Ending Apartheid in South Africa - HISTORY

Rivonia Trial

9 were arrested, including Mandela, because police found documents that caused suspicion of guerrilla warfare/sabotage. ANC members, including MK members, were accused of sabotage. He was (they all were) sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island. Now their anti apartheid organizations had no leaders, as they were all isolated in prison.

State of emergency

It was declared by gov't towards the end of apartheid. Chaos. Reasons that the country was falling apart: 1) There was lots of violence, (white vs. black and black vs. black [traitors who were wishing that they could be white, see Necklacing* and BCM*], both wanted power) and if nothing was done, there may have been a civil war, and that couldn't happen! 2) South Africa was surrounded by black ruled counties, so they were being pressured. 3) The economy was failing for two reasons. a) The sanctions from other countries, such as stopping trade, and boycotting their goods. b) More riots/violence lead to the need for more security, like policemen. But there were not enough whites to do these skilled jobs, so they took blacks. They took the blacks out of commercial jobs that were making money for the country, so then these factories/companies went weak, and the economy failed.

FW de Klerk

Last president of South Africa under apartheid. Conservative. He unbanned the anti apartheid groups, (ANC, PAC, ect.) He worked with blacks to help South Africa. He changed South Africa for the better with Mandela, who he released easily from jail. He knew that that he had to make a change in the gov't bc the economy was failing. He ended apartheid laws bc it was practical. He won a noble peace prize with Mandela.

Steve Biko

Leader/creator of Black Consciousness. Killed by prison guards, hit in the head some way, and found dead on the dirty prison floor. He was a strong advocate for the BCM. He believed that black's problem was their "attitude of inferiority," and that they couldn't believe that they were any less than whites. (This was kinda racist, bc it was saying that blacks have to change their mind set to help free themselves, and whites cannot do anything to help.

Nelson Mandela

Led MK, arrested for Rivonia Trial, freed from prison by FW Klerk, they won the noble peace prize together. (**For more, please see the previous note card in the previous set.)

Nationalism

Love of one's nation based on common traits such as; ethnic heritage, food, art, language, religion.

Chief Luthuli

President of ANC, won Nobel Peace prize for non-violent struggle against apartheid, (ironically, this was right before the armed/violent part of the ANC [Mk by Nelson Mandela] started up).

Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

Purpose: To gain truths about what happened during apartheid, and to learn the stories, so they are out in the open to discuss, and so people know about them/about what happened, so that they can move on, and be stronger as an anti apartheid nation. All races. Learned about horrid things. Criminals talking to victims. Leader= Desmond Tutu. He over saw, 1) investigation of violent acts, 2) punishment of criminals, 3) payments to make it "ok" for apartheid victims. The TRC is very controversial.

Townships

Suburban (cities) for blacks to live in. Designated for blacks by apartheid laws. Segregated places for blacks. Outside main city/town. Ex. Johannesburg, Rivonia, Soweto

Due Process

The act of being treated, and punished fairly* in court. It's a set of rules people in court follow to make the process fair. They must go though a set protocol* before convicting someone. Innocent before guilty, you have a right to life, so police must investigate the murder, and you have a right to demand an investigation. You have a right to safety. You have a right to justice **TRC is against this, bc amnesty, people don't get a trial (you aren't going thru protocol), no justice (not completely fair, no revenge).

"Necklacing"

The burning to death after car tires filled with gasoline were places around people's bodies. This was done to black conspirators, or traitors, (by anti apartheid ppl), who had joined the police trying to "be white w/power" and felt that oppressing blacks was okay.

Amnesty

The official pardon/forgiveness of one who has been convicted of political offenses. They "Amnesty Clause" in the TRC was a document saying that if you confessed to the whole truth of your crime (that you committed during apartheid), you were forgiven, and wouldn't go to jail. Your acton would still be recored, but you wouldn't be punished. They did this to try to get stories of what happened out of people. This is against due process*, because people are not paying for their crimes, (jail time, fines, ect.) and some argue that this isn't fair to the victims, and that they should be punished for what the've done.

Reconciliation

The restoration (returning to) of friendly relations. Enemies making amends, healing, in harmony.

Augie de Koker

White Afrikaner in the story "My Traitor's Heart," but not anyone out of the ordinary, rich, violent, murderous, loved to drink and fight, was cruel, held a BBQ with his young wife for his friends, tortured, beat, and jumped on Dennis to death while he was drunk, racist, murdered Dennis trying to "teach him a lesson." The judge in the court case said that Dennis "provoked" his own torture/murder, and Augie was drunk, so Augie was ONLY guilty of "aggravated assault," and got ONLY 7 years in jail, which was incredibly unjust (catering toward whites,) as on the same day, an ANC member got 10 years in jail because the ANC was banned, when Augie killed someone!

