User:AaronSw/South Africa notes

Imperialism

Defined as: the policy of dominion of a nation by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas

A few different types in South Africa:

Dutch Imperialism: Started in 1652, when the Dutch East India Company establishes a colony at the Cape of Good Hope. It was just supposed to be a small station, but it quickly became very profitable.During this period, the colonizing Boers (farmers), or Afrikaners, begin settling large farms at the expense of San and Khoikhoi, non-Bantu speakers of the region

British Imperialism: Britain takes the Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1795. South Africa was seen as a simply a stepping stone to trade in Asia, very little was invested into the colony. Slowly they began to establish more laws and more formal style of imperial rule on both Afrikaners and Africans. The Afrikaners began to move inland in search of better land (the Great Boer Trek) to escape control by the British government.

Economic Imperialism: When diamonds and gold were discovered, it was seen how profitable South Africa could be, and the conflicts between the Boers and the British were superseded by the imposition of formal British rule over South Africa's interior. Quickly, diamond and gold mines became critical to the British Imperial economy, and steps were taken to ensure that the profits from those mines remained in the hands of Europeans.

Apartheid: Resulting policies increased control over African labor and African movement on the basis of race-policies that would eventually lead to the twentieth-century system of Apartheid, which can be thought of as a form of imperialism.

Colonialism

Defined as: The political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time. The main difference between this and imperialism is the degree by which the territory is settled by people. Colonialism implies a larger number of settlers.

Three waves of western colonization

The Dutch Cape Colony, 1652 - 1795: Started with the Dutch East India Company. Most of the settlers came from low classes of Dutch and German society to practice intensive agriculture, but it wasn’t very successful, so they set up towns to cater to the traders. These town grew enormously, and more formal political structures were established.

The Dutch Pastoral Colony, 1652 – 1795: A lot of white colonizers also decided to become pastoral farmers, with hunting as a sideline- the Boer population. They spread out thinly over a vast area of land, becoming more isolated from the towns around the southwest. They ended up taking over a lot of land from the San and the Khoikhoi.

The British Cape Colony, 1795 – 1870: British began to bring small numbers of people to South Africa to maintain it as a colony, but mostly for economic purposes. They also brought in missionary organizations. Eventually, they created legislative bodies. In 1820, the British government paid for a group of 4000 people to come to South Africa and set them up as agricultural farmers. This created conflicts with the Boers.

Types of Colonial Exploitation

Dominated land usage for farming, kicked native people out of their lands. With the Dutch settlers, Khoikhoi and the native pastoral communities tried to fit in with the trade relations of the colonists, but with little success- throughout the successive skirmishes and wars between the Khoikhoi and the Dutch, they were expelled from their farming lands (1660s). With the British settlers of the 1820s, the gov’t placed them on land claimed by Xhosa who had been moved from their land earlier.

Slavery: Started importing slaves from all around the world, like Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka. Also from other areas of Africa as well, like Mozambique and Madagascar. Even when the British outlawed slavery, such racial discrimination and exploitation of the desperate poverty of the native people pretty much kept things the same.

Political: Legally, slaves had no rights. They couldn’t marry, had no rights over their children, and couldn’t make legal contracts. They could be sold at will. Because pastoralists were often kicked out of their lands, they had to work for white colonists, who often treated them with exactly the same procedure as slaves

Social relationships under settler colonialism

The most important fact to remember is that the settlers were completely dependent on their slave labor. They consistently had to be importing slaves, because the slave population was not self-reproducing. Since the slave population came from all over Asia and Africa, they had a vast amount of cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds, and it was pretty much impossible for them to be unified very much.

Most of the Dutch, French, and German settlers were from the lowest classes of European society, but the differences between their European backgrounds diminished in the colonial situation. Basically social origins didn’t matter anymore, only abilities.

At the very beginning, relationships between the settles and the Khoikhoi were pretty cordial, but once the Khoikhoi realized what a challenge the settlers were putting forth, they began to attack, and a series of small wars followed, ending up with the disintegration of the Khoikhoi society.

Within the white Cape Colony, status and wealth were very important. Political officials had a lot of power and authority; there was a class of wealthy traders and farmers, and a growing class of poor whites. In between there were small traders, farmers, and business owners. There was also a lot of political tension between the senior officials and the most successful settlers of the colony.

There were few marriages between European men and freed slave women, but a lot of extramarital sexual activity, which contributed to much genetic mixing within both the “black” and the “white” populations.

When the Dutch pastoralists began moving onto the land of the native pastoralist, they would start by using a spring and its nearby pastures without opposition, and then attain exclusive control, turning the indigenous people to tenants and clients. The indigenous hunter-gatherers (the San) would turn to raiding in order to survive. But the trekboers were never self-sufficient, they would still have roots in Cape Town.

Extermination

in context, the systematic destruction of a people. Basically, the various wars between the natives and the settlers were often very violent, and in the cases when the settlers won, usually because of better firearm power, they would often systematically kill all of the adult men- leaving the women and children. For example (Thompson, pg 49) Trekboer commandos would exterminate adult hunter gatherers, but would make a point of capturing children, and they would distribute the children among themselves. Also, as a result of diseases such as smallpox imported by the Europeans, of some assimilation with the settlers and especially with the slaves who were to arrive in later years, and of some straightforward extermination, the Khoikhoi have effectively disappeared as an identifiable group- the closest descendents are the so-call Cape Colored people. Also, in the many brutal wars among different African native groups, there would also be systematic killing of the men, and incorporation of women and children into their society for the purposes of enlarging the family.

Colonial Ideologies of Race and Civilization

• Race was very important in justifying colonialism. (“Scientific racism” played an important role in the colonial ideologies of race) Colonialism tore races apart through social separation but also brought them together because of the fact that whites depended on the natives’ labor.

• The colonists viewed the native black South Africans as semi-human and beneath them. They found various ways such as the establishment of mission schools, and forcing blacks to work….in, which they attempted to civilize them.

Colonial Identities

• There were a number of new identities emerging with the onset of colonialism
• Fixed tribes were formed- with this came new ethnic identities
• Sexual anxieties about mixed relationships
• Very early mixed race people emerged

Sara Baartman

• A dehumanized KhoiKhoi woman (aka “The Hottentot Venus”)
• She was a scientific phenomenon (“biological oddity”) because of her protruding genitalia and was forced into prostitution
• An example of “scientific racism”
• Extreme sexual exploitation
• She is a landmark and a symbol of the Khoisan people’s (“first people”) struggle

Scientific Racism

• Justifying why one person should rule over another
• Another example of scientific racism apart from in South Africa was in Nazi Germany

Khoisan Pastro-Foragers

• Nomadic
• Some of the first inhabitants
• “San” people are the foragers (Bushmen) who are inter-related with the “Khoi Khoi” – concentrated on cattle (Hottentot)
• Politically de-centralized and thus easily overthrown (first overthrown by Bantu-speaking people from the North, then by white colonists)

Bantu-Speaking Agriculturalists

• Lived in settled in long term villages (homesteads), and the colonists attempted to separate the tribes depending on language.
• Land was abundant and very important but could not be owned (only allocated for people to work on by the chief of the tribe)
• A marriage was the foundation of the homestead and was based on cattle “bride wealth”, the marriage did not end when someone died.
• Politically- chiefs had power, but people could move to a different chiefdom if they did not have a powerful chief protecting them, chiefdoms often split or people formed their own
• Religion was very important. They believed the cattle connected the living and the dead through sacrifice, which was important because they felt that if a person connected with an ancestor that they ancestor would send them their blessings.

