The Aftermath

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The Aftermath:

South Africans including white South Africans were outraged by the reaction of the government to the riots. The apartheid governmnet denied ever having fired the first shots and even to this day the riots are portrayed differently within the white and black communities. In the white communities there are countless pictures that depicts the black students as being the violent ones by bombarding the police with stones and glass bottles. On the other hand, in the black community there are pictures showing white policemen shooting at defenseless school children. Although both communities have different interpretations of the riots, it does not remove the fact that hundreds of children died that day. Almost immediately after the riots came to an end, over 300 white students from universities in Johannesburg marched to show their anger towards theapartheid government for killing school children. The picture of Hector Pieterson's dead body which was captured by journalsists, outraged millions and brought down international condemnation on the apartheid government. Images of the riots spread all over the world and millions of people were shocked. There were many protests held outside of South Africa, for example, in the United Kingdom, people protested outside the office of the South African Embassy. Economic sanctions were placed on the apartheid government by the United Nations, however, it would take eighteen years before apartheid was succesfully eliminated within South Africa.

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The Signifnace of the Sowetu Uprisings:

The Sowetu Uprisings were significant because it is an event that signified the end of apartheid. Before the riots blacks did not entirely resist the regime, due to fear. Howevere, the riots awakened blacks and taught them how to resist and also made them realise that they cand resist apartheid. White citizens also started to withdraw their support from the government. Parents of the black students in Sowetu started to lead by their children's example and started to organize themselves into anti- apartheid movements. These movements combined with international pressure and economic sanctions eventually led to the succesful ending of apartheid 1994 when South African held its first democratic elections. June 16th, 1976 will always be remebered and the courage of so many young South Africans will be taught and for many years to come. The democratic South African government has honored these students by declaring June 16th South African Youth Day.

'UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!'

This message was Mandela's call after the Soweto uprising of 1976. It was published by the ANC on 10 June 1980, with an introduction by O R Tambo, President of the ANC at the time.

The African National Congress brings you this URGENT CALL TO UNITY AND MASS ACTION by political prisoners on Robben Island to all patriots of our motherland. Nelson Mandela and hundreds of our comrades have been in the racist regime's prisons for more than 17 years. This message by Nelson Mandela addressed to the struggling masses of our country was written to deal with the present crisis gripping our enemy and in the aftermath of the Soweto uprisings. It was smuggled out of Robben Island prison under very difficult conditions and has taken over two years to reach us. None the less we believe the message remains fresh and valid and should be presented to our people. His call to unity and mass action is of particular importance in this Year of the Charter - 25th anniversary of the Freedom Charter. The ANC urges you to respond to this call and make 1980 a year of united mass struggle.

Oliver Tambo: President, ANC MANDELA'S CALL

RACISTS RULE BY THE GUN!

The gun has played an important part in our history. The resistance of the black man to white colonial intrusion was crushed by the gun. Our struggle to liberate ourselves from white domination is held in check by force of arms. From con- quest to the present the story is the same. Successive white regimes have repeatedly massacred unarmed defenceless blacks. And wherever and whenever they have pulled out their guns the ferocity of their fire has been trained on the African people.

Apartheid is the embodiment of the racialism, repression and inhumanity of all previous white supremacist regimes. To see the real face of apartheid we must look beneath the veil of constitutional formulas, deceptive phrases and playing with words.

The rattle of gunfire and the rumbling of Hippo armoured vehicles since June 1976 have once again torn aside that veil. Spread across the face of our country, in black townships, the racist army and police have been pouring a hail of bullets killing and maiming hundreds of black men, women and children. The toll of the dead and injured already surpasses that of all past massacres carried out by this regime.

Apartheid is the rule of the gun and the hangman. The Hippo, the FN rifle and the gallows are its true symbols. These remain the easiest resort, the ever ready solution of the race-mad rulers of South Africa.

VAGUE PROMISES, GREATER REPRESSION . . .

In the midst of the present crisis, while our people count the dead and nurse the injured, they ask themselves: what lies ahead?

