South African Students' Organization

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The South African Students' Organization ( SASO for short ; about "South African Student Organization") was an organization of black students in South Africa . It belonged to the Black Consciousness Movement and existed from 1968 to 1977.

history

prehistory

In the 1960s, many South African students were organized in the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), founded in 1924 , which opposed apartheid but did not represent the interests of black students effectively.

In 1967, the University Christian Movement (UCM) was founded, a forerunner of the SASO under the umbrella of the Anglican Church and its Archbishop Robert Selby Taylor . Representatives of the Methodist , Roman Catholic and Presbyterian Churches as well as the Congregationalists were also involved in the establishment. It was created in Grahamstown in July 1967 after the non-white students were discriminated against at a NUSAS convention. Nyameko Barney Pityana was one of the founders . Medical student and student leader Steve Biko of the University of Natal was also a member of the UCM. After just one year, UCM had 30 branches. In July 1968, the second congress was held in Stutterheim . The basis was the liberation theology and the works of the Brazilian pedagogue Paolo Freire and the American James H. Cone , the founder of black theology.

With the Universities Amendment Act ( Act No. 24 of 1968 ), the government began a comprehensive reform of higher education of “non-white” educational institutions. The ordinances required for this were issued in 1970 as Government Notices and concerned the University College of the Western Cape , University College of Fort Hare , University College of the North and the University College of Zululand . In the course of this development, other student organizations emerged.

Foundation and goals

Biko left the second meeting of the UCM prematurely because he saw the UCM as being dominated by whites and founded the South African Students' Organization in Mariannhill , Natal, with 30 student leaders . In July 1969, the first SASO conference was held at the University College of the North near Pietersburg . Biko was elected President, Pityana General Secretary. Initially, the SASO was moderate, taking into account different currents. Together with a radicalization in the sense of the Black Consciousness Movement, the SASO gained in importance at many universities and colleges. The SASO vehemently opposed the inferior schooling for blacks under the Bantu Education Act . In July 1972, the umbrella organization Black People's Convention (BPC) was formed by 28 organizations including SASO. Winnie Kgware became president. The third president of the SASO, Themba Sono, was voted out of office in 1972 because his stance appeared too moderate. So he wanted to accept committees that were based on the "separate development" according to skin color.

State repression

In February 1973 the government banned most of the SASO leadership, including Biko. The subsequently elected chairman Abram Onkgopotse Tiro was killed by a package bomb in 1974 after fleeing to Botswana . He was followed by Mosiuoa Lekota in office. In the same year, despite a ban, the Black Consciousness movement held several peaceful demonstrations in support of the Mozambican liberation organization Frelimo , which was hostile to the South African government. Numerous leaders of the movement were subsequently arrested under the Terrorism Act and the Rioutous Assemblies Act . The trial against the SASO Nine, which Lekota was one of, began in 1975; In December 1976 the nine defendants were sentenced to six and five years in prison for “terrorism”, although they had not committed any acts of violence. The explanatory memorandum stated that through the expression of thoughts, ideas and desires for liberation - "by expressing thoughts, ideas and wishes for liberation" - they had committed terrorism. The SASO was listed under the Affected Organization Act of 1974 as an “affected organization” and was no longer allowed to accept money from abroad.

In 1976 the SASO supported the school and student uprising in Soweto . As a result, the leaders were subject to government restrictions and a ban. Biko was arrested on August 18, 1977 and finally killed by police on September 12. On October 19th, the SASO and all other organizations of the Black Consciousness Movement were declared illegal. With that, SASO also ceased to exist.

aftermath

In 1978 the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO) was founded, which wanted to continue the policy of the Black Consciousness Movement. In 1979 the Azanian Students' Organization was established as the successor to SASO , from 1986 the South African National Students' Congress (SANSCO), which merged with NUSAS in 1991 to form the South African Students' Congress (SASCO).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c University Christian Movement at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed October 20, 2014.
  2. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1968 . Johannesburg 1969, p. 261
  3. ^ Robert Ross: A Concise History of South Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-72026-7 , p. 151. Digitized
  4. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1969 . Johannesburg 1970, pp. 225-226
  5. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1970 . Johannesburg 1971, pp. 244, 248
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on July 25, 2015
  7. ↑ a b Students politics: SASO till SANSCO at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on July 25, 2015
  8. ↑ Portrait at blackpast.org (English), accessed on June 22, 2015
  9. ↑ Portrait of the BPC at nelsonmandela.org (English), accessed on October 22, 2014.