------------------------------------------------- How Successful were the Methods used to Fight Apartheid in South Africa? This essay will be discussing Apartheid and what methods were used to fight it, also whether they were successful or not. The word Apartheid is an Afrikaans word for apart or separateness. This was a law put in place by an Afrikaans Prime Minister called Dr. Daniel Malan, Dr. Malan put this law in place in 1948 to keep the Afrikaans race pure of any Black or Coloured blood, and there was always separation between blacks and whites but this law made it legal and legitimate. Apartheid was generally just a different approach to segregation. Blacks and Coloureds were not allowed to do certain things that they could do …show more content…
In 1952 the ANC and Indian Congress reacted by creating the ‘defiance campaign ‘ which targeted six laws the two organizations thought unjust including the law above. By the end of 1952, 8065 protesters were arrested and sent to jail. The defiance campaign ended in 1953 and was not successful in ending Apartheid but it did have a major effect on the ANC; 3000 members joined the ANC during these protests. (aylett 14-15) Nelson Mandela was a very important person in fighting Apartheid because he was a leader to black people as the ANC volunteer leader and part of the first black law firm in South Africa. He also created a new method of fighting Apartheid. Before the Massacre at Sharpeville peacefully and non-violent methods had been used to fight Apartheid but the Youth League did not think these methods were improving anything and moving too slowly for their liking. So violent methods were introduced to the now secret ANC organization and a new organization was created called Umkhonto we Sizwe or MK for short. The methods were to blow up buildings to do with the government like post offices, pass offices and electricity pylons making sure there were no people in them. Mandela left South Africa to recruit supports of the MK and when he came back to South Africa he was immediately arrested and accused of sabotage which Mandela admitted to doing. At the trial Nelson Mandela did not go out without a
Protests, such as Soweto, and boycotts are examples of internal unrest that ultimately led to the end of apartheid. On June 16th, 1976, over 360 blacks were killed by South African police
Apartheid is a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race (google) , it started in 1948 and lasted until 1991. Apartheid essentially separated people by race in South Africa. During apartheid you couldn’t marry anyone from another race, also it made it harder for blacks to learn and made living conditions horrible for blacks. Apartheid was a system that began so that the government can keep the power within white people. While apartheid was happening there were three people arguing that apartheid was wrong, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, and Desmond Tutu. They expressed their ideas by writing about it. In their writing all three of them used rhetorical techniques to persuade their readers that apartheid was wrong. Nelson Mandela tried to convince his audience by relating to their emotions, Desmond Tutu tried to convince his audience by saying real life stories and Steve Biko persuaded his audience with his use of black consciousness.
People who he did not agree with thought badly of the cause he was fighting for but he never let himself give up, as he said “Difficulties break some men but make others. No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end”(Forbes). Nelson Mandela was standing up against the government of South Africa, that was committing egregious human right abuses against the black South Africans. While some choices he made resulted in him and other people fighting for the same cause to end up in jail, they still kept fighting for their cause until people who disagreed with them realized that discrimination is not respectful, human-like and or sympathetic etc. Nelson Mandela also helped open people's mind to treat others the same way they would like to be treated.
It can be argued that the importance of Nelson Mandela in the ending of apartheid has been greatly exaggerated. Apartheid ended due to a combination of long term and short term events. The ANC represented the main opposition of apartheid while protests and rebellions caught the attention of the world, international sanctions put pressure on the south African government and something had to be done before their economy completely fell apart. De Klerk shocked the country when he took the first step towards abolishing apartheid although, the spark of light and face of rebellion, Mandela, provided the inspiration to make the end of apartheid possible.
I have always thought that Nelson Mandela has been one of the most important people in history. I find it very fascinating that one man could end the Apartheid and that is why I want to find out more about this. South Africa is a country with a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The White Europeans invaded South Africa and started a political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-White inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the White Europeans. I have chosen to investigate how the Apartheid affected people’s lives, and also how and why the Apartheid system rose and fell in South Africa.
