by Julian Brown, Journal of Southern African Studies
This article
examines the political nature of South Africa’s Black Consciousness movement through an
account of the pro-Frelimo rallies organised in Durban and at the University of
the North by the
South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention (BPC) in
September 1974. It places these rallies in the context of these organisations’
adoption of
confrontational and public forms of protest after 1972. These represent a
high-water mark in Black
Consciousness organisation and provided the excuse for the state’s prosecution
of the leaders of
the movement. Despite this, these rallies have been understudied. This article therefore
presents a new account of these protests. It shows how the leaders of SASO and
the BPC
progressively revised their ideas about public confrontation through the
process of
organising
these rallies. After the Minister of Justice announced his intention to ban
them, these
leaders refused to back down. The rallies each took place as planned, and each
provoked a response
from local police forces – which, in turn, were clearly expecting the rallies
and prepared for
the task of dispersing them. This article suggest that the embrace of confrontational
forms of protest by SASO and the BPC should be understood as representing a significant
moment in the development of public forms of mass protest in South Africa.
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