Reproduction and bridewealth

• marriages were a relationship between kin and centered around cattle
• the cattle were paid as bridewealth
• bridewealth is how the husband pays for his wife; in order to compensate for taking the woman from her original family
• the bridewealth is paid in cattle which represents people
• relationship between the children of the woman and the man which forms a kin-group
• regardless of whether the husband is not the biological father, once a woman is married all of her children are children to that husband
• marriages only end if there are complications in having children
• elders control who and when people marry

Chiefs and the Limits to Their Power

• chiefs were the center of the political organization
• they had the power to impose fines, settle disputes, communicate with the ancestors and give permission for the allocation of land
• they were also influential in that without a powerful chief a group of people were very vulnerable
• however, there were limits to their power
• the success of a chiefdom was measured in the number of people in the chiefdom
• therefore chiefs were always looking for new members and were interested in keeping their current members
• if a chief was too authoritative or overbearing the people could leave which would signal the failure of his chiefdom

Logic of Pre-colonial Society: Political Adhesion and Wealth in People

• wealth was measured in the number of people who are attached to your kin-group or land-group
• it was very important to be a person of consequence and leave a legacy through your descendents
• cattle stood for people and therefore were a further symbol of wealth
• political adhesion was an important defense against colonial groups
• political units were not the same as ethnic groups
• chiefdoms were very fluid
• language wasn’t that important
• many people spoke more than one language
• they conducted rituals together

Shaka

• a warrior who developed a new method of war for the Zulu kingdom
• he was very authoritative and strict; but one of the best warriors
• it turned war into hand by hand combat
• they took young boys and created regiments; organized armies
• intimidated and conquered other chiefdoms
• these activities led to myths about how violent the chiefdoms were and the myth of empty land since many people fled in fear of being captured
• when someone was captured they became part of the extended family
• since wealth was measured in people chiefdoms were constantly trying to capture members of other chiefdoms

Mfecane

• this constant fighting led to great suffering and became known as Mfecane which was, “a time of great suffering”

Power through Kinship

• because wealth was measured in people and because a marriage ensured that all the woman’s children would be part of the man’s kinship
• there was incredible power in kinship
• chiefdoms were constantly trying to acquire new people for their kin-group because this is how they had power
• it helped them acquire wealth
• it also helped them defend themselves against other chiefdoms

Myth of Empty Land

Misconception of colonial settlers that they were moving into a vast area of open land with no inhabitants.

In actuality, they were colonizing a land with many people, but their colonization began during a time of war between different groups. The colonizers moved into a sort of no-man’s land that had been recently abandoned, and so did not at first witness the many inhabitants of South Africa.

Myth of warlike African

Contrary to this myth, which was spread not only in South Africa, but also in Europe, South Africans were not very warlike. They did participate in raids, but overall were not a very hostile population.

This stereotype was created mainly to justify the colonial take-over, by making the native inhabitants seem less human, and to justify the violent means used in colonization.

Also, the colonists did not understand the social structure of the South Africans, and often misinterpreted their actions.

Also, they failed to consider the situation, mistaking the natives’ hostile response to colonization as a normal characteristic.

Myth of Shaka the hero/villain

Shaka ascended to Zulu chiefdom in 1816, though he was not next in line, because of his warrior prowess. He greatly expanded his kingdom, and made many military innovations, like the creation of the short spear and a technique of hand-to-hand combat.

He also re-arranged the social structure, taking boys into military service and keeping them in an all male environment during their fighting years.

Also expanded his kingdom, capturing or incorporating other chiefdoms into his massive state. Many see him as a hero for his resistance to colonization, but many also see him as a bringer of “Mfecane,” a time of great suffering, because of his system of central state tyranny.

Try not to see him in either light. He was a very influential figure whose actions and affects can be viewed in many different ways.

Myth of Pre-colonial gender harmony

On one side of the gender myths is one of pre-colonial harmony, in which there was communal bliss, and the social structure worked without mishap.

In truth, this was not the case. There were many instances of raids, in which women would be abducted, and taken as wives, to which they had no say, and there was much violence as well.

Myth of the oppressed African woman and her white savior

On the other hand, the gender system was not horrible, and women as well as men viewed the institution of marriage very differently from the Western view.

There were no white saviors of women. This myth simply played off the racial and gender myths, displaying African men as animals.

In pre-colonial society, many women came into positions of power, and had considerable sway in many aspects of society.

Myth of unchanging tradition

There was a myth that all tribes were stagnant, with a history of animosity and warfare towards each other. This view affected the Africans later when colonists attempted to create homelands, and when they put the different groups at odds in working situations.

In fact, tribes weren’t really so stable. People were a valuable commodity in Africa, and tribes were organized around the goal of gaining more members. With this mindset, it was a better idea to be open to new members, and not to be hostile and excluding.

People from different tribes married across lines, changed allegiances if they were unsatisfied with one chiefdom, or began their own. They were not race-based

For example, what South African tribe refer to as “white tribe” today actually means “westerner” and includes all western racial groups. Their view is based more upon community.

Myth of “ancient tribal hatreds”

• White supremacy myth – used to justify colonialism as good or inevitable
  • That the Africans were all divided into different tribes
  • All tribes were enemies / didn’t like members of other tribes
  • Communities tied by blood or ethnicity
• Truth – Groups were fluid
  • In groups with people found self with – not blood or ethnicity
  • Most of the time, groups got along, mingled

Trekboers and Afrikaner Expansion

• Cape Town originally just “rest stop” for travelers to India
  • Town made up of Dutch
• Grew and expanded – pushed out Khoikhoi (susceptible to small-pox)
  • Needed labor – brought in slaves
• Trekboers – were pastoralists (semi-migrant farmers) – learned from natives
  • Moved out of city to have land for cattle
  • Still connected with city – provide meat in exchange for other products
  • Moved out to where African’s lived, lived with them and pushed them out

Xhosa Cattle Killing

• Series of Frontier Wars along with Lung Sickness (cattle disease)
  • Some Chiefdoms aligned with the whites
• Nongqawuse – a little girl prophet
  • Said that the people had been moving away from traditions
    • The things that were happening were from moral problems of people
  • Needed to kill all the cattle – to ride cattle of disease
  • Stop farming
• This would cleanse them and the ancestors would come and help them with food and with fighting the whites (Ancestors were the Russians)
• Thousands starved – turned against each other
  • Prophecies of Nongqawuse never came true
  • Whites exploited natives – played off each other

Dingane and Zulu Wars

• Dingane was Shaka’s brother – took over Zulu in 1838
  • Organized a strong Zulu military
    • All men served – took over people all around group
  • Ordered people to kill all whites
    • In battle with whites (500) – circled wagons
    • Zulu took 3000 casualties – no guns or ammunition
• Zulu split with Dingane’s brother
  • Saw Gods on side with whites – aligned himself with them
  • Drove out Dingane and made Natala Republic

Moshoeshoe and Sotho State

• Took in the refugees from the Zulu Sate into Sotho State
• Defended against Zulu and White
  • In mountains – easily defendable
    • Understood that whites were winning because of guns and writing
  • Invited missionaries – learned from them (language and morals)
    • Declared a protectorate of England – protected from Apartheid

Examples of Modes of Incorporation

• Became part of new society – in the process lost old ways and customs
• Whites took over land – natives worked the land but as tenant farmers
  • More blacks that whites
• Basuto – volunteer for the England in WWII
• Brought natives in to work – but not to be part of society / no rights
  • Missionaries / Liberals wanted blacks to share citizenship – integrate
    • Give them rights, property, education, personhood / citizenship

Industrialization and the destruction of the peasantry

1910- Whites had gained full control over native South Africans. Indigenous inhabitants had barely any land at all but Bantu-speaking African farmers were still able to practice subsistence farming in reserves. The new state applied a comprehensive program of racial segregation and discrimination to gain control of the African peasantry. Laws limited land ownership by Africans to reserves.

