[DEBATE] : African National Congress: An Inspiration for Palestinians

[Peter Mahlangu]

African National Congress: An Inspiration for
Palestinians

Bangani Ngeleza and Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic
Intifada, 9 April 2006

On March 28, Rifat Odeh Kassis wrote in his
contribution Fatah Chapter Closed: Creating a
Palestinian National Congress that a different
political body must be build to represent the
Palestinian people everywhere. "A body, which will
reorganise the Paletinian struggle to achieve its
aims." In response we analyse the history of the
struggle for freedom and democracy of the South
African National Congress (ANC) in order to inspire
Palestinians to explore new strategies. The
information available on the website of the ANC has
been of great value in writing this article.1

The ANC is formed in 1912

African kingdoms fought the Dutch (Boer) and British
white settlers over land and cattle for over 230
years. In the 1860's Britain brought large armies with
horses and modern weapons to enforce control over
South Africa. By 1900 Britain had broken the power of
the African kingdoms. In 1910 Britain handed over the
power to the Boer and British settlers. The union of
South Africa was created that only recognised the
rights of white people.

Black South Africans had to find new ways to fight for
their land and their freedom. In 1911, Pixley ka Isaka
Seme called on Africans to forget the differences of
the past and unite together in one national
organisation. He said: "We are one people. these
divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our
woes today."

On 8 January 1912, chiefs, representatives of people's
and church organisations, and other prominent
individuals gathered in Bloemfontein and formed the
African National Congress. The ANC declared its aim to
bring all Africans together as one people to defend
their rights and freedoms.

Between 1912 and 1948 the ANC's approach favoured
dialogue. During this time the leadership of the ANC
believed in the humanity of whites in South Africa.
They believed in the possibility of reaching a just
settlement through persuasion. These beliefs were
rebutted by a racist regime that persisted with its
policies of dispossession. The pursuit of a solution
through dialogue was never abandoned by the ANC, but
it was later supplemented by other strategies directed
at putting pressure on the regime to come to the
negotiating table. Dialogue thus remained the ANC's
first pillar in its liberation struggle.

New energy from the youth

With increasing attacks on the rights of black people
and after the declaration of Apartheid as state
policy, the ANC Youth League, under the leadership of,
amongst others, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and
Oliver Tambo started to agitate within the ANC for a
change in strategy. They saw a need for a more
militant response from the ANC. The Youth League drew
up a Programme of Action2 calling for strikes,
boycotts and defiance. It was adopted by the ANC in
1949, the year after the National party came to power.
The Defiance Campaign was one of the first major
campaigns to resist apartheid that was organised.

With the Defiance Campaign a mass movement of
resistance to apartheid emerged. Apartheid aimed to
separate the different race groups completely through
laws including strict pass laws and forced removals.
"Non-Europeans" walked through "Europeans Only"
entrances and demanded service at "White's Only"
counters of post offices. Africans broke the pass laws
and Indian, Coloured and White "volunteers" entered
African townships without permission. The success of
the Defiance Campaign encouraged further campaigns
against apartheid laws.

The apartheid government tried to stop the Defiance
Campaign by banning its leaders and passing new laws
to prevent public disobedience. However, the campaign
had already made huge gains. It brought closer
co-operation between the ANC and the SA Indian
Congress, increased their membership and led to the
formation of new organisations. All organisations came
together to organise a conference of all the people of
South Africa, which presented people's demands for the
kind of South Africa they wanted. At the Congress of
the People at Kliptown on the 26th June 1955 the
Freedom Charter, which expressed the demands of the
people, was adopted 3

Anti-pass campaigns were taken up in 1960. On the 21st
March people were asked to leave their passes at home
and gather at police stations to be arrested. In
Sharpville the police opened fire on the unarmed and
peaceful crowd, killing 69 and wounding 186. This
brought an end to a decade of peaceful protest. The
ANC and the PAC. Were banned and thousands activists
were arrested.

In 1960 Umkhonto WeSizwe4, the armed wing of the ANC,
was founded. Its main target was attacking symbols of
oppression, and not people. From 1960 - nearly 50
years after the formation of the ANC - until its
integration into the South African National Defence
Force in 1994, armed resistance was the second pillar
of the ANC's liberation struggle.

