3. Protest and Resistance
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela, Statement from the Dock, 1964
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/23/nelsonmandela
Intensification of repressive, discriminatory laws and practices under segregation and apartheid prompted growing black protest and resistance. Early African political movements, most notably the African National Congress (founded in 1912 and known also as the ANC or “Congress”), emphasized a strategy of peaceful constitutional protest to try to incorporate Africans more fully into colonial society.
In its first protests, the ANC demanded equal rights and justice for all and presented a petition to stop the 1913 Natives’ Land Act. When South African authorities rejected their
appeals for justice, the ANC mounted several unsuccessful delegations to Britain. These
delegations were their last resorts, for South Africa’s highest appeal was to the British Crown.
Imperial petitions proved futile, however. But after the Act of Union in 1910 and then Dominion status in the 1930s, South Africa was free to build a government on white supremacy and racism. Indeed, the central point of the Peace of Vereeniging, which ended the South African War in 1902, was an agreement by Britain with the Boers Afrikaners; “boer” literally means “farmer” in Dutch) that white people would rule South Africa.
Hardening racism in South Africa and the rise of anti-colonial nationalism elsewhere in Africa and Asia modified ANC leaders’ faith in respectful delegations and polite petitions. Alternative ideologies – African nationalism, communism, and Garveyism – spread rapidly but unevenly in South Africa during the 1920s. These ideologies were more readily subscribed to by younger, newer members of the ANC, who were more likely to be radical teachers or workers as opposed to relatively more privileged, conservative chiefs and established kholwa (Christian) elites. With this changing class composition, the ANC began to shift its tactics. During economic crises following World War I and in the depression years of the late 1920s and early 1930s, some provincial branches of the ANC took part in more radical protests such as mass demonstrations and burning passes.
By the 1950s, with growing industrialization and the urbanization of Africans, the ANC began attracting a large number of black workers.
The 1949 ANC Program of Action was a watershed in ANC history: it stated that the ANC’s aim was self-determination and “national freedom from White domination and the attainment of political independence [which] implies the rejection of the conception of segregation, apartheid, or white leadership.” The new program embraced African nationalism—a movement of solidarity among African nations that fought for rights for black people, and thus against white supremacy. It was championed by the Congress Youth League, formed in the 1940s and led by Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela, and Oliver Tambo. The 1949 Program of Action also adopted more militant forms of protest, including “immediate and active boycott, strike, civil disobedience, and non-co-operation,” and stressed the need to organize African workers into unions.
The ANC’s and other organizations’ emphasis on non-racialism is enshrined in the seminal document of the liberation movement: the Freedom Charter (1955). It asserts that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. The Charter came to represent ANC policies over the next four decades. It grew out of a widespread campaign to collect the people’s proposals for alternatives to apartheid. From meetings organized across the country, people sent in ideas for a democratic South Africa. The Congress of the People, held on June 26, 1955 in Kliptown, near Johannesburg, adopted the Charter, which stated that “only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief.” A strong constitutional element was discernable: “All Shall be Equal Before the Law!” and “All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!” Inclusiveness was evident in the demand that “All National Groups Shall Have Equal Rights!”
Demands for land reform, educational reform, and economic opportunity also were strongly articulated in the Freedom Charter, which represented more radical socialist views. The latter were seen in these demands: “The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth!” and “The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole.” The government used these statements to ascribe communist influence to the movement and arrested 156 leaders of the Alliance. They were charged with high treason, and 30 of these leaders endured a four-and-a-half-year Treason Trial, which ended in their acquittal.
The apartheid government repeatedly met peaceful protests with violent repression. Bannings, detentions, and harassment of liberation movement leaders and activists became commonplace. The most brutal example of repression from this period was the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960, when policemen killed at least sixty-nine defenseless people— many of whom were shot in the back—during a peaceful demonstration against pass laws. In the immediate aftermath of Sharpeville, the apartheid government declared a State of Emergency and banned the ANC and PAC.
Forced underground, the ANC and its allies adopted new tactics. Most significantly, the
movements launched a campaign of armed struggle. In December 1961, Mandela became the commander-in-chief of the ANC’s new armed wing: Umkhonto We Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation,” or MK).
But within two years, the apartheid government had arrested Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders. The Rivonia Trial of 1963-64 featured an eloquent and well-publicized speech by Mandela on the primacy of democratic values in challenging apartheid. However, in 1964, Mandela, together with seven other Congress Alliance Members were found guilty of treason and imprisoned for life. All were sent to prison on Robben Island, the notorious penitentiary where a large number of people involved in the anti-apartheid movement were sent.
The life stories of ordinary people, like those of resistance leaders, illustrate vividly how
people coped with racial oppression, fought for freedom, and worked to develop democracy. For instance, township residents resisted apartheid through bus boycotts and by participating actively in a vibrant popular culture of sport, music and literature, passed on by word of mouth or through popular media such as the magazine Drum. In the countryside, Africans also challenged white rule, at times resorting to armed resistance, as in the 1960 Poqo Revolt in Pondoland.
Black and even some white women actively resisted apartheid. Women organized vigorous antipass demonstrations in the 1950s, and they also protested against government-run beer halls.
African nationalism also found adherents among migrant mineworkers.
Historians generally see the 1960s as a period of defeat and quiescence of resistance, though recent research shows that the ANC underground was far from inactive. Still, the apartheid state continued to tighten repressive laws with the 1972 Internal Security Act, which gave police powers to detain without trial for a renewable period of ninety days. With these stricter laws, the apartheid regime succeeded in repressing most dissent, until in 1973 a series of wildcat labor strikes erupted, followed by the youth revolt in 1976, reignited South Africa’s quest for freedom.