History: Apartheid Quiz

Link to social Darwinism 

• The idea of apartheid was similar to the various social Darwinist philosophies (Nazism) that were popular in Europe in the first part of the 20th century

• a pseudoscientific theory that applies Charles Darwin's concept of "survival of the fittest" to human society, economics, and politics, asserting that the strong should thrive and the weak should decline.

Calvinism

• According to the calvinist logic, God created the different races and it was his wish that they should remain separate

Act of Union/voting

• Disputes between English landlords+randlords V.S Afrikaners over extending white voting rights fueled the causes of the SA war (1899-1902). 

• Despite divisions, all groups agreed on the need to entrench white domination over Africans in politics and the economy

• After the war, rapid reconciliation between british and afrikaners was driven by recognition that economic development required political unification (Union of SA, 1910)

• Growth demanded a systematic segregationist framework

• Unity of the white populations achieved but at the cost of institutionalizing discrimination against the black majority

NP (National Party)

• The party was an Afrikaner ethnic nationalist party, which initially promoted the interests of Afrikaners but later became a stalwart promoter and enforcer of white supremacy, for which it is best known. It first became the governing party of the country in 1924.

• Civilized labour policy: job preferences for whites 

• Wage Act (1925): forced firms to prioritize whites in hiring 

• Mines and Works Amendment (1926): deepened the job color bar, certain skilled mining jobs were reserved for white workers 

• Pushed for stricter segregation, appealed to poor Afrikaners

DF Malan

• Leader of the NP,

• Advocated for pure Afrikaner nationalism 

• Rejected compromise with UP: Pushed for total racial separation

• His leadership gave NP a clear apartheid vision heading into 1948 election

Fagan Commission

• Investigated effects of WWII urbanization 

• Concluded African migration to cities was irreversible 

• How can we still unclude black south africans, we need them for their labor

• Formed basis of UP’s 1948 election policy - seemed too lenient by many whites

Sauer Commission (Malan, NP)

• Set up as NP’s response to Fagan

• Concluded white survival required:

  • Complete racial separation

  • Reversing trend of African Urbanization

• Appealed strongly to poor Afrikaners fearing loss of identity/economy 

NP Slogans

• Swart Gevaar (Black Peril) - Fear of African majority overwhelming white cities and jobs

• Rooi Gevaar (Red peril) - Fear of communism destroying Afrikaner/christian values

• Simple, fear based messaging made NP’s stance clear and persuasive in 1948

Petty Apartheid (baasskap)

• First phase

• The harsh control of the black majority and the strict suppression of anti-apartheid opposition

• Petty is suggestive of the unnecessarily fussy nature of many of the apartheid regulations

Grand Apartheid

• Second phase

• Initiated by HF Verwoerd in late 1950’s 

• More ideologically sophisticated (in theory)

• Marked a departure from the more straight forward racial discrimination  of the petty apartheid period

• Main objective was the complete territorial segregation of South Africa - BSA were moved to Bantu Stands

Miscegenation

• Sexual relationships between persons from different racial groups

Populations and Registration Act

• Each citizen was defined according to the racial group to which s/he belonged

• Classification was based on biological, not cultural, once determined it was recorded in their official identity documents 

• The act further decreed that South Africa's population was made up of three basic racial groups:

  • White

  • Coloured (Indians, mixed heritage)

  • Bantu (Black African)

• The act set out to carefully define each of the country's racial according to common physical and intellectual characteristics

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act + Immorality

• Designed to promote the separation of races by outlawing sexual relations and procreation

• Mixed marriages act of 1949 was the first major law passed by the NP government

• The “problem” of mixed marriages was a tiny one: only 75 were recorded in 3 years prior 

• PMMA was supplemented by the immortality act of 1950 which banned all extra-marital sexual relation between whites and non-whites 

Reservation of Separate Amenities Act

• Passed in 1953, often seen as the epitome of the petty apartheid system 

• Provided for the strict segregation by race of all public amenities

• Segregation was taken much further

• Imprisonment was at risk if rules were broken, symbolized the dramatic decline in their status under apartheid

