Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Black consciousness & Soweto Uprising
- THE SOWETO UPRISING, ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND SUPRESSION
- CAUSES
- 1974 the Transvaal Bantu
Education Department decided
to expand teaching in Afrikaans
- Afrikaans & english
compulsory. learn other
subjects in Afrikaans
- Afrikaans seen as the
language of the oppressor -
lan of racism
- African children had to master 2
langs in addition to their 1st
african lang
- Lang policy was
enforced by deputy
PM Andries Treurnicht
- SASM organised a rally on 16th
June in which 2,000 pupils
marched on Orlando stadium
which led to few people killed by
police - who released dogs & fired
- INSTABILITY CAUSED
- 138 killed over the first few days of
protest, after 16th june pupils
attacked gov buildings & threw up
barricades
- 17th june - 300 wits uni students
marched & turfloop students
burnt down the Afrikaans
department in campus
- 18th june - official buildings,
shops, liquor stores attacked in
Alexandra township
- Soweto Students representative
Council formed in august led by
Tsietsi Mashinini
- boycotted
white-owned
shops
- Winnie Mandela helped form a
Black Parents' Association to help
organise 'political' funerals which
became politicised occasions
- AFTERMATH
- 575 died in Soweto
uprising & aftermath
- single most important episode of
state repression since Sharpeville &
similarly attracted global attention
- students increasingly prepared to
use violence which became a key
theme of opposition with sabotage
- to avoid arrest; 4,000
youths fled SA 1976-7 with
many joining the MK in
Zambia - ANC HQ
- many student leaders
imprisoned on Robben
Island where they joined
the ANC e.g. Terror
Lakota
- IMPACT OF THE DEATH OF STEVE BIKO, 1977
- KEY EVENTS OF DEATH
- 1977 he left Kingwilliamstown,
breaking banning order, was
arrested, interrogated & severely
beaten
- few weeks later close to
death, was rushed
1000km to prison
hospital in Pretoria - died
- serious brain
damage/injured
- IMPACT
- police claimed death was due
to hunger strike, Woods
challenged this& made
allegations of police brutality,
produced convincing
evidence to contest police
claims
- nature of death in
police custody
provoked international
disapproval,
particularly in western
countries that
maintained relations
with SA
- funeral attended by 10,000+
including several foreign
ambassadors, in a show of
support for Biko & his ideals
- became leading martyr
for opposition to
apartheid, mobilised
opposition
- HIS STATUS BEFORE 1977
- 1973 gov banned
Biko - his
movements were
restricted & not
allowed to attend
political meetings
- difficult to be involved in wider
national bc activities, did remain
involved in local ones. Kept strong
profile through his writing
- profile raised in eastern cape
as his ideas were taken up by
Donald Woods - Cry Freedom