POL3046S final exam notes

Contributors:
Tinashe Sibeko
Asanda Lajila
Tamia Martin

Week One (23/07/2018): Political Thought, History of Ideas

J.G.A. Pocock, (1972), “Time, Institutions and Action: An Essay on Traditions and their
Understanding” in Politics, Language and Time, pp. 233-272.
 Every society has a philosophy of history i.e. a set of ideas that interpret their
understanding of shared history, determines what is known and what can be known.
o Time as dimension of society
 Tradition determined the way people act, live and engage with one another
o Different societies pass on tradition in different ways depending on the kind of
mode of passing on that they would consider continuous
o The ideas we form and feed back into our understandings of tradition have the
power to change them, therefore it is worth analysing
o Conceptualisation of tradition informs how one sees time, society and history
 Since each society has a relative understanding of their respective history, this will
remain so even if they become aware of their role in greater history and different
imposing histories interact with one another
 Tradition def: indefinite series of repetition of an action which is assumed to have been
performed before; this performance is authorised by the knowledge/assumption of the
previous performance
o Tradition has no conception of an actual beginning as it is an infinitely regressing
cycle of acceptance based on the assumption of a previous performance
(immemorial tradition)
o
o Some societies can conceive their entire social structure in traditional terms and
therefore think of their past as immemorial continuity and thus identify every
aspect of their life and culture as an inheritance
 Inheritance as mode of reception; transmission as mode of action,
presumption as mode of knowledge
o Any social act has a degree of socialization
 A society’s institution may vary in many aspects depending on things such as tradition
and history and all the social factors that shape them
 Most society’s do not believe they’ve pre-dated existence; they have culture-heroes and
founding fathers to establish their origins. Their perception of time is based on these
figures as the origins of their traditions; they view the actions of the ‘originators’ as
actors whose charismatic and rational actions/nature allowed these figures to stand out
of the linear timeline/history and tradition in order to become sacred to that tradition
 Tradition may stress the continuity of the process of transmission or the
creative/charismatic origin of that tradition
Week Two (30/07/2018): Colonial Conquest Society and Othering

P. Ekeh, (1980), Colonialism and Social Structure, Inaugural Lecture, pp. 1-22.
 Ekeh holds that European imperial expansion created two types of colonization:
o The first was the classic type of colonization which occurred as a consequence of
migration that follows social and economic collapse in seventeenth century
Europe; these migrants colonised and settled in what is now American and
Australian territory.
o The second form of colonisation followed Europe’s accelerated expansion into
Africa in the nineteenth century as Africa was divided by European states with
exploitative ambitions in mind; this differs from the former in that it consisted of
exporting “surplus capital” and not persons.
 Expand
 Ekeh believes that one cannot reduce the entirety of colonialism to the process of
colonization and the reactions of the indigenous to it ; now that it has occurred and has
been politically and legally abolished, colonisation must be studied as a an independent
phenomenon (Ekeh, 1982: 2). In order to do this, Ekeh avoids limiting his analysis to the
generally accepted timeframe of colonialism (1870-1960), but rather as an independent
era which introduced drastic social changes following ‘crises in human experience’
(Ekeh, 1982: 3-5). Social formations, in the colonial context, may be defined as social
models composed of distinguishable institutions (Ekeh, 1982: 4)
 Ekeh’s structuralist perception of colonialism has les focus on individual
 Analysing an epoch in social change
a) as an ‘epoch’, the social changes that occur under it can be analysed with a degree of
predictability regarding the direction the social changes are moving towards as these
epochs discipline and frame this social change (Ekeh, 1982: 5-6).
b) This form of analysis also allows one to understand epochs as eras which remove
existing social and political structures and replaced them with “more permanent
social forms and process” (Ekeh, 1982: 6)
c) The structures and processes framed by these social movements maintain their
significance and impact in the society in which they function long after the epochal
episode had occurred, as these institutions had not been removed but rather
developed upon (Ekeh, 1982: 6)
d) These epochs impact every individual in the area in which they occur in at a a
personal level, their sheer enormity and widespread reach leaves no room for
individual volition regarding the choice to participate in the epoch
e) In the modern sense, epochs are the ultimate tool used to integrated the regions in
which they function into the international political and economic system which they
are then expected to function in
 Colonialism in Africa can be understood as an ‘epoch’, as per Ekeh’s definition of the
term, as shares all five forms of impact described in his definition:
o Colonisation made social change predictable; it had created distinguishable types
of social structures; the consequences of colonialism extend past the official end
of this expansion; and as a result, the epoch effectively integrated Africa into the
modern international system (Ekeh, 1982: 6)
 Types of social formations
 o ‘Transformed indigenous Social structures’ are those which have been
transformed from native pre-colonial institutions in order to function within their
new, transformed societies under colonialism; The institutions are considered to
be ‘indigenous’ as they base their values and identity on tradition (Ekeh, 1982: 8-
9)
 Customary law / native lands act
o ‘Migrated social structures’ are those institutions which were taken from the
metropole and placed into the indigenous society in a manner which allows it to
maintain the same identity and function it held at the metropole (Ekeh, 1982: 9)
 Democracy, universities, rule of law, parliamentary supremacy of
parliament
o ‘Emergent social structures’ are those which were not indigenous to Africa nor
were they brought in from Europe; these structures were formed in their
entirety as a result of the colonisation process and, as such, operate in a manner
that is incomparable to pre-colonial indigenous social structures nor to those
found in Europe throughout the colonial period (Ekeh, 1982: 9)
 E.g. formation of social groups along ethnic lines as defined by colonial
social structures
 Rwanda

Transformed Indigenous Social Structures

 These new institutions were allowed to thrive by exploiting the opportunity afforded by
the imperial agenda to “re-organise and to re-order the network of rights and
obligations” by supplanting existing social structures with those that were able to
accelerate the colonial mission without reliance on the existing social and political
structures that functioned prior to Europe’s invasion of Africa (Ekeh, 1982: 9).
o Ekeh holds that this was due to the fact that the social structures that were
systemically removed were ‘retarded in stature’ in the sense that they had a
weaker capacity for social and political impact on civil society (Ekeh, 1982: 9-10).
Such an assumption assumes that the institutions indigenous to Africa lacked the
‘modernity’ to survive the colonial process; for this reason, these institutions fell
apart in the reordering of the existing social structure into one suited for the
colonial agenda (Ekeh, 1982: 10)
 The surviving traditions and their symbols in the new colonial era were no longer
reserved for the ‘managers’ of the institutions who held the social and cultural authority
to act as gatekeepers of these societies such as elders, chiefs and other
cultural/traditional cultural leaders in order to distinguish themselves from the rest of
society; instead, these symbols were generalised under colonial social structures to
remove the monopoly these traditional gatekeepers held by making these symbols
available to the rest of society and thus, normalising what was once sacred (Ekeh, 1982:
10-11).
o He uses the umbrella as an example of a generalised traditional symbol; in pre-
colonial Africa its use was often reserved for the royal family, however, such
reserved cultural symbols were secularised and made available to the rest of
society (Ekeh, 1982: 11)
o Chieftaincy (12)
 Ekeh held that the variation in levels of social and political development across different
African societies the colonists encountered, the institutions found in some were often
“underdeveloped” in comparison to those found in African societies (Ekeh, 1982: 11).
o However their counterparts were more ‘developed’ in the sense that their
existing institutions were more suited to the colonial agenda than those that
were ‘underdeveloped’ as they shared greater similarities to the institutions the
colonising states placed in Africa during the colonisation period.
 In order for these ‘underdeveloped’ structures to serve the colonial purpose, other
social structures found in different regions were used as the framework for new social
institutions which had their function and purpose drawn from a generalised
understanding of their function in other African societies and how well suited they were
for the advancement of colonial aspirations to advance colonial goals with the hopes
that they would function at a similar capacity in these new societies as a replacement
for the institutions that preceded them (Ekeh, 1982: 11).

