Black Sash

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Protest by members of the Black Sash

Black Sash (German: "Black Sash") is a civil rights and non-governmental organization of women in South Africa . It was founded in 1955 as a non-violent movement by “white” women against apartheid in South Africa and campaigned for the rights of “non-whites”.

history

The South African Jean Sinclair (1908–1996) founded the organization during a tea round with five other women from the “white” middle class in Cape Town to oppose the change in suffrage in the Cape Province by the apartheid government in the wake of the restrictions from the Separate Representation of Voters Protest Act . The Coloreds had their right to vote withdrawn. The original name of the organization was Women's Defense of the Constitution League (about: "Women's League in Defense of the Constitution"). They imposed as a sign of mourning a replica of the constitutional text with a black sash ( English black sash ). At the first nationwide meeting in Bloemfontein in April 1956 , the organization adopted the name Black Sash . In 1961 the headquarters were moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg . Membership has been open to women of all skin colors since 1963. Jean Sinclair served as chairman until 1975. Black Sash protested against numerous government laws that discriminated against “non-whites”, such as the passport laws . They held demonstrations and vigils while wearing the black sash. They maintained offices where apartheid victims could get legal advice. As "whites" they turned to their MPs, who had been elected exclusively by "whites", to put pressure on them. Many of the women found themselves exposed to hostility from other “whites”, several were physically assaulted, imprisoned or banned . In 1983 Black Sash was instrumental in founding the End Conscription Campaign (about: " End -the-conscription campaign"), which successfully campaigned for the abolition of conscription .

Nelson Mandela praised Black Sash's work in his first speech after his release from long prison in February 1990:

“I also salute the Black Sash […]. We note with pride that you have acted as the conscience of white South Africa. Even during the darkest days in the history of our struggle you held the flag of liberty high. -

I also pay tribute to the Black Sash [...]. We are proud to note that you have acted as the conscience of white South Africa. Even in the darkest days in the history of our struggle, you held up the flag of freedom. "

- Nelson Mandela, February 1990

An appeal by Black Sash to the parties to the conflict at the time led to the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the mid-1990s , whose work contributed significantly to reconciliation in South Africa.

With the abolition of apartheid in the early 1990s, Black Sash changed its profile to become a human rights organization that is open to all South African women. The four goals are

  1. Informing the population about their rights
  2. Working for a policy that protects and expands these rights
  3. Observe the law and intervene when these rights are at risk, and
  4. Free legal advice that shows those seeking advice how to exercise their rights within the legal system.

Black Sash is headed by a National Director; In 2012 this is Marcella Naidoo. A board of directors controls the work of the organization. The headquarters are back in Cape Town. The motto of the organization is Making Human Rights Real (German: "Let human rights become reality").

Since 1995, the work of the parliament in South Africa has been accompanied by the independent Parliamentary Monitoring Group . With its activities, it promotes the public provision of correct and verifiable information. Black Sash is one of the founding organizations of this institution, which has been contributing to transparency in everyday parliamentary life as an independent non-governmental organization since July 2009 .

The best-known Black Sash members include Helen Zille and Ellen Hellmann (1908–1982).

Publications

The organization published a journal called The Black sash: The Swart serp . The magazine appeared quarterly from 1956 to 1969. Since then it has appeared under the name Sash.

Other members

See also

literature

  • Cherry Michelman: Black Sash of South Africa: Case study in liberalism. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1975, ISBN 0192184121
  • Kathryn Spink: The Black Sash: Beginning of a bridge in South Africa. Methuen Publishing, London 1991, ISBN 0413623807
  • Mirabel Rogers: The Black Sash: The story of the South African Women's Defense of the Constitution League. Rotonews, Johannesburg 1956

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean Sinclair at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on March 15, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Official website: History ( Memento from April 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. ↑ Speech at anc.org.za ( Memento from February 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ^ Website of the Parliamentary Monitoring Group , accessed on December 15, 2015
  5. ↑ Barbara Celarent: Review of: Rooiyard: A Sociological Survey of an Urban Native Slum Yard . In: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 118, No. 1 (July 2012), pp. 274-280
  6. ↑ Entry on www.copac.ac.uk
  7. ↑ Entry at paton.ukzn.ac.za (English), accessed on February 7, 2016
  8. ↑ RIP Rose Zwi. booksandpublishing.com of October 31, 2018 (English), accessed May 8, 2019