Int. Anti-apartheid Movement PDF

# Chapter 17: The Crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s: International Response – International Anti-Apartheid Movements ## Unit 1: Anti-Apartheid Movements in Britain and Ireland The British government reinforced its policy of Apartheid by passing many repressive laws. A major movement against South A...

# Chapter 17: The Crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s: International Response – International Anti-Apartheid Movements ## Unit 1: Anti-Apartheid Movements in Britain and Ireland The British government reinforced its policy of Apartheid by passing many repressive laws. A major movement against South Africa during the three decades covering 1950s-1970s was the banning of the ANC and the PAC, and continued their protest overseas, especially after the banning of the ANC and the PAC. One of the most prominent places the anti-Apartheid movement took place was in Britain. This unit explores anti-Apartheid activity in Britain and Ireland. ### 1.1 The British Anti-Apartheid Movement The British anti-Apartheid movement was founded in June 1959, initially as a boycott movement. It aimed, firstly, at encouraging people in Britain to stop buying South African goods and then, from 1960, extended itself to urging that Apartheid in South Africa be done away with completely. The movement gained momentum rather rapidly, because the Labour Party (then the opposition in Britain) declared 1960 'Africa Year' and promoted the boycott of South African goods. At the same time, British companies were asked to reduce the quantities of goods that they sold to South Africa. In March 1960 Britain, like the rest of the world, was horrified to learn of the Sharpeville Massacre. The anti-Apartheid movement urged the British government to place full economic sanctions on South Africa, meaning that all trade and economic relations between the two countries should be stopped. The movement claimed its first major triumph in 1963, when Britain stopped selling arms to South Africa. The movement worked with the United Nations (UN) in attempting to get countries throughout the world to isolate and weaken the Apartheid government in Pretoria. It gained much support and international sympathy, but the progress it made was slower than anti-Apartheid activists had hoped. There were two main questions people asked in connection with isolating South Africa: - To what extent should other countries involve themselves in what was going on in South Africa? Some people argued that because South Africa's policies did not pose a threat to world peace, South Africans should be left to sort out their ‘internal affairs’ on their own. - If large-scale sanctions were applied, would they not harm the very people whom they were supposed to help – i.e. black working-class South Africans? Black Africans, especially, would be the first to lose their jobs as the result of goods boycotts, as most of them were employed in unskilled work. Such questions led to varied responses from the British government, the public and business institutions. Many individuals and institutions were looking after their own interests, as there was much money to be made in South Africa. Also, many British people had relatives in South Africa; they were concerned that the latter would be disadvantaged by boycotts or sanctions. For many people, these issues were never properly resolved. However, the British anti-Apartheid movement kept up the pressure against the South African regime into the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher was in power. She, together with President Reagan of the United States (1981–1988) did not believe in sanctions. Both leaders followed a policy of ‘constructive engagement’ with the South African government instead. They sent government officials to South Africa to discuss the issue of Apartheid and negotiate for change. They felt that ‘punishing’ South Africa with political or economic isolation would not bring about the right kind of change. Over time, the anti-Apartheid movement in Britain contributed to the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC in 1990; and to the ANC’s victory in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. The movement attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters over the years. During its existence it: - campaigned for the release of people detained without trial - forced the cancellation of the 1970 Springbok cricket tour - encouraged Barclays Bank and other British companies to sell their South African subsidiaries - led a national boycott of South African imports - held a star-studded concert at Wembley Stadium to demand Nelson Mandela’s release. ### 1.2 The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement The Irish anti-Apartheid movement was also very active in promoting resistance to Apartheid. At first it was an extension of the British movement, but soon assumed a life of its own. The driving forces behind the movement were South Africa’s Kader Asmal, who had been appointed a law lecturer at Trinity College in Ireland and Louise Asmal, his wife. The movement demonstrated against the all-white Springbok rugby team which played at the Lansdowne Road Stadium in 1970. It was also active in promoting a ban on contacts with South Africa, especially sporting contacts. The movement had a large influence on trade unions. It became well known in 1984, when a cashier at Dunnes Stores in Dublin refused to sell South African fruit as part of the anti-Apartheid boycott. Other Dunnes Stores workers followed this example. The strike lasted for two and a half years under difficult circumstances, as it was supported by only a minority of workers and not by the general Irish public It was eventually given the support of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish parliamentarians and the Catholic Church. In 1986 the Irish government announced a boycott of coal and food products from South Africa, and also closed its tourist office in South Africa. This was another factor in the economic isolation of South Africa, and helped to push the Apartheid government towards the negotiating