Migrated Social Structures

 These social structures are built around “models of organisation imported to colonised
Africa” and implanted into a colonised society; although the structures are European in
origin, their identity were consolidated with uniquely colonial characteristics in order for
them to function effectively over each respective African society (Ekeh, 1982: 15)
 These migrated social structures maintain their significance and function in the
decolonised/post-colonial state that remains due to the fact that the post-colonial state
has inherited these institutions their former colonisers had built and, as a consequence,
were forced to function with what remined of these structures in order to maintain
political stability in the transition into a new social and political epoch (Ekeh, 1982: 13-
14)

Emergent Social Structures

 These are the social structures which had been “generated by the social forces of
colonialism in Africa” as an attempt to build social structures that could adequately
satisfy the societal demands that neither Indigenous nor Migrated social structured had
the capacity to accomplish under colonialism (Ekeh, 1982: 14)
 These structures are difficult to distinguish for two primary reasons: the first is that,
unlike migrated and indigenous social structures which represent the formal facets of
colonialism, emergent social structures represent the informal facets of colonialism;
secondly, these structures are often created with characteristics that reflect either
tradition or modernity to give the institution “the appearances of ultra-tradition or ultra-
modernity” (Ekeh, 1982: 14).
o Rwanda ethnicity

Development of moral order in colonialism

 Ekeh held that within colonial Africa, two spheres of behaviour could be distinguished:
moral and amoral behaviour (Ekeh, 1982: 16). He believes that ‘amorality’ was
institutionalised and consolidated with the creation of these social structures
Week Three: (06/08/2018): Land, Settlement, Conquest

B. Arneil, (1996), John Locke and America: The Defence of English Colonialism, pp. 65-87;
132-167.

English Colonialism
 Initially and throughout American colonisation, religion was used to justify it as a
‘conversion of heathens. Charters in English colonies would first have their evangelical
aims, second was their territorial aims to enlarge the empire in competition with other
colonial powers and economic aims of winning trade wars with neighbouring countries
with similar colonial interests/means
o Individual gains were also used as objectives/rewards for participating in colonial
project incl. fame and honour
 There was a shift from adventure and trade to agriculture and settlement in America as
the scope of imperialism widened, creating a new debate surrounding the definition of
ownership and sovereignty as the land they settled on was occupied
o Definitions were altered to facilitate settlement as sovereignty was provided by
the king’s patent and notions of ownership rights were conceived without
consideration of the native population who were not regarded as occupants and
therefore owners
 Colonisation of America also justified as an attempt to relieve English poverty and
overpopulation; however, the migration of thousands was simply so that capitalism had
a work force that could feed it using a ‘garden of Eden / American Dream’ narrative to
capture potential migrants
 English attitudes towards America and its inhabitants were defined by the objectives of
the colonists who were either the adventurer, the trader or the settler
o Unlike settlers, traders had no goals of displacing natives from their land or
converting them to Christianity; unlike settlers, they were more willing to abide
and adapt to the rules of the society they traded with
o It was preferable for traders to trade with natives on their own land instead of
occupied territory where other colonists with a similar mind for profit were the
traders; they did not, however, deal fairly with the natives
Evolving definition of property
 Over 16th century, new land considered the property of those who first arrived without
need of labour/purchase; discovery = sovereignty + ownership. As other nations
expanded their imperial projects, possession through purchase/settlement became the
basis of the right to exclude others
o Possession through purchase or settlement became basis of nation’s right to
exclude others
o Overpopulation allowed notion that the excess people are led by God to find
new lands and relieve pressure at home

 As settling became a more prominent aspiration in English colonies, natives became the
symbol of the obstacle of English expansion. This expansion could only take two forms:
conquest (1) or peaceful settlement (2) (through trade/labour i.e. purchase)
 Initial English claim was to Christianise the natives; expand the empire, and to secure
private economic gain
 o However, the project shifted from trading, mining and exploration to settlement
and plantation
Locke’s theory on property

 Theory of natural law that holds that property originally comes about by the exertion of
labour upon natural resources. The theory has been used to justify the homestead
principle, which holds that one may gain whole permanent ownership of an unowned
natural resource by performing an act of original appropriation through labour
o Locke views labour as agrarian cultivation based on Eurocentric standards;
and the principle applying to fruits of the land applies to the land itself
o Labour = appropriation (not hunting or mining for Spanish/American
colonisation)
 Labour as part of the commandments bestowed upon creation of
common land for all
o Land which has not been tended considered to be ‘waste’/vacant land
 Enclosure is second aspect after submission as a part of private property claims
 Limitations on appropriation
o The land must be as good as currently possessed land
o The land/produce should not spoil
 Reflects economic mission of colonisation; one could not take more land than
that which they could make flourish
 Only overcome by introduction of money; this gives the land (Eurocentric)
value as only colonists could surpass the spoilage limitation
 Natives must use land to survive in order to keep it, colonists can
keep it regardless
 Money became only way to appropriate large portions of land = more
international trade
 Land left to spoil can be taken over by another (including the indigenous),
meaning no one group could leave the products of the land (beasts and
animals) to spoil
 Creates demand for labour and rationalises using natives as labour force
 Criticism:
 Locke’s whole perspective is based on natural law when we live in a world where civil
law guides society; how does his theory combat this? (i.e. land expropriation through
civil law)

