Anti-Apartheid Movement Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This book is largely a family memoir, but it also contains material of considerable historical value. Selina Molteno and Robin Cohen married in London in June 1967. Shortly thereafter they travelled on a mail boat to Nigeria where they... more

This book is largely a family memoir, but it also contains material of considerable historical value. Selina Molteno and Robin Cohen married in London in June 1967. Shortly thereafter they travelled on a mail boat to Nigeria where they were to stay for two years, in the midst of that country’s civil war. Their work, the birth of their first child, Miranda, their leisure activities, and their everyday efforts to combat illness and secure food and potable water are all described here. But the book goes beyond a mere description of family life. The travails of the University of Ibadan, their friendship with one of the iconic figures of the anti-apartheid struggle, Ruth First, and Robin’s analysis of the prelude to the civil war are all included. The book is lavishly peppered with contemporary photographs and many letters that give a flavour of this extraordinary period in Nigeria’s history.
If you would like it on Kindle or in a hard copy, it is available on Amazon in a number of countries. Please go to your country site and search “An Expatriate Family in the Nigerian Civil War”.

This article examines the reaction by the Australian Federal Government to the protest movements of the 1960s–1970s and their attempts to use public order legislation to thwart radical discontent in Australia. It argues that the Public... more

This article examines the reaction by the Australian Federal Government to the protest movements of the 1960s–1970s and their attempts to use public order legislation to thwart radical discontent in Australia. It argues that the Public Order (Protection of Persons and Property) Act 1971 was aimed at the threat of “violent” protests, particularly the tactic of the “sit-in”, and that to this end, the legislation was an overreaction to the actual threat posed by the protest movements at the time. It also shows that after a long gestation period, the Act was ill-equipped to deal with the changing nature of demonstrations in the 1970s, such as the problems caused by the erection of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Thus, after an initial flurry of use in mid-1971, the law has been seldom used since.

A short piece on Ruth First and her writing as agency for social transformation

This article argues that the transnational anti-apartheid movement which, from a global perspective, must be seen as one of the most significant social movements during the post-war era, made an important contribution to the emergence and... more

This article argues that the transnational anti-apartheid movement which, from a global perspective, must be seen as one of the most significant social movements during the post-war era, made an important contribution to the emergence and consolidation of a global civil society during this period. The transnational anti-apartheid movement lasted for more than three decades, from the late 1950s to 1994, when the first democratic elections in South Africa were held, and it had a presence on all continents. In this sense, the interactions of the anti-apartheid movement were part of the construction of a global political culture during the Cold War. Further, I argue that the history of the anti-apartheid struggle provides an important historical case for the analysis of present-day global politics, as it is evident that the present mobilization of a global civil society in relation to economic globalization and supranational political institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, has historical links to the post-war, transnational political culture of which the anti-apartheid movement formed an important part. Movement organizations, action forms and networks that were formed and developed in the anti-apartheid struggle are present in this contemporary context, making the transnational anti-apartheid movement an important historical resource for contemporary global civil society.

Een vijftiental zwarte theologiestudenten trad in de jaren 1970 en 1980 op als grensoverschrijdende bemiddelaars tussen de Zuid-Afrikaanse beweging voor zwarte theologie en zwart bewustzijn en de Nederlandse protestantse kerken. Zij... more