Group Areas Act

• City centres were whites-only for residence purposes 

• In these areas, where many black continued to work the gov argued that there was no need to provide decent even any, public services for non-whites, because they had no right to reside there permanently

• Townships and areas were built with little consideration of the welfare of BSA

• Based on the racist premise that African were a rural people in their native state

Natives Acts (Pass Laws Act)

• Means of enforcing the segregation of populations 

• This law relapsed the existing passbook with more comprehensive documents that Africans would be required to carry on their person always

• Documents were 96 page booklets that were officially known as "reference books”, included detailed info like employment record, tax payments, and reports of any encounters with the police 

• Any white person, even a child was entitled to stop a black person and demand to see their book

• Repressive instrument that could be used against African politicians 

Bantu Education Act (1953)

• Made mandatory for school to admit children from one racial group only

• Brought the education of Africans under direct control of the Native Affairs Department, headed by the hardliner HF Verwoerd

• Curricular content would be tailored to what the authorities believed was appropriate to the intellectual capacity and requirements of each racial group

• The education received by black children would be inferior to that enjoyed by whites

• Basic levels of literacy and numeracy

• Learned the skills that would allow them to perform domestic service for whites or sell their labour to the mining and manufacturing industries

• Books and other essentials were non existent, teachers and students would write on the ground 

• Estimated that 85% of all Black teachers were not qualified at all

• Bantu Education resulted in a lost generation 

Bantusans/homelands

• System was hailed by the NP as the flagship of grand apartheid 

• Give each of the Black peoples their own self governing homeland

• Turn reserves into small independent states

• In 1970 the gov decreed that all BSA were citizens of their homelands, not south africa

• Millions of BSA immediately became foreigners in their own country 

Defiance Campaign - what and why launch

• The first in a number of coordinated nationwide campaigns and protests organized by the ANC against the Apartheid system

• Launched to apply concreted pressure on the gov and force it into repealing apartheid legislation negotiating with the ANC

• Anc simply had to find a more effective response to the raft of apartheid laws being passed by the Malan gov.

Mayibuye

• Political slogan meaning “let it return” to which the crowd would respond “Afrika!”

Congress of the People (1955)

• An alliance of anti-apartheid congress movements, of which the ANC was by far the largest

Treason Trial

• In 1956 leaders of the ANC,PAC, trade unions, and other groups were arrested and charged with treason 

• The gov accused them of trying to overthrow the state and establish a communist regime

• The arrests were a response to the Freedom Charter, which called for equality, democracy, and shared land and wealth, the apartheid gov saw this as a threat

• Trial lasted (1956-61), all accused were acquitted 

Bus boycotts-reasons/success/limitations

• Bus fares were increased, boycotts became a way to protest against economic exploitation and racial injustice

• Eventually fares were decrease, non violent protests could work

• The states still had strong control-boycotts did not force political concessions from the government 

Shapeville Massacre 

• The pass laws forced black SA to carry passbooks

• The PAC organized protests, people would go to police stations and demand arrest, overwhelming the system

• Police, feeling threatened opened fire on the unarmed crowd 

• Marked a turning point: peaceful protest seemed less effective

• The gov responded with harsher repression

  • Declared state of emergency

  • Banned the ANC and PAC

  • Arrested thousands of activists, weakening the amount of members in the ANC and PAC

Significance: Many activists lost faith in peaceful protest. The ANC (African National Congress) and PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) abandoned strict non-violence and created armed wings (e.g., Umkhonto we Sizwe for the ANC). 

M-Plan

• Nelson Mandela designed a plan to prepare for possible banning of ANC

• ANC was split into tiny neighborhood groups

Rivonia Trial Consequences 

• Police raided a farm in Rivonia in 1963 and found documents linking the ANC’s armed wing to plans of sabotage 

• Nelson Manddela, Walter Sisulu, and Govan Mbeki, were arrested

• Charged with sabotage and trying to overthrow the state

• ANC weakened, confirmed the shift to armed struggle