Week Four: (13/08/2018): Ramose, on Conquest

M. Ramose, (2016), A philosophy without memory cannot abolish slavery: on epistemic

justice in South Africa, Philosophy in Africa, Africa in Philosophy Seminars, pp. 1-11.
 Systematically selected items to be re-membered will be presented to show the injustice
of persistent epistemic violence in order to achieve epistemic justice as an indispensable
complement to the quest for social justice in South Africa.
 Slavery is a condition of human relations in which the one side has conquered the other
compelling the defeated to submit to the will of the conqueror in word and deed. This is
a condition of epistemic and social injustice because it violates the human dignity of the
 defeated and annuls the principle of equality – in the sense of the right to exist
(Gutierrez, 1983: 90)
o People having a philosophy without memory cannot abolish slavery. The
dominance of the Christian calendar in South Africa and the West rests on this
argument
 History then is an exercise in reconstruction according to the standard canons of the
discipline without eliminating totally the subjective preferences of the historian. In this
sense history is his-story.
o The question of the yet to be firmly established “her-story” as legitimate and
normal applies also to the colonised-decolonised. It means that “history” is yet to
become “our story”
 The historian relies on time as a linear succession in that much there is a tendency to
erect strict boundaries between the past and the present. The assumption that the past
of his- story is closed is not necessarily true as the past can live in the present. After all,
the past is the parent of the present and the bond between them does not necessarily
die because the historian has erected a scientific boundary between them
 his-story can and does leave out known details of the past if these reveal guilt that
induces shame and tarnishes the individual or group consciousness
o , “Civilizations may in fact be characterized in terms of the dominant defence
mechanisms that they use to suppress the memory of an inconvenient past and
the guilty conscience they suffer because of having done what a new value
apprehension tells them that they ought not to have done in the past. ...

The ethical necessity for a philosophy of memory for Africa

 Arises from the lived experience of the past and the living experience of today;
o for more than three centuries inclusive of the present, the majority of the
conquered peoples of South Africa are still suffering from historical, structural,
systemic and systematic material and intellectual poverty, hunger and death.
 an African philosophy of and with memory is a philosophy that takes the slave trade and
colonisation as its point of departure as a means to recognise and respect the martyrs of
freedom for the African peoples on the one hand and to interrogate the meaning of that
freedom in the present existential conditions.
 Van Riebeeck established two identities in South Africa, namely, the conquered and the
conqueror. If indeed the war were “defensive” then the Khoikhoi would hardly have had
to regard him as an “invader”. Moreover, the war waged against the Khoikhoi is
unjustified in terms of the just war doctrine developed within his culture
o his conquest conferred upon the conqueror the ethically questionable “right of
conquest”. According to the doctrine of the questionable “right of conquest” the
conqueror may impose their will upon the conquered with respect to the
meaning of experience, knowledge and truth.
 Therefore, the questionable “right of conquest” was the inauguration of
epistemic and social injustice in the relations between the conquered and
the conqueror.
o Pecunimania: the insane love of money driven primarily by the decisive motive to
make profit whatever the cost. Pecunimania has brought humanity and all that
 lives to the living MAD (mutual assured destruction) situation: the madness of
the existing annihilative strategic nuclear weapons.
 Pecunimania enabled the successors in title to Van Riebeeck to add another identity to
that of conquered and conqueror. They enforced the identity of rich and poor. The rich
was and, remains the conqueror and the poor are the conquered.
o It also inspired the successors in title to Van Riebeeck to add some spice to the
fallacy that the conquest of the Khoikhoi was justified by the just war doctrine.
The spice that turned the sweet lie into a delicacy is that the land was given to
them by “God”. Thus a new doctrine was enunciated, namely, the doctrine of the
divine gift of land.
o The 1961 constitution was the conqueror only constitution. It upheld the
heritage from Van Riebeeck with all the subsequent refinements intensifying
epistemic and social injustice. For the conquered, race was the bitter pill for the
normalisation of this condition.

Week Five (20/08/2018): Civilization Mission

Governor Grey (1855), “Address to the opening of the Second Session of the Colonial
Parliament,” pp. 1-6.

 Civilizing mission: perspective that it was the duty of the colonizers to civilize the
natives
 Integrating natives into European way of life with common faith, common interests,
making them civil servants, consumers of their goods and contributors to their
revenue system
o A source of strength and wealth for the colony
o Raising “kaffirs” in Christianity and civilization
 The civilizing mission was borne on the back of capitalist expansion

J. Philip, (1828), Researches in South Africa, Vol. 1, pp. vii-xi, xxvi-xxvii.

 Hottentots are weak in intellect, almost devoid of memory
 Bushmen are incapable of civilization
 Motivation of the missionaries was to be highly regarded in their societies for the
number of people that they converted
 The extension of British interests, British influence and the British Empire (patriotism
and affection)
 Intended effect of the mission works is to make the “savage” dependant on the
colony; to maintain power

J. Comaroff and J. L. Comaroff, (1989), “The Colonization of Consciousness in South Africa”,

Economy and Society, 18 (3), pp. 267-291.

 Missionaries were aiming to recreate a Christian peasantry that was lost in Europe
during the enlightenment and industrial revolution
 o Not only the aim of spreading the word and evangelising the natives
 Missionaries aim was to reconstruct the way the native had been operating
previously and cleansing them
o “taking their mind away from Satan who had emptied it from all pure sense
of spirituality and reason”
o Changing the mental blocks upon which the native operated
 Part of the civilizing mission was creating a new consciousness of the native and
colonizing that consciousness by restructuring their way of life

water
 Europeans created systems of irrigation to water their gardens (from the ground)
o This was in contradiction to the Tswana belief that water was a blessing and
had to be summoned from the Gods (nucleus of all human life)

Changed the means of production (to reproduce capitalism)

 Enforced ideas of women as social reproducers and men as labourers
 Taught them the accumulation of surplus crop and then trading
 Introduction the idea of private property
o Brought in the idea of enclosing land

The politics of language in the civilizing mission

 Colonisation of language became an important feature of domination at large
 seTswana began to take on the characteristics of the colonial language
 missionaries who taught natives about the Bible in their native tongues manipulated
the text in their translation

 The camaroff reading takes away the agency of the Tswana people because it only
speaks to what was done to the Tswana people and not how they reated

 The main aim was to create a Christian peasantry

o To quell the “barbarous” characteristics of natives to create fertile ground
for domination and European conquest

Week Six (27/08/2018): Liberal Tradition

T.R.H. Davenport, (1987), “The Cape Liberal Tradition to 1910” in Democratic Liberalism in
South Africa: Its History and Prospect, J. Butler, R. Elphick and D. Welsh (eds.), pp. 21-34.

