Alessandro Eichelberger
Strategies of African Apartheid
We have all came across problems that needed to be fixed and all people use strategies to try to solve these problems. But not all strategies will help fix certain problems. Apartheid started in 1948 when the Dutch went to South Africa to claim land for the Netherlands. The African people started to organize non-violent protests in effort to end Apartheid, but the non-violence eventually turned violent. The three best strategies the African people used to end apartheid were violence, civil disobedience, and non-violent direct action.
Strategies of African Apartheid
We have all came across problems that needed to be fixed and all people use strategies to try to solve these problems. But not all strategies will help fix certain problems. Apartheid started in 1948 when the Dutch went to South Africa to claim land for the Netherlands. The African people started to organize non-violent protests in effort to end Apartheid, but the non-violence eventually turned violent. The three best strategies the African people used to end apartheid were violence, civil disobedience, and non-violent direct action.
Violence was the single best strategy that the Africans used in order to try to end apartheid, this is because it forces the opponent to react. The government reacted by arresting the leaders of the biggest African alliance, the congress alliance. Although the groups leaders were gone, the acts of violence continued to happen. Another reason why violence was the best strategy is because it also catches media attention. The media was important in apartheid because when the events were broadcasted it gained world wide support for the African people. This eventually led to the sanction on South Africa cutting its importing and exporting out of the country eventually collapsing their government. One more reason for why violence was the best strategy used is that it is the fastest acting one. Not only did it catch the attention of the media and government, it also did it faster than the other strategies. Protests and not civil disobedience can go on for days without effecting the opponent, but a riot cant go on for too long before it starts to cost the opponent money forcing them to react faster.
Violence was the best strategy that the African people used to end apartheid. Three reasons about why violence was the best strategy are, it catches peoples attention,opponents end up dead or afraid, and it actually changes things for the good .For example, the Soweto uprising played a large role in getting the African people their freedom back. The Anti-Apartheid museum packet says, “Although the uprising was eventually crushed by the police, it had important results. It was the single biggest challenge to the government and the apartheid system.” This quote supports my claim of violence being impactful in the apartheid movement because it corroborates with my claim.
Violence was the best strategy that the African people used to end apartheid. Three reasons about why violence was the best strategy are, it catches peoples attention,opponents end up dead or afraid, and it actually changes things for the good .For example, the Soweto uprising played a large role in getting the African people their freedom back. The Anti-Apartheid museum packet says, “Although the uprising was eventually crushed by the police, it had important results. It was the single biggest challenge to the government and the apartheid system.” This quote supports my claim of violence being impactful in the apartheid movement because it corroborates with my claim.
Non-violent direct action did not work in all cases to end apartheid. An example of non-violent direct action was the women’s resistance. The women’s resistance is when the government wanted to extend the law that African men must carry an ID on them at all times to African women. A large group of women marched to the Union building to drop off their letters of protest. But unfortunately the resistance was not successful. This is because what they did was not impactful enough, they needed to do something that would catch the government's attention and handing in letters did not work. This is an example of when the African people should have used a different strategy or use the same strategy in a different way.
Civil disobedience did help to the cause of ending apartheid in Africa. This is because it was used in many important events . One example of civil disobedience being used was the march to the Sharpeville, also known as the Sharpeville Massacre. On March 21, 1960, a group of about 19,000 black protesters marched to the Sharpeville police station to hand back their required IDs. Instead of the police just arresting the protesters, they instead started to fire into the crowd. The Sharpeville Massacre was the turning point of the non-violent actions the African people took to end apartheid. This is because after the massacre is when the ANC decided they would use a new strategy to try to end apartheid which was, violence.
All of the strategies have similar qualities but some worked better than others. Non-violent direct action and civil disobedience are similar because they both have to do with targeting one specific problem. They also both use non-violent action. This is because the civil disobedience almost always starts with a march or a protest, for example the Sharpeville Massacre. Both strategies have to have a pretty large support group to actually have an impact. Civil disobedience is like violence because both of them you intentionally break rules to get the attention of your opponent.
Violence was the most impact strategy that was used in the fight to end Apartheid. Civil disobedience was also a strategy used to help to end apartheid but it was not as successful as violence. Non-violent direct action was the least impactful strategy used to end apartheid. There has been many acts strategies people have tried to used to try and solve a problem. On the news almost everyday they are talking about protests and riots all over the world.