Apartheid

We explain what apartheid was, its ideology, causes and consequences. Also, how was the resistance that opposed him and managed to defeat him.

What was the apartheid?

He apartheid was a system of racial segregation that was installed in South Africa during the 20th century. Through this system, the white minority population maintained political, economic and social privileges, and the rights and freedoms of the rest of the population were denied.

Since 1948, the Afrikaner National Party took over the South African government and established different laws that deepened the gap between whites, blacks and other races who inhabited the country. This party prohibited marriage and sexual relations between people of different races, established their geographical separation of housing and work, and divided the use of public services, such as transportation or access to hospitals.

After long decades of resistance and in the context of a political-economic crisis, in 1990 discriminatory laws began to be abolished. Nelson Mandela and other opposition leaders were released from prison and the political transition to a multiracial democracy began.

Historical context of apartheid

Towards the end of the 19th century, different British and Dutch colonial states existed in the South African region. With the “Anglo-Boer Wars” (1880-1881 and 1899-1901), the British Empire and the settlers from the Netherlands, also called afrikanersthey disputed the political and economic control of the area.

In 1886, gold mines were discovered in the Witwatersrand mountain ranges. This led to businessmen Randlordswho were dedicated to the diamond industry, invested in the development of a mining industry in the region. Immigrants from all over Africa and Asia began arriving to work as gold diggers, miners, gold diggers or shopkeepers.

The immigrant labor made it possible to lower the production costs of the mining industry, which is why settlement in gold production areas was stimulated. On the other hand, Until then, the majority of the local black population was dedicated to small agriculture.

He apartheid as ideology

He apartheid It began as a South African racist ideology, common among white Afrikaner settlers of Dutch origin, according to which the white race should guide other racial groups in order to live in a peaceful and civilized way. believed that the evolution and development of the country depended on the races remaining separate, fulfilling different functions and ordered with differential access to resources, goods and rights.

This South African ideology does not have its own body of texts, but We can locate its origin in the racist theories of the mid-19th century according to which the black and yellow races (in reference to people of oriental origin) are inferior varieties to the white race, within the human species.

Some exponents of racism of the time were:

• Joseph Gobineau. with his Essay on the inequality of human races (1855) classified the races.
• Karl Vogt. Through man's readings (1864), linked the black race with the apes.
• Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). He maintained in different works that the primitive races (the non-white races) were in an infantile stage of evolution and had to be supervised by the superior races (the white race).

First segregation or “mini-apartheid”

Towards the end of the 19th century, the first policies to segregate the population appeared In Johannesburg, for example, residential areas were built for white people of greater means, such as Randlords and other investors in the mining industry, and “slums” in which the rest of the population lived.

Segregation policies were an attempt to stop miscegenation, which was a characteristic of popular neighborhoods. Later, these policies were institutionalized in the apartheid.

In 1910, the different states of the region (Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State) signed the Act of Union and were associated under the “Union of South Africa”. Although it was administered by the British Empire, the Dutch Afrikaners had great influence and political power in the new country. prevented blacks from obtaining the right to vote, access to public administration and seats in Parliament.

At that time, the country's population was made up of 67.7% black, 21% white, 8.8% mixed race and 2.5% Asian.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the South African government, influenced by Afrikaaner ideology, imposed legal regulations that, as a whole, are known today as “mini-apartheid”:

• Land Law (1913):
  This law forced black residents (who represented 67.7% of the population) to live on “reservations,” which made up 8.7% of the country's land. Additionally, the law prohibited them from renting agricultural land, which prevented them from working as sharecroppers, farmers, or farmers. Thus, the whites legally obtained all of the fertile lands and, in turn, generated a large amount of unemployed labor.
• Natives/Urban Areas Law (1923):
  With this legislation, the foundations were laid for residential and geographic segregation. The city of Johannesburg was reorganized through forced removals of entire neighborhoods and municipal authorities across the country were given the power to establish separate localities for whites, blacks and mixed race.

With these laws, the Afrikaner party sought to control the movements of the non-white population and their access to the resources they considered essential.

