Black consciousness and the soweto uprising Flashcards
describe what black consciousness was
international movement which originated in USA concerned with black pride in hisotry identity and culture
popular amoung young black sa tolerated at first as it emphasis on seperated development might tie in line with apartheid goals
felt they had to fight apartheid through its own efforts and did not accept help from white symphasisers
Describe how black consciousness caused the Soweto uprising
this movement inspired black South Africans to also use NVDA tactics and take protest into own hands due to leaders being in prision
insipred them to use their ow protest using NVDA as had no experienced leaders to follow
movement aimed for pride history and culture=increased frustrtions with inferior education being told inferior
describe how chnages to African education caused soweto uprising
Bantu education act 1953 provided poor ed with 16x more money spent on whites education = limit future opportunities and pushed them into jobs with labour wrk for white businesses
Afrikaans medium degree= should be taught in Afrikaans rather than English =saw this as language of oppressor many didn’t speak this further decreased ed standards no other countries talked language limited opportunities outside SA
main cause
describe how recession and dereasing quality of life lead to Soweto u[rising
73 oil crisis= oil prices increasing price gold increased by 14% in 74.=economic problems continued to worsen with wages decreasing = low qol = crime rates inceased with 845 murders reported inthe previous yearand 20 people sharing a room for 4
also increased need for more cheap labour meaning number afrcian schools increased from 100,000-390,000 from 74-6
gov didnt want to spend money to deal with overcrowding =class sizes could be as high as 70-100 in soweto =schools lacked resources to teach pupils skills to have any jobs but menial labour =teacher couldnt control classes
describe the Soweto uprising
16 June 1976 demonstration against afrikaans medium degree organised by SASM
thousands children took part in marches
security used tear gas and then fired live bullets at least 20 students died uprising continued until at least the end pf the year children went on stirke and schools were burnt down may of killed as many as 1000 people
describe the gov response to soweto
nning orders imprisonment suppression 18 organisations including chrisitan institute never involved in violent protest
52,000 arrests 90 banning orders and 18 different forms torture
what was the significance of Soweto
ANC as a benefiary and move to armed struggle
-thousands young joined guerrilla warfare groups in Mozambique and Angola. Both ANC and PAC recruited new cadres and advised how to illegally cross borders where they went to military training camps 76=dilkgate train sabotaged and brodergate firefight between gurrilas and security new amount of cadres aloowed arm stuggle to contiune
brought young people to the cause who had no contact with ANC and where ripe to be radicalised ANC taught students of policy
the significance on the government
devised total strategy to go against total onslaught/perceived communist threat
-General Malan 77 said every as[ect of society should be deployed against the enemy
diplomatic, economic and psychological factors
involved restructing of the gov with emphasis on security
79=made National Management system to oversee gov=four committees economic affairs, security, social and constitutional.
state security council=made up army generals and police=supported locla levels by joint committees= p and armed forces worked together sharing info and joint operations = assassination ruth first and bombing ANC headquarters in London
what was the interantional reaction to Soweto
gov reaction = widespread international condemnation UN responded with resoloution 392 three days after which condemned gov and Aparthied multinational companies withdrew subsides and many supported campaign to oppose ban loans to sa WHICH SAW MANY funds withdrawn
Nov 77 polaroid withdrew completly
what was the impact of the death of Steve Biko 77
-biko was murdered from police brutality whilst in custody on the 12 septmeber 77
he was widely known and respected aboard and was seen as the face of African protest
=UN and USA protests fil cry freedom =more condemnation = authroities remained impassive without remorse minster justice kruger =his death leaves me cold
marked end of peaceful solution to apartheid
