Apartheid and South African Human Rights Violations
•All-white National Party comes to power in 1948
•Apartheid (separate or apart) was their main agenda
•A doctrine of white supremacy and separate development
•Non-whites South Africans could no longer:
•Marry outside of their own race
•Choose where to live
•Travel where they liked
•The whites made up 15% of the population yet owned 87% of the land
•Non-whites were forced to live on Bantustans
•Enforced by the army and police force
•Apartheid (separate or apart) was their main agenda
•A doctrine of white supremacy and separate development
•Non-whites South Africans could no longer:
•Marry outside of their own race
•Choose where to live
•Travel where they liked
•The whites made up 15% of the population yet owned 87% of the land
•Non-whites were forced to live on Bantustans
•Enforced by the army and police force
The End of Apartheid: 1980s and 1990s
•1978 Prime Minister P.W. Botha made reforms
•Blacks could marry whom they pleased, mix in certain places and join unions
•External reasons:
•1985 Canadian P.M. Brian Mulroney urged the Americans to impose limited sanctions
•Botha responded by restricting freedom of foreign press
•British Commonwealth called for sanctions, but G.B. did not join they were pretty hollow threats
•Internal reasons:
•Resistance movement began calling for a revolution
•Trade unions had won the right to bargain and began protesting apartheid
•The economy imploded
•The Dutch Reformed Church began to oppose apartheid
•1990 Mandela released from prison
•1994 democratic election with all races voting takes place
•Blacks could marry whom they pleased, mix in certain places and join unions
•External reasons:
•1985 Canadian P.M. Brian Mulroney urged the Americans to impose limited sanctions
•Botha responded by restricting freedom of foreign press
•British Commonwealth called for sanctions, but G.B. did not join they were pretty hollow threats
•Internal reasons:
•Resistance movement began calling for a revolution
•Trade unions had won the right to bargain and began protesting apartheid
•The economy imploded
•The Dutch Reformed Church began to oppose apartheid
•1990 Mandela released from prison
•1994 democratic election with all races voting takes place
Question: If bigger nations had stepped into help at the beginning would the Apartheid have still taken place?
Apartheid does not happen spontaneously, like bad weather conditions."
-Jonathan Kozol
Summary
The Apartheid was the beginning of a new era. It showed the world the diversity that still plagued and separated people based on colour. It took many strong leaders to help end this awful time period.