• Voting for best political cartoon posters

• Lecture #5 : Apartheid in South Africa

• Unit Exam 2/11 and 2/12

1/26/15

Warm up your brain

• “Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude” - Steve Biko

• Thoughts?

• Berlin Conference - a meeting of eight major European powers that helped to settle territorial disputes over the “Scramble for Africa”

• The rules for colonization of Africa were laid out

• France was given West Africa; British given East and Southern Africa; Belgium received the Congo; Germany given 4 colonies; Portugal given some costal colonies

• No African representatives were invited

Berlin Conference 1884-1885

Effects of Berlin Conference Africa 1890 Africa 1914

Africa

1890

At the time of conference

80% of Africa was under

African control.

By 1914, only Liberia and

Ethiopia were free from any

foreign control

British Colonialism

• 1902 The Boer Wars end

• In 1910 the British create the Union of South Africa and allow South Africa to govern itself.

• Afrikaners only 13% of population but dominate government

• The constitution of South Africa allowed only white men to vote

Resistance to Oppression - 1912

• In 1912 the African National Congress a nonviolent political group is formed which opposes white domination

• The goal of the ANC is to gain equal political status and influence for black South Africans

Apartheid Established 1948

• In 1948 Apartheid was established by the Dutch Afrikaner government

• Apartheid means separate-ness

• Made racial segregation the law - blacks must be separated from whites.

• 317 Apartheid laws denied 25 million blacks civil rights

• Laws determined job occupation, political rights, schooling, places to live, jail time and even marriage rights

Apartheid Laws

• Laws included:

• marriage against color lines was illegal

• separate and unequal living areas (African homelands used as dumping grounds)

• Jobs were only in white areas

• All non-whites carry a pass book at all times

Sharpeville Massacre

• March 21, 1960 - 69 people are shot to death and 180 wounded at the Sharpeville township after South African police attack a nonviolent, anti-pass law demonstration.

• Some Africans question a non-violent approach

• In December 1961, Nelson Mandela creates the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) which is a more radical branch of the ANC

Separate is NOT equal!

1976 Soweto Township

• Black students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Decree of 1974 which forced all black schools to use Afrikaans (language of the Dutch)

• The decree was resented deeply as Afrikaans was widely viewed (in the words of Desmond Tutu) “as the language of the oppressor”

• In protest, the SASM (S.African Student Movement) organized a rally and march on June 16, 1976 to make themselves heard

1976 Soweto Township

• June 16, 1976

• Students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route

• Tsietsi Mashinini, the leader of the student group, told marchers to not provoke the police and instead to continuing marching on a different route.

• Claiming self-defense and that students were throwing rocks at police, Colonel Kleingeld opens fire

• Panic ensues and additional shots are fired by the police. Students lose control and police are forced to use riot gear to end the uprising

• 700 are killed by the police

Steven Biko 1977

• Leader of the Black Consciousness Movement

• He pushed for positive black self-image and action - “Black is Beautiful”

• August 21, 1977 Biko was arrested by the police for making a speech outside his restricted area.

• Under Terrorism Act No.83 he is detained and interrogated by Port Elizabeth police officers in room 619.

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”

Steven Biko 1977

• Biko is beaten and suffers a major head injury while in police custody while he was chained to a window.

• On Sept. 11, 1977 police realizing the extent of his injury load Biko in the back of a Land Rover, naked and unconscious, and drive 700 miles to Pretoria to take him to the nearest prison hospital.

• He died shortly after arrival at Pretoria prison on Sept. 12

“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”

Steven Biko 1977

• The police claimed his death was a result of an extended hunger striker by Biko (self-inflicted)

• However an autopsy revealed massive head wounds, supporting a case of excessive abuse.

• Biko’s funeral was attended by over 10,000 people (many were arrested for mass assembly)

• The following year, the attorney general of the Eastern Cape district stated that he would not prosecute any of the police involved with the case as it felt the wounds were self-inflicted

• In 2003, the case was put to rest with the district attorney stating insufficient evidence

International pressure to change

• International trade sanctions (boycotts against S. Africa) cripple the South African economy

• South Africa was expelled from the United Nations in 1974 and banned from the Olympics in 1976

• F.W. de Klerk the last president under the Apartheid government released Nelson Mandela and others to help end the system of oppression

Desmond Tutu - 1984

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent leadership against Apartheid

• Advocated for a release of Nelson Mandela and open elections for all South African people.

Nelson Mandela ‣Mandela joined the African National

Congress (ANC) in 1940

‣Dissatisfied with the moderate approaches of the ANC, Mandela helped launch the ANC Youth League in 1942, dedicated to radical marches, boycotts and civil disobedience

‣After the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, South Africa banned the ANC. In response, Mandela creates the Spear of the Nation, a military branch which signaled official adoption of violence

Nelson Mandela

‣Mandela was arrested and charged with illegal activities including inciting strikes and revolts

‣He was tried, convicted and sentenced for 5 years.

‣While in prison the government charged Mandela and the entire ANC leadership with treason and conspiracy.

‣He was sentenced to life in jail in June 1964

Prisoner #46664

Nelson Mandela - 1990

‣Mandela’s imprisonment unified global anti-apartheid campaigns.

‣Combined efforts of ANC leadership in exile and economic pressure worldwide finally compelled concessions in S. Africa.

‣Released from prison in 1990 after 26 years of being in jail.

‣In 1994 he was elected the first president of the New South Africa - where blacks and whites have equal protection under the laws.