Sarah Carneson

Sarah Carneson (born June 17, 1916 in Johannesburg as Sahra Rubin , † October 30, 2015 in Cape Town ) was a South African trade unionist and anti- apartheid activist .

Life

Sahra Rubin grew up in an immigrant family in Johannesburg. Her father, Zelic Rubin was from Lithuania and her mother had a Russian family background. The father worked as a tailor and trained black , colored and white apprentices in his workshop . This was unusual at the time and, thanks to the open-mindedness of the parents, brought them into contact with different worlds at an early age.

Her parents are among the founding members of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). When she turned 18, Sahra Rubin joined the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) in 1931 and became a member of the CPSA in 1934. During this time she was involved as a teacher at the CPSA evening school, where the participants learned to read and write.

In addition to this activity, he worked full-time in Johannesburg within the League Against Fascism and War and then at the CPSA. In the late 1930s, she went to Durban , where her union activity began with the National Union of Distributive Workers and at the same time worked as a union secretary for the Tobacco Workers Union . In this phase of life their field of experience and action broadened. She helped develop the Indian Sugar Workers Union , a union of Indian workers in the sugar industry in Natal . At the same time, Sahra Rubin was involved in setting up the CPSA structures in this region. In 1940 she returned to Johannesburg and took a full-time position at the CPSA.

After their wedding to Fred Carneson in 1943 and at the end of the war in 1945, the couple moved to Cape Town with their first daughter. In 1949 Sarah Carneson took up a job as a union secretary for the South African Railways and Harbor Workers' Union , the majority of which were black. The couple was directly affected by this law when the Suppression of Communism Act came into force in 1950. Both were now on the list of "politically suspicious" people and were the target of constant harassment . In 1953 she was given a ban and was forced to end her participation in the railway workers' union and other organizations.

Her husband, Area Secretary of the CPSA and elected Native Representative (German: "Native Representative") in the Cape Provincial Council was arrested several times after 1956 and indicted in the Rivonia trial . Sarah Carneson raises money to support families who were also affected and helped organize strikes and mass demonstrations by the African National Congress (ANC). Finally, she too was jailed for six months in 1960 when a state of emergency was declared in numerous cities across the country on March 30th .

Her husband escaped the persecution and was returned to police custody in 1965, suffering torture and 13 months of solitary confinement before serving several years in prison. During this time, Sarah Carneson was under arrest in her home in Oranjezicht ( Cape Town ) and experienced frequent raids . As a livelihood, she rented out rooms on the property her mother had bought for her. Some guests and their staff came into the focus of the security forces in order to bribe them as spies against Sarah Carneson. In doing so she had to learn how to block her bank account . The house was shot at by strangers, and her son was almost hit.

She was arrested in 1967 for violating house arrest at a New Year's Eve party, and was threatened with a 10-year prison term by Police Security Branch officials . In the National Assembly on February 14, 1967, the Minister of Justice announced the intention of several people to emigrate, including Sarah Carneson. Her appeal for a revision against a suspended sentence of two months under the Suppression of Communism Act because she had attended a meeting contrary to a prohibition order was rejected.

These very difficult living conditions and social isolation prompted Sarah Carneson to emigrate to Great Britain in 1968 , where her younger children were already living with relatives. She found new work in the union and finance department of Morning Star . After Fred Carneson's release on February 24, 1972, he moved to live with his family in London .

In 1991 the couple returned to South Africa and lived in Cape Town again. Here they got involved in local politics for the ANC and the SACP.

Sarah Carneson died at the age of 99.

Personal

Sahra Rubin met her future husband Fred Carneson in Pietermaritzburg in 1936 . Both married after his return from Abyssinia from the war on March 31, 1943. The marriage first had a daughter, Lynn (1943, married Carneson-McGregor). The children John (1950) and Ruth (1952) followed later.

further reading

• Lynn Carneson-McGregor: Red in the Rainbow: the Life and Times of Fred and Sarah Carneson . Zebra Press, Cape Town 2010, ISBN 978-1-77022-085-0
• Ruth Carneson: Girl on the edge: a memoir . Cover2cover (Face2Face), 2014, ISBN 978-0-9946516-2-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} South African History Online : Sarah Carneson . at www.sahistory.org.za (English).
2. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1959-60 . Johannesburg, 1960 p. 62 ff.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Barron: "Obituary: Sarah Carneson, feisty communist harassed and exiled for her beliefs" . Obituary in the Sunday Times of November 8, 2015 at www.timeslive.co.za (English)
4. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1967 . Johannesburg 1968, pp. 48, 51.
5. ^ ^{A b} South African History Online : Fred Carneson . at www.sahistory.org.za (English).
6. ↑ Jisc: bibliographic evidence . (English).
7. ↑ Jisc: bibliographic evidence . (English).
8. ↑ cover2cover.co.za: Ruth Carneson . on www.cover2cover.co.za (English)