From our rulers we can expect nothing. They are the ones who give orders to the soldier crouching over his rifle: theirs is the spirit that moves the finger that caresses the trigger.

Vague promises, tinkerings with the machinery of apartheid, constitution juggling, massive arrests and detentions side by side with renewed overtures aimed at weakening and forestalling the unity of us blacks and dividing the forces of change - these are the fixed paths along which they will move. For they are neither capable nor willing to heed the verdict of the masses of our people.

THE VERDICT OF JUNE 16!

That verdict is loud and clear: apartheid has failed. Our people remain unequivocal in its rejection. The young and the old, parent and child, all reject it. At the forefront of this 1976/77 wave of unrest were our students and youth. They come from the universities, high schools and even primary schools. They are a generation whose whole education has been under the diabolical design of the racists to poison the minds and brainwash our children into docile subjects of apartheid rule. But after more than twenty years of Bantu Education the circle is closed and nothing demonstrates the utter bankruptcy of apartheid as the revolt of our youth.

The evils, the cruelty and the inhumanity of apartheid have been there from its inception. And all blacks - Africans, Coloureds and Indians - have opposed it all along the line. What is now unmistakable, what the current wave of unrest has sharply highlighted, is this: that despite all the window-dressing and smooth talk, apartheid has become intolerable.

This awareness reaches over and beyond the particulars of our enslavement. The measure of this truth is the recognition by our people that under apartheid our lives, individually and collectively, count for nothing.

UNITE !

We face an enemy that is deep rooted, an enemy entrenched and determined not to yield. Our march to freedom is long and difficult. But both within and beyond our borders the prospects of victory grow bright.

The first condition for victory is black unity. Every effort to divide the blacks, to woo and pit one black group against another, must be vigorously repulsed. Our people - African, Coloured, Indian and democratic whites - must be united into a single massive and solid wall of resistance, of united mass action.

Our struggle is growing sharper. This is not the time for the luxury of division and disunity. At all levels and in every walk of life we must close ranks. Within the ranks of the people differences must be submerged to the achievement of a single goal - the complete overthrow of apartheid and racist domination.

VICTORY IS CERTAIN !

The revulsion of the world against apartheid is growing and the frontiers of white supremacy are shrinking. Mozambique and Angola are free and the war of liberation gathers force in Namibia and Zimbabwe. The soil of our country is destined to be the scene of the fiercest fight and the sharpest battles to rid our continent of the last vestiges of white minority rule.

The world is on our side. The OAU, the UN and the anti-apartheid movement continue to put pressure on the racist rulers of our country. Every effort to isolate South Africa adds strength to our struggle.

At all levels of our struggle, within and outside the country, much has been achieved and much remains to be done. But victor~ is certain!

WE SALUTE ALL OF YOU!

We who are confined within the grey walls of the Pretoria regime's prisons reach out to our people. With you we count those who have perished by means of the gun and the hangman's rope. We salute all of you - the living, the injured and the dead. For you have dared to rise up against the tyrant's might.

Even as we bow at their graves we remember this: the dead live on as martyrs in our hearts and minds, a reproach to our disunity and the host of shortcomings that accompany divisions among the oppressed, a spur to our efforts to close ranks, and a reminder that the freedom of our people is yet to be won.

We face the future with confidence. For the guns that serve apartheid cannot render it unconquerable. Those who live by the gun shall perish by the gun.

UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON!

Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.

AMANDLA NGAWETHU! MATLA KE A RONA!

Apartheid

International responses

Internationally, the response to Apartheid was phenomenal. Influencal world leaders expressed their vocal disapprovement regarding Apartheid and constantly encourgage South Africans as well as people all over the world to fight Apartheid. There were numerous Anti-Apartheid movements within the United States that consisted of well known African American athletes such as Paul Robeson who is known as a leading American pioneer for the struggle against Apartheid. Below is a biography as well as the significant contributions that Robeson has made in the struggle against Apartheid.

