How the Rebels in South Africa Overthrew Apartheid
1. The Rebels Handbook By: Puifai, Seo Lim, Juulia Note: All of the examples are from South Africa. There was a rebel in South Africa that succeeded so we used it as a model.
2. Step 1: Form an organization You should form an organization to have more power to overthrow your enemies. Example: The ANC: ANC stands for African National Congress. This group was created in south Africa on January 18, 1912. It started when a group of Africans, colored, and Indians came together for a meeting in Bloemfontein. The first original name of the group was South African Native National Congress. It was changed to African National Congress in 1923. The ANC were trying to improve the status of non-whites. In 1940, the president of the ANC was Alfred Xuma. He recruited other young members, including Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu. The ANC launched a campaign against apartheid. They wanted everyone in Africa to be treated equally and all live together in peace. There were people who and wanted Africa to belong to only blacks. They formed a rival organization called the PAC (Pan African Congress). The results form creating the groups was the Sharpeville Massacre when they were protesting against apartheid. The PAC: The PAC stands for Pan AfricanistCongress. It was formed by a group of ANC members with a view towards a more africanist approach. While the ANC was made up of different race groups, the PAC consisted of native south africans who thought that only blacks should have the power. The PAC made up policies that were contrary to the ‘multi-racial’ policies of the ANC. The PAC organized a demonstration against pass books on 21 March 1960. One of the protests was held in the township of Sharpenville, where 69 people were killed by the police. More than 18 000 people were arrested, and both ANC and PAC were banned.
3. Step 2: Choose a leader(The leader should have charisma and good social skills that could work when negotiating with other people. He/she also should be willing to sacrifice , for there shall be many challenges and obstacles that he /she shall meet.) Example of a good leader is Nelson Mandela Before becoming the president of South Africa,Nelson Mandelawas an anti-apartheid activist and the leader of the ANC’s armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela served 28 years in prison because the South African courts convicted him on charges of sabotage as well as other crimes committed while he led the movement against apartheid. Mandela met Walter Sisulu in 1960 in Johannesburg when he took classes of law. That's how they met. Sisuluwas a member of ANC, and he thought that Mandela was the right person to be the leader of ANC. Mandela had many great ideas on how to end apartheid. Challenges that a leader could meet: Nelson Mandela was married and had children, but he was so committed to changing the government that he divorced. Nelson Mandela was arrested for going between countries without a passport, and was tried for sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government. He spent the next 28 years in prison on RobbenIsland. Nelson Mandela was offered freedom if he would stop his violent actions, but he refused this offer. During his time in jail he had secret talks with South Africa’s president P.W. Botha, and his successor F.W. DeKlerk. As a result, he was freed in 1990. *Another example can be Bishop Tutu. He didn’t lead the ANC, but he played a lot of part persuading other people and the other parts of the world to stop Apartheid. Also, he tried to keep things peacefully.
4. Step 3: Find people who agree with you and let them join your group You must realize that there could be risks, even though you are trying to change things to be better. If you work alone, the more risks you might have. Work as a team and try to get other people to join you. That way, people would respect your opinions better because many people actually agree to it. Also, if there are many people who are agreeing to your opinion, then it would be harder to stop what you want to do. Find people who have the same idea as you and the rest of your group. example: MK: The full name for MK is Umkhonto we Sizwe. It was the military wing for the ANC. MK first attacked the government on December 16, 1961. It was a guerrilla attack. It was banned because it was classified as a South African and US terrorist organization. It was the military wing for the ANC but it was a separate group from the ANC. They did it this way so that if the government wants to shut down the MK they still can’t shut down the ANC. The leaders were Nelson Mandela and some other people. They thought that the protesting was not working so they attacked buildings or other things that belonged to the government. The leaders wanted to include not only blacks and colored but also whites who agreed with them. Warning! There are risks(such as being caught and sent to jail): In the Apartheid government in South Africa people were caught and sent to prison for treason They were charged with “high treason and a countrywide conspiracy to use violence to overthrow the present government and replace it with a communist state” The punishment for high treason was death. On 5 December 1956 the police arrested 144 people in raids across south Africa. The people who were famous were also arrested including Chief Albert Luthuli (president of ANC and Nelson Mandela. In his biography, Nelson Mandela suggests that the Treason Trial verdict pushed the South African government into a new level of conflict with anti-Apartheid organizations: "During the Treason Trial, there were no examples of individuals being isolated, beaten and tortured in order to elicit information. All of those things became commonplace shortly thereafter."
5. Step 4: Make a demonstration that can capture world wide attention To make a demonstration and to make worldwide news. Capture people’s attention in the world. But without violence so that people would not get hurt. You have to Grab the news’ attention. You have to do something big, like a stunt. Example: Sharpeville Massacre On 21 March 1960, South African Police opened fire on approximately 300 demonstrators caused 69 black Africans killed and at least 180 injured (there claims to be as many as 300). The demonstrators were protesting against the pass laws. This occurred at the township of Sharpeville. The Sharpeville event became known as the start of armed resistance in South Africa. It was peaceful before the police shot the people. The South African soldiers shot protesters who were unarmed and were protesting against apartheid laws. This happened in Sharpeville 1960. Soweto Soweto is a South Western township. It is a black township outside of Johannesburg. It was the biggest township in 1976. Many of the students Boycotted exams and didn’t go to school so that they could go and protest instead. Black secondary school students started burning down the government building, destroyed cars but didn’t work because the South Afrikaner police shot them. This was also a violent act from both the group of students and the police. TIP: Sharpeville, Soweto (don’t use violence like them) They got attention but people died and got hurt, so do the good part by getting attention but don’t do the bad thing by using violence.
6. Step 5: Persuade other countries to help you Sanctions(when you persuade other countries, it could be easier to overthrow your enemies because you gain support!) Many countries used sanctions against South Africa to help end apartheid. The sanctions cost South Africa millions of pounds over the next few years. Also black unemployment in the townships increased, which helped the ANC to recruit new members. However sanctions did not bring sudden end to apartheid. This was partly because the sanctions did not cover everything and partly because too many companies found ways round the laws and kept on trading with South Africa.
7. Step 6: Include your enemies Include your enemies. Don’t exclude them because if you do, it will start all over again only the opposite way. It will raise resentment, too. When becoming the president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela chose a white woman to be his assistant. He also had white bodyguards, who at first were against Mandela but later started to respect him when he treated them well. Nelson Mandela wanted to include his enemies, not exclude them. Otherwise it would have been apartheid all over again.
8. Conclusion! We have learnt how the rebel in South Africa had succeeded. We saw the six steps necessary when preparing a rebel. We figured out how some things worked out, and some things did not. We figured out the risks and the dangers during the processes. Now, you can prepare a rebel yourself!