Mass mobilisation

The two pillars of dialogue and armed resistance have
contributed to the ultimate demise of apartheid, but
by far the most significant pillar was that of mass
mobilisation inside the country, the third pillar
Early ANC campaigns such as the defiance campaign
against unjust laws of the 1950s were informed by the
analysis that it is the masses of the oppressed
themselves who will determine the course of their
liberation. The height of mass mobilisation was the
formation of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) in the
80s. This movement was formed to fill a void that was
left by the banning of political activity and
political formations, including the ANC. The MDM
brought together all formations that were opposed to
apartheid, including trade unions, students'
organisations, women's organisations, NGOs, civic
structures, academic formations, sympathetic business
structures, etc. These were all brought together under
the banner of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Some
of the campaigns that were organised included the
million signature campaign denouncing apartheid in
1984. Two years later, the largest stay away in the
history of South Africa took place. Other actions
included a rent boycott in Soweto and a two day strike
to protest the exclusion of Black people from
parliamentary elections.

These are a few examples of how the MDM maintained an
internal boycott campaign, which was the major spur to
an overwhelming international response that saw the
imposition of a comprehensive embargo against South
Africa.

International pressure and solidarity

With calls for campaigns for international support and
assistance from the rest of the world the fourth
pillar in the struggle was a fact. Already in 1959,
Chief Albert Luthuli, then president of the ANC, asked
the British people to boycott South Africa, stating
that "...non-white South Africans have responded to
attacks on them by sending deputations and submitted
petitions to the authorities... When these approaches
were unsuccessful, they turned to passive resistance
and then boycott"5. From this point onwards, the ANC
sent delegations to address the international
community on the need to isolate the Apartheid regime.
In 1962 an appeal for action in the United States
against apartheid was launched by Chief Luthuli and
Martin Luther King. The call for international
pressure through boycotts, sanctions and divestment
became an important fourth pillar of the ANC's
struggle for democracy.

International pressure gained momentum and in 1969
revolving credit loans by US banks amounting to US$40m
were terminated when institutions and individuals
withdrew about US$23 million from the banks concerned.
In 1973, loans of about US$70m by a consortium of US
and European banks were also terminated. This trend
continued and South Africa declared a debt standstill
in 1985, due to capital flight.

The impact of calls for boycotts, sanctions and
divestments against an oppressive regime often takes
decades to show, but once results can be seen, they
act as an "avalanche" whose end is the demise of the
oppressive regime.

The success of calls for international isolation was
partly due to the role that was played by South
Africans in exile. They worked tirelessly at raising
the level of awareness of the international community
to the atrocities being committed by the apartheid
regime.

The power lies in the vision

The Freedom Charter clearly expressed the vision for
the future of the South African people. I states: We,
the People of South Africa, declare for all our
country and the world to know: that South Africa
belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and
that no government can justly claim authority unless
it is based on the will of all the people; that our
people have been robbed of their birthright to land,
liberty and peace by a form of government founded on
injustice and inequality; that our country will never
be prosperous or free until all our people live in
brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities;
that only a democratic state, based on the will of all
the people, can secure to all their birthright without
distinction of colour, race, sex or belief; And
therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and
white together equals, countrymen and brothers adopt
this Freedom Charter; And we pledge ourselves to
strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage,
until the democratic changes here set out have been
won.

In 1958 ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli held a
speech titled "Our Vision is a Democratic Society". He
said: One might ask, "Is this vision of a democratic
society in South Africa a realisable vision? Or is it
merely a mirage?" I say, it is a realisable vision.
For it is in the nature of man, to yearn and struggle
for freedom. The germ of freedom is in every
individual, in anyone who is a human being. In fact,
the history of mankind is the history of man
struggling and striving for freedom. Indeed, the very
apex of human achievement is freedom and not slavery.
Every human being struggles to reach that apex.6

He was right.

Bangani Ngeleza and Adri Nieuwhof are independent
consultants and human rights advocates from
respectively South Africa and the Netherlands.

Endnotes

[1] Umzabalazo: A history of the African National
Congress 

[2] Programme of Action: Statement of Policy Adopted
at the ANC Annual Conference (17 December 1949)

[3] The Freedom Charter, Adopted at the Congress of
the People, Kliptown (26 June 1955) 

[4] Manifesto of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Leaflet issued by
the Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe (16 December 1961) 

[5] Statement by Albert Luthuli (Jointly with Dr G.M
Naicker and Peter Brown) appealing to the British
people to boycott South Africa. 

[6] Our Vision is a Democratic Society, Speech at a
public meeting organized by the South African Congress
of Democrats in Johannesburg in 1958 to hear the
President General of the African National Congress.
Chief Lutuli was served with banning orders soon after
this speech.

Related Links

BY TOPIC: Apartheid

Fatah Chapter Closed: Creating a Palestinian National
Congress, Rifat Odeh Kassis (28 March 2006) 

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4617.shtml