Native Land Act of 1913

The Natives Land Act of 1913 prohibited Africans from purchasing or leasing land outside the reserves from people who were not Africans. It also prohibited sharecropping in the Orange Free State. The act listed areas totaling about 22 million acres, or about 7 percent of the area of the Union of South Africa, as constituting the reserves and recommended that they be substantially increased.

Kimberly and the diamond boom

City formed by the influx of miners searching for diamonds in the eastern Transvaal. A rugged gambling, boozing, and whoring society that in 1872 was twenty thousand White and thirty thousand Black workers strong. Most of the diggers were white and nearly all of their assistants were black. Through 1890, the financial basis of the diamond industry was insecure, primarily due to labor management. Labor management was a major determinant of the viability of the industry. White populism created a color bar in Kimberley. Set a precedent as a racially-split labor force, as blacks were required to do dangerous manual labor while whites “supervised” them.

Proletarianization

Black reserves were being transformed into reservoirs of cheap, unskilled labor for white farmers and industrialists. Blacks didn’t have the training to obtain skilled jobs and also were on the receiving end of a blatantly racist white government. The combination of the two forced the black population to remain stagnant in the labor hierarchy formed. Natives Land Act of 1913 also included clauses that reduced all Africans in the white-owned rural areas into tenant and wage laborers.

Wage Labor Economy

The Africans were forced into an economy based on money, not crops. They weren’t prepared for their transition into the capitalist economy and thusly were easily manipulated by government acts that made black South Africans wage laborers. The reliance upon money came from many of the black peoples’ desire to fit in with the white ways. For instance, the Christian ideals of the whites required the natives to purchase clothes, which in turn required money. The demands of white civilization coupled with the racist laws of the white government created a wage labor economy centered on the Bantu homeland labor reservoirs

Migrant Labor System

Black laborers weren’t allowed to live in white cities and were kept in homelands far outside of the urban areas. These workers migrated into the cities to work each day and then went back at the end of the day to live in their homesteads. Going for Gold – The mine workers leave their families in the homesteads and travel to the mines for work. They live in the compounds and only go home occasionally to see their families.

Mine workers and relationship to homestead/ umzi

See also: migrant workers in the hostel setting

Lecture: male dominated place; living space separated by ethnicity; devised own forms of entertainment (i.e. gum boots into dance, brewing beer for drinking); social problems with women – prostitutes and town women

Going for Gold: Aggressive when out of mines – “they became aggressive when they come out from work and are not afraid of anything that faces them (82); umzi = homestead, “the commitment to building an umzi was dependent on a wider social and economic system, rooted in the potential for ‘doing-for-oneself’…” (32); boy said “he was on business” @ mine “needed money desperately as he wanted to buy cattle and pay lobola for his wife and build his umzi” and “interest in ‘building an umzi’- the true aspiration of every traditionalist Xhosa speaker (133-34); would enter mine marriages because it “would enable them to accumulate bridewealth sooner and thus began to build umzi” (138); goal was “to more rapidly become ‘men’ at home” equating becoming a man to building up an umzi, sexuality fit well into umzi system because it “indirectly served to maintain the authority of older men within the subsistence system at home” (139)

Synopsis: The primary goal of migrant worker was to earn money to buy cattle to pay lobola for their wives and, thus, start a family and build their umzi/ homestead. Building up one’s umzi allowed him to become a man; this provided incentive for him to earn money quickly even if it meant stooping to unpleasant means.

Izibonda and induna

Going for Gold: izibonda = room representatives; chosen by unanimous vote by boarders, generally quiet, reasonable, had more mine experience, mediator inside room & spokesman to rest of compound; position “had its origins in the workers’ own need for solidarity and self-regulation rather than any management initiative,” “had not co-opted with management,” position of great responsibility, no one sure if they initiated worker resistance (97-98); election of iz. allowed “all sorts of arguments and group pressures” to be presented, open discussions designed for “negotiating a consensus” (260); sometimes considered by union “management stooges” (109), under Shangaan practice only iz. could enter mine marriage (130); induna: = black supervisors, supposed to represent will of the people, could enforce or forget about rules, could invoke management authority, had arbitrary power, “favoritism” & “victimization” – “the diffuse power of the induna lent itself well to both,” people play up to him to receive favors, behave like one of royal blood making people tease behind his back, also had informal powers from umteto (Nguni word for law/custom/ etc.) (83); could be caught up in moral economy in compound system/ also cases were simply compound managers creature, induna practice died out w/ National Union of Mineworkers (255); “unvarnished view of white management despotism” with fall of puppet indunas (268); “grievances go through isibonda to the induna,” “if induna himself was unjust or unresponsive”… “instruct isibonda to get together and arrange to summon everyone to a meeting…outside the compound manager’s office,” induna relayed the going-ons of the compound to the manager (88-89)

Synopsis: Both the izibonda and induna were figures of black authority in the compounds but the izibonda was elected by the workers with informal power while the induna was appointed by the compound manager with official responsibilities. Both could be in cahoots with management but most often the induna was the manager’s puppet. Chain of command worked by izibonda relaying workers’ concerns to indunas, but if the induna was incompetent he could be surpassed.

Mine Marriages

(SEE EXAMPLE)

Going for Gold: “by entering mine marriages a man might not only avoid the temptations [and VD] of town but also doulble his wages and thereby reduce his number of ‘joins’ (six – or nine month contracts)”(138); “They agreed to play the part of ‘women’ in sexual activity in order to more rapidly become ‘men’ at home” equating becoming a man to building up an umzi (139)

Synopsis: Mine marriages kept men from contracting disease or becoming obligated to illegitimate children thus allowing them to maintain their focus of building umzi. This also increased the rapidity of building umzi and becoming a man through the extra wages the ‘woman’ earned as payment for his role as a mine wife.

Transformation of rural institutions (chiefship, bridewealth, cattle):

chiefship (old)

Lecture: ruled only 100-5000 people, allocated land to be cultivated, was ritual leader, his members could leave to other chiefdoms of dissatisfied with ruling, wanted people in chiefdoms because wealth in people, when chiefdoms incorporated those conquered, did not have unlimited power “the chief is the chief by the people”

History: could convene “lebollo” (initiation school) (24); “There, in cooperation with his councilors, who were drawn from the heads of homesteads, he regulated the affairs of his people, listening to complaints, settling disputes, and receiving visitors. He was the richest man in his territory. “His subjects paid him in sheep and cattle for settling their disputes (25)

chiefship (new)

Lecture: when chiefs’ chiefdoms looked weak, some blacks would join powerful “white chiefdom,” ceased to be under autonomous African rule after migrant labor system, subjected to external authorities, transformed into powerful bureaucrats (indirect rule), puppets of government, no longer accountable to people, despotic, became the tax collectors, labor recruiters, were rewarded by government with salaries & pension & education for their children

bridewealth (old)

Lecture: was paid by cattle, established a marriage, cattle to woman’s family officiated that women’s children belonged to his kin group, reproductive power

History: “It accompanied a series of exchanges of property…from the bridegroom’s kin to the kin of the bride…cemented the relations between the two groups” (23)

bridewealth (new)

Lecture: no longer exchange through older men relatives with large herds, now cattle purchased by young men with wages or lobola was paid in cash, different goals in mind: establish homestead and place in/ invest in rural society, not establish one’s hereditary line.