 Liberalism comes to South Africa claiming to be part of the European heritage

o Claims to be far superior to indigenous traditions
- Rule of law (insistence on legal rights of individuals)
- Notion of equality before the law (but not deeply rooted)
 European origins in liberal thinking
 o Access to justice
- rule of law
o Freedom of speech
- free press (access to knowledge)
o Economic freedom
- Cape government wanted to instil in Africans economic activity to
erode pre-colonial structure (to reproduce capitalism)
 The Cape Government gave natives economic freedom to breakdown pre-colonial
structure and to reproduce capitalism
 Liberal thinking carries a deep-seated assumption that a political community is a
moral entity

 Cape Liberalism developed before the 1910 Union

o Unique to the Cape as it wasn’t found in other regions
o Four similar principles to European thought
- Access to justice
- Freedom of speech
- Economic freedom
- Political rights

 Derives from the feudalistic notion that every person has the right of access to
justice and freedom from arrest without trial – ‘Rule of Law’
 Rule of law appeared in the colony as criminal law and the penal code was being
developed by 1795
o law was being revised
o became more humanised; in the same era that the abolition of slave trade in
1807 and attempts to administer law equally by 1834 and eventual
emancipation by 1840
 Changes to legal system were made but was not seen in practice as blacks lacked the
resources to become economically independent and had to return to slave-like
conditions
o Nobody to enforce the law in frontier conditions
 Martial law restricted judicial autonomy during the Anglo-Boer war
o whites who were arbitrarily detained and made subject to it were made
aware of how their rights could be restricted – practices that they did not
learn from but repeated in Apartheid with segregation laws
 The Anglo-Boer war diminished the spirit and practice of cape liberalism by the time
it ended in 1902
o this change was illustrated by 1905 School Boards Act which segregated
classrooms
o The war made white Afrikaners feel more paranoid about their security
- felt the need to secure white power after an era of having their rights
limited by martial law and their pride being belittled by British
intervention
 Liberalism holds access to education as important as access to justice
 The right to publish without permit was won in the cape, allowing for freedom of the
press in a similar vein to British Liberalism
 o This paved the way for the parliamentary system as it could only be built on
the platform of continuous communication between legislator and the public
o Gave people knowledge necessary to participate in politics
o Inspired both African and Afrikaans publications used to collectivise for
political purposes

 Liberalism does not assert rights for their own sake but rather views them as a
product of society as a moral being, not as a group of self-interested individuals
fighting for power
o This creates difficulty in the relationship between rights as a product of the
community’s responsibilities to one another and political democracy as a
product of economic and political (self-interested) ambitions
 Some hold that the pursuit of political and economic power can become
‘responsible’ by making sure that political representatives are actually qualified to
do so

 Black peasant economy expanded in the 1870s, supported by whites who wanted to
see colonial influenced that endangered white security, leading to two traditions of
liberalism according to Trapido:

 The ‘Great Tradition’ of Cape liberalism linked white mercantile interests with black
peasant entrepreneurs as the textile industry was developed on the backs of the
black peasantry
o This brought an assortment of white merchants, lawyers, administrators and
other enemies of government together to advocate for the rights of the
black peasant
o Even free-trade was seen as the Christian way of life under Cape Liberalism,
making a mutually beneficial economic relationship with black community
viable from practical and moral sense

 The ‘Small Tradition’ of liberalism was more stable and found mostly in
constituencies where peasant voters and voters of mercantile interests could hold
one of two seats of their electorate

Economic explanation for decline of Cape Liberalism

 The Great Tradition fell away in the shifting political economy as the growth of
mining and capitalist farmer made the black useless to the whites ‘business
associate’ and thus useless as a voter
 Economic power translated to political autonomy and ability to participate
o blacks had neither once peasant farming lost its use to white legislators who
sought to protect white economic interests by limiting the political and
economic participation of the proletariat who would now be exploited
  These changes made the black more valuable as a migrant worker who did not need
voting rights for a constituency he did not reside in
o intensifying anti-squatter legislation in the process
 ‘Paternalism’ became a part of liberal principles
o blacks were treated as ‘minors’ when it came to the question of drinking
- some claiming that even though limiting liquor to certain races was
wrong, these minors were too vulnerable to give them such access
-
 Liberalisms view on constitutionalism was divided:
o those who followed the English uncodified method which relied on rituals of
political behaviour
o French and American revolutionary model which codified its constitution
into written contracts between politicians and the public

 Cape Liberalism originated from evangelical humanitarianism and altruism of British

Christianity blended with frontier realism that had more concern for justice than
power
o which is why it relied on morality as its foundation.

 Pure Cape Liberalism did not only apply to the rights of a single group but
to all members of that it regarded as common society

 Representative government granted in 1853 but race or ethnicity was not mentioned
as a prerequisite for inclusion by the British

Other ideas given by author

 Quite simply, white people were unhappy with the inclusion of Africans in the
political system, they thought they’d lose political control to the majority if they
allowed them too much room to influence politics
o Responded not by rewriting constitution but rather by redefining its rules of
participation to :
o exclude property held under communal tenure by decreasing the value of the
communal land to >$75 minimum
o Voter registration suppression also used

· By 1909, it was no longer a pure, minority tradition as it was due to the attack on civil
liberties starting in the civil war and resurging in the early 20th century with the
expansion of freedom of trade, cash crops and mining which had harsh effects on the
political influence of the black proletariat whose value transitioned from business
associate to migrant worker due to white fears of black majority rule.
Week Seven (03/09/2018): Afrikaaner Nationalism

H.F. Verwoerd, (1960), “Statement of policy in the House of Assembly, March 9, 1960” in
Verwoerd Speaks: Speeches (1948-1966), A.N. Pelzer (ed.), pp. 340-369.

 Supports the system of apartheid

o Maintains that the white regime holds a stable government and that is why
international investors are willing to invest
o White government = prosperity + stability (growth)
o A white government/supremacy =economic prosperity + stability
o Policy of apartheid has brought about economic growth
- Housing and railway programmes as well as an increase in
employment
- Purchase of materials on a large scale has helped combat the
recession
 Believe in creating a new group of bantu, rendering services to their own people –
creating a higher income group (increasing the purchase power)
o The apartheid regime has created a platform for this aim in that professions
have increased (e.g. teachers, post office officials)
o Higher income groups are created and bantu’s are able to become consumers
of “white” goods.
o The apartheid regime places people in service of their own people in
different spheres – “increasing the purchase power”
o
 Applying influx control ensures that there will be no redundant pool of labour in the
cities with consequential unemployment + low wages (creates competition)
o This creates pool competition for labour which is basic in building wage
structure.
o Wage structure – builds up the purchasing power of bantus in the cities
 Opposition (white liberals) wants a complete plan of the native development, costs +
estimates
o Vervoed argues that this is absurd i.e. when the union in 1910 was being
developed, no one requested for the full cost plans + estimates
o Looks at industries that the NP enforced without showcasing plans or
estimates - focus on the current building schemes
 500 00 pounds was given to the Bantu development corporation as a nest egg ( a
magnet) for more investments
o The bantu corporation still needs to find its feet (it would be a risky to give it
a large amount of money)