Een vijftiental zwarte theologiestudenten trad in de jaren 1970 en 1980 op als grensoverschrijdende bemiddelaars tussen de Zuid-Afrikaanse beweging voor zwarte theologie en zwart bewustzijn en de Nederlandse protestantse kerken. Zij arriveerden in een tijd dat de hechte band tussen de Nederlandse en witte Zuid-Afrikaanse protestantse kerken afbrokkelde en de wereldwijde burgerrechtenbeweging en dekolonisatieprocessen een nieuwe blik op zwart leiderschap teweeg brachten.
De Zuid-Afrikaanse studenten brachten hun persoonlijke ervaringen met de ongelijkheid onder apartheid in zowel kerk als theologie in, en lieten zo een nieuwe stem horen in de debatten onder Nederlandse protestanten. Doordat zij deze voor Nederland vreemde ervaringen verbonden met de vertrouwde gereformeerde traditie, droegen zij bij aan een kritische houding in de Nederlandse protestantse kerken ten aanzien van de witte gereformeerde Zuid-Afrikaanse kerken, die loyaal waren aan het apartheidsregime.
Door de bijdrage van Mpho Ntoane, één van de studenten, aan deze transnationale overdracht te volgen, krijgt de lezer meer zicht op de betekenis van deze studenten voor het groeiende inzicht in de protestantse kerken in Nederland dat de ervaring van zwarte Zuid-Afrikanen hun beleid ten aanzien van de kerken in Zuid-Afrika moest bepalen.

This is a scholarly article traces the formative ideas, moments, personalities and institutions in the life of young Desmond Tutu.

In Soweto on 16 June 1976 thousands of black students demonstrated against the introduction of ‘Afrikaans’ in education. They shouted: ‘Down with Afrikaans, the language of the oppressor’ and their slogan was ‘Viva Azania’. Ruthlessly... more

In Soweto on 16 June 1976 thousands of black students demonstrated against the introduction of ‘Afrikaans’ in education. They shouted: ‘Down with Afrikaans, the language of the oppressor’ and their slogan was ‘Viva Azania’. Ruthlessly the army and police massacred the peacefully demonstrating students. These dramatic events had a major impact on the course of the liberation struggle and international solidarity.(part I)
Western Anti-Apartheid organizations determined to a large extent with their activities which black resistance organization in South Africa should be supported. They successfully pleaded with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), churches and governments their case for exclusive political and material support for the ANC (African National Congress). If necessary historical facts about the Soweto uprising and other acts of resistance were manipulated in favour of the ANC. The liberation movements PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) and BCM (Black Consciousness Movement) organizations were discredited in a variety of ways and paid for this a heavy price in and outside South Africa.(part II)
Since 1994 the ANC has ruled in South Africa. From their dominant position the ANC follows the pattern of inappropriately claiming people and acts of resistance during the liberation struggle. In school textbooks and museums the ANC version of history is central.(part III)

The article analyzes Black Consciousness poetry of 1970s and 1980s South Africa alongside the protest poetry of white South African poet Wopko Jensma. It is argued that while the racial definition of oppression and resistance by Black... more

The article analyzes Black Consciousness poetry of 1970s and 1980s South Africa alongside the protest poetry of white South African poet Wopko Jensma. It is argued that while the racial definition of oppression and resistance by Black Consciousness poetry had the important aim of the recovery of the black people’s dignity and the fostering of racial solidarity and unity, it also had the unfortunate consequence of not recognizing white resistance and preventing cross-racial solidarity and empathy. By portraying the racial divide in South Africa as absolute, it implicitly allowed white people no ethical position to speak from. The poetry of Wopko Jensma is analyzed as a unique expression of white solidarity with black South Africans, demonstrated by his mastery of the social and linguistic idiom of a wide variety of people, as well as by his unusual, subversive, self-othering gesture of having himself legally reclassified as Black. By thus rejecting apartheid racial categories, as well as “European” and “African” poetics, he also deconstructed blackness and whiteness as essential identities, expressing an inclusive “human consciousness” and anticipating the ideal of the “rainbow nation” invoked in South Africa after 1990.