PAUL ROBESON (1898-1976)

Paul Robeson - a great athlete, actor, singer, and scholar - was a pioneer in promoting political and material support to the liberation movement of South Africa. A courageous fighter against racism and colonialism, he suffered persecution during the "cold war" but stood firm. The United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid held a special meeting on his 80th birthday to pay tribute to him.

On October 11, 1978, the United Nations bestowed an award on him posthumously in recognition of his great contribution to the international campaign against apartheid. His centenary was observed in many cities in the United States and in London in April 1998.

STATEMENT BY MFANAFUTHI (JOHNNY) MAKATINI, ANC REPRESENTATIVE AT THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE MEETING OF THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL COMMITTEE AGAINST APARTHEID, ON THE 80TH BIRTHDAY OF PAUL ROBESON APRIL 10, 1978

... To the African people throughout the length and breadth of the continent, the peoples of the Third World in general, and the oppressed and struggling people of South Africa in particular, Paul Robeson was more than a legendary artist whose unparalleled talent always inspired the downtrodden blacks with confidence, pride, and the spirit of self-assertion. To our people, Paul Robeson was also an outstanding and selfless freedom fighter, political leader, whose single-minded dedication to the cause of the black man throughout the world, and human and social progress in general, made him a target of the most vicious persecution by the reactionary forces in the United States; the forces that were committed to the perpetuation of exploitation of man by man.

In his extensive travels and professional performances abroad, Paul Robeson won himself unparallelled fame, respect and influence. If he had sought personal growth and wealth, if he had remained unconcerned and silent over the sequels of slavery and the plight of the blacks in the United States, the plight of the colonised people in Africa and the world, he would have been acclaimed by the dominant group in this country, through its powerful media which it owns and controls, the greatest roving American ambassador of the time. But Paul Robeson was made of finer and sterner stuff. He spoke out. He clearly and unequivocally declared his stand, and the virulent campaign conducted against him only served to temper and steel his commitment and immensely increased his fame and prestige.

Any appraisal of Paul Robeson shows that his internationalism, his all- embracing humanism, was developed through his deep communion with the Afro- American heritage. To the African National Congress, this day is of special significance because of his close association with our struggles. As you recalled, Paul Robeson attended the meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Colonial Peoples in London in 1949 - at which the African National Congress was represented - and travelled from London to Paris, with Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, to represent the Coordinating Committee at the World Peace Congress.

In South Africa, Paul Robeson is considered an outstanding champion of the emancipation of the country. No doubt, when the time comes, since victory in South Africa is now as certain as sunrise, he will be one of the first to be honoured by our people...

