apartheid s.a
...ite living in apartheid South Africa in his paper Human Right in South Africa: During the last two decades human values in our country sank to primitive levels as elementary human rights were trampled underfoot on a scale unparalleled in recent history. This occurred in open and direct defiance of the United Nations and the entire international community. It is as well to remember that the men in power in South Africa today wholeheartedly supported Nazism and have never repented of it. The African and other non-white people in Africa do not enjoy the right to take part in government nor can they vote for representatives who govern. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (passed in 1961) specifically excludes non-whites from any participation in the councils of the State. They do not have the right to assemble with others and join - or refrain from joining - any legitimate organization or group. They cannot enjoy a full cultural life in accordance with their artistic, literary and scientific inclinations. On the contrary, the majority of the people are excluded from places of culture or entertainment, from libraries, from scientific institutions. Our people do not have the right to travel without hindrance within the country or leave the country. The notorious pass laws and the Departure from the Republic Regulation Act prevent this. Africans do not have the right to a job and in fact are legally prevented from doing a large variety of jobs which are reserved for whites. They have no rights of collective bargaining, and cannot form or join a labor union, even one recognized by the State. Africans cannot agitate and cannot go on strike in order to better their working conditions and pay (Tambo, 1968, p.29). In reaction to being excluded from political power by the 1910 Act of Union, due to the color of their skin, a group of chiefs, Christian ministers, and intellectuals came together to form the South African Native National Congress. In 1923 this organization changed its name to become the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC believed that Africans should work together as a united force to bring about political change and racial equality (Mandela, 1995, pp. 12-15). Initially, the ANC stuck to a strict policy of pacifist resistance. However, frustration with a lack of results led the ANC's militant "Youth League," formed in 1944 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu, to advocate becoming more aggressive in the struggle. At an ANC conference in 1949, Mandela and his colleagues passed the Program of Resistance that was to change the nature of the ANC. The Program of Resistance called for boycotts, strikes, and civil disobedience to bring an end to racial discrimination (Thompson, 1996, p. 65). The fundamental principles of the Program of Action of the African National Congress were inspired by the desire to achieve national freedom. By national freedom, they meant freedom from white domination and the attainment of political independence. That implied the rejection of the conception of segregation, apartheid, trusteeship, or white leadership, which were all, in one way or another, motivated by the idea of white domination or domination of the whites over the Blacks (Thompson, 1996, pp. 13-21). In 1955, opponents of apartheid, including “The South African Indian Congress,” “The Colored People's organization,” the white's "Congress of Democrats," and the ANC, met at the “Congress of the People” where they drafted the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter became the declaration for all of these organizations fighting for democracy and human rights. It declared that “We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people” (Porter, 1991, p.31). In 1949 the National Party led government set up the "Eislen Commission," a specially appointed commission given the task of restructuring the education system according to the apartheid philosophy. The commission recommended that different races should receive different forms of education. For example, Black children were to be taught in such a way that the Bantu child will be able to find his way in European communities, to follow oral or written instructions, and to carry on a simple conversation with Europeans about his work and other subjects of common interest. These recommendations became law in the 1955 Bantu Education Act. In short, Blacks were to be trained to do manual labor and to follow the instructions of whites (Porter, 1991, pp.25-45). In response to the Bantu Education Act, the ANC held a boycott of government schools, and set up their own schools. Nelson Mandela spoke out against the introduction of Bantu Education, calling for community activists to "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a center of learning" (Mandela, 1995, p. 45). However government, forces cracked down on these private schools, declaring unlicensed schools illegal and forcing the students to return to the public schools. Education became a major rallying point for the fight against apartheid as the Nationalist government's racist policies radicalized the youth. Black youth became reluctant to participate in an educational system designed to create a menial labor force for the white economy (Elder, 1993, pp.12-26). In 1959, a militant group of "Africanists" split from the ANC and formed the Pan African Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe. For the first time, the ANC was challenged as the leading voice against apartheid. On March 21, 1960, Robert Sobukwe initiated widespread anti-pass law demonstrations. People gathered in thousands at the police station where passes were to be destroyed. As the morning wore on, the crowd, which journalists found "perfectly amiable," appeared to the police increasingly menacing (Thompson, 1996, pp. 74-82). In the early afternoon, seventy-five policemen fired some 700 shots into the crowd, killing 69 Africans and wounding 180. Among them were women and children. Most of the dead had been shot in the back. That evening, a thousand miles away, outside Cape Town, the protest drew 10,000 people: again the panic, again the shooting. Two Africans were killed, and 49 injured. Outrage swept the country, precipitating riots, strikes, and mass demonstrations. The government declared a state of emergency. Both the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress were outlawed. Some 20,000 people were detained. Most were African men, both leaders and so-called "vagrants." Men and women of all races were rounded up, not just members of the Congress Alliance, but members of the Liberal Party (Jackson, 1987, pp. 27-45). It seemed that the liberation movement must surely be crushed, but detainees were able to conspire while in jail. One group of whites, including members of the multi-racial Liberal Party, agreed that after Sharpeville non-violent protest was futile. Upon release, a group of African men began to recruit like-minded men and women, among them former leaders of the National Union of South African Students and journalists. They formed a sabotage group, recruited black members, and called themselves the National Committee of Liberation (later changed to African Resistance Movement). Their first action in December 1960 went unnoticed, and it was not until October 1961 that their sabotage was reported. During the following two years, such actions continued sporadically (Jackson, 1987, pp. 45-69). Among black detainees, it was decided to make one last attempt at non-violent protest. After their release, they called an "All African Conference" in March of 1961. Nelson Mandela, momentarily free of bans, was elected to lead a National Action Council, and to renew the demand for a National Convention in order to establish a new union of all South Africans. In support of the demand, a nationwide stay-at-home strike was to take place over two days in May. Organizing from the underground, Mandela was assisted in his clandestine existence by comrades of all races. In the days leading up to the strike, the government called out police and army. A massive display of force was directed at the African townships. On the second day, Mandela was obliged to call off the strike. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of Africans had responded to his call, and in Durban they had been joined by Indian workers. In Cape Town, for the first time, there was a substantial response from the Colored people. Mandela spoke of the immense courage this took, and he declared, "If ...