Sharpeville massacre

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The Sharpeville massacre resulted in the shooting of 69 demonstrators and the injuries of many others who had been discriminated against because of their skin color in the township of Sharpeville in what is now Gauteng Province in South Africa , then the Union of South Africa . The massacre occurred on March 21, 1960 and is considered a turning point in the history of South Africa .

history

prehistory

In 1959, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC, Pan-African Congress) split off from the African National Congress (ANC) because, in its opinion, the ANC did not represent the interests of the black majority in a radical enough way. The PAC tried radical measures to gain more support from black South Africans. When the ANC was planning a protest against the discriminatory passport laws of the apartheid system for March 31, 1960 , the PAC came before it and called for non-violent demonstrations on March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, around 50 kilometers south of Johannesburg , and other places in the area on. According to an announcement by PAC chairman Robert Sobukwe on March 16, 1960, civil disobedience in the style of Mahatma Gandhi was to be practiced and demonstrated without a passport, so that the police had to arrest the demonstrators in accordance with the law.

The day of the massacre

Painting by Godfrey Rubens on the Sharpeville massacre; the picture is on display at the South African consulate in London

Around 10 a.m. on March 21, 1960, between 5,000 and 7,000 black people in Sharpeville went to a police station without passports to be detained, including high-ranking PAC officials. Initially, the area was manned by fewer than 20 officers, later numerous police officers were brought in for reinforcement, so that the number was around 300. The demonstration was largely peaceful, but stones were occasionally thrown towards the police station. South African Air Force fighter jets flew at low altitude over the area. There were no arrests of protesters until then. At around 1:15 p.m., a police officer gave the order to shoot. Submachine guns were used. 69 blacks, including 51 men, eight women and ten children, were shot mostly from behind, and another 180 - according to other sources, more than 300 - demonstrators were injured. Many of the injured were later arrested.

On the same day there were similar demonstrations at police stations in Evaton (north of Vereeniging ) and Vanderbijlpark . There, however, the crowds were dispersed by low-flying planes, batons and tear gas .

consequences

The consequences of the Sharpeville massacre were considerable. Black outrage across the country was so great that strikes and riots broke out. The South African government declared a state of emergency on March 30, 1960 . As a result, 18,000 strikers were arrested. The African National Congress (ANC) and the PAC were declared illegal on April 8, 1960 by the Unlawful Organizations Act . The international protests against the actions of the government authorities were massive. The UN Security Council passed resolution 134 on April 1, 1960 , which strongly condemned the proceedings and called for an end to apartheid. South Africa was threatened with exclusion from the Commonwealth of Nations ; However, the country declared its exit and in 1961, after a vote among the white population, proclaimed the "Republic of South Africa". With the withdrawal of foreign capital following the massacre, the South African economy got into trouble. As a countermeasure, the Blocked Rand was introduced in 1961 , which reduced the exchange rate risk for foreign companies.

After the organizations were banned, the ANC and PAC turned away from the path of nonviolent resistance and founded the underground armed movements Umkhonto we Sizwe and Poqo. Their leaders were arrested or went into exile. It was not until the late 1980s that the government came closer to the ANC, which finally led to the first free elections in South Africa in 1994.

March 21st, 1966, was declared by the United Nations to be " International Day Against Racism ". Since 1979 the " International Weeks Against Racism " have taken place every year at this time . Starting in 1993, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigated injustices committed against blacks and other racially persecuted groups in South Africa. The period the TRC dealt with begins with the Sharpeville massacre. The commission made the government at the time, especially the police minister, jointly responsible for the massacre. On March 21, 1996, then President Nelson Mandela signed the new South African constitution in Sharpeville.

Since 1995 March 21st has been the national day of remembrance in South Africa as " Human Rights Day " .

The Sharpeville Police Station was converted into a local artwork shop in 2010. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the day of the massacre, a Heroes Acre was set up in the Sharpeville cemetery for those who died.

literature

  • Tom Lodge: Sharpeville: An apartheid massacre and its consequences. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0192801852 , online
  • Philip Frankel: An ordinary atrocity: Sharpeville and its massacre. Yale University Press, New Haven 2001, ISBN 978-0300091786 .
  • Peter Parker, Joyce Mokhesi-Parker: In the shadow of Sharpeville: Apartheid and criminal justice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York 1997, ISBN 0333716434 .
  • Humphrey Tyler: Life in the time of Sharpeville: And waywards seeds of a new South Africa. Kwela Books, Roggebaai 2002, ISBN 978-079-5700125 .
  • Ambrose Reeves : Shooting at Sharpeville: Agony of South Africa. Littlehampton Book Services, Durrington 1960, ISBN 0575011491 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sharpeville massacre about.com ( Memento from October 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  2. ^ BBC report on the Sharpeville massacre , accessed on January 4, 2012
  3. ↑ Results of the hearing before the TRC ( Memento of October 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ↑ a b Detailed information on the Sharpeville massacre at about.com, part 2 , accessed on January 3, 2012
  5. ↑ Text at wikisource.org (English), accessed on January 3, 2012
  6. ↑ Fabian Sickenberger in Die Zeit of March 19, 2020, page 33 in the article The shock of Sharpeville : The police shots ... became the turning point in South African history. ... The guns rattle for forty seconds, killing 69 people, injuring at least 180. ... For the first time, the UN Security Council calls for an end to apartheid in a resolution. The regime reacts with harshness and declares a state of emergency. The black opposition movement ANC (African National Congress) and its more radical breakaway PAC (Pan Africanist Congress) are banned; a little later they begin armed resistance. Even the young opposition activist Nelson Mandela now sees no alternative to militant resistance and burns his passport in response to Sharpeville. In retrospect, it became clear: March 21, 1960 was the beginning of the end of the apartheid regime. Today South Africa celebrates this date as Human Rights Day, since 1966 the International Day Against Racism has been celebrated on March 21. (online at epaper zeit.de)
  7. ↑ Results of the hearing before the TRC ( Memento of October 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  8. ^ Republic of South Africa: Public Holidays Act, 1994 . In: Government Gazette of December 7, 1994, No. 16136, online at www.gov.za (Afrikaans, English)
  9. ^ Official website of the Sedibeng municipality , accessed on January 3, 2012.