Institutionalization of apartheid

In 1948, the National Party led by Daniel F. Malan assumed power from the Afrikaner core, who expressed during his campaign the need to deepen racial segregation to enhance the country's economic development. Since then, different laws have been passed that increasingly limited the freedoms and rights of the entire non-white population. We can group these laws into the following groups:

• Civil segregation laws:

Mixed Marriage Prohibition Law (1949), Immorality Law (1950), Population Registration Law (1950).

Through these regulations, sexual and marital relations between people of different races were prohibited. The legal classification of people was carried out according to skin color and blood ancestry.

• Spatial segregation laws:

Area Grouping Act (1950), Natives (Additions and Amendments) Act (1952, 1956), Separate Public Services Act (1953), Native Relocation Act (1954).

Residence spaces, transit areas and access to public services were delimited for each ethnic group. Furthermore, discrimination established privilege for the white population, by specifying that it was not necessary to equate the quality of the facilities or spaces reserved for each group.

Urban areas were reserved for the white population. The entire non-white population had to carry a “pass” that specified the authorized transit areas and which included temporary authorization to enter white areas.

• Labor segregation laws:

Native Labor Act (1953), Black Labor Amendment Act (1954).

The participation of black people in labor strikes was prohibited and regulatory guidelines for labor conflicts with the black population were established.

• Political segregation laws:

Suppression of Communism Law (1951), Bantu Self-Government Promotion Law (1959), Bantu Urban Mayors Law (1960), Anti-Terrorism Law (1967).

Communist parties and expressions were prohibited. Furthermore, with this law, any action of protest and opposition to the regime was defined as a communist expression and, therefore, repressed. The South African government could also arrest anyone it considered politically dangerous. The participation of black representatives in Parliament was also eliminated.

The Self-Government Law established the creation of ten “bantustans” as new nations within the country, where each assigned person had to settle. This subdivision legitimized the idea that the black population had no citizenship rights for the South African government.

• Educational and social segregation laws:

Bantu Education Act (1953), University Education Extension Law (1959).

Special educational institutions and programs were created “for the nature and needs of black people,” with the objective of preparing black people to accept subordination to the segregation system and to work in job areas intended for the black population. Blacks were prohibited from entering universities reserved for whites.

Resistance to apartheid

The resistance to apartheid It was continuous and took different forms, until it managed, at the end of the 20th century, to delegitimize and overthrow the ideology and the bases of power that maintained it as a government.

From the first racist political and normative expressions, resistance and protests were generated among the black population. In 1912 the South African National Native Congress was founded which later became the African National Congress (ANC) and led the fight against segregationist laws. During the first decades, the resistance was peaceful and was focused on protest actions and public defiance of racist measures.

With the rise of the Afrikaner National Party to power and the worsening of the living conditions of the non-white population, anti-racist movements became widespread.

In 1955, different political parties and civil groups signed the Freedom Charter a declaration of the basic principles and demands of the people: a non-racist, unified and democratic South Africa. The government accused the signatories of being communists and arrested black political leaders.

In 1960, a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville was suppressed and 69 black people were killed by police. The government banned the ANC and other political organizations.

From then on, resistance movements organized clandestinely and began to use violence as a method of protest. By 1963, the conflict continued to escalate and the government declared a “State of Emergency.” which enabled the arrest of people without a court order: 18,000 black leaders and protesters were arrested, including Nelson Mandela, leader of the ANC.

The international arena began to criticize and sanction South Africa's racist policies. The United Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration against the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in 1963. However, With the context of the Cold War, international actions against the apartheid were limited. The presence of communist nuclei in the south of the continent, supported by the USSR and Cuba, meant that for decades the United States supported the government of the Afrikaner National Party.

During the 1970s, armed conflicts in the country intensified; Protests multiplied and the government's repressive response increased. In 1976, the Soweto massacre took the lives of 566 black people among them boys and girls, at the hands of the police.

defeat of apartheid

The dismemberment of the communist bloc at the end of the 1980s changed the international panorama. Western powers, such as the United States, stopped supporting the government of the apartheid and began to implement measures of political and economic isolation in South Africa. Some Western states banned their companies from doing business in the country and economic sanctions were established by the UN.

The different international sports committees prohibited South African participation as long as the racist policies were not lifted; The Olympic Games, the FIA, FIFA, the Davis Cup and Rugby World excluded the country from their competitions.