Winnie Mandela

Wife of Nelson Mandela. South African gov't tried to make people forget Mandela when he was in jail, and it was illegal to publish stuff about him/to talk about him. Winnie did these things, to protest this, and to keep his spirit alive. She promoted him, and was jailed for this.

Kaffir

A derogatory term for a black person, like "negro," or "Bantu."

Braaveleis

A traditional open air BBQ for whites, representing white Afrikaner superiority, (almost like party). There's a fire to grill things (where they would sometimes burn blacks and cook their food over them), swimming, drinking, food, and a blue sky. Showed the fun, easy, "sunny" life whites had under apartheid. Symbol of Afrikaner nationalism, and showed their South African pride and tradition. Important to white Afrikaner culture and history.

Banning

ANC and PAC were banned/outlawed. "Nelson Mandela's" name was banned/outlawed. (FW de Klerk unbanned these groups and Mandela). Photo of Soweto was banned. This all went against freedom of speech. People couldn't peacefully/passively resist. People couldn't voice their opinions/fight for equality under the law.

Sabotage Act

Allowed gov't to arrest anyone who they thought endangered the safety of south Africa. This was passed in response to violent Africans/their sabotages.

Poqo

Armed wing of PAC, violent, "pure," "independent," did random/scary/violent attacks, used guerrilla warfare aka military ways for unusual attacks, murdered people/chopped them up, not super organized, targeted/hurt whites and *blacks who were for apartheid=indiscriminate violence.

Spear of the Nation/MK

Armed wing of the ANC, lead by Nelson Mandela, well planned/highly trained attacks, used sabotage on symbols of white oppression (offices, buildings, jails, etc.), promoted "No Loss of Life," bombings (of buildings), headquarters were in Rivonia (see Rivonia Trial).

Black Conscious Movement (BCM)

Awareness of one's oppression based on their blackness, and to reclaim one's identity as black, and be proud of it! "Real blacks"= people who own it, who embrace being black, who love it, who are not ashamed of it, and people who fight the system. Black is a mindset, act black, own it! The movement was anti "non-whites." They didn't accept help from whites because blacks/coloreds could do it (get equality) themselves! They strongly believed that "God made us black for a reason, and that it wasn't a mistake, and that we aren't bad." (the organization was banned)

Sanctions

Britain and USA did this to South Africa bc of apartheid. This was a way to punish other countries (internationally). It was a tool to use. They would punish them by stopping trading with them for example, or boycotting their goods, which would hurt them economically. *These sanctions actually lead to the downfall of the South African Economy. Sanctions are put into place if the country makes actions (apartheid) that are disapproved of by that county.

PW Botha

Former Prime Minister of South Africa. Former President of South Africa (in the 1980s). He kept racist laws/apartheid. After apartheid, he refused to apologize for what he had done. The worst violence against blacks during the whole apartheid period happened under him, (when he was President).

Desmond Tutu

Head of the Truth Commission, won Nobel peace prize, Archbishop (which is a leadership position in Christianity).

Non-white

If you are black, but are trying to be the same as whites (ex. becoming a policeman), and would be happy to be white. Those who aren't owning their own black ethnicity, and wish to be white for their benefits and "easy" life. If you did things like called whites "baas," you were a non-white, bc you were letting them be dominant, and were "ok-ing it." You were participating in the corrupt system (ex. a black policeman oppressing blacks).

Soweto

In Johannesberg, peaceful protest by 10,000 students*, protesting learning in Afrikaners, (as this was the language of their oppressors,) it was a result of the BCM (black ppl decided to change their mindset of being inferior, and step up for themselves). They also protested their lack of materials in school. The gov't/police killed children, which made the public super angry, bc the kids* were hurt! Now, people hate the gov't. They are "awakened" by this horrible act, and realize that, "wow, maybe our gov't is actually really bad ! (This is the result of the protest.) Also as a result of this protest, teens left South Africa to get trained to fight.

90 Day Act

In response to violent Africans, it allowed gov't to imprison people, even if they had not had a trial, and even if there were no official changes on them. They imprisoned them for a max of 90 days. But then the gov't would let them go for a little bit, and just imprison them again for another 90 days. Prisoners would have no access to a lawyer, or to their families.