Television:
 Spiritual + community danger (social life)
 American influences can affect the cultural life of white
  National products of a high standard would cost a large amount
o This may have an effect of sporting + entertainment
- People will prefer viewing it on tv than seeing it live
 People become slaves to TV (family relationships suffer)
o Spend 20 hours watching tv instead of work and church
 It may develop into a yellow TV (press)
 It is a non-essential service, other countries must bear the experimental costs (it’s
development)
 Prevent unnecessary economic expenditure
 State is against the introduction of television (the time is not ripe)
 Producers increase their product price to cover advertising costs
 Television will assist big firms, detrimental effect to the interest of the great mass of
dealers
 Want to prevent social and educational problems
 Fair treatment of various language groups must be taken into account – cannot be
done under utility companies

The black man topic

 The white man is responsible for everything the black man has in terms of ideals,
ambitions, and opportunities
 White man is superior (inventions and discoveries)
 Because of the white man’s brain power, these inventions have come into play – he
is meant to lead the non-whites
 The black man is imitative – they do not create anything
 The white man is the leader and the creator
 Black people cannot govern the states themselves or maintain their own economy –
the white man must rule the “independent states”
 Compares reconciling with the black masses and allowing them to take control with
Britain and Germany
o If they give the black man “full” independence, no peaceful, co-operative
communities will exist.
- Rather there will be conflict between African states
- Black people will give their support to the west or communists
 White man supports the development of self-interest
 Black people are inexperienced in terms of government/ don’t have solutions to
international problems
 White domination prevents black dictatorship
 White domination = enforcement of Christianity which is right
 There must be no intermingling (political sphere) or swallowing of the white man by
black forces – rather permanent co-existence [separate but equal]

 Black nationalism can take place and must take place at a speed that he is capable of
advancing
o The white union is trying to make the black homelands “ripe” for their own
responsibilities as well as their economic, cultural and political participation
in the union (The Union is their guardian)
 o Under the guidance of the union, oppression and dictatorship are prevented
 Whites have always played a dominant role (inherent qualities)
 The black mans faith has been entrusted to white people
 Survival of the white race

J.M. Coetzee, (1991), “The mind of apartheid: Geoffrey Cronjé (1907-),” Social Dynamics, 17
(1), pp. 1-35.

 Afrikaner Nationalism – Cronjé

 Writing is dedicated to “afrikanermoeders” – as protectors of the bloody purity of
the Boer nation (mother’s are the protectors of their race)
 By choosing to have intercourse only with men of pure Afrikaner blood, the
Afrikaner woman keeps the blood-strain pure
o Prevented bastard children who are not seen as Afrikaners
 Cronjé is against liberals – they look at the white man as an enemy against the
‘natives + coloureds’
 Races are self-constituting groups
o Racial diversity must be protected from bastardization (mixing of races is
unnatural)
 The coloured population – comes from the racial mixing with British soldiers
 The apartheid concept – focuses on the strengthening of Afrikaner pure bloods
 Cronjé believes in total segregation from the non-whites
o Mixed relation = the seeping of non-white blood into the European
population
- Seeping in holds a danger for race-heredity and social heredity
- White people lose their self-respect and racial pride when they
intermix
 British imperialism has led to the impoverishment of the Afrikaner and the
conditions of the social disorder
 The reason for intermixing could be due to the fact that many poor white people
have to live in mixed residential areas which cause “mental confusion”
o These whites lose ties with their vok
 Threat of bastardization
o Mixed areas become the dying-place of the white race
 Cronjé = a consciousness which is not a race consciousness is a false consciousness (
everything needs to be seen in terms of race)
o Blunting process – that process of losing your Afrikaner sense of self
 White offenders of mixing:
o Jews; immigrant soldiers; mentally retarded poor white man & low grade
people who have degenerated in morality, self-respect and racial pride
 Bastardization = (it is a degenerate practice)
o physical anomalies (smaller organs)
o doomed to be unhappy/internal conflict
 SOLUTION = segregation
o Immigrants should be screened for blood purity
o Capitalism and imperialism blocks the extension of apartheid
 - Desire across races is unnatural
o Afrikaners must respect their volk being

Cronje:

 The white man has a duty to act as guardian over Africa:

o Has reached a higher level of development
o Bearer of Christian faith
o He is in a position of power
o “Africans are still at a stage of cultural childhood”
- Therefore the white man must act as a guardian
o “several generations before Africans are ripe”
 Cronjé believes that black men must hold their self value and self pride (tribalism) or
else they will end up like the coloured people
o They must not be westernized
o Culture equates to differences (which should be kept)
 Segregation = eradication of white desire
o Tribality is against racial blood mixing
o The principle of difference will secure white purity

Week Nine (24/09/2018): Sol Plaatjie and African claims

Sol Plaatje, (1916), “Native Life in South Africa” in Sol Plaatje: Selected Writings, B. Willan
(ed.), pp. 184-202.

Sol Plaatje, (1916), “The Essential Interpreter” in Sol Plaatje: Selected Writings, B. Willan
(ed.), pp. 50-54

An account of events leading up to Native Lands Act as an appeal to the British

 The African was not a slave in the legal or political sense but was initially just an
outcast on his own land
o ‘ a squatter in south Africa is a native who does not own his own land or
livestock’ ; he has to hire his farm back from new white owners or obtain
grazing rights from them
o Could only sell to whites with the money to afford it
 When they lost their land to the Act, some sought shelter on white farms but
housing a squatter was a criminal offense
  Natives were unable to defend themselves against this legal attack on their rights to
lack of legal skills and financial/political capital; as a consequence of coercion or
homelessness they migrated to the Homelands as per the Act

 The land in these areas was inalienable (can’t be bought or sold) as the black
community were not given property rights enabling them to buy or sell the property
they were intimately invested in
o Overpopulation could not be settled
o Africans given 1/18th of the land

 When the Union was there was fear that liberal native policy would overcome
repressive colonial policies
 For “unknown” reasons, the British Imperial government handed over the rights of
natives to the colonisers instead of leaving them to be free of their own accord
o Forced labour (sibalo) was permitted, blacks were not allowed to meet
collectively without govt. permission
 Both Black and white members of society were trained to view separate
development as a harmonious balance of labour and reward between each other
o Reason the Black Consciousness movement was so necessary

 ‘Poor whites’ were the targets of the political and social upheavals as non-whites
were systematically removed from positions of economic stability in order to
accommodate poor Afrikaner farmers
o Even English farmers and administrators lacked job security in the shifting
political climate
o Plaatjie believes this highlights the Regression back to pre-1910 politics

 Whites were told to expel natives from the property and take in poor whites but
they refused to do so as it was only the peasant with no land who was willing to pay
in rent
o It is for this reason that the Native Act came to be so aggressively enforced
o It was illegal to have black tenants but legal to have black servants

Tutorial notes
Plaatjie
(themes of African nationalism in the reading.)