Like any hard-won victory, the happy-ending struggle against the apartheid regime and the resulting triumph of Mandela-led ANC has many fathers. Yet, judging from dominant accounts, the pride of place that goes to Mandela seems... more

Like any hard-won victory, the happy-ending struggle against the apartheid regime and the resulting triumph of Mandela-led ANC has many fathers. Yet, judging from dominant accounts, the pride of place that goes to Mandela seems counter-intuitive. In fact, claims abound that the lion’s share of the anti-apartheid triumph goes to the South African non-violence movement whose concerted efforts in coalition with international support and sanctions 'forced the white government to negotiate'. But these claims beg the puzzle: How and why, in its search for a negotiated exit, the apartheid regime favored Mandela’s ANC which had incarnated the violent path?
This article that the triumph of Mandela-led ANC within the anti- apartheid’s endgame can be theorized as the legacy of Mandela’s 1962 trip across Africa and the resulting Pan-Africanization of the anti-apartheid struggle. The relation between the two historical moments (1962 trip and 1990s triumph) is neither linear nor obvious, however. In fact, findings show that not only the trip seldom happened according to initial plans, it also yielded meager direct results. Yet, subsequent developments show that most of the initial missteps and setbacks eventually yielded beneficial unintended consequences and game-changer breakthroughs via several rough patches and unsuspected pathways to success.
To account for these counter-intuitive developments, the author puts forth a path dependence approach embedded in the logic of increasing return processes going back and forth between the variables of context, agency, and opportunity.

Principales medidas, antecedentes históricos, Nelson Mandela, la descolonización.

Black Consciousness (BC) poetry in 1970s and 1980s South Africa has been largely acclaimed as an excellent articulation of black subjectivity in the face of apartheid oppression. Despite its emancipatory longings, however, this poetry... more

Black Consciousness (BC) poetry in 1970s and 1980s South Africa has been largely acclaimed as an excellent articulation of black subjectivity in the face of apartheid oppression. Despite its emancipatory longings, however, this poetry failed to construct an empowering black identity for both men and women. This article argues that BC poetry's modern black selfhood is wrought by internal contradictions, depending conceptually on the suppression of women's agency and their participation in the liberated nation. It is suggested that BC masculinity, defined by social and sexual conservatism, can today be seen reflected in the masculinities performed by some current ANC leaders.

This article engages the analogy of Palestine/Israel to apartheid South Africa, and probes the political imaginary that contours this discussion while explicating the circumstances of its emergence. Accordingly, it contends that apartheid... more

This article engages the analogy of Palestine/Israel to apartheid South Africa, and probes the political imaginary that contours this discussion while explicating the circumstances of its emergence. Accordingly, it contends that apartheid is not merely a system of institutionalized separation; rather, it organizes the facts and reality of separation(s) within a frame and against a background unity that effectively allows it to be perceived as such. To that end, the article explores four key factors that created background unity in apartheid South Africa: labor relations; political theology; role of language; and geo-political unit(y), and scrutinizes their political and experiential ramifications in Palestine/Israel.

Man's inhumanity to man is perpetrated through diverse agencies. Twentieth-century South African apartheid was based on racial divides. To fight this discrimination, the Blacks went into struggle against the ruling Whites. To Athol Fugard... more

Man's inhumanity to man is perpetrated through diverse agencies. Twentieth-century South African apartheid was based on racial divides. To fight this discrimination, the Blacks went into struggle against the ruling Whites. To Athol Fugard et al., in Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, a community that cannot fight openly because of fear of arrests, tortures and deaths, assumes other levels of skirmishes. These encoded initiations and symbols are usually understood by initiates of the struggle. Examining some textual initiatory events and symbolisms utilized in the struggle, this paper posits that the oppressed create fighting tools against repressive policies established by either the state or individuals. These, most times, ensure that freedom is attained.

