders
- By the late 1960s the main leaders of the ANC and PAC were either in prison or exile
- Whilst MK was still conducting guerrilla activity in the country, there was a lack of strong
leadership and direction within the country, especially for the youth
- Biko stepped in and became spokesperson for black people and the youth in the 1970s
- His leadership empowered and mobilised black students to take action against oppression
- For example: SASM, which organised the Soweto Riots in 1976, was directly linked to BCM
- The BCM played a key role in politicising the youth
- BCM gave a boost to the Trade Union movement
- Became more organised and militant, with a big increase in strikes in 1973
- Workers felt a new sense of power and the government realised that labour laws had to be
reformed
- Thus, the Wiemahn commission and Riekart Act of 1979 (under Botha) legalised Trade
Unions and eventually to the scrapping of the pass laws
- Biko stressed the message of “Black Pride” that the government saw as very dangerous
- Stressed that being black was not about skin colour but your attitude: self-worth, pride and
total independence from white people
- Believed Apartheid encouraged feelings of inferiority and self-hate
- Believed it was important to target mediums such as literature, history, drama, language and
poetry as ways to restoring black pride and unique identity
- At first: welcomed by the Apartheid government, as they fitted well with the policy of
separate development
- However, when it became clear how radical and threatening the movement was, the
government expelled SASO members
- Biko arrested in 1977 and held without trial under the Terrorism Act
- He died in police detention due to torture and police brutality
- Apartheid Government claimed he had died as a result of a hunger strike in the inquest that
was launched
Black Consciousness and the 1976 Soweto Uprising
- The growth of BC and the Soweto uprising rooted in a political and economic context of great
tension, instability and discontent
- Political and economic factors were putting enormous pressure on the apartheid government
- 1960s and 70s were years of economic recession
- Huge increase in oil price from 1973 had a significant impact on the South African economy,
affecting mainly the poorest sectors of society and the black workers
- Inflation rocketed, and along with the low wages black workers were paid and growing
unemployment, served to create massive discontent among black people and encouraged
civil protest action
- Bantu education had caused a shortage of skilled labour in the country, which worsened the
situation
- Conditions in townships were shocking, with housing shortages, overcrowding and a lack of
services
- In addition, the West Rand Administration Board (WRAB) took over control of Soweto and
imposed a new lodging tax on those over 18 who lived at home
- In the contest of high unemployment, strongly resented
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, Chloë van Beukering Grade 12 History Syllabus
- The trade union movement began to organise strikes and boycotts over the low wages, poor
working conditions and high unemployment (although black trade unions not yet legal)
- These took place especially around Durban and on the East Rand of Johannesburg
- Many strikes successful in achieving better wages
- Power of mass action was successfully demonstrated, causing great alarm for the
government
- In 1975, Portugal granted independence to Mozambique, and Frelimo came to power after
years of fighting as a liberation movement
- Angola also became independent under the MPLA (despite SA supporting UNITA)
- Important for 2 reasons: enabled ANC and PAC to set up bases in these territories and
encouraged the liberation movement in SA
- SASM and the ideas of BC had grown
- Many meetings used the disguise of “Debating Societies” to discuss political issues, as it
was illegal to have political meetings in schools
- SASM produced its own newspaper and the BC ideas spread rapidly, despite intimidation
and arrests by the police
- Some SASM members set up links with the ANC in exile and with MK
- SASM also very involved in organising the school boycotts that erupted into the Soweto
Uprising of 1976
- Students taking matters into their own hands
- Immediate causes of the Soweto Uprising can be traced back to the Bantu Education Act
- Kept black people inferior by providing them with second-rate education — just enough to
be unskilled workers
- Black schools had less money spent on them than any of the other race groups
- Had fewer and less qualified teachers, as well as fewer facilities
- Contributed to the very high drop-out rate and poor results of black schools, worsening
unemployment among black people and causing bitterness within the black community
- As a result: conditions ripe for rebellion
- The decision by the Department of Education at the beginning of 1976 to introduce Afrikaans
as medium of instruction in half the subjects provided the catalyst
- This policy had been in place for a while, but the authorities now decided to enforce it in
Soweto
- Many teachers and principals refused, were fired
- Other resigned in protest
- Students began to organise boycotts supported by SASM
- At a meeting at Naledi High School on the 13th of June, the Soweto Students
Representative Council (SSRC) was formed under Teboho “Tsietsi” Mashini (a student from
Morris Isaacson High School)
- Planned and carried out the protest march against the new Afrikaans police on the 16th of
June, which erupted into the Soweto Uprising
From Peaceful March to Violent Uprising
- Without the knowledge of parents or teacher, the students organised a march to the Orlando
stadium by the SSRC
- No resistance organisation took part in this planning, it was the school children themselves
from schools around Soweto
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