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Black consciousness - Coggle Diagram
Black consciousness
Soweto Uprising 1976
Causes
-mobilisation of school children
-conditions in overcrowded townships
-influence of Black Consciousness gave Africans more pride in their culture
-increasing urbanisation of Africans, more literate, could read newspapers, raised awareness of other movements
-students more sophisticated and less patient in how they were being treated
Events
-1976 as many as 1 million people lived there
-mass overcrowding
-June 1976 massive demonstration against teaching in Soweto
-organised by SASM
-thousands of children took part
-marches from their school to a rally in the soccer stadium in central Soweto
Protests spread to other areas
-100 places affected
-continued until the end of the year, at least 80 protests
-children went on strike, schools burnt down
-biggest demonstration seen so far
Background Causes
-absence of ANC and PAC, new movements taking shape in SA
-new generation of activists coming into view as others in exile
-Soweto had created the South African Students Movement (SASM) to campaign against poor-quality education
-members were normal school age
-had already organised boycotts about teaching in Afrikaans, which they knew would affect their grades
-SASM membership overlapped with ANC and PAC
Govt Response initial protest in Soweto
-security forces tried to break up the marches
-tear gas and warning shots
-live bullets from machine pistols
-at least 20 killed
Govt Response Overall
-security forces killed as many as 1,000
-Total Strategy was the deployment of every means politically, economically and militarily to protect the apartheid regime
-
Steve Biko
Background
-medical student
-attended the National Union of SA Students (NUSAS) speeches and drew on these ideas
-NUSAS was dominated by white students
-Biko led the black delegation during the 1967 NUSAS Congress
-the uni refused to allow black students to stay in residence on campus or use other facilities during the conference
-black students asked for meetings to be moved to townships so they could attend, but white students did not listen
-this triggered the formation of a separate black movement
Ideology
-Africanist ideas from the ANCYL and the PAC
-elements of American black power ideas
-saw black power movements in newspapers, inspired Biko
-
Death of Steve Biko
How
-Biko had been arrested in 1974 for breaking his banning order
-Biko used his trial to explain his case, attracting wide publicity and becoming an international figure
-Biko died in police custody in September 1977
-he was initially accused of attacking a police officer during interrogation and falling against a wall during a violent struggle
-inquiry found he did in fact die of brain damage
-people believe he was tortured and starved in prison
-no one was prosecuted for his death
Impact
-mysterious death had great significance
-he had become the face of black protest
-his death in such horrific circumstances shook both SA and internationally
-authority remained impassive
International Response
-UN and USA protested over his death
-widespread worldwide condemnation
-Cry Freedom the movie told his story, and brought even more attention to the anti-apartheid movement
Consequences of Soweto
Internal Response
-authorities taken by surprise
-govt accused them of seeking a Communist revolution
-banning orders, imprisonment and suppression of 18 organisations
-52,000 arrests
-90 banning orders
-torture to extract confessions and name others
-appeared to have crossed a line
-proved protests would not go away
-no centralised organisation, localised and spontaneous
-more dangerous due to unpredictability
-enhanced sympathy for the armed struggle
-helped ANC as it welcomed more militant activists to help the armed struggle
-14,000 went abroad to train with the ANC and MK
International Response
-govt response to Soweto led to worldwide anger due to the police brutality
-UN responded with Resolution 392, condemned govt response
-multi-national companies in SA were pressurised by anti-apartheid groups to withdraw
-uni campuses in the US and elsewhere, movements to encourage people to withdraw their SA investments
-many companies withdrew funds
-November 1977, Polaroid withdrew completely from SA