Africa lecture #5

1. •Voting for best political cartoon posters
•Lecture #5 :Apartheid in South Africa
•Unit Exam 2/11 and 2/12
1/26/15

2. Warm up your brain
•“Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is
a reflection of a mental attitude” - Steve Biko
•Thoughts?

3. • 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

4. Effects of Berlin Conference
Africa 1890 Africa 1914
At the time of
conference
80% of Africa
was under
African
control.
By 1914, only
Liberia and
Ethiopia were
free from any
foreign
control

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

11. 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

12. Separate is NOT equal!

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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”

16. 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”

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. Nelson
Mandela
‣Mandela joined the African National
Congress (ANC) in 1940
‣Dissatisfied with the moderate
approaches of the ANC, Mandela
helped launch the ANCYouth 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

21. 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

22. 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.