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how... more

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how the Negroid physical features of this ethnic group has become the basis for ethnic marginalization, stigma, social exclusion and apartheid in Somalia. The book is another contribution to the recent deconstruction of the perceived Somali homogeneity and self-same assertions. It argues that the Somalis, just like most societies, employ multiple levels of social and ethnic distinctions, one of which is the Jareer versus Jileec divide. Dr. Eno successfully portrays another Somalia, in which a mythical homogeneity masks the oppression and social exclusion suffered by some ethnic groups in the country

In December 1961, Albert Luthuli, leader of the African National Congress (ANC), arrived in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Journalists in Norway noted how apartheid crack-downs failed to poison the new laureate's 'courteous'... more

In December 1961, Albert Luthuli, leader of the African National Congress (ANC), arrived in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Journalists in Norway noted how apartheid crack-downs failed to poison the new laureate's 'courteous' commitment to nonviolence. The press never reported Luthuli's acceptance that saboteurs in an armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK or Spear of the Nation), would now fight for freedom. Analyzing recently available evidence, this article challenges a prevailing claim that Luthuli always promoted peace regardless of state authorities who nearly beat him to death and massacred protesting women, children, and men. We uncover his evolving views of justifiable violence, which guided secret ANC decisions to pursue 'some kind of violence' months before his Nobel celebration. These views not only expand knowledge of 'struggle history', but also alter understandings of Luthuli's aim to emancipate South Africa from a system of white supremacy that he likened to 'slavery'.

This paper focuses on what from a global perspective must be seen as one of the most significant social movements during the post-war era: the transnational anti-apartheid movement. This movement lasted for more than three decades, from... more

This paper focuses on what from a global perspective must be seen as one of the most significant social movements during the post-war era: the transnational anti-apartheid
movement. This movement lasted for more than three decades, from late 1950s to 1994, had a presence on all continents, and can be seen to be part of the construction of a global political culture during the Cold War. The paper argues that the history of the anti-apartheid struggle provides an important historical case for the analysis of present-day global politics—especially in so far thatmovement organizations, action forms, and networks that were formed and developed in the anti-apartheid struggle are present in the contemporary context of the mobilization of a global civil society in relation to neoliberal globalization and supra-national political institutions such as the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank.

It has frequently been suggested that Bonhoeffer's resistance did not draw substantively from his own Lutheran theological tradition. Nonetheless, his reliance on the Lutheran tradition's resistance resources is evident in his use of the... more

It has frequently been suggested that Bonhoeffer's resistance did not draw substantively from his own Lutheran theological tradition. Nonetheless, his reliance on the Lutheran tradition's resistance resources is evident in his use of the phrase status confessionis. The phrase is a hallmark of the gnesio-Lutheran position in the sixteenth-century intra-Lutheran adiaphora controversy, the position authoritatively endorsed in the Formula of Concord. Bonhoeffer demonstrably knew this tradition of Lutheranism and in the early Church Struggle deployed the idea of status confessionis in a way that was faithful to it. Because status confessionis arguably more than any other term conveys the theological reasoning of his early resistance activity, this alone merits the conclusion that Bonhoeffer's resistance drew substantively from the Lutheran tradition.

Without armed struggle there is no force in the liberation struggle. It is therefore necessary to strengthen this fight. And from our point of view, we must immediately step up support for the liberation struggle of the people of South... more

Without armed struggle there is no force in the liberation struggle. It is therefore necessary to strengthen this fight. And from our point of view, we must immediately step up support for the liberation struggle of the people of South Africa because the people of this brother country are those who have suffered most the humiliation caused by social, political, class and racial segregation.

The Second World War (after June 1941) was a high point for the international communist movement with the Popular Front against fascism bringing many new people into Communist Parties in the global West. In the United States, South Africa... more

The Second World War (after June 1941) was a high point for the international communist movement with the Popular Front against fascism bringing many new people into Communist Parties in the global West. In the United States, South Africa and Australia, the Communist Party supported the war effort believing that the war against fascism would eventually become a war against imperialism and capitalism. Part of this support for the war effort was the support of black and indigenous soldiers in the armed forces. This activism fit into a wider tradition of these communist parties’ anti-racist campaigning that had existed since the 1920s. This article looks at how support for the national war effort and anti-racist activism intertwined for these CPs during the war and the problems over ‘loyalty’ and commitment to the anti-imperial struggle that this entanglement of aims produced.

