Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
South Africa stay-at-home success - Coggle Diagram
South Africa stay-at-home success
Success
Many white newspapers supported Mandela before protest thanks to him meeting with various white editors
12th May 1961: Johannesburg "Star" profiled Mandela for the first time
27th May 1961: "Manchester Guardian" promoted Mandela
Larger turnout of stayers-at-home than media said
Johannesburg: 40% stayed at home
Cape Town: 30-40% stayed at home
Port Elizabeth: 30-40% stayed at home
In Durban, on June 1st 50% of Indian workers were still out of work.
Cemented Mandela as a leader of men
Failure
Cancelled after day 1 due to pressure
PAC
Encouraged workers to stay at home which helped the NP media further
Source of propaganda by the NP to make the ANC look weak or having a lack of support.
The "Rand Daily Mail" posted an article with the headline: “Most go to work: all quiet”
Verwoerd declared the NP as victorious
Use of force to quash protest and ramping up of government repression
NP mustered defence forces, cancelled leave and organised mass arrests
31st May: armoured cars patrolling, helicopters hovering, troops were posted at crossroads
During the Stay At Home Strikes more than 10,000 Africans were arrested for participating
Much smaller turnout in places like Durban, Pretoria or rural areas
Side effects
Ramping up of government repression
During the Stay At Home Strikes more than 10,000 Africans were arrested for participating
Government pushback was obviously expected by ANC leadership, but the sheer amount of pushback from the government came as a surprise
Other, more violent methods were also used by the government such as: Police raids, intimidation, military deployment, ect...
These violent methods of repression for a non violent protest was considered extreme and surprising by anti-apartheid groups
Increased division between anti-apartheid groups
The PAC actually directly opposed the Stay At Home Strikes and tried to discourage people to not participate in it
Caused a split in the major anti-apartheid leaders at a crucial moment in time
Contributed to the move from non-violence to underground resistance
With ramping up of government repression, extra measures were put in place to ban any kind of above board, official meetings to form resistance
More of a failure than a success, at least in the short term
Despite media downplaying success it still wasn't that successful
Fact that it only lasted 1 day undermines any potential successes
Although in the longterm it might have aided the ANC by forcing them to change the way to approach opposing the NP, it was still quite damaging in both the short and long term.
Made future protests more difficult by encouraging harsher law enforcement