The South African economy entered a crisis that was aggravated by the drop in the international price of gold. In 1985, the country declared a state of emergency and the white Afrikaner politicians of the National Party realized that the apartheid It was becoming an unsustainable system.

President Pieter W. Botha initiated some measures to curb the discontent of the black population. But it was just In 1989, under President Frederik Le Klerk, the National Party began the transition to a desegregated South Africa.

In 1990, the process of eliminating discriminatory laws began. The activity of the African National Congress was legalized and Various political prisoners were released, including Nelson Mandela. Then, negotiations began with representatives of the different political groups. The following year, all discriminatory laws were repealed and the creation of a new national Constitution was agreed upon.

In 1993, the new Constitution established the fundamental rights of all South Africans without distinction of race and free participation for the entire adult population in the next presidential elections. The following year, Nelson Mandela was elected president.

Causes of apartheid

The system of racial segregation was officially installed in South Africa in the mid-20th century and Afrikaners managed to maintain it for four decades. The main causes of the institutionalization of apartheid were:

• The spread of racist ideas among the Afrikaners, who owned the main means of production in the country.
• The weakening of British control after the formation of South Africa as a unified country.
• The denial of political and electoral rights to the black population when the South African parliament was formed in 1910.
• The growing immigration of workers coming from other African and Asian countries.
• The arrival to power of the National Party in 1948 and its preservation through the repression of resistance groups.

consequences of apartheid

Four decades of racial segregation generated inequality and poverty in South Africa. The main consequences of apartheid were:

• South Africans became a structurally unequal society ; with differential access to rights, resources and basic services.
• Poverty and unemployment even today, continue to be higher among the black population.
• As a result of unequal access to education, only a small proportion of professional workers are black.
• Forced displacement of people broke family and social ties and impoverished the quality of life of millions of people.
• Segregation caused repression, persecution, imprisonment, torture and exile of people of resistance movements.
• The general impoverishment of the population and the impossibility of economic and social mobility among the black population became a national economic crisis.
• International isolation in rejection of apartheid In recent decades, the South African economic crisis has worsened.

important figures of the apartheid

• Daniel F. Malan (1874-1959). He took over as minister from 1948 to 1954 for the National Party and implemented the policies that laid the foundations of the apartheid.
• Johannes G. Strijdom (1893-1958). He was D. Malan's successor as Prime Minister between 1958 and 1958 and continued the institutional development of the apartheid.
• Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-1966). Prime Minister between 1958 and 1966, he was the one who designed several of the racist policies under previous governments, including the segregated educational system.
• Pieter W. Botha (1916-2006). He led the National Party and was president between 1984 and 1989. Under his presidency, negotiations began to abandon the racist system.
• Frederik Le Klerk (1936-2021). Under his tenure as president, between 1989 and 1994, negotiations began for the transition to a united, multiracial South African democracy.

Important figures of the resistance

• Nelson Mandela (1918-2013). He was an activist of the resistance against apartheidleader of the African National Congress, political prisoner between 1962 and 1990 and president of the South African Republic from 1994 to 1999. He was recognized, among other things, for betting on a peaceful transition between the apartheid system and pluriracial democracy. Among other recognitions for his fight for human rights, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
• Steve Biko (1946-1977). He was a militant of Black Consciousness Movement during the sixties and seventies; and an important reference in the fight against apartheid when the ANC went underground and its political leaders were arrested or exiled.
• Joe Slovo (1926-1995). A Communist Party activist linked to the ANC, he created, together with Mandela, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (the “spear of the nation”, in Spanish) as the armed wing of the ANC after the Sharpeville massacre.
• Desmond Tutu (1931-2021). He was a priest and pacifist who advocated for the anti-racist cause throughout his life; and organized protests and strikes constantly. He was recognized for his struggle internationally and in 1994 received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Continue with: Suffrage

References:

• Lefort, R. (1986). South Africa: history of a crisis (Vol. 73). 21st century.
• Denegri, G. A. (2015). South Africa: its difficult road to freedom. International Relations.
• Reserve, R. (2004). South Africa: ten years after Apartheid. Reality: Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities(98), 243-252.
• Barraza, HV (2014). THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE IN THE LAST PHASE OF APARTHEID: SOUTH AFRICA, C. 1984-1994. asian and african studies255-300.