ייעודו של המאמר הינו מוגבל: הוא מבקש לדון בכמה מההבדלים בין האפרטהייד הדרום־אפריקני לבין המצב בפלסטין/ישראל. תחילה אנו מבהירים את ההקשר ההיסטורי שבתוכו התפתח האפרטהייד וטוענים שהתנאים שחייבו את הולדתו בדרום־אפריקה הם אלה שבמידה רבה... more

ייעודו של המאמר הינו מוגבל: הוא מבקש לדון בכמה מההבדלים בין האפרטהייד הדרום־אפריקני לבין המצב בפלסטין/ישראל.
תחילה אנו מבהירים את ההקשר ההיסטורי שבתוכו התפתח האפרטהייד וטוענים שהתנאים שחייבו את הולדתו בדרום־אפריקה הם אלה שבמידה רבה אחראים לגיבוש תנועת הנגד שהביאה לחיסולו. בקרב המשתנים הללו מונים אנו את יחסי העבודה, התאולוגיה הפוליטית, השפה, ואחדותה של היחידה הפוליטית (שבתוכה מתרחש האפרטהייד). אנו מראים בהמשך, כנגד הדמיון הרב בין שני המקרים, כי השונות בגיבוש הדיסקורסיבי ובמשתנים עצמם מותירה את ההשוואה בין המקרים מוגבלת. עם זאת, היא מסייעת להבין כיצד זה טרם קמה בפלסטין/ ישראל תנועת נגד להפרדה ולסגרגציה. ההשוואה גם מצביעה על כך שלפחות בתוך ישראל גופא, ככל שהזמן עובר נוצרים תנאי רקע שמנכיחים את האזרחים הפלסטינים יותר ויותר בתוך המפה והמרחב הפוליטי. נוכחות גוברת זו הזמינה, ומזמינה, כעבור שבעה עשורים שיח מדיר מצד הרוב היהודי, הרוצה להתבדל בתוך מדינתו הוא

Short stories and essays during apartheid years were not restricted to African languages and English only. There were numerous "alternative" Afrikaans magazines and small journals/pamphlets that published anti-apartheid literature during... more

Short stories and essays during apartheid years were not restricted to African languages and English only. There were numerous "alternative" Afrikaans magazines and small journals/pamphlets that published anti-apartheid literature during the 1960 to the early 1990s. These were seen as subversive and in cases banned or closed.

Biko's contributions to the philosophy of Black Consciousness is manifold, but this essay focuses on the profundity of his insight of black consciousness as a political phenomenon and what that means for struggles against a racist state.... more

Biko's contributions to the philosophy of Black Consciousness is manifold, but this essay focuses on the profundity of his insight of black consciousness as a political phenomenon and what that means for struggles against a racist state. The misanthropy of such states eventually collapse into a war against politics in the effort to curtail freedom.

Étienne Balibar, Nous, citoyens d’Europe ? Les frontières, l’État, le peuple (Paris, La Découverte, 2001)

A proposed solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that argues why a binational structure, in line with Martin Buber's thought, consisting of two communities enjoying full political and civil rights within one state, is the best and... more

A proposed solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that argues why a binational structure, in line with Martin Buber's thought, consisting of two communities enjoying full political and civil rights within one state, is the best and most viable alternative to the current situation in the long run.

The Sharpeville Six were the first black people in South Africa whose death sentences were not carried out. In the Netherlands the Redt De Sharpeville Zes Komitee3 (Save the Sharpeville Six Committee) campaigned for the release of the Six... more

The Sharpeville Six were the first black people in South Africa whose death sentences were not
carried out. In the Netherlands the Redt De Sharpeville Zes Komitee3
(Save the Sharpeville Six
Committee) campaigned for the release of the Six and later also for the Upington 14 sentenced to
death. In 1989 these 13 black men and one black woman from Upington were sentenced to death
based on the same arguments as the Sharpeville Six.
The Sharpeville Six and the Upington 14 eventually escaped the gallows. They suffered the
traumatizing effects of imprisonment, torture, being on death row and imminent executions for the
rest of their lives.