table. Kader Asmal returned to South Africa in 1990 and became a prominent member of the ANC delegation to the negotiations to bring about a democratic South Africa. He was praised for having promoted the Irish anti-Apartheid movement so effectively, with great energy and good humour. In 2008, he returned to Ireland to attend the unveiling of a plaque commending the workers of Dunnes Stores for their anti-Apartheid protests in the 1980s. The following sources consist of posters produced by the Irish anti-Apartheid movement in the 1970s. ## 2.1 Sports Boycott White South Africans had access to excellent facilities in a wide variety of sports, and participated regularly in international sports events. Anti-Apartheid activists both inside and outside South Africa believed that if the country were isolated from international sport, pressure might be put on the South African government to make political changes. As a result, there was a strong international lobby to stop South Africans playing sport against teams around the world. This sporting boycott had mixed results. Cricket, traditionally rivals, which overall consisted of English-speaking Commonwealth countries, effectively banned South African teams from playing. On the other hand, individual South African sportsmen and women, for example golfers and tennis players, continued to play in world events through most of the years of Apartheid. South Africa did not compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, and remained out of the Olympics until negotiations for a new government were well under way (It was re-admitted to the Olympic Games held in Barcelona in 1992.) Because New Zealand had continued to play rugby against South Africa, most African and Asian countries boycotted the Olympics in Montreal in 1976. This helped to bring about the Gleneagles Agreement, a statement issued by Commonwealth countries at Gleneagles in Scotland, that sporting ties with South Africa were unacceptable and must be discouraged. Cricket tours were damaged by the refusal of the South African government in 1968 to allow an English cricket side to tour the country if it included Basil D'Oliveira, the coloured South African cricketer who was playing for England at the time. Although one final Australian tour took place in 1969–1970, South Africa was isolated from world cricket until the World Cup in Australia in 1992. South Africans did, however, continue to play as individuals in various world events, such as the England Versus the Rest of the World Tour of 1970, which replaced the official South African cricket tour. In addition, there were various ‘rebel’ cricket tours to South Africa, when international cricketers lured by large sums of money played against the South African team. Rugby, the other popular ‘white’ South African sport, did not face as much isolation as other sports. The British Lions team, as well as France, England and Ireland toured South Africa during the Apartheid years; and the South Africans embarked on controversial and disrupted tours to England, Ireland and New Zealand. South Africa, however, was prevented from playing in the first two Rugby World Cups. Peter Hain, an ex-South African, led opposition in Britain to South African sports tours. An organisation called HART (Halt All Racial Tours) was formed in New Zealand. ## 2.2 Cultural Boycott The cultural boycott was another way of isolating white South Africans during the Apartheid years. The anti-Apartheid groups in Europe and America persuaded playwrights and actors from Britain and the United States to enforce the boycott, for the reason that it was immoral to have overseas entertainers ‘entertaining Apartheid’. From the 1960s, English and Irish playwrights signed agreements that they would not allow their works to be performed in South Africa, unless mixed race audiences would not allow their works performances. British Equity, the union representing artists in the arts and entertainment, strongly discouraged all its members from going to perform in South Africa. The sale of British television material to South Africa was also prohibited, Various American film-makers, such as Woody Allen, stopped his films from being distributed in South Africa, while some American television companies, such as Viacom, placed a ban on sending their television shows to South Africa during the 1980s. A special target of protesters both in South Africa and overseas was the large casino and entertainment complex of Sun City, which paid foreign artists large sums of money to perform there. Artists such as Frank Sinatra, Queen, Millie Jackson and Elton John had very successful tours at this South African venue. As international sanctions became more effective, however, fewer artists went to Sun City and South Africa became more and more isolated culturally. ## 2.3 Academic Boycott The academic boycott, which was led by overseas universities and academic institutions and took place largely during the 1970s and 1980s, was controversial. The people and institutions who were against it argued that many South African universities were against Apartheid and working to reform the country; while those in favour of it argued that the pressure created would encourage academics and their institutions to fight harder for the end of Apartheid. Many overseas academics refused to come to the country on account of the international community’s disapproval of South Africa. Desmond Tutu agreed that the universities stood for academic freedom, but argued that they could have done more and that the ‘boycott helped to knock sense into their heads’. Other people maintained that the boycott could harm South Africans, especially in the fields of science and medicine, as the country would no longer have access to the latest research in those academic fields, or to the products of that research. Although perhaps not as far-reaching as some of the other boycotts listed above, the academic boycott had the overall effect of continuing to isolate South Africa. The country was becoming more and more cut off from the world, and this now included academic research, cultural exchanges and travel to overseas universities.