The African-American Manifesto on Southern Africa, 1976 [This ten-point manifesto was adopted at a conference convened by the Congressional Black Caucus, September 24-25, 1976, in Washington, D.C. It was attended my members of the Caucus, as well as representatives of major African-American organisations - NAACP, PUSH, AFRICARE, Black Economic Research Council and National Council of Negro Women. It promoted campaigns in the United States to end apartheid and to free Nelson Mandela.] There comes a moment in the affairs of humankind when honour requires unequivocal affirmation of a people's right to freedom with dignity and peace with justice. This is such a moment. We express solidarity with Africans protesting racism and oppression in the streets of Soweto, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Johannesburg and elsewhere. The intransigence of white settlers in Zimbabwe and Namibia and the bloody repression of Blacks in South Africa have created explosive environments which threaten world peace and raise the spectre of an internationalised, anti-colonial war which could have an ominous impact on race relations in America and abroad. Inaction in face of such a threat is betrayal of our future - betrayal of humanity, betrayal of the long line of Black men and women who have given their lives in the struggle for freedom. Conscious of our duty to speak, and recognising our responsibilities to humanity and to the revolutionary ideals of our forebears, we, the descendants of Africa, meeting in Washington, D.C., on this 200th anniversary of the first modern war for independence, proclaim our unswerving commitment to immediate self-determination and majority rule in Southern Africa. We do this because we are African-Americans, and because we know that the destiny of Blacks in America and Blacks in Africa is inextricably intertwined, since racism and other forms of oppression respect no territories or boundaries. We do this because we are African-Americans and because we have a mandate from our revolutionary predecessors: from Crispus Attucks to W.E.B. DuBois, from Dinizulu to Amilcar Cabral, from Martin Luther King to Malcolm X, from Nkrumah to Lumumba, from Nat Turner to Whitney Young, from Sojourner Truth to Mary McLeod Bethune, to proclaim the truth of the Revolution of 1776, which is also the truth of the Revolution of 1976 in Southern Africa. In this spirit and with this understanding, we contend that it is mandatory for all Americans, and especially Americans of African descent, to understand the root causes of strife in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. These root causes are: • Despotism and racism that serve to polarise the white government and the African majority; • The continuing violence by the Europeans to sustain institutions of racism and exploitation; • Economic exploitation. The history of our common struggle and recognition that our cause is just have brought us this day to proclaim and adopt the following 10 points: 1. We believe the present government of South Africa is the main barrier against majority rule in Southern Africa because of its continued illegal occupation of Namibia, its refusal to implement economic sanctions against Rhodesia and its unwillingness to share political and economic power with Blacks within its own borders. Specifically, if present negotiations fail or are unacceptable to African liberation leaders and the African people of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, the President of the United States should: Support a finding in the Security Council that South Africa's continued illegal occupation of Namibia is an act of aggression and a threat to the peace, calling for action under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Provide assistance, both humanitarian and military, to the liberation movements through the Organisation of African Unity. Impose a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa and a stoppage of shipments of equipment to be used by the military, including all technology and nuclear material. 2. We totally support the liberation of Southern Africa from white minority rule by means of armed struggle, where necessary, and affirm the right of the African liberation movements to seek necessary assistance from whatever sources available to achieve self-determination and majority rule. We firmly reject the notion that such assistance implies external domination within Cold War context. However, we are unalterably opposed to external intervention, from whatever quarter, designed to thwart the inevitable extension of African freedom to the southern tip of Africa. 3. Negotiations can achieve a genuine peace only when they occur between the contending forces. High level diplomatic involvement by the U.S. and other powerful, concerned states can be of positive assistance, but they can be considered "successful" only when they achieve the full liberation of the suppressed people. In light of this principle we look to the representatives of the Front Line States and the organised fighting forces of the suppressed populations for the standard by which to judge the success of good will negotiations involving third parties. Transitional arrangements to majority rule must include an opportunity for the organised fighting forces to participate in the drafting of constitutional arrangements and the free public discussion and voting which is required for their ratification. Therefore, we support the five Front Line Presidents in their call on the United States to support the Freedom Fighters if Prime Minister Vorster and Mr. Smith obfuscate the fundamental changes which the struggle in Zimbabwe is on the verge of accomplishing. Similarly, we oppose United States support for any settlement in Zimbabwe and Namibia that compromises the freedom of Blacks in South Africa. And in this connection, we urge the Administration to call upon South Africa to release its political prisoners and to begin negotiating with them and other Black leaders toward the establishment of a real democracy which guarantees majority rule and human rights for all. The people of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, and the independent African states acting in their behalf, have tried for more than half a century through petitions, representations, negotiations, peaceful demonstrations, appearances before the United Nations and through appeals to international tribunals to achieve self-determination through majority rule. It is a matter of fact and history that these peaceful efforts have never received the full support of western powers. Multinational corporations and industrialised nations, headed by the United States and including Great Britain, France, Germany, Israel and Japan, which collectively account for over 60 percent of all trade with South Africa, reinforced the white minority ruled regimes through expanded investments, violation of economic sanctions and arms embargoes, and by sales of military related equipment and nuclear technology to South Africa. 