Going for Gold: “expected to earn money for bridewealth in order to establish an umzi” (36) “The system of bridewealth became a means whereby money earned through migration could be transferred to older men back home” (39) faced dilemma: work and earn money power or marry and earn traditional prestige = overcame because of “the exchange of women through the bridewealth system redistributed wealth upward across the generations” (40) “wealth earned by younger men migrating individually to the mines gave them greater independence from their elders. It also inflated the bride-price, though, ensuring that as long as the bride-price was paid the traditional system of seniority would remain (139), all clan people used to contribute “Now the young man does it all himself. Thus the old men are happy about youngsters going off to the mines” (139)

cattle (old)

Lecture: very integral in social, economic and ritual life; directly linked to reproduction, pay lobola with cattle, get wife, make babies, people = wealth; link clan groups, had to pay bride’s family, cemented relationship with kin; could be sacrifices/ link to ancestors;

History: Began to treat material possessions – sheep and cattle – as a form of wealth” (14); “A man had a name for every beast he owned and composed praise songs for his favorites” (18); “Cattle raiding was a manly sport and a way of increasing one’s wealth” buy more wives, have more babies = wealth in people (27); “some chiefdoms lost 80% of their cattle – there most valuable possession” (78);

cattle (new)

Lecture: no longer used to pay bridewealth; now lent them to form alliances with others; held them as insurance/ could sell them in case of emergency

History: Africans “working there for white people for several months, and receiving payment in cattle or sheep, which they bartered with colonial traders for guns and ammunition” (103)

System of indirect rule

Lecture: Employed by British; claiming not to interfere with customs, but really using those willing to cut a deal puppets of the government; turned local leaders into officials, colonialism was dependent on indirect rule; chiefs were puppets; Zulu warriors biggest threats = police

Texts (multiple examples): Peri urban, principals, informers (Kaffir Boy); indunas, clerks, “police” sometimes izibondas (Going for Gold/A Bed Called Home); chiefs [see chiefship (new)] (History)

Accommodation and Resistance

accommodation

Lecture: many Xhosa and Zulu joined whites “powerful chiefdom”; brutal black police; informers/sellouts; these blacks rewarded for “not betraying whites” and “being faithful” as their servants; divisions with “reds” and “schools” = difficult to tell which was resisting and which was accommodating, could be argued both ways

Resitance

See also: resistance related to later ideas like Black Consciousness

Lecture: divisions with “reds” and “schools” = difficult to tell which was resisting and which was accommodating, could be argued both ways;

Both

Texts (examples): these are just a few and many can be argued both ways (All Biko omitted)

Accommodation

(Heart)

• XX’s modern clothing
• NoPetticoat working the hotel
• Dalton’s “cultural tours”
• Unbeliever’s desire for resort
• Moving to Johannesburg for work
• water and plumbing system
• pension

(Kaffir Boy)

• bribing police to ignore out of order pass
• accepting pass laws
• oppression own race (PeriUrban, informers, etc)
• converting to Christianity

(Going for Gold)

• becoming puppet of the elite
• working in mines for whites
• taking mine wives

(Experimental Doll)

• Sibisiwae’s (?) education and lifestyle

Resistance

(Heart)

• tribal garb of NoPetticoat
• undulating
• girls dancing without tops
• Q. running/ riding naked
• Clinging to Nong.
• Camagu’s totem
• NomaRussia’s curse/ witchdoctor help
• circumcised initiates
• Unbeliever’s dance
• shaving eyebrows
• cattle-killing

(Kaffir Boy)

• Johannes yelling at police
• Ancestral prayer/ stories
• refusing to be taught in Afrikaners language in school
• hiding from police

(Histroy)

• burning passes
• protests like Soweto
• strikes, rallies

(Going for Gold)

• strikes
• unions
• worker for lobola
• avoiding town temptation in order to return home

(Experimental Doll)

• running from marriage
• seeking higher education

Section 10 Rights

The Section 10 Rights were under the Group Areas Act of 1950 that virtually separated parts of white South Africa into a checkerboard with different zones for specific races. One consequence of the influx control system was to create a condition of permanent insecurity for the African population in urban areas. The situation was only marginally better for the minority of urban Africans who, by virtue of their long-term urban residence prior to the adoption of the seventy-two hour law, had been granted permanent urban status under section 10 of the Group Areas Act. Under Section 10 of the Urban Areas Act, no African can be present in an urban area for more than 72 hours unless he/she has fulfilled certain obligations. Those exempted from these restrictions are generally referred to as 'Section 10 dwellers'. These persons were given the right to move between different urban areas in search of work without registering with the labor bureau; in addition, they will be given job preference over migrants. "Section 10 rights" could be lost for a variety of legal infractions or because the government deemed their holder "undesirable." A loss of Section 10 rights brought with it the prospect of being "endorsed out" and forced to move to a rural area.

Pass Laws / Urban Housing

Pass Laws

(Thompson) - The government tired to limit the flow of Africans into the cities with a complex accumulation of pass laws. The origin of those laws goes back to the eighteenth century, when slaves were obliged to carry document signed by their masters when they were absent from their master’s homes. Some pass laws were designed to ensure that white farmers should not lose their African laborers. Others were designed to prevent Africans from living in towns except as laborers for Whites. If the African failed to produce it on demand by an official, he would be jailed or expelled from the town. In 1967 in a general circular the government stated “it is accepted that the Bantu are only temporarily resident in the European areas of the Republic for as long as they offer their labor there. As soon as they become no longer fit for work they are expected to return to their country of origin or the territory of the national unit where they fit ethnically.”

Urban Housing

(Thompson)

Black Townships – The burgeoning manufacturing and service industries as well as expanding mine industry drew in many Africans from improvised reserves into townships. Africans built shacks of sacks, woods, corrugated iron, and cardboard on the outskirts of white towns. The town were violent places (totsis), seething with discontent. Many forms of illegal activity such as shebeens, prostitution, and robbery, took place in the townships out of financial necessity. Most people lived in poverty.

White neighborhoods – White suburbs in white cities were in far better condition then black townships. Many of the facilities were superior. Crime, Violence, Domestic Abuse and Drug use were considerably lower. Social customs and censorship or radio and news often left whites unaware of the plight of the other races. White neighborhood had a surprising amount of diversity when one considers the numerous black servants each white home would have.

Sharpville Massacre 1960

(Thompson) – Failure to modify governmental policy caused frustration and divisions of opinion among politically conscious black South Africans. The Africanists wanted a purely Africa movement. The Africanists under Sobukwe broke away in 1959 and formed the Pan-Africanist Congress. On March 21, 1960, upstaging the ANC, they launched a campaign against the pass laws. Large numbers of Africans assembled at police stations without passes, inviting arrest in the hope of clogging the machinery of justice. At a police station in Sharpville, near Johannesburg, the police opened fire killing 67 and wounding 186, most of who were shot in the back. The confrontation led to widespread work stoppage and disturbances. Government struck back fiercely by mobilizing army forces and outlawing the ANC and PAC. The forces deprived Africans of the last change of organizing lawful, peaceful, countrywide opposition to apartheid and forced the ANC leaders underground.

(Kaffir Boy) – Once I remember black people did attempt to fight for their rights. A group of learned black people organized a march of protest to show white people that they didn’t want to carry passes any more. Many were shot while fleeing for safety.

Soweto Uprising 1976

(Thompson) – The government’s attempt to mold the minds of young black people through tight control over their education lead to widespread outrage. Black students were profoundly frustrated by the condition in their school and colleges. The ideas of Black Consciousness penetrated the urban schools. On June 16 1976, thousands of black school children in Soweto demonstrated against the government’s insistence that half of their subjects be taught in Afrikaans (the language of the oppressor). Protests became nationwide after the police shot and killed a thirteen year old at the demonstration. At least 575 people were killed, 134 being under the age of eighteen. During 1977 the government banned SASO and all its affiliated organizations. Thousands of young blacks fled the country.

