Defiance Campaign

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The Defiance Campaign (official name: Defiance Campaign against unjust laws , German for example: "Disregard campaign against unfair laws" or "Defiance campaign") was an act of civil disobedience by opposition groups against apartheid in South Africa in 1952 and 1953.

history

In 1948 the National Party had won the elections for the white population and subsequently increased racial segregation through numerous new laws. Non-white South Africans saw their rights severely restricted. Opposition groups responded with protests and boycotts . From December 15 to 17, 1951, delegations from the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Indian Congress met in Bloemfontein and adopted a plan to carry out the Defiance Campaign. In it they demanded equal rights for all South Africans, regardless of skin color, so that South Africa would be spared social chaos and tyranny . It was pointed out that the campaign was not directed against the white South Africans, but against the unfair laws that disadvantaged large parts of the population. The aim is to restore human dignity, equality and freedom for all South Africans. At the end of December, the Franchise Action Council (FRAC), a representation of the Coloreds, was accepted into the alliance . Some whites also took part in the actions. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's non-violent protest actions in India served as a model . The later President Nelson Mandela organized the campaign as volunteer-in-chief .

On April 6, 1952, the 300th anniversary of the arrival of white settlers in South Africa, demonstrations were held in support of the Defiance Campaign, which began on June 26 that year. The participants in the campaign deliberately violated apartheid laws, such as the ban on the use of facilities for whites and the obligation to wear passports . The idea was to get arrested for breaking the law, thereby overcrowding the prisons and crippling the judiciary.

The unexpectedly large number of nonviolent activities of civil disobedience in the course of this campaign put the South African government in a politically and tactically difficult situation, since it was very difficult to take action against civilians without the potential for violence by police means. Although thousands of actors had already been arrested, the campaign did not wane. This deprived the government of any further public initiative. As a result, she sought favorable opportunities for police attacks. According to Albert John Luthuli , there were uprisings in Port Elizabeth (October 19) and Kimberley (November 3) by youth groups initiated by Agents Provocateurs . The government used these events to equate them with the Defiance Campaign. Your organizers called for a judicial investigation into these incidents. Attorney General Charles Robberts Swart replied that “there is only one thing lawbreakers understand and that is the hard grip of the police.” If he cannot “suppress violence through violence, he does not want to be attorney general. ... A legal commission would achieve nothing, except to provide agitators with a platform. ”Swart took the situation as an opportunity to enforce tightening legislation in parliament, which he had already announced in August. This included the Criminal Sentences Amendment Act ( Act No. 33/1952 ), which was used as a sentence and a. Whipping and imprisonment provided. Additional laws followed in response to the Defiance Campaign in 1953.

About 8,500 players in the Defiance Campaign were arrested, among them Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Yusuf Dadoo that the under Suppression of Communism Act of treason were accused. Albert John Luthuli, the then ANC chairman, was banned . In January 1953 the campaign was officially ended. The most senior defendants received suspended sentences. In April of the same year, the Criminal Law Amendment Act ( Act No. 8/1953 ) and the Public Safety Act ( Act No. 3/1953 ) became legally binding, which were intended to prevent similar actions in the future, for example by making it easier to declare a state of emergency .

The Defiance Campaign was the first nationwide organized nonviolent action against the apartheid system.

consequences

The Defiance Campaign increased the membership of the ANC from a few thousand to around 100,000. However, the actions did not result in a change in apartheid laws. Nevertheless, the resistance to apartheid remained largely non-violent for the time being. The following significant actions were the signing of the Freedom Charter in 1955 and the demonstration of around 20,000 women against the passport laws in August 1956.

Nelson Mandela headed the ANC Youth League at the beginning of the protests . He was able to demonstrate his leadership qualities in the campaign and was elected Chairman of the ANC in Transvaal and Vice President of the ANC in 1952 .

literature

  • Stuart A. Kallen: Open the jail doors - We want to enter: The defiance campaign against apartheid laws, South Africa, 1952 (Civil rights struggles around the world). Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis 2010, ISBN 978-0-8225-8969-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Timeline for the Defiance Campaign at sahistory.org.za , accessed December 19, 2011
  2. ↑ a b c Defiance Campaign on the ANC website ( Memento of December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. ^ The ANC from 1948 to 1959 at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed December 19, 2011
  4. ^ A b c SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1951–1952 . Johannesburg [1952], p. 13, footnote
  5. ↑ Albert Luthuli: My country, my life. Christian Kaiser Verlag , Munich 1963, pp. 160–162.
  6. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1951–1952 . Johannesburg [1952], pp. 75-76
  7. ^ A b Padraig O'Malley, Nelson Mandela Center of Memory: 1953. Criminal Law Amendment Act No. 8 . on www.nelsonmandela.org (English)