The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of what has become known as the ‘Durban moment’. This period also witnessed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement and an independent trade union movement... more

The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was revived in 1971 in the context of what has become known as the ‘Durban moment’. This period also witnessed the emergence of the Black Consciousness Movement and an independent trade union movement inspired by the 1973 Durban strikes. Despite a government crackdown and opposition from anti-apartheid groups that asserted that ethnic identities were a relic of the past, the NIC attracted younger activists through the 1970s and by the early 1980s, had survived the banning and detention of its leadership to become involved in civic struggles over housing and education, and in mobilizing against government-created political structures. It also played a pivotal role in the United Democratic Front formed in 1983. This did not mean that the NIC was monolithic. The 1980s spawned vibrant and often vicious debates within the NIC over participation in government-created structures, allegations of cabals and, as democracy dawned, differing opinions of the future of an organization that first came into being in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In critically interrogating this crucial period between 1980 and 1994, when mass-based struggle was renewed, two states of emergency were imposed and apartheid eventually ended, this article adds to the growing historiography of the anti-apartheid struggle by focusing on an important but neglected aspect of that story. It focuses on the internal workings of the NIC and the relationship between the NIC, the emergent Mass Democratic Movement and the African National Congress (ANC) in the context of broader political and economic changes.

Recent scholarship on contemporary South African art has centered on conflicts between cultural memory, history, and reconciliation in a post-apartheid world. Within this discourse, the motif of the disfigured, monstrous or “abject” body... more

Recent scholarship on contemporary South African art has centered on conflicts between cultural memory, history, and reconciliation in a post-apartheid world. Within this discourse, the motif of the disfigured, monstrous or “abject” body has been read as an allegory of the nation’s catastrophic histories, morally condemning but problematically negating South Africa’s “inhuman” past from its present. This paper examines South African artist Jane Alexander’s figurative sculpture from the 1980s, proposing that Alexander’s work constructs a model of viewership based on the experience of horror, which forces the viewer to repeatedly encounter abject histories in the present. As a challenge to Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytic model of abjection, such a model defers fantasies of resolution espoused in South Africa today, while opening new questions for discourses on ethics, historiography, and reconstruction culture more broadly.

Based on interviews with Ronnie Kasrils, a former ANC military commander and former intelligence minister in South Africa, this article examines that country’s struggle against apartheid. It looks at the interplay between violent and... more

Based on interviews with Ronnie Kasrils, a former ANC military commander and former intelligence minister in South Africa, this article examines that country’s struggle against apartheid. It looks at the interplay between violent and non-violent forms of resistance, explains the reasons for the ANC and other South African liberation movements adopting the armed struggle after almost half a century of commitment to non-violence, and discusses the dilemmas within the movement in trying to ensure that the military component of the struggle always remained subservient to the political. The article also looks at the development of the political underground in South Africa, and its role, together with the armed struggle, in effecting the end of apartheid. Kasrils also discusses the period of political negotiations in South Africa, from 1990 to 1994, and the relationship between that and on-the-ground struggles – both armed and unarmed.

During the 1970s and 1980s New Zealand was the site of an array of social and political struggles over issues centred on colonisation, gender politics, economic and social policies, international relations and state power. The single... more

During the 1970s and 1980s New Zealand was the site of an array of social and political struggles over issues centred on colonisation, gender politics, economic and social policies, international relations and state power. The single biggest protest movement centred on the question of sporting contact with South Africa and found full force during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour. This paper considers the range of protest movements and campaigns during this period and examines the reasons behind the priority given to the campaign against apartheid sport. In doing so it will examine the significance of rugby in New Zealand and its relations with South Africa, and show how 1981 provided a focal point for a wider set of social frustrations associated with broader social and political change.