Politics & Society
126 records
ArticleMiriam Makeba: Activist on Two Fronts by Connor Kirkpatrick
Miriam Makeba: Activist on Two FrontsAbstract:Miriam Makeba is a Gramy award-winning singer. She is from Johannesburg and dedicated her…
ArticleForced Removals in South Africa
Forced removals refer to the moving of people from their homes against their will. This may not always involve physical threat or force,…
ArticleThe Women’s Charter
Adopted at the Founding Conference of the Federation of South African WomenJohannesburg, 17 April 1954. The Charter expressed the…
ArticleThe turbulent 1950s - Women as defiant activists
In the 1950s the government's increasingly repressive policies began to pose a direct threat to all people of colour, and there was a surge…
ArticleThe 1956 Women’s March in Pretoria
The 1956 Women’s March in Pretoria, South Africa constitutes an especially noteworthy moment in women’s history. On 9 August 1956,…
ArticleHistory of Women’s Struggle in South Africa
Women at the start of the 20th centuryIt is only over the last three or four decades that women's role in the history of South Africa has,…
ArticleSocialism
Socialism is a political and economic ideology aiming to create a society where all members distribute resources and wealth equally. It is…
ArticleVlakplaas and the History of Apartheid's Death Squad
Vlakplaas is the name of an undercover counterinsurgency division of the apartheid police that operated in the 1980s. Vlakplaas is also…
ArticleChanging Perceptions of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is a figure who has undergone many transformations in the eye of the South African public as well as in the global…
ArticleMandela and the South African Communist Party
Mandela and MK The late 1950s saw the first hints of an armed struggle occurring in certain parts of South Africa. Various types of…
ArticleThe Daily Dispatch
Together with the Rand Daily Mail, the Daily Dispatch was one of the loudest mouthpieces for mainstream liberal critique of the Apartheid…
ArticleBureau of State Security (BOSS)
The telling of the history of South African Intelligence Agencies is somewhat hamstrung by the fact that people from these agencies do not…
ArticleThe Black Sash: A History of Transformation
This article was written by Ashley Schumacher and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project During…
ArticleThe Group Areas Act of 1950
The National Party was elected in 1948 on the policy of Apartheid ('separateness'). This 'separateness' put South Africans of different…
ArticleThe Anti-Pass Campaigns 1960
1959-1960: Formation, Sharpeville and Banning For many years there was tension inside the African National Congress (ANC) between those…
Article16 June 1976 - Soweto Uprising
IntroductionThe 16 June 1976 Uprising that began in Soweto and spread countrywide profoundly changed the socio-political landscape in South…
ArticleA History of Abantu-Batho Newspaper 1912-1931
Newspapers or publications by African people played a critical role in giving them an alternative space to articulate their views. The…
ArticleLand: dispossession, resistance and restitution
Introduction The history of white colonial land dispossession began at the Cape with the expansion of the Dutch colonial settlement…
ArticleCuba and the struggle for democracy in South Africa
The revolution in Cuba, culminating in Fidel Castro’s seizure of power on 1 January 1959, was from the beginning based on a non-racial…
ArticleThe Durban strikes and the resurgence of the trade union movement in 1973
When Black workers in Durban embarked on a wave of strikes in January 1973, the government and employers were shocked, and they responded…
The Development of Indian Political Movements in South Africa, 1924 - 1946 by Essop Pahad
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1924-1946 by ESSOP PAHAD D. Phil Thesis, University of Sussex, July…
ArticleIndian South Africans timeline 1900-1909
Indian South Africans timeline 1900-1909 1900 The East London Mayor's Minute for 1899-1900 states that 1,000 refugees from war in the…
ArticleSharpeville Massacre, 21 March 1960
At the annual conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in Durban on 16 December 1959, the President General of the ANC, Chief…
Article1960 - 1994: Armed Struggle and Popular Resistance
1984-1990:- The people armedIntroductionNumerous factors characterised the intensification of the freedom struggle against the National…
ArticleNon-European Unity Movement (NEUM)
This article was written by Baruch Hirson A Short history of the Non-European Unity – An insider's view Where is the Non-European Unity…
ArticleSouth African Communist Party (SACP)
On 30 July 2011, the South African Communist Party (SACP) celebrated its 90th anniversary. Initially known as the Communist Party of South…
ArticleUnited Democratic Front (UDF)
The United Democratic Front (UDF) was an anti-apartheid body that incorporated many anti-apartheid organisations. It was launched in 1983,…
ArticleIndian South Africans
From bondage to freedom - The 160th anniversary of the arrival of Indian workers in South Africa The feature on Indian South Africans…
ArticleDefiance Campaign 1952
The post-1948 period saw the African National Congress (ANC) abandoning its traditional reliance on tactics of moderation such as petitions…
ArticleAfrican nationalism and working-class & popular protests, 1910-1924
General Louis Botha headed the first government of the new Union of South Africa, with General Jan Smuts as his deputy. Their South African…