Soweto Uprising PDF

SOWETO UPRISING  Soweto Uprisings ▪The Soweto uprisings were unprecedented in the history of the struggle against apartheid policy by the African youth. ▪The uprisings shook the Nationalist government apartheid foundations and hastened the advent of non-racial, non-sexist d...

SOWETO UPRISING  Soweto Uprisings ▪The Soweto uprisings were unprecedented in the history of the struggle against apartheid policy by the African youth. ▪The uprisings shook the Nationalist government apartheid foundations and hastened the advent of non-racial, non-sexist democracy in South Africa. ▪The causes of uprisings ▪ The causes of the uprisings are divided into two categories, ▪ namely, remote or underlying causes and immediate or surface causes.  Soweto Uprisings ▪The remote and underlying causes. ▪The remote causes span months and in most cases, years of discontent. With time they build up to a level where they await a flash-point, emerging as immediate causes. ▪The remote causes are: ▪The refusal of pupils and students to attend classes ▪Among the black community, there was great dissatisfaction with Bantu Education ▪The objection to the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in secondary schools with few teachers competent to teach in Afrikaans ▪Dissatisfaction with the standard of education, quality of teaching, the school buildings and equipment (Behr, 1988:37).  Soweto Uprisings ▪The immediate or surface causes. The immediate or surface causes are thus not always the real causes. They are but precipitating events which serve as final straw that breaks the camel’s back. A major immediate cause of the uprisings was indisputably the blatant insensitivity of Bantu Education Department in particular, and the Nationalist government in general in the 1970’s. Despite repeated warnings to take the discontent seriously, the department stuck to its policy that Mathematics and Social Studies be taught through the medium of Afrikaans.  The significance of the Soweto uprisings ▪The failure of the government to pursue its apartheid policy in education as it wished, proved just how strong black resistance was. It was forced to capitulate to pressure and introduced the Education and Training Act of 1975, stating that Bantu Education was dead. ▪The Soweto uprisings resulted in the unceremonious collapse of a very powerful apartheid structure, namely, the Urban Bantu Council and ushered in Civic Association Movement in 1977. This resulted in enforcing the establishment of civic associations throughout the country. ▪The Soweto uprisings also showed the common liberation objectives of the PAC, the BCM and the ANC  The significance of the Soweto uprisings ▪It resulted in thousands of black youths skipping the country, either to join the ANC’s Umkhonto We Sizwe, the Azanian People ‘s Liberation Army or to pursue their education in Tanzania or elsewhere. ▪The influx of ANC youths into Tanzania from South Africa led to the establishment of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. The Soweto uprisings demonstrated the spirit of solidarity. This also demonstrated unity in action. ▪If the struggle was to precipitate liberation, mass protest action by all age groups and all structures in the communities, was required. ▪ Theoretically and technically speaking, the year 1976 can be seen as the end of the era of Bantu Education.  Let’s take a closer look Soweto uprising, our history Documentary 1: https://youtu.be/x3bEMK2z6HU The story behind Sam Nzima’s photograph Documentary 2: https://youtu.be/gOU15CQL2Mc Why did the Soweto uprising happen? Our history Documentary 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ZTlqfgyLI