Eric O’Brien Mr. Starr History 11/12/14 Opposing Views and Attempts on Ending Apartheid The policy of racial segregation that used to exist in South Africa was known as apartheid. A man named Daniel Malan started apartheid in this nation in the year 1948 to make the white minority in South Africa dominant to black majority. Apartheid laws ordered that black people don’t live and use the same areas as white people. As the years and decades passed, apartheid laws and actions of the government became more intense. In order to receive rights for blacks in South Africa people, organizations, nations and leaders took it upon themselves to make this change (Cultures of the World). The end of apartheid came through three main methods: non violent, …show more content…
The most popular organizations of the time was the African National Congress (ANC). These organizations campaigned against apartheid and how blacks were being treated (Cultures of the World). The ANC used nonviolence methods such as boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and more to help all South Africans be treated fairly. Nelson Mandela was the biggest influential figure during this time of non violent campaigning. “Mandela helped lead the ANC’s 1952 Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, traveling across the country to organize protests against discriminatory policies, and promoted the manifesto known as the Freedom Charter, ratified by the Congress of the People in 1955”. In addition to this, Mandela formed a law firm to help those personally affected by apartheid. “On December 5, 1956, Mandela and 155 other activists were arrested and went on trial for treason. All of the defendants were acquitted in 1961, but in the meantime tensions within the ANC escalated (“Nelson Mandela”). In the year 1964, Nelson Mandela delivered his famous speech known as ‘An ideal I am prepared to die for’. In this speech Nelson Mandela says, “‘During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities’”(Mandela). After Nelson Mandela and the …show more content…
He was pressured by other nations from around the world because of how they were reacting to the apartheid policy that he was allowing. F.W. de Klerk was then elected president of South Africa and lead the country in a different way than Botha previously did(“Apartheid”). While he was president he wanted to change how South Africa and its government had been for the past three decades. He wanted to get rid of apartheid and have all races be equal in South Africa. Eventually F.W. de Klerk lifted bans on organizations and groups like the ANC. In addition to this he demanded that imprisoned activists that were part of these groups were released. This is when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in the year 1990. F.W. de Klerk then made a negotiation council. The negotiation council was meant to have the NP and ANC come to an agreement, but it had representatives from all racial and political groups. Also with the help and support of other nations from around the world like the United States and the United Kingdom, it made it easier to reform the apartheid policy (Cultures of the World). De Klerk also abolished laws that allowed discrimination against blacks. “A new constitution, which enfranchised blacks and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority,