Topic 2 EQ1: Why did opposition to apartheid increase during 1960-61? Flashcards
What were the main issues at the heart of the increase in opposition?
pass laws and restrictions
PEACEFUL PROTEST
In the 1950s with help of younger members, what did the ANC manage to mobilise?
mobilise parts of the population into political action
PEACEFUL PROTEST
Why did the PAC challenge the ideology and strategy of the Congress Alliance?
- less concerned with developing a disciplined leadership and membership
- they felt mass anger would sustain a mass movement
- more interested in an ill-defined freedom than non-racial democracy
PEACEFUL PROTEST
How did the ANC pre-empt and outdo the ANC? Was this successful?
ANC had a campaign planned on 31 March 1960
Sobukwe announced that the PAC would mount its own mass action on 21 March
largely unsuccessful
PEACEFUL PROTEST
What was Mandela’s response to the PAC’s attempt to outdo the ANC?
he said ‘they sought to sabotage us’
with ‘blatant opportunism’
PEACEFUL PROTEST
How did the PAC choose a similar strategy to the ANC Defiance Campaign?
- offering themselves up for arrest
- hope to cripple police and judiciary through this
PEACEFUL PROTEST
What are the most obvious reasons for the opposition to apartheid increasing?
- results of the ANC and PAC split in 1959
2. ongoing impact of the pass laws
PEACEFUL PROTEST
What were 3 effects of the split of ANC/PAC?
- gov allowed PAC to freely organise as it was keen to split the nationalist movement
- opposition between ANC and PAC
- more rural political movements
PEACEFUL PROTEST
What were 3 on-going impacts of the pass laws?
- constrained abiliting to work and live legally
- used as a form of punishment for urban protests by hostile police
- summary proceedings were unjust
SHARPEVILLE 1960
Give a brief outoine of events of Sharpeville on 20 March 1960.
20 March 1960
- youths moved on to streets
- policeman stabbed and police responded with force (batons and gunfire)
- midnight meeting at football stadium broken up, 2 people died
SHARPEVILLE 1960
Give a brief timeline of events at Sharpeville on 21 March 1960.
21 March 1960
Morning:
1. 5000 gathered outside police station and asked the police to arrest them all
2. ANC thumbs up salute and PAC slogan (the land is ours)
Midday:
3. reinforcements arrived. 200 with rifles and 200 with clubs
4. Nyakane Tsolo refused to order crowd to disperse and was arrested
5. crowd surged forward and police shot
SHARPEVILLE 1960
Who was the police commanded by? What did he admit?
aggressive Lieutenant Colonel Pienaar
he admitted that he should’ve warned the crowd that the police were going to shoot
SHARPEVILLE 1960
What 2 things were the police accused of?
- placing stones on station side of fence to provide evidence that these had been thrown before police opened fire
- kicking and killing wounded people
SHARPEVILLE 1960
What are 2 pieces of conflicting evidence of that day?
- a local gangster shot twice into the air
2. police were uneasy that the police station fence was under pressure
SHARPEVILLE 1960
Why were 4 reasons why Sharpeville was a centre of protest?
- most establish townships as it was centre for coal mining and state-owned iron and steel factories
- numbers swelled when 10,000 people moved in 1958 after Group Areas Act.
- favoured by migrant workers from Lesotho who had even less rights
- a PAC branch was founded in Sharpeville by Tsolo