 This is a different kind of African nationalism than what we’ve seen in more recent
South African history. In a way he promotes “assimilation” to whiteness to overcome
the oppression of black people, or rather to justify why black people need to be
accepted as equals in society.
 He used the tools that white people used to oppress them, to try overturn the
oppression of black people
 Politically inclined; affiliation with (political party) - South African Native National
congress.
 He appealed the Land Act.
 The embodies the emergence of the African intellectual.
o He was an advanced, “educated” man; a recipient of Christian mission
education.
- He was able to use what he learnt against them
 Emergence of black writing; he was a journalist, who started a Tswana-English
newspaper.
o The newspaper articles became an engagement of some sort, because people
would reply to each other in newspaper articles.
 Power dynamics in language.
 He’s writing in 1899 - at the time of the Anglo Boer war ; it is important to consider
that this is the context in which he was writing in. He was sort of a spy for the
British.
 Tradition
o The advancement of black people in society was deeply dependent on them
straying from their traditional/tribal roots
- He was marginalized in South African political life in the 1970s (Biko
era) because of this
 He is very passionate and believes in the rule of law (liberalism).
o He appealed the Land Act. He travelled around the countryside in
o He was an interpreter in the court.
- Was serious about this job because he understood that it could affect
inequality in the rule of law
- Understood that every word he said as an interpreter was very
meaningful because it affects the judgement; this comes from being
sensitive to people he knows and to himself, in the sense that
although he was educated he was conscious of his background.
 The railway police become the key sights of interaction between blacks and whites.
The police personnel are representing the state.
o The way these policemen operate is in such a way that by the time we get to
Biko, resistance to it becomes a campaign.
- Plaatjie writes about this theme in the 1800s.
o The abuse in that kind of society is to such an extent that the line between the
law and practice appears non-existent.
o By the time we get to Mandela, he has no hope for the law - Mandela agrees
that there is a need to break the law to preserve the idea of the rule of law.
o Plaatjie is representing the hope for the law; and uses it as a weapon.
 When Plaatjie appears in the South African Natives Commission he seems
enthusiastic.
o Years later, black intellectuals (Biko) think that any participation in
Government structures is a sellout.
o There is huge debate whether this is a principle or a strategy; and it results in
different camps.
o From 1976-1985/6 there is lots of tension; councilors in townships who
represented local government were attacked.
  The Commission enquires on how the vote can be extended to black people if people
still believe in chiefs; because if you have chiefs you can’t truly believe in elected
government.
 The commission was already moving in the direction that those Africans who have
the vote should have this right struck. South Africa evidently moved in reverse,
when the rest of the world was going in a different direction.

Week Ten: (01/10/2018): Nelson Mandela, Rivonia and Marxism

N. Mandela, (1964), “I Am Prepared to Die,” in Mandela, Tambo and the African National
Congress, S. Johns and R. Hunt (eds), pp. 115-133.

 The assumption that the struggle is under the influence of communists or foreigners
is “wholly incorrect.”
 “we believe that South Africa belonged to all the people who lived in it, and not to
one group, be it black or white”.
 MK was formed by ANC members and was backed by the ANC tradition of
nonviolence and negotiation.
o From engaging with this reading from Mandela’s trial it is evident that
Mandela is opposed to the reality, or even the idea, of a civil war.
o Mandela actually explicitly says that the founders of MK did not want an
interracial war and that it was to be avoided until the last minute.
- Final resort
 ANC’s determination to avoid violence despite the fact that for the first 37 years the
ANC engaged in a peaceful, constitutional struggle which actually saw their rights
being diminished instead of being increased.
 Agrees that the ANC is guilty of violence but does not by any means agree that the
violence should be equated to terrorism.
o He does not plead guilty to terrorism.
 Mandela confirms that the ANC believes in the words of the universal declaration of
human rights
o “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government.”
o So the ANC in actual fact was always pro-democracy, and merely demanded
the incorporation of African people.
- ANC had a problem with the fact that the African people were not a part
of the government which made the laws that governed them, and not
necessarily that there were white people within the government (see
difference between ANC and BCM)
 “We of the ANC had always stood for a nonracial democracy, and we shrank from
any action which might drive the races further apart than they already were.”
o This was up until the June 1961 talks when it became apparent that methods
of non-violence had not been effective
 by the time MK was created, violence was already a feature of the South African
political scene
 o The government ruled by force and black people had already been dying at
the hand of the state, and white supremacy.
o Mandela and his colleagues resorted only to violence because after years of
peaceful resistance they were left with no choice; violence was inevitable -
and that is why MK was formed, not because its what African leaders desired.
o “ ….In defense of our people, our future, and our freedom.”
- Mandela says he felt morally obliged to do what he did
 ANC is a political organization with a political function to fulfil, premised on a policy
of nonviolence.
o ANC as a party could not and would not undertake violence.
o Distinct from MK which was required for sabotage; MK however only partook
in “properly controlled violence.”
o MK in fact was used as a measure to avoid a civil war between black people
and white people.
o ANC non-violence and racial harmony was with MK soldiers.
o Wanted racial peace; feared how long it would take for the scars of an
interracial civil war to disappear.
o “The avoidance of civil war had dominated our thinking for many years, but
when we decided to adopt violence as part of our policy, we realized that we
might one day have to face the prospect of such a war.”
o The plan of MK realized that civil war was the “last resort, and left the
decision on this question on the future.”
o They wanted to be ready for one, but were not committed to one.
 4 types of violence; sabotage, guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and open revolution.
o MK chose to adopt sabotage, and exhaust it before any other decision.
o Reasons being; it wasn’t intended to involve loss of life, and thus offered the
best hope for future race relations in the sense that bitterness would be kept
to a minimum.
o YOU CAN TELL HERE THAT THE ANC WAS FORWARD THINKING ABOUT A
MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIRACIAL FUTURE.
o Concerned with laying the foundation of a democratic future.
 MK manifesto: “we of Umkhonto weSizwe have always sought to achieve liberation
without bloodshed or civil clash.”
o They merely wanted to awaken everyone and bring the government and its
supporters to senses with regards to the “disastrous situation” resultant of
the Nationalist policy.
 Concerned with the political and economic situation of SA
o wanted to attack the economic lifelines of the country and hurt the SA
economy to compel voters to reconsider their vote once SA started losing
money as a result to MK sabotage.
o Furthermore, they wanted to attack the symbols of apartheid, including
government buildings in order to inspire the African people. MK soldiers
were given strict instructions that on no account were they to injure or kill
people.
o MK members were forbidden to go armed into operation.
“But it was precisely because the soil of South Africa is already drenched with the blood of
innocent Africans that we felt it our duty to make preparations as a long-term undertaking
to use force in order to defend ourselves against force.”

 built up a nucleus of trained men to be prepared for a civil war should one happen;
men who would be able to provide leadership if necessary.
o Guerrilla warfare.
o White men underwent compulsory military training, but Africans didn’t.
o Also had to prepare a nucleus of professional men trained in civil
administration and other professions
- So that Africans would be able to participate in the government of the
country as soon as they were allowed to.
- “Administrators would be necessary who would be willing to administer
a non-racial state and so would men be necessary to control the army
and police force of such a state. ”
- scholarships for higher education of matriculated Africans in African
states.

