Nelson Mandela, the Anti-Apartheid Struggle and Us
A review of the book Project Drawdown – describing the top 100 solutions to fight climate change – states that educating girls worldwide can help drastically in fighting climate change. This solution was listed as the sixth most important approach out of 100. Reasons for why this is the case include the fact that educated girls have fewer children of their own as well as becoming more environmentally friendly “stewards and managers of food, soil, trees, and water” around them. Treating girls on par with boys and funding universal education (primary and secondary school) was described as an investment of incalculable return on investment. Achieving gender equality in education and other areas is listed as one of the 17 sustainable development goals to achieve by 2030. Looking into the past for successful struggles for equality is important as we must apply learns from these struggles to achieve future objectives. A recent memorable victory was the one achieved by Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters in South Africa fighting the racist apartheid regime culminating in the first general election in South Africa’s history in 1994 in which the black skin majority was allowed to vote.
The Anti-Apartheid Regime
Mandela’s life up till his election victory in 1994 is described in his autobiography entitled “Long Walk to Freedom”. The Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) has also covered the South Africa freedom struggle in an exhibit called “Mandela: Struggle for Freedom”. Apartheid, which means apartness, was a policy introduced by the National Party of South Africa after its victory in the 1948 election which codified into law policies of discrimination against non-white skinned individuals. The National Party, which supported Nazi Germany during World War II, put in place a white supremacy system Mandela describes as “diabolical in its detail, inescapable in its reach, and overwhelming in its power” (from autobiography, page: 111). The National Party, which stayed in power until apartheid was taken down in the early 1990s passed oppressive laws covering various aspects of day to day life. A few examples of the laws are described below:
* Racial Classification for Discrimination – The Population Registration Act of 1950 classified citizens into racial groups such as Whites, Blacks, and Coloureds (i.e. mixed racial origins) for the purposes of discrimination
* Reduced Quality of Education – the Bantu Education Act of 1953 was described by the minister of Bantu Education at the time as follows: “There is no place for the Bantu in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour”. This approach was meant to train blacks to be menial workers in subordination to the whites
* Dispossession of Land – the Group Areas Act of 1950 required that members of a racial community could only own, occupy and trade in particular areas assigned to that community. Also if whites wanted the land from a different community they could kick the current inhabitants out and occupy that area. This resulted in forced evictions of black communities.
* Deprivation of Citizenship – The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 intended to divide blacks into their own ethnic homelands and deprive them of South African citizenship. Thirteen percent of the land was to be allocated to about 75% of the population
How It Was Fought By Mandela and Other Freedom Fighters
Mandela and other South African freedom fighters fought for equality in all walks of life including most importantly the right for all citizens regardless of skin colour to be able to vote and choose one’s leaders. The African National Congress (ANC) of which Mandela was a senior leader in the 1950s fought apartheid using non-violent strategies described by Mandela as consisting of “speeches, deputations, threats, marches, strikes, stay-aways, voluntary imprisonment” but found out that the apartheid regime responded to these tactics with “naked force” and violence. As such in 1961 and at the pushing of Mandela the ANC and other affiliated anti-apartheid organizations approved the formation of an organization called Umkhonto we Sizwe (or Spear of the Nation) devoted to fighting apartheid through armed struggle. This organization initially lead by Mandela engaged in sabotage and guerilla warfare acts and sought to limit the loss of civilian lives. The apartheid government discovered the founders of the organization and in 1964 had them (including Mandela) sentenced to life in prison. Mandela, who ended up being in prison for 27 years, fought apartheid in prison by using the law to fight for prisoners, talking to prison guards about equality and the goals of the liberation movement, resisting government initiatives which allowed him to be free from prison but without freedom for his people, and in the final few years negotiating with apartheid government representatives on establishing a new South Africa with equal rights for all. He was released in 1990 and succeeded with other freedom fighters in getting the National Party government to approve South Africa’s first democratic elections which was held in 1994. A quote from Mandela in his autobiography says “A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely I am not free when my freedom is taken from me.”
Lessons for Future Struggles
Existing equality struggles can learn from Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. The victory against apartheid was one that brought people together in a spirit of equality instead of dividing the country once again along racial lines. The struggle showed how any historical notions justifying inequality can be fought over time for the removal of discriminatory practices regardless of how ingrained the justifications of inequality may be. The history of South Africa shows how taking away opportunities such as having quality education can result in an intensification of the struggles for equality. Mandela ends his autobiography by saying of the struggle that “perhaps it requires such depth of oppression to create such heights of character” referring to those who fought in the struggle. Consider reading Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk To Freedom”.
