Defiance campaign, Freedom Charter Notes

Defiance campaign, the Congress of the People (COP) and the Freedom Charter

The Defiance Campaign (1952)

1. The Defiance Campaign was the first large-scale, coordinated anti-apartheid protest led by the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).
2. It involved non-violent civil disobedience, with thousands deliberately breaking apartheid laws, such as curfews, pass laws, and segregation rules.
3. The campaign mobilized mass support, marking a turning point in the struggle and laying the groundwork for future resistance movements.
4. It was inspired by the Youth League's Programme of Action (1949), which emphasized mass mobilization and non-violent civil disobedience.

Protesters

1. Protesters used civil disobedience by defying laws such as curfews, pass laws, and segregation rules, drawing large public support and global attention.
2. Some examples of the Defiance Campaign include
   1. Volunteers, including Nelson Mandela, deliberately stayed in city centers after the 11 p.m. curfew imposed on Black South Africans, knowing they would be arrested.
   2. Over 8,000 volunteers were arrested, intentionally overloading courts and prisons to highlight the repressive nature of apartheid.
   3. Protesters entered "Whites Only" railway stations, post offices, and waiting rooms in full view of the police, violating segregation laws.
   4. Activists publicly burned or damaged their pass books.
   5. Protesters illegally entered White residential areas without passes or permits, directly challenging racial zoning laws like the Group Areas Act.
   6. On 26 June 1952, mass rallies were held across the country to launch the campaign. Volunteers sang freedom songs, shouted slogans like “Mayibuye iAfrika!” and welcomed arrest.
   7. Female activists, especially from the ANC Women’s League, participated in demonstrations and acts of defiance, such as entering restricted government buildings.

Defiance Campaign

1. The aim of the Defiance Campaign was to force the government to repeal apartheid laws and begin negotiations by deliberately breaking unjust laws.
2. In particular, the Defiance Campaign of 1952 targeted the “Six Unjust Laws”:
   1. Pass Laws Act, Group Areas Act, Suppression of Communism Act, Bantu Authorities Act, Separate Representation of Voters Act, and Stock Limitation Act.

Political Mobilization

1. Another aim was to mobilize the African masses and allied communities (including Indian, Coloured, and some White South Africans) into coordinated national protest, demonstrating unity and determination against apartheid.
2. The Multi-racial collaboration included the South African Indian Congress, Coloured groups, and support from White activists like the Black Sash.
3. Nelson Mandela was appointed National Volunteer-in-Chief, organizing protests and coordinating civil disobedience across the country.
4. The campaign led to a massive increase in ANC membership, from under 20,000 to around 100,000 by 1953, but the campaign declined after riots broke out in late 1952, prompting harsh government repression, including new laws, bans, and brutal punishments, forcing the ANC to wind it down in 1953.

The Defiance Campaign: success or failure?

1. The campaign had some successes:
   1. It was the ANC’s first extended, coordinated national campaign, proving its organizational capability.
   2. The campaign united various groups including communists, trade unions, the Indian Congress, and women’s organizations, showing the potential for cross-racial cooperation.
   3. The campaign gained global attention, prompting the UN to establish a Commission on the Racial Situation in South Africa in 1953.
   4. Thousands participated as volunteers and supporters, laying the groundwork for a genuine mass movement and increasing ANC visibility.
2. But it also had important failures:
   1. None of the six targeted apartheid laws were repealed, and the government instead strengthened repressive measures.
   2. Rural populations and poorer Black South Africans were largely uninvolved, exposing the ANC’s weak grassroots support.
   3. The campaign alienated most Whites, received little support from the Coloured community, and was criticized by the liberal press.
   4. Riots in the Eastern Cape undermined the non-violent approach, and new laws like the Criminal Law Amendment Act expanded state power, allowing harsher punishments.

The Congress of the People (COP) and the Freedom Charter

1. One of the important impacts of the Defiance Campaign was the the Congress of the People (COP).
2. It was was convened in 1955 as a broad alliance of anti-apartheid groups, with the African National Congress (ANC) as the largest member.
3. Its primary goal was to create a united front that brought together all racial groups in South Africa—including Blacks, Indians, Coloureds, and sympathetic Whites—to collectively oppose the apartheid system.
4. This was a deliberate strategy to expand the membership base beyond the ANC’s traditional supporters and to transform the struggle into a truly mass movement representing the entire population.
5. A central objective of the COP was to draft the Freedom Charter, a foundational document designed to articulate the political goals, democratic aspirations, and social demands of the oppressed majority in South Africa.
6. The Freedom Charter was intended to serve as a vision for a future democratic and non-racial South Africa, expressing the hope for equality, justice, and shared national wealth.
7. The process involved gathering input from millions of ordinary South Africans through extensive consultations, ensuring that the charter reflected the grassroots needs and desires of the people.

COP

1. The COP was supported by a coalition called the Congress Alliance, which included the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), the Coloured Peoples Congress, the South African Communist Party, and the South African Congress of Democrats (a group of White anti-apartheid activists).
2. These organizations worked together to coordinate the campaign and mobilize volunteers.
   1. This alliance signified a broad-based, inclusive approach that rejected apartheid’s racial divisions, aiming to unify different racial and political groups under a shared vision of liberation and equality.
3. Leading up to the COP, thousands of volunteers, known as “freedom volunteers,” were recruited to spread awareness and collect signatures for the Million Signatures Campaign.
4. They organized meetings, rallies, and gatherings across factories, mining compounds, and rural areas, involving ordinary South Africans in the political process for the first time.
5. This widespread mobilization helped challenge the perception of the ANC as an elitist or middle-class organization, expanding its reach to poorer communities and creating a deeper mass involvement in the struggle against apartheid.
6. The COP reached its peak on 25 and 26 June 1955 at a mass meeting in Kliptown, Johannesburg, attended by nearly 3,000 delegates from all over South Africa. Despite the absence of key leaders like Chief Luthuli and ZK Matthews (due to government banning orders), the event was historic.
7. Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, also banned, observed discreetly.
   1. The Freedom Charter was publicly proclaimed, declaring a vision for a South Africa free from apartheid, with equal rights, democratic governance, and shared national wealth.
   2. The charter’s powerful, aspirational language made it an iconic document in the liberation movement.
8. The government responded with hostility and violence, raiding the Kliptown gathering and arresting delegates, while seizing key documents.
   1. These documents became central evidence in the 1956 Treason Trial, where the state accused ANC leaders of plotting to overthrow the government.
   2. The trial lasted several years and placed enormous pressure on the resistance movement.
   3. Despite this, all accused leaders were acquitted in 1961.
   4. The COP and Freedom Charter thus not only marked a high point in anti-apartheid unity but also heightened international awareness and condemnation of apartheid’s injustices.