Steve Biko and SASO Flashcards
In 1969 what student organisation did Steve Biko found? What movement was this part of?
Why was this movement first tolerated by gov’t?
Did BCM encourage co-operation with white groups? Indians & Coloureds?
-In 1969 Steve Biko founded SASO(South African Students’ Association).
-This was part of the Black Consciousness movement.
-The BCM was first tolerated by gov’t because they felt its emphasis on separate devevlopment might tie in with apartheid.
-NO. Its goals inculded;
-Non-cooperation with white groups, even those sympathetic to ending apartheid.
-Encouraging Indians and coloureds to see themselves as black and equally subject to white oppression.
What did SASO organise in 1972? 1974 what did they celebrate?
What year was Steve Biko subject to a banning order?
What year was SASO banned?
-1972, It organised strikes on university campuses about inferior facilities.
-1974, it celebrated the overthrow of the Portugese colonial regimes in Mozambique and Angola, clearly seeing the struggle against apartheid in SA in the same terms.
-In 1973 Biko was subject to a banning order.
-1974 SASO itself was banned.
What led to overcrowding in black African schools during the 1970s SA?
What was the % of high school enrolment increase between 1970-75?
How large were classes in Soweto?
What did schools lack needed to teach children?
By 1976 What did the Education Minister Treurnich insist all African schools must adopt?
Why was this contentious amongst African students?
-The reduction of gov’t spending compounded by dramatic increases in the numbers of school children led to massive overcrowding.
-High school enrolment among Africans increased by 150% between 1970-75.
-Classes in Soweto were as high as 70 per teacher.
-Schools lacked the resources needed to teach students the skills necessary to access any but the most menial jobs.
-1976 the Education Minister Treurnich insisted that half the lessons in African schools, including maths, be taught in Afrikaans.
-This was rejected by African students because most could not speak in Afrikaans and it was viewed as the language of repression.
What was Soweto? What problems did it face?
Like elsewhere during the 1970s how was Soweto’s problems exacerbated by gov’t?
What student movement was created in Soweto?
What did they campaign against? Which protests did they organise?
-Soweto was one of the largest townships in SA.
-It faced the problems of; overcrowding, squalor and crime.
-Problems in Soweto as elsewhere in SA, by the 1970s were exacerbated by the government’s cutting subsidies on maize and corn at a time of economic downturn.
-SASM(South African Students Movement).
-They campaigned specifically against the poor-quality eduation.
-It organised the Soweto protests.
In June 1976 what were there mass student protests about in Soweto? Where did this spread to?
How many took part?
-In June 1976 there was a massive demonstration against the medium of Afrikaans in teaching in Soweto.
-This spread to other areas in the Transvaal, Natal and the Cape.
-20,000 children took part in the protests.
Although the teaching of Afrikaans was seen as the final straw before the protests in Soweto, what were the other long term factors? (Tutu?Housing?)(Conditions?)(Leadership?)
-The conditions in overcrowded townships such as Soweto- religious leader Desmond Tutu had warned gov’t three weeks earlier that anger was at crisis point.
-In Soweto I.e. it was common for 20 people to share a 4 room house with minimal sanitation.
-The conditions in schools.
-The abscene of recognised leaders who could possibly have marshalled their frustrations.
What did ANC leader Tambo recongise about the ANC’s presence in Soweto? Leadership?
Despite this what links were still made? (Joe Gqabi?)
Did the uprising in Soweto stop there?
What was burnt down?
-ANC leader Tambo was later to recognise that the ANC had few active units and no military presence inside Soweto.
-Also communications between the exiled leadership and townships were poor.
-He did however, site that links were made wherever possible, citing activist Joe Gqabi, recently released from Robben Island, who worked with SASM, and was later assassinated by the security forces.
-NO. The uprising in Soweto continued throughout SA. Children went on stike, schools were burnt down, as were shebeens, which activists complained were taking the money which should have been spent in improving family life.
