SOUTH AFRICAN RESISTANCE...
What's the best way to resist?
South Africa lived under the Apartheid government, apartness. Life was
a series of struggles if you were born black, colored, or Asian. Black South Africans were forced to carry pass books, live in townships and receive permission from white South Africans to do almost anything. They also suffered through police raids, police brutality, and daily harassment from whites. In 1994, the Apartheid government ended and blacks and whites became equal.....how did that happen? How did the South Africans resist so strongly that the Apartheid government was brought down?

Sharpeville Massacre
March 21, 1960
The Pan-Africanist Congress was originally part of the African National Congress, but some members felt that the ANC wasn't as aggressive as it should in fighting Apartheid. They didn't believe in violence, but they believed in nonviolent direct action. They believed that black South Africans should not hide from the whites and their rules, but openly and peacefully defy them. The Pan-Africanist Congress told people that they should not carry pass books any longer. They felt that if Black Africans were stopped, they should simply submit to being arrested. "They can't arrest all of us?", was a popular saying amongst the Pan-Africanist activists. They said that black South Africans should even go as far as to police stations in large groups, and demand that they be arrested.
It was during a peaceful protest where black South Africans were going to demand to be arrested for burning their passbooks that they were massacred. On March 21, 1960, several police vans drove in front of the crowd of demonstrating blacks and told them to stop protesting and go home. When they continued waving signs, chanting, and singing freedom songs, the police opened fire on them. Every person in that crowd was unarmed. At least 70 people were killed and over 180 were wounded. Those killed were mostly shot in the back while attempting to flee to safety.

Soweto Uprising
June 16,1976-
The Soweto Township is one of the largest townships in South Africa, making it one of the largest collections of black South Africans in all of South Africa. It is located just outside of Johannesburg, one of the largest, richest, and most important cities in South Africa. One of the ways in which the Apartheid government oppressed blacks was by providing a second rate education to all children living in the townships. For years, the educational system attempted to destroy all black pride by not teaching or even allowing students to speak their native African languages, and by teaching history only -from the European perspective.
In 1976, the language of all schools was English. This was an insult, to the Black Africans but accepted it because as an international language, English is spoken in almost every country in the world. In 1976, however, the Boers were becoming a majority in the government. Due to this, a law was passed saying that from now on all schools will also teach and be taught in Afrikaans, a form of Dutch that is only spoken by the Afrikaaner minority , less than 5% of the population.
On June 16, 1976, Steven Biko and other members of the Black Consciousness movement led nonviolent protest marches in the Soweto Township. Thousands of adults and about 15,000 students boycotted classes and demanded that their language be used in schools, that African history be taught, and that the schools respond to their needs. Soon after the march began, police and soldiers arrived and with little warning opened fire on the unarmed crowds, made up of mostly students under the age of 18. As a result, for days afterward, in Soweto and neighboring Black townships, rioting ensued. Several hundred black Africans were killed while only two police officers were killed. The Afrikaans language was enforced in the township school systems.

Banning
Begun in 1948 when Apartheid was formed
Banning was the weapon used to silence anyone who spoke out against the Apartheid government. The Minister of Justice can ban anyone he feels is furthering communism, or in other words anyone who is speaking out against or working against the Apartheid government. When a person is banned, there is no trial or hearing, nor does any reason have to be given. When a person is banned they must stay within a designated area given to them by the police. They must report to the police on a regular basis, and are forbidden from attending any gatherings whatsoever, going to any schools or factories for any reason, and may not be quoted in any magazines or newspapers, and may not belong to a political party. Persons banned could only be in a room with one person at a time. Persons banned were usually kept under heavy surveillance by the internal security police.

Pass Laws
Begun in 1948 when Apartheid was formed
The Pass Laws were the most direct and indiscreet way in which the
black South Africans were oppressed by the white South African government. At any moment the police could sweep through a neighborhood, place of work, or street corner. If your pass book was out of order you could be arrested, detained, or imprisoned. The Pass Laws also restricted black Africans to the townships outside of cities unless they had paid all their taxes and could prove that they had a job in the city. Remember in chapter 3 of Kaffir Boy when Mark's father is arrested at a bus stop for not having a job when he was going to ask for permission to get a new job.

Black South Africans do not have the right to vote
Begun 1948 when Apartheid was formed
Since the beginning of Apartheid, black South Africans have had absolutely no say in their government. They can neither vote nor run for public office. Black South Africans have no rights in the regulations of their own laws and government.

Disappearances
Since the beginning of Apartheid-
In the late 1970s, and early 1980s many activists of the Black
Consciousness movement, the ANC, and the Pan-Africanist Congress began to simply vanish. In 1977 Bantu Steven Biko was just one of hundreds, perhaps thousands of activists who simply disappeared. Arrested by the security police, they died in police custody but under suspicious circumstances, either committing suicide by jumping out of a second story window, or starving to death on hunger strike even though their bodies were bruised and battered. In the case of the Craddock Four, they simply disappeared. The Craddock Four were four ANC activists who were going to a political rally in the city of Port Elizabeth. They never returned home. It wasn't until decades later that it was revealed that the Craddock Four had been followed from the rally by security police, murdered, burned and buried in a shallow grave.

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