(Kaffir Boy) – All the hate, bitterness, frustration and anger that had crystallized into a powder keg in the minds of black students, waited for an igniting spark. The spark was the Bantu Education’s department sudden decree that black schools had to teach in Afrikaans instead of English. Banners said “we don’t want to learn the language of our oppressors” “stop feeding us a poisonous education,” and “equal education not slave education.” There was lots of looting and burning of government facilities and other shops.

Bantu Education

(Thompson) – Though the government had previously left African Education to mission schools, the national government felt that mission schools were transmitting dangerous, alien ideas to their African students and making them as Verwoerd said Black Englishmen. However, with the expanding economy and industry requiring more literate workers the national government instituted the Bantu Education Act (1953). Under the act, the central government assumed all control of public African education, making it virtually for non governmental schools to continue operating. Verwoerd stated “if the native in South Africa today in any kind of school in existence is being taught to expect that he will live his adult life under a policy of equal rights, he is making a big mistake … the re is no place for him in the European community above the level of a certain form of labor.” Education was not compulsory for black children. Black facilities were considerably inferior. Black schools got considerably less funding leading to lower teacher pay and fewer textbooks. Coloured and Indian schools were inferior to whites but better than black schools in many respects.

(Kaffir Boy) – Under Bantu Education law black children were supposed to acquire a solid foundation in tribal life, which would prepare them for a productive future in their respective homelands. Verwoerd “the native child must be taught subject which will enable him to work with and among his own people […] Bantu education should not be used to create imitation whites.”

Black Spots and Forced Relocation

Black spots were rural “land owned or occupied by Africans in white areas” (Thompson 193) that the government assigned to belong to another racial group, generally whites. This term was applied to lands outside the Homelands where Africans still worked the land, either as landowners or as sharecropping tenants. Under apartheid, the South African government tried to whitewash these black spots by forcing the Africans who were occupying the land to leave, as they became unnecessary labor when the agricultural industry mechanized. These surplus workers were generally forced to relocate to their appropriate Homelands. This Forced Relocation also occurred in urban areas as non-whites were removed to townships outside the main cities or back to the Homelands. Overall, it is estimated that 3,548,900 people were forced to move between 1960 and 1983 (Thompson 194).

Black Middle Class

A small minority of Africans in South Africa placed themselves among a more stable class. Though they had as few rights as other blacks, they maintained larger, more stable households. Many were the descendants of prominent chiefs and thus received good missionary educations. Many held white collar jobs but were still under the supervisions of prominent whites. Some even worked for the Bantu Education/ Homeland system, taking as much as they could out of what they knew was a false institution. This group would end up in direct conflict with other poor blacks after the fall of apartheid due to a continually expanding disparity in wealth between the two groups.

Black Market

I couldn’t find specific references made to the black market in any of the major readings. After reviewing my notes, I think the black market refers to the underground crime activities taking place throughout much of South Africa at the time. Alcohol, drugs, and prostitution played a major role in this underground world. If any of you have any other descriptions or definitions, please share.

• I believe what was meant was a black market, as in, selling products to the black population. White businesses were often in favor of black urbanization because they wanted a middle-class black market to which they could sell consumer goods.

Border industries and closer settlements

Border Industries are industrial compounds that developed near the Homelands (later Bantustans) to exploit the hoards of black workers who could not make a living as agriculturalists on the Homelands. These industries were subsidized by the state in order that provide this employment as part of its attempt to prop the Bantustans up as independent nations.

Closer settlements were areas where artificial suburbs arose on Homelands from which Africans had to commute (often very long distances) to get to work in white cities because there was no agriculture or industry in these areas. (Lectures 2/9 and 2/14).

Destruction of cosmopolitan urban life- Sophiatown and District 6 (Cape Town)

The rezoning and subsequent bulldozing of these two areas where non-whites had lived urban, cosmopolitan lives are indicative of the forced relocation policies of apartheid. Under these programs, the areas mentioned and others were rezoned for exclusively white use. The mixed township of Sophiatown was destroyed in 1954-1955, while the Coloured community of District 6 was removed slightly later. Both these sites provide memorial to loss suffered under apartheid (See Thompson 194 for more info, not that in-depth and lecture 2/16).

Urban hostel as an Apartheid ideal

The labor hostels served as an ideal living space for the apartheid system because they provided white South Africa with the necessary labor force without paying the reproduction costs. The hostels emphasized the fact that blacks should only be in the city to work and most should stay on the Bantustans. The hostels also strained male-female relations as females were reliant on male wages to survive and so men could exercise tyrannical power over them, especially as they were the ones who were legitimately in the hostels. Aside from dividing men and women, the hostels were places of ethnic division as many hostel-dwellers were more conservative and linked to their homelands than township residents (especially true of Zulus). (Information from Lecture 2/16, for in-depth stuff go to A Bed Called Home).

Life and gender dynamics inside and outside the hostel

  A Bed Called Home:   In the late 1960’s, women and children entered the hostel environment since the creation of the Abolition of Influx Control Act of 1986. Older men would mentor younger people from their villages to protect them from city life and exploitation from local township folk, which mainly included local township women. Some mentors would keep a small portion of the younger ones’ earnings so that there would be savings for the end of the year visit home and to support their family. Others lost touch with their traditions and didn’t return home, having lost themselves to the city.

Hostel life revolves around the men, who seem to have historical claim to everything, whether it’s eating first or bathroom privileges. Within the hostels, women prepare meals and take care of household chores while children played outside with their mothers. At night, when the men came home from work, children were to be kept quiet so that the men could sleep and wake early the next morning for work. Often, some men feel that their space is being invaded by noisy women and children who live with their families. Many parts of the home are segregated—men reserve the front room for meals and meetings while women use either the bedrooms or the outside area, but this varies from hostel to hostel. Teenage boys would sleep in the front room but would have to wake up to help their fathers in the morning and to get out of their way. During the weekend, only men are allowed to use the laundry and hang their clothes since that is the only time they have available.

Women are deemed to be the extensions of their menfolk and are not recognized as persons in the hostel system of justice, which is a point of distress because of feelings of abuse. Age plays an important dividing line in women. Senior women, “who are done with the business of being women,” become honorary men controlling younger women.

Relationships between men are characterized by hierarchy legitimized by tradition and based on age differences. For example, younger men defer to their elders, who supposedly have more wisdom and reliability in handling others. Some men, especially in the Langa clan, only allow women as day-time visitors because of their commitment to a clean Christian life and their desire to maintain a spirit of “brotherhood.” Allowing women to sleep over in the hostels would threaten this moral purity, create points of conflict between the men and set a bad example for younger residents. Men are in control of the language used, especially older men. Hostel’s township neighbors discriminate against those living in hostels, viewing them as outsiders. Due to poor or lack of recreational space, many hostel dwellers get bored and resort to gambling and alcohol, which lead to more violence and assault.

Some relationships in hostels are still seen as marriages even if that man has another family in the rural areas. A woman marries into the man’s family whereas the man remains unattached to the women’s family, except for the responsibility of the lobola. By bringing the woman into the man’s family, the man develops a system of control and ensures the perpetuation of patriarchal family relations. Culturally, the women are responsible for the new bride, establishing control by the mother-in-law and sisters-in-law over the bride. This creates divisions between women instead of fostering supportive relationships. Women oscillate between town and country—torn between the responsibilities of looking after their rural home and raising the children and maintaining a personal relationship with their husbands. To the man, his wife and children are obligatory responsibilities, especially in rituals and traditional healing ceremonies in the case of sickness within the family. Women are constantly battling to keep their husbands who sometimes cheat and leave them for other township women. If this occurs, the woman is left with no income and no support, resorting to begging, prostitution, or finding a job, which means leaving their children alone. Single women are in stiff competition for finding a supportive male, seeing them as useful resources. The men use these “girlfriends” for companionship and domestic work while the women use the men for their wages.