 “The ideological creed of the ANC is, and always has been, the creed of African
nationalism.”
o Mandela differentiates this Nationalism from the concept of African
nationalism expressed in the cry to “drive the white man into the sea.”
o The African nationalism for which the ANC stands is the concept of freedom
and fulfilment of their African people in their own land.
o The Freedom charter
 The chief goal of the ANC was and is for the African people to win unity and full
political rights.
 The freedom charter was not merely the beginning but a reflection of the end goal.
 ANC seemed to harmonize the class distinction, which is intertwined with the race-
distinction.

 Mandela confesses that in his younger days he believed that in order for the concept
of African nationalism to not be weakened, it was imperative for the ANC to not
cooperate with the communist party on specific issues.
o His stand on the issue was later changed by some of the most conservative
sections of the African political opinion on the following basis:
o “from its inception the ANC was formed and built up not as a political party
with one school of political thought but as a parliament of the African
people, accommodating people of various political convictions, all united by
the common goal of national liberation.”
o This very inclusive conceptualization of African nationalism became
Mandela’s point of view, which he continued to uphold throughout the
liberation movement.
o “Theoretical differences amongst those fighting against oppression is a
luxury we cannot afford at this stage”
  “the basic task at the present moment is the removal of race discrimination and the
attainment of democratic rights on the basis of the Freedom Charter”
 Mandela welcomes the assistance of the ANC in the furthering of this task, and
identifies the ANC as a means in which people of all races can be drawn into the
struggle.

 Mandela admires the parliamentary system of the West.

o He froths for the British parliament, maintaining that he thinks it is the most
democratic system in the world
- he is aroused by the independence of the judiciary.
o American congress and the S.O.P also arouses him.

 ANC fights against poverty and lack of human dignity

o Apartheid legislation deliberately curtailed the advancement of African
people; it kept African people stuck in a cycle of poverty.
o “we are prevented by legislation from altering this imbalance.”
- war on discriminatory legislation.
 “The lack of human dignity experienced by Africans is the direct result of the policy
of white supremacy.
o White supremacy implies black inferiority.
o Legislation designed to preserve white supremacy entrenches this notion.”
o “above all, we want equal political rights, because without them our
disabilities will be permanent.”
o Racial harmony and freedom for all.
 “Political division based on colour Is entirely artificial, and when it disappears, so will
the domination of one colour by another.”
 ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism.
o So it’s a struggle for the right to live.
 Nelson Mandela says that during his lifetime he has fought against white domination
and he has fought against black domination.
o “I have cherished the ideal of democratic society in which all persons live
together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
o This is an ideal which he is prepared to die for.

N. Mandela, “Whither the Black Consciousness Movement: An assessment,” in Reflections

in Prison, M. Maharaj (ed), (2001), extract.

 The black consciousness movement rejects all value systems that deprive a man of
his rights in his own country.
 Perception that members of the BCM were used as spineless tools to further the
objectives of the NP, in their insistence on separation of races
 SASO was directly influenced by the USA brand of black power
 compares BCM to ANC, and basically implies that BCM can’t compare to ANC
because it hasn’t been winning victories for 6 decades
 separate developments was a false solution
 BCM was exposed to all progressive forces that white South Africa feared the most
 suspicious about BCM’s role in the future because of the support it’s getting from
these countries.
o BCM basically shouldn’t be trusted.
 Main aim of liberation movement - remove racial prejudice, one man, one vote.
 BPC is far weaker than the ANC.
o Ideology is nonsensical in a cosmopolitan.
o Brands all whites as oppressors.
o Excludes progressive whites
 Mandela criminalizes BPC for excluding whites.
o Roasts the PAC
 Looks at principles upon which BCM was founded.
o Mistake in implanting Black Consciousness from America into SA
 BCM implies it wants to go back to the way our ancestors lived.
o Policy maker ignorant.
o PAC also spoke with different voices of crucial issues
 BCM’s rejection of the authority of Marx and Engels makes it seem like the BCM has
absolutely no idea what it’s doing; clearly have done no adequate research.
o They’re not serious.
o Just utter disregard for the aid that liberation movements are acquiring from
socialist countries.
 The fight against economic oppression is not primary over national oppression.
(mistaken supposition of BCM)
o Obviously because the eradication of national oppression would lay the
necessary foundation for the economic emancipation of African people.
 It really just appears as though BCM have not given careful consideration to the long
term strategy of the enfranchisement of African people.
o The ANC has been doing this for many years, they know what they’re doing.
This is the vibe. (Critique of the strategy)
 ANC and Soviet Union
o welcomes help from both sides, but the soviet friends are more generous.
 BCM didn’t get lots of funds from Africans but it was swimming in money from
external sources
o (in the other reading Mandela talks about how the ANC raised funds)
o so how independent was the BCM really? questionable
 BCM is being used as a tool to fuck up (or undermine) the liberation movement,
o because they are young and arrogant they aren’t able to see that they’re
actually disruptive to the movement.
o Has good intentions and has done well even though it hasn’t done as well as
older organizations (so they shouldn’t be arrogant)
 BCM basically can’t be credited for the 1976 demonstrations because although they
started spontaneously the ANC came in and directed and organized etc..
o BCM was basically a vacuum to fill the void of the older banned organizations
 BCM’s language policy is the dumbest idea because it incites turmoil within the
country
  ANC is most advanced.
o Strategic genius.
o ANC is guided by concrete results, and not abstract principle.
o flexible, always on its toes
 BCM objective to unite black people is not new or original
o NIC, SAIC, ANC and MK have all been uniting black people for years before
BCM even came about.
o African People’s Organisation (coloured) made the meaning of African more
inclusive
o Present generation is mistaken in thinking that they are the first to call for
black unity
 Mandela has a huge problem with BCM’s disregard of white activists
 “No serious liberation party can ignore the powerful ally in the communists”

Week Eleven (08/10/2018): Lembede’s Africanism

A.M. Lembede, (1945-1947), “African Nationalism” in Freedom in Our Lifetime: The

Collected Writings of Anton Muziwahke Lembede, R.R. Edgar and L.K. Msumza (eds.), pp.
85-98.