4. We strongly condemn the Pretoria Government for crimes against humanity through its wanton killing of hundreds of African youthful demonstrators and its wholesale detention without legal redress of Africans and their allies. We urge that the U.S. provide special political refugee status, similar to that accorded to the Cubans, to Africans forced to emigrate from Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa because of political repression. 5. We, in support of the Organisation of African Unity, oppose any U.S. Government recognition of the "Transkei" and United States corporate investment in that "Bantustan" whose independence will deny Africans their birthright to full economic and political participation in the entire Republic of South Africa. 6 We reject any U.S. policy that stresses "minority rights" rather than "human rights" in Southern Africa, since minority rights in context implies the preservation of European privilege. Therefore, we question any large-scale financial subsidy of "minority rights" for Rhodesian whites, which would serve to reward the villains at the expense of the victims. Moreover, we denounce those pronouncements by Administration officials that repeatedly speak of the need for "moderate leadership," of "responsible government" and any policy which interferes with the right of the people to decide for themselves their system of government. Neither the United States nor any other power has the right to impose any government on the people of Namibia, Zimbabwe or South Africa. Self-government is the most inalienable of all rights. 7. We believe that independence in Namibia - including Walvis Bay, the principal port presently considered part of South Africa - must be achieved according to the guidelines set forth in Security Council Resolution 385 of January 30, 1976, which demands that South Africa withdraw and end its illegal administration of Namibia, and transfer power to the people of Namibia with the assistance of the United Nations; that is, release all political prisoners, hold free elections under United Nations supervision and control and "abolish all racially discriminatory and politically repressive laws and practices, particularly bantustans and homelands." SWAPO (South West African Peoples' Organisation) must have a principal role in any negotiations. The Turnhalle Conference should have no standing whatsoever since it excluded SWAPO participation and is the creation of South Africa. 8. We urge proper recognition of the expanded potential of the United Nations as a fully representative body. The people and government of the United States must accept the changing perspective of U.S. interests among the family of nations and work within the United Nations and its affiliated institutions to deal with the emerging North-South issues which are the principal sources of tension and potential conflict in global affairs. Majority ruled African nations now constitute nearly one-third of United Nations membership, and consequently, are a pivotal group in that body. We urge the U.S. to join the Council on Namibia, contribute to the U.N. Trust Fund, and we condemn the use of the veto by our government in the Security Council to protect South Africa. 9. We urge our government to recognize the People's Republic of Angola and support its admission to the United Nations. The PRA has joined the other Front Line States in efforts to obtain an appropriate settlement in Southern Africa. U.S. alignment on the same losing side with South Africa during the Angolan conflict demonstrated the bankruptcy of the government's Africa policy. This error should not be perpetuated. A normalisation of relations with the Angolan Government will facilitate any U.S. involvement in bringing about a just peace in the region. 10. We condemn the role played by the United States and other foreign corporations and banks, which by their presence and activities collectively have participated in the oppression of Blacks and have undergirded the repressive white minority governments of Southern Africa. No longer must Mr. Vorster be able to exact U.S. political support as ransom for America's hostage private corporations. Multinational corporations must recognise that the South African economy is not sound, and that the investment climate there is no longer favorable. The government should institute a program of tax disincentives to U.S. corporations operating in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. And should those corporations remain unprepared to use their leverage to bring about concrete steps towards economic and political justice in South Africa, and to operate there, in Namibia and in Zimbabwe on the basis of fair and non-discriminatory employment practices, humane working conditions and just compensation for the exploitation of African resources, they should withdraw. Our Commitment We challenge the Judeo-Christian community, the labor movement, the media and the political, business, and civic leadership in this country to see that our government upholds its values and its historical commitment to self-determination, freedom and justice, and to understand that the appeasement of South Africa can only invite an escalated war that will exacerbate racial tensions in the United States. Finally, in turn, we commit ourselves to mobilising Black Americans and others of good will to formulate and support a progressive U.S. policy toward Africa. And we state our opposition to those Blacks who work directly or indirectly to support white minority regimes in Southern Africa. The policies we have recommended are not only morally just, they are in America's best interests. Africa's economic and strategic importance to the United States in an increasingly interdependent world must be fully recognised.

Apartheid | Black Power Movement | Chinese in America | La Raza | Citations