As Gandhi has said about corrupt government “You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees”. In 1948 in South African elections put white supremacy in place which allowed them to segregate blacks from whites in South Africa. Over the course of the rule of supremacists, the South African blacks were treated worse and worse. Eventually, the people resorted to using protests, peace marches, hunger strikes, boycotting, and other tactics to show their civil unrest to the white supremacist government. The people of South Africa would have been supporting the evil of white supremacy and racism by not protesting its rule with civil disobedience.
The first major action was the Defiance Campaign launched in 1952; this Campaign brought Africans, Coloureds and Indians together against the common enemy and was a direct reaction by the liberation movements to the unjust laws passed by the government. Some Whites also joined the struggle alongside Africans, Indians and Coloureds in different campaigns. What did I take from just researching Apartheid was a bit more than I can chew. It’s a life of struggling, despair,
The colonization of South Africa by the Dutch and English in the seventeenth century created a power struggle resulting in war. In the Nineteen Forty’s, The Afrikaner National Party became strong with white dominion and racial discrimination. Therefore, in 1948, the National Party of South Africa laid down a group of laws that began to organize and separate the races. This action was called the “Apartheid”. When the apartheid came into effect, one hundred and forty-eight laws were created.
Nelson Mandela was the president of South Africa from 1994-1999. He was the first black president of South Africa, and the first president to be elected in a fully representative election.Nelson Mandela's government focused on destroying the Apartheid government in the country, which had focused on racial segregation enforced by the law.In school, Mandela studied law and became one of South Africa’s first black lawyers.In the 1950s, he was elected leader of the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement.When the government prohibited the ANC for racial reasons, Mandela organized a secret military movement. He had previously been involved in peaceful protests but when they were met with
Apartheid policies entrenched race as the basis for access to power and resources. Conflicts resulted from increasingly polarized groups “Blacks” in majority and ‘Whites” in minority. The Apartheid government relied on security forces to maintain its authority and on the other hand, the African National Congress fought against discriminatory and exploitive social policies both using passive resistance and armed struggle (Democracy in South Africa). Finally, with international support Mandela successfully overthrows the unjust legislation and establishes a justice new republic of South Africa. Therefore, Mandela’s non-violence is successful.
Beginning early in the 1970s and extending into the ‘80s, students, laborers and ordinary citizens became more involved in the struggle against Apartheid. High school students began protesting the segregated system more vigorously, and many ended up dead at the hands of National Party police forces in the June uprising of 1976. The late 70’s and 80’s saw the rise in dissidence amongst ordinary South Africans towards the Apartheid laws. After the student uprising of 1976, the ranks of MK were augmented considerably, leading to resurgence in anti-Apartheid activities and ushered in the first reforms to the Apartheid since its
Nelson Mandela was a man who learned from his previously violent ways and thoroughly used peace to his advantage in his fight against apartheid, and in the leading of South Africa. Nelson Mandela grew up as a peaceful person and in 1943 went to law school for his degree. While in law school, he got very interested in politics and joined a radical protest group, the African National Congress (The ANC). The ANC got into a lot of trouble with the government for their ideas about a place without apartheid. Mandela was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life in prison. The government let him out of
Mandela being imprisoned put pressure on the government as it created enormous riots and major protests throughout South Africa, which were extremely difficult for the government to stop. Mandela was the anti-apartheid leader because of his actions and was an internationally famous icon and had much respect worldwide. The
Nelson Mandela was involved with leading the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and joined forces with the African National Congress in 1942 working towards a democratic government. For 20 years he led a campaign for equality to promote non-violence, anti- racism and peace for the people against the South African
“It hurts the family tree and the culture as a whole, it crushes hope and pride and sometimes destroys the soul” (Brooks). This poem demonstrates the pain and hardships that the Africans went through. Penalties were charged on political protest, in addition with dying in custody often after brutal torture. Those who were tried were most likely sentenced to death, banishment, or imprisonment for life, such as Nelson Mandela. All protestors thought these penalties were unjust, because the protestors were not actually breaking the law. They were using civil disobedience to fight for their freedom, but unfortunately, the South African government still took it as an offense. “Resistance to apartheid within South Africa took many forms over the years, from non-violent demonstrations, protests and strikes to political action and eventually to armed resistance” ( Tiddens). South Africans were humiliated by their government, which made them feel hopeless. The white Europeans gave them a feeling that no human should ever have to feel.