 Philosophical basis
o Not just an economic animal and a beast of prey
o Man is a body, mind, and spirit with needs, desires and aspirations
o History = self-realization
 Scientific basis
o Charles Darwin – law of variation
o Each nation has its own peculiar contribution to make towards the general
progression of mankind
 Historical basis
o Those who want to create a future must not forget the past
o Africans do not have monuments commemorating their heroes (this ties in
with remembering the past)
 Economic basis
o Africanism is based on socialism (no individual land ownership)
o This African socialism must be infused with modern socialistic ways
 Democratic basis
o The assessment of human value by moral and spiritual qualities (anyone
could get a position if they showed courage)
 Ethical basis
o Retain and preserve the belief in the immorality of the ancestors
- Against the backdrop of Christianity
- Morality is the soul of our society
 Know thyself
o Every nation has its own peculiar talents and potentialities and contribution
 o Africans must not be mere assimilators of other nations and ideologies, they
must reserve their own identity and assimilate what it is good from
elsewhere
 Religion
o Christianity has not spread in the way that people wanted it to spread
 Democracy
o Also has not spread everywhere successfully

African nationalism ideals

 one language is not a decisive and fundamental point in unifying people
 feeling of relatedness based on skin colour is only skin deep; thus, not a decisive
factor in nationhood
 inhabiting one and same country
o people who live in one area tend to be homogenous but this does not always
succeed
o common origin only binds people to a certain extent
 Africans are connected to Africa spiritually
o it is what brings about unity; change tribalism to African nationalism
 Nationalism is rising as a tool to fight against foreign domination and imperialism
 African nationalism is based on these principles:
o Africa is a black man’s country (they are the natives)
o Africans are united, they are one heterogenous tribe with a homogenous
nation
o It excludes tribal connection of social status
o Non-African person can never be the true leader of African people
- they cannot interpret the African spirit which is unique and peculiar to
Africans only
 co-operation between Africans and non-Africans can only take place between
Africans as a single unit and non-Africans as a separate group
 Africans require national freedom
o Eradicate the satanic economic, social, and political forces that have been
unleashed against them
- Speaks about infections brought in by the Europeans
- Spiritual degradation: loss of confidence; inferiority complex
- When Africans are free, they will be able to grow their talents to
something new towards the general welfare of mankind
 Africans must focus on national progress
 National freedom hen socialism (African characteristics)
 African national unity
o Favours a move away from tribalism
o Tribal synthesis and ideological solidarity
- Creating a homogenous nation out of a heterogenous
- Through oppression, there is common suffering and a shift from
Africans having primitive tribal differences to recognizing themselves
as firstly, African brothers and sisters.
 Organisational solidarity
 o Tribal synthesis may not bring about unity if the nation is organisationally
divided
o Co-operation of varying organisations cannot be achieved
o Only one organisation can gain power
- The national movement

Week Twelve (15/10/2018): Black Consciousness

S. Biko, (1971), “The Definition of Black Consciousness,” in I Write What I Like: Selected
Writings, A. Stubbs (ed.), pp. 52-57.

 Being black is a reflection of a “mental attitude”

o You are on a road to emancipation
 Real black people
o Those who can manage to hold their head high in defiance rather than
willingly surrender their souls to the white man
 Black consciousness
o Realisation that the black man needs to rally together in order to rid
themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude
- They must not emulate the white man, as they will be insulting their
intelligence (whoever created black people)
- Seeks to infuse the black community with a new-found pride in
themselves, their efforts, their value systems, their culture, their
religion and outlook on life
o Blacks aim to transform the system completely and this can only be done
through being conscious of oneself
 Whites have deliberately made whites “haves” and blacks “have-nots”
o Produced an anti-black attitude
- “a sin to be black”
o Class theory suggests that blacks and whites should work together towards
emancipation
- Black consciousness wishes to eradicate this
 Black consciousness seeks to produce at the output end of the process, real black
people who do not regard themselves as appendages to white society

S. Biko, (1971), “Fear an Important Determinant in South African Politics” in I Write What I
Like: Selected Writings, A. Stubbs (ed.), pp. 80-87.

 To expect justice from white people at any level is to be naïve

o Their duty to themselves is to show that they have an upper hand to black
people (through breaking black resistance)
o The perpetrators are aware of the cruelty of their system and hence do not
expect natives to be satisfied
 Black people in SA have to struggle for survival
o Townships: black will kill black in order to survive
  Black people live in constant fear
o Security visits and ban orders
o The plan is to keep black people thoroughly intimidated and perpetuate the
“super-race” image
- This fear of cruelty erodes the souls of black people in South Africa
- If you cannot make a man respect you, make him fear you
- This fear makes it impossible for black people to act like free people
 A fear built through civil agents
 Black people do not aspire to be white, rather they see white people as a major
obstacle towards peace and prosperity
o Coalition between whites and blacks is impossible
- White people have a greed for wealth and power
- There will always be a cycle of fear and reaction
- The disgruntled whites still enjoy the fruits of the system
 “Black people have allowed this oppression to exist”
 “Black policeman”
o There is no such thing as a black policeman
o Any black person who props up the system actively is not considered a part
of the black world
o He is colourless
 Powerlessness breeds a race of beggars
 Fear produces an irrational ideology, it accepts the irrational action of the police
o “an outspoken. Black – he asked for it, I am not surprised”
 The government is also ruled by fear
o Resorting to irrational actions in the hopes of showing strength rather than
applying proper intelligence

S. Biko, (1973), “Black Consciousness and the Quest for a True Humanity” in I Write What I
Like: Selected Writings, A. Stubbs (ed.), pp. 96-108.

 Colour question was introduced for economic reasons (started out as an economic
basis)
o A barrier was created so that whites could enjoy privileges
o It then started accepting (through comfortability) that it alone is entitled to
the privilege
o Whites now believe that black people are inferior and bad
 Racism has become institutionalized
 To make the inferior lie last longer, blacks are not given the opportunity to show that
they are equal
o Black people are unable to acquire skills
 They believe that black people cannot formulate their own thoughts without white
guidance
 Solution by white liberals
o Integration
o Looking for an alternative acceptable to the white man
o The white man’s integration is based on exploitative values
 - Black on black competition under white values
 Black consciousness solution
o Strong solidarity amongst the blacks on whom this white racism seeks to
prey
 White racism is not a mistake on the part of the white people, moral lecturing will
not result in the end of oppression
o Black consciousness demands the rejection of beggar tactics
 Black consciousness: the black man wishes to explore his surroundings and test his
possibilities according to whatever means he deems fit
o Black consciousness allows the black man to see himself as being complete
in himself
- Free the mind from oppression
 African religion is not radically different from Christianity
o Missionaries argued that their religion was a scientific religion whereas
African religion was superstitious
o Christians must accept black theology (describes God as a fighting God)
 Children are taught that African culture is barbaric
 Black culture goes beyond 1652

Black economic power

 Being poor is expensive
 Buy black, establish own black banks
 All blacks must be united and must be involved

Steve Biko, (1970) “Black Souls in White Skins?” in I Write What I Like: Selected Writings, A.
Stubbs (ed.), pp. 20-28

 SA white community
o Sit and enjoy a privileged position that they do not deserve
- They are aware of this and spend their time trying to justify this
 Liberals (the non-conformists that argue that they aren’t responsible for white
racism)
o They claim that they too feel oppression
- Claim they should be involved in the black man’s struggle
- Their solution to white racism is to involve both black and white in the
liberation movement
 Integration as both their means and end goal
 Includes superior and inferior complexes