Red vs. School

Describes the cultural resistance and accommodation of South African blacks to European colonial rule. The difference between these people and their reactions to white domination is known as the idea of “red vs. school”

“Red People”: went into the city, but rejected European clothing, culture, and Christianity; avoided school, church, and western commodities; they honored ways of ancestors; built up homesteads and tried to preserve traditions and native ways; an example is Mathabane’s father in Kaffir Boy

“School People”: embraced education, Christianity, and European dress; wanted uplift and advancement; believed in African civilization as a political challenge to White domination.

Missionary Education

Pretty much how it sounds. European missionaries used the guise of education to impose Christianity and their ideas of colonization on the natives. They basically taught the natives how to adjust to conquest. While the goals of some missionaries may have been noble, most missionaries worked out of the idea of the “white man’s burden.” Instead of acknowledging pre-existing native ideas and lifestyles, they assumed that the white way was the right way and selfishly used education to cause divisions among accommodating and resisting blacks. These divisions, despite the noble goals of some missionaries, exacerbated the plight of the natives some wanted to stick with traditions while others wanted to embrace Christianity and other white ways.

White Responses to African Assimilation

Most whites basically freaked out because they wanted to preserve the separation of their ways from the black ways that they believed were inherently inferior. When this assimilation became proletarianization in the latter half of the 20th century, whites became scared that the up-and-coming blacks were going to steal their jobs. This fear that blacks would steal jobs from whites as they gained more education and worked to assimilate caused whites to intensify their beliefs in apartheid. So there was financial stimulus for the whites not wanting blacks to be involved in “their” society.

Black Consciousness

Basically, reread the important parts of Biko. But here are some key ideas:

• owning your race; pride and dignity in color
• being black is not a skin color, but a state of mind
• "The first step is to make the black man come to himself; to pump life back into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth. This is what we mean by an inward-looking process. This is the definition of ‘Black Consciousness" pg. 29
• Blacks no longer seek to seek to reform the system because doing so implies acceptance of the major points around which the system revolves
• black solidarity
  1. We are all oppressed by the same system
  2. That we are oppressed to varying degrees is a deliberate design to stratify us not only socially but in terms of aspirations
• Biko criticizes the Church because it tells the destitute blacks to “turn the other cheek” in response to white subjugation. It manifests a tacit acceptance of the system and thus perpetuates the belief that “white equals value.”
• he hates the white liberal ideology because the liberals act like they care about the blacks when they actually are just trying to alleviate their guilty consciences due to apartheid. They try to maintain white political domination with a façade of aid to blacks. According to Biko, the white liberal is “eager to demonstrate his identification with the black people only so far as it does not sever all his ties with his relatives on the other side of the color line.”
• basically, black consciousness is a call for black solidarity without white help because the whites cannot possibly understand the plight of the blacks.

Cultural Hybridity

I really am not sure how to exactly define this. But I’m pretty sure it’s just referring to the mixed nature of life in the segregated cities which is the next term. I would reread Hannerz’s Sofiatown to get a good idea of this one. Or you can just read the description of the next term. If someone can fill this one in with some better information, I’d really appreciate it. I must have missed the lecture when this term was actually discussed.

Mixed Life of the Segregated City

Sophiatown- Mixed life in a segregated city

Originally a mixed neighborhood, white and black, once a sewage plant was built nearby, most of the whites left. Became one of the few areas blacks could buy houses and property. Became desirable area for black middle class, as well and Chinese, Indians and Jews.

One of the few places a sophisticated urban culture developed. Shebeens became focus of culture and community. American culture greatly influenced, American movies and music (jazz) heavily influences black culture. Black magazines- Drum, one of the few ways blacks could express opinions.

Distinct culture developed, blacks living in Sophiatown didn’t fit in to the roles white South Africa had envisioned. Cultural Hybridity formed, creolization, different cultures melded to form a unique new one. Tsotsis (gangsters) adopted American dress, slang, and names for their gangs

Was seen as a way of resistance. Accepting American Culture was a way to reject White South Africa.

Sophiatown and Urban Black Culture

Sophiatown was an enclave in Johannesburg that emerged as one of the few places where blacks could own property alongside Indians, Asians, Coloureds, and some poor whites. It was also a place where black South Africans became fascinated with blacks in the U.S. and spurred a black consciousness movement where they looked to Black America for a way to define themselves in the international community. Sophiatown’s identity also manifested itself in writings, such as DRUM magazine. There was also a rise in new forms of Christianity, bringing together ideas from African spiritual life and European Christianity.

Shebeens

The term Shebeens refers to the bars of illegally, home brewed beers set up in Townships in South Africa. Shebeens originated to accommodate the miners in the gold and diamond mining compounds in the 1880’s, and were a way for the black men living away from their families in homesteads to release. They were also large centers for prostitution for the black miners.

Later, once beer brewing became legal, shebeens became important social centers in townships where blacks could socialize, dance and sing with each other. Jazz music was very important as one of the many forms of entertainment in Shebeens as well as a lively stage scene. By taking advantage of a job usually done by women, it was also source of independence for black South African women.

Tsotsis

Tsotsis were the gangsters which plagued the black South African townships. Many of these tsotsis perpetuated the cycle of violence in the South African system, which stemmed from the brutality of the government. Many African youth, with little prospects, turned to the gangster lifestyle for protection and a sense of place within South African society.

Black on black violence/oppression

• White cooptation—making someone who is potentially their enemy (blacks) harmless by bringing them into their system (of black oppression)?created division of those with a stake in the system vs. those who were oppressed by it (2/23)
• Chiefs—Made powerful local people into the chief, made the chief into their agent, gave them the duty of collecting taxes (poverty?oppression)
• Black police (Peri-urban)—complicit with white domination, most brutal (beatings, humiliation, imprisonment, etc.)
• chief & black police: loyalty rewarded materially, socially (pride, superiority)
• Informants (paid to turn other black people in)—directly brought upon blacks oppression & violence, but also indirectly oppressed blacks because act of betrayals created divisions of fear and distrust among blacks that weakened the resistance
• Tsotsis—Alexandra’s legendary gangsters (Mathabane 53)

White ambivalence toward African urbanization

From lecture notes 2/7:

• Working class whites against—felt economically threatened; saw the problem as the need to enforce segregation
• White liberals (missionaries, humanitarians), also those who saw the profit in the black market and those who needed long-term, skilled labor—had always been for African assimilation
• White ambivalence: safer to keep them in rural areas, but economically better to have them in town as consumers, laborers
• Government—saw the problem of how will they govern urban Africans who will be there permanently: families with children (what will they do with the children?), unemployment, well-organized gangs
• the National Party’s policy statement on the racial problem (of needing to maintain white supremacy) was a contradictory hybrid of two competing ideas: it set out complete economic segregation of Africans in their reserves as an ultimate goal but qualified it by stressing the need to satisfy white farming and manufacturing interests (Thompson 185)

From lecture notes 2/16:

• So then led to urban hostel as an Apartheid ideal—Whites didn’t want blacks to be members of society or to have to take care of their families, but they wanted there to be urban laborers, so they made hostels bachelors-only in order to keep wives and children in the reserves. (The whole idea was to redefine urban Africans as members of reserves, not of society.)
• also dealt with need of urban black workers by creating a special class of blacks with rights to stay in city (“section 10 rights”) (2/9)
• another angle on white ambivalence: blend of fear and intimacy because of African urbanization outside the plan (1. informal settlements that were rebuilt if destroyed 2. blacks living in white neighborhoods as servants, nannies?led to profound form of contacts between races, interdependency) (2/16)

Apartheid– petty and grand

• Petty apartheid = segregated public facilities (2/9)

-Johannes speaks of the pervasiveness of petty apartheid, the visible and invisible guards of racial segregation. Visible: The signs that read Whites Only and Non-Whites Only in elevators, water fountains; Invisible: people telling him “you’re in the wrong place, Kaffir” (201)

• Grand apartheid = a system of labor control, the Bantustan system (political rights only apply in rural reserves), denial of urban housing rights (2/9)
  • used to prevent Africans from numerically dominating and getting political rights (2/14)
  • from theory that South Africa belongs to whites, so blacks should have a separate development where they could ‘develop along their own lines’
  • implementation done by 1) separation—strengthened color bar, introduced legal mechanisms like identity cards, segregated places 2) rolling back African claims to membership in South Africa—systematically stripping of rights i.e. expanded restrictions on housing, made voting only a racial privilege; Bantustan
  • at heart of apartheid—idea that 1) there were four “racial groups,” 2) Whites as the civilized race were entitled to have absolute control over the states 3) white interests should prevail over black interests, and 4) white racial group formed a single nation while Africans belonged to several distinct nations (Thompson 190)
  • reason for rural relocation: migrant labor system had been based on the fact that workers had land in rural areas where they could return to, but when the land was no longer functional as an agricultural base, there was fear that blacks would become detached from the land, flee to the cities, and become numerically dominant. Because the election of 1948 rejected accepting this, and because white farmers wouldn’t allow them to take away their land, they decided the only option was to have forced relocation of blacks (from farms, black spots, urban areas, informal settlement group areas) to reserves (2/14)
  • apartheid turned identities into legal identities; the ethnic consciousness created by the political structure (Bantustan, separating land by tribes) caused violence, ethnic hatred—made blacks go against one another (2/14)
  • apartheid was also a system of labor control, exploiting black people with low wages in a capitalistic society
• for international complicity, “reformed” apartheid by getting rid of petty apartheid, but not grand apartheid (just jettisoning the most visible racial aspects) (2/9; Thompson 224):
  • scrapped apartheid symbols and practices (i.e. removing signs declaring segregation) that were not essential to the maintenance of white supremacy
  • but still system of labor control (racial capitalism), denial of political rights, Bantustan system, denial of urban housing rights

1948 Election of National Party (in context of world politics)

• Context of changing, developing world
• Changes produced backlash
• Afrikaners felt displaced by new industrialization
• Problem of “poor whites”
• Protected by color bar, but vulnerable still
• Resentful of blacks showing off new wealth
• Afrikaners always in shadow of British
• Had nowhere else to go (spoke Afrikaans, not Dutch, had been in South Africa 250-300 years)
• New sense of nationality ? more political involvement

Theory of Homeland Citizenship / Bantustans

• Theory: blacks should develop “on own lines” (= keep them separate)
• Cultural relativism claim: “Who are we to force our way of life onto them?”
• Some of the developers were idealistic, but most were just national chauvinists
• Forced blacks to develop in reserves or as subservient laborers in urban centers
• Sick kind of democracy: all South Africans had the right to vote, blacks just weren’t citizens of South Africa
• Gave them no land to own; no cattle; no house ? no pride

International Complicity with and attitudes toward apartheid

1952 onward, General Assembly passed annual resolutions condemning apartheid (Thompson 214)

As # of independent Asian and African states increased, each with seat in GA, UN devoted more attention to South African racism (by 1967, Special Committee on apartheid and Unit on apartheid

1973 – GA declared apartheid system “a crime against humanity”

1977 – Security Council placed mandatory arms embargo against SA

Though opposition was “strong in rhetoric,” it was “weak in substance” (Thompson 215)

Largely due to SA rhetoric/propaganda (“separate development”)

SA economy extremely attractive to American and European business and defense interests ? so “powerful interests in the United States and Western Europe were loath to disturb the status quo in South Africa

British administrations, Conservative as well as Labour, joined in the antiapartheid rhetoric, but even Labour vetoed resolutions for sanctions in the Security Council (except in 1977) when Britain abstained on a resolution for an arms embargo against SA.

France, West Germany, Switzerland: all inclined not to risk their growing trade and investments in SA by taking action against apartheid

US: needed SA for minerals; continued to treat as allies despite racist policies\

White liberals

• Think Mabel post-colonization and Kevin Cline during apartheid
• Right idea, perhaps, but don’t know how to get anything done
• Live lives apart from Black SA’s

Censorship

• Banning used to cut off opposition (effective)
• The Apartheid regime affected every aspect of social, political, cultural, intellectual and educational life; publications, organizations, assemblies and not least the South African extra-parliamentary liberation movement - the African National Congress - ANC, as well as the individual freedom of travel or speech.
• Suppression of Communism Act 1950: originally authorized banning of individuals and organizations; superseded by Internal Security Act 1982
• The main organizations banned under these laws were the Communist Party of South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), and the Pan-African Congress.
• More than 2,000 people from 1950-1990 (communist, terrorist, threat to community or security)
• The banned person would in effect be a public nonentity; confined to his or her home; not allowed to meet with more than one person at a time (other than family), hold any offices in any organization, speaking publicly or writing for any publication.
• Even 1976 Soweto demonstration did not cause gov’t to life bans ? not till 1990

Race Classification Board

• Helped in pass distribution
• Determined a person’s race in disputed cases

Legitimacy and consent

• People allowed themselves to be governed
• Obedience became habitual
• Consent occurred in a stiff world that seemed given and intractable

Means of securing consent

• Repression
• Cooptation
  • Gave jobs to blacks so that they would have a stake in the system
• Fragmentation
• Interdependency
  • Master/servant
• Colonization of identity
• Ex. Sharpeville Massacre
  • Failed because no national moral community to appeal to

Strong gov. resp.

• Violence
• Informants
• Propaganda against terrorists
• Most consented
• See lecture notes "Why did Apartheid Last so Long"

Colonization of identity

• White "superior culture
  • Ex: Education, news, religion
• Advancement through emulating whites

Biko and Black Consciousness

• Biko
  • Born 1946 in Kingwilliamstown
  • Entered medical school at(white) U. of Natal
  • Active in NUSAS,
  • Formed SASO in 1968
  • Worked for Black Community Programmes in Durban
  • Later banned
  • Founded Zimele Trust Fund
  • 1977 detained as terrorist, where he died
• Black Consciousness
  • Definition of "black"
    • Not color, is attitude
    • Is committed to fight against "all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being" (48)
    • Some black pigmented ppl not "black"
  • Black Consciousness = "the realization by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their operation-the blackness of their skin-and to operate as a group in order to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude." (49)
  • Against white racism
    • Not just methodology
    • IS black solidarity

Anti-Apartheid Organizations

ANC-African National Congress

• Run by black elite
• Banned by government, leaders imprisoned

Nelson Mandela imprisoned

• Became face of new South Africa
• Won elections in 1994
• Made deal with corporate South Africa

PAC-Pan Africanist Congress

• Formed 1959
• Broke away from ANC
• National, non-violent

• 1960 leaders arrested, PAC banned
• 1970 turned violent
• won 1.3% of vote in 1994 election

SASO- south African students association

Aims

• Effect programs to meet needs of non white students
• Est. solid identity among non whites
• To protect interests of members
• To boost morale of non white students

• Is not a national union
• Concerned about contact between various color groups
• Biko president 1969 when officially founded

COSATU- congress of south African trade unions

Founded 1985

Associated with African National Congress and South African Communist party

Tripartite Alliance

5 core principles:

1. non-racialism
2. worker control
3. paid up membership
4. one union, one industry
5. international worker solidarity

Concepts of Struggle against Apartheid

Non-racialism- Policy of instituting popular democracy that would overthrow apartheid and instead replace it with a system of “one man, one vote” in which race would play no role in the political scene.

Africa for the Africans- Espousing the “Africanist” point of view, the PAC (which largely dissolved in the ‘80s) took a more radical approach to rebelling against the apartheid system which addressed the historical basis of apartheid. The conquest of S. Africa (from here SA) resulted in whites taking land from native Africans, and the PAC sought to rectify socio-economic inequality through massive land redistribution.

Struggle against Capitalism- Most thoroughly addressed by Thompson and Terrablanche (although he discusses the post-apartheid period), the “capitalism” used by the white elite utilized “super-exploitation” that generated enormous profits for owners and below-subsistence level wages for workers. Labor organization and boycotts sought to end a systematic reduction of African natives to cheap labor.

Black Consciousness Movement- For a more thorough assessment, read Biko Ch. 9. In short, Biko endeavored to overthrow the “colonization of the mind” that had successfully wiped out African cultural heritage and replaced the void with Christian and Western European ideology in general. By valuing their own humanity and right to freedom in South Africa, Biko convinced blacks that being black was not merely a term describing skin color, but “a reflection of mental attitude”.

Urban Struggle Against Apartheid

Here Mathabane would be a particularly useful resource. This includes the student uprisings (Soweto) and previous urban conflicts (Sharpeville) that were a direct result of political organization among blacks in urban areas. Also, the township local committees play a significant role in militarizing and mobilizing the black population against the oppression of apartheid.

Civics and Revolution

A good place to discuss the effectiveness of Red vs. School, where eventually it was the white-educated blacks who used the system to achieve change, not a massive uprising of “red” Africans in what would almost had to have been armed struggle (which probably never would have defeated the well-equipped SA army). Significant change begins in 1986 with the repeal of the pass laws and the Land Act of 1913. Mandela is elected in 1994 and this leads into the next topic.

Political Transformations and Secret Negotiations

Since I missed the lecture on this, I’m not entirely sure what the “political transformations” is getting at, unless they mean the relatively peaceful surrender of the SA government instead of all out war and the general end to apartheid. The elections proceeded and the majority largely elected the ANC into power. The secret negotiations refers to the closed-door deals made between top ANC leaders and white-owned businesses. As a result, they were not held accountable for their business practices which exploited African labor for over 100 years and perpetuate socio-economic inequality to this day (Terrablanche).

Enduring social and economic inequalities

Terrablanche Ch.11. The detachment of white business from the less-advanced sectors of the SA economy and the formation of the capitalist enclave. Not only have the major SA corporations benefited from the secret negotiations and the lack of integration into the rest of the SA economy, but their strong push for embracement of globalization has allowed for disinvestment and mobility of corporate assets that eliminate the possibility of wealth redistribution.

ANC in power from RDP to GEAR

(Terreblanche, ch. 4)

In the 1994 election, the ANC alliance ran on the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The proposal originally came from COSATU, especially the National Union of Mineworkers (COSATU's "most powerful affiliate"). The ANC adopted their policy and it won them 60% of the electorate.

However, the ANC was "a dismal failure" in implementing it. In November 1994, the ANC published a white paper introducing "fiscal prudence" as a goal and dropping talk of redistribution. "Fiscal prudence" and other neoliberal policies, while a boon to the corporate sector, left no funding for RDP programs. Instead of funding the RDP itself, the ANC forced the different government departments to spend their funding on "RDP-oriented" programs. Nor did the ANC try to restructure the economy to break up monopolies caused by racial capitalism. The RDP office was finally closed in March 1996. In 1999 elections, the ANC again claimed to support the RDP. But it "seems as if the ANC accepted the RDP on a rhetorical level only, and used it mainly for electioneering purposes."

In June 1996, the ministry of finance introduced a new replacement program: Growth, Employment And Redistribution (GEAR). In "an almost desperate attempt to attract" foreign investors, GEAR promoted blatantly pro-business neoliberal policies for an export-oriented economy, claiming these would have incredible trickle-down effects for everyone. "Retreating into the fantasy world of economic textbooks", the ANC claimed that GEAR would achieve the RDP's goals.

By these standards, GEAR was another failure. While neoliberal targets were met, the larger goals were missed. The economy grew by only 2.7% instead of 4.2%, investment grew by only 1.2% instead of 11.7%, and employment actually shrank! Government officials blamed the Asian crisis and downplayed the projections, saying they weren't targets but far-off goals. But since the neoliberal targets were met, the corporate sector (and thus the ANC) continued supporting GEAR.

In 2001, the end of GEAR's planning period, the government claimed it was really a stabilization strategy and now that things were stable, growth would get started any day now.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

(Thompson, 275ff)

After the ANC took power, it set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into human rights abuses since the Sharpeville massacre. It had the power to subpoena witnesses and grant individuals amnesty on the condition that they revealed the truth and could prove their actions were politically motivated.

The TRC's 17 commissioners were nominated by NGOs and selected for their opposition to apartheid. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, was chair. The commission received a great deal of money, including $1.4 million from the US government. Hearings began in December 1995 and lasted for two years.

Politicians, police, and military officiers all claimed their orders came from the very top: presidents Botha and de Klerk, who maintained they did nothing wrong. The commission decided they were lying. Meanwhile, the ANC was accused of several violent attacks but demanded a blanket amnesty since their cause was just. Tutu threatened to resign if it was granted and "found the ANC guilty of gross violations of human rights", but granted amnesty to 37 ANC politicians.

Africans and Afrikaaners both accused the TRC of unfairness. Mandela accepted the report "with all its imperfections" while Mbeki called it "wrong and misguided". The National Party called it "flawed and divisive". In the end, many killers and torturers received amnesty and most victims received very little in the way of reparations.

(Terreblanche, ch. 4)

Terreblanche criticizes it for focusing only on things like killing, abduction, and torture, arguing that it ignored the larger issue of racial capitalism and exploitation. (It spent only 3 days on the subject in its 2.5 years.) By doing so the ANC agreed "if not explicitly, then at least tacitly" to condone the vast profits made by whites and corporations through exploitation. The TRC went after those who violated the laws of apartheid, but not those who made the unfair laws in the first place. Its report ended up sounding like business was "a valued friend". In any event, the real problems go back 350 years -- not the 34 years the TRC focused on.

Racial capitalism, democratic capitalism, and social democracy

Racial capitalism was the system instituted by the British which forced blacks into the position of exploited workers, combining the effects of both class control and segregationist policies. The blacks were exploited as a native, segregated workforce.

This system was not overthrown until the ANC took power and replaced it with democratic capitalism, which removed the racial segregationist components. However, this did little to change things, since poverty was still distributed across mostly racial lines and the ANC did nothing to alleviate this.

Social democracy is a system supported by Terreblanche in which a stronger, interventionist state tries to guarantee a minimal standard of living for its population, ensuring they have food, health, housing, welfare, and perhaps even jobs.

Neoliberalism/Washington consensus

A series of pro-business policies supported by the US and its financial institutions (IMF/World Bank) around the world thru structural adjustment programs. Consists mostly of:

• liberalize trade and finance
• let markets set price ("getting prices right")
• end inflation ("macroeconomic stability")
• privatize

The main goal is to get the government out of the way, handing things over to big business.

Global apartheid

A way of referring to the current system encouraged by neoliberal globalization, noting the extreme economic inequalities and "structural racism" that it encourages by removing the governments that could protect people's human rights. The Rich North luxuriates in wealth and power, while the Poor South toils under terrible conditions to do the dirty work in sweatshop conditions.

Structural inequality

A form of inequality caused by a large-scale structure in society, as opposed to more minor differences in ability or opportunity. Poor blacks are stuck in a form of structural inequality, where all the power and wealth goes to white corporate leaders and their well-placed associates in the black elite and there is very little opportunity for the average person to improve their lot.