Before one can appreciate the significance of the Sharpeville massacre, one must understand its historical background and political context. They temporarily suspended pass arrests and focussed all resources on armoured patrols of potentially troublesome spots.
Other evidence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 38 years later in by two of the victims claimed "a degree of deliberation in the decision to open fire".
The Quiet Diplomacy of Liberation: This is supported by the fact that it took another 30 years for the apartheid regime to fall, and that was only after international pressure and sanctions.
Resistance became increasingly difficult after the banning of the ANC and PAC, as well as the arrest of a large proportion of their leadership groups.
Pass Laws The protest at Sharpeville, a black township about forty miles south of Johannesburg, on 21 March was part of a campaign against the so-called Pass Laws. There was no evidence that anyone in the gathering was armed with anything other than rocks. Both organisations were initially banned, then outlawed altogether with the introduction on 7 April of the Unlawful Organizations Act.
Several testimonies stated that the crowd was Essay on the sharpeville massacre for Essay on the sharpeville massacre top official who was rumoured to address them.
The international community awoke to the realities of apartheid and began a long campaign against it. However, the goals of the ANC did not by any means represent those of everyone in the anti-Apartheid struggle.
The police were also nervous after 9 police officers had recently been killed by a demonstration that had become violent in Cato Manor. Later the crowd grew to about 20,  and the mood was described as "ugly",  prompting about police reinforcements, supported by four Saracen armoured personnel carriersto be rushed in.
Preceding events[ edit ] Demonstrators discarding their passbooks to protest apartheid, South African governments since the eighteenth century had enacted measures to restrict the flow of black South Africans into cities. Down with the passes And so on the morning of 21 Marcha Monday, 5 to 7, people although cited numbers vary converged on the police station at Sharpeville.
Sobukwe fully informed the police beforehand of the Sharpeville demonstration, emphasising the non-violent intention of the marchers.
The march on Sharpeville was to be the first in a series of non-violent actions due to take place over a five-day period. This would primarily entail the marching of large numbers of people to police stations, without their passes, to hand themselves in for arrest.
This essay will contend that the unrestrained violence upon a peaceful demonstration proved to be a watershed moment that was decisive in determining the immediate future of the anti-Apartheid struggle, as well as determining the future direction of the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
The anti-apartheid movement responded to the massacre with grief, anger, disbelief and an overall new resolve to continue to resist the now murderous regime. The Sharpeville massacre drew international attention and criticism to the repressive and violent regime that existed in South Africa.
Pass laws intended to control and direct their movement and employment were updated in the s. Black Politics in South Africa sinceLondon: Police continued with brutal raids, they targeted the survivors of the massacre, and shot at those attempting to escape as police broke into their homes.
A policeman inside the fence raises his rifle and opens fire. As previously discussed, another long term effect of the massacre was South Africa eventually becoming a republic after condemnation from Britain.
Lead by Philip Kgosana, a 23 year old who had recently dropped out of university to focus on political activities for the PAC, the march was intended to finish at the South African Houses of parliament.
This proved to be the main catalyst for the infamous march of in Cape Town. Yale University Press, As the rest of the western world moved to end racial segregation, South Africa entered a phase that saw sustained and institutionalised racism at the hands of a government who were representing the minority white race.
Raids were a daily occurrence in Sharpeville, corruption was rife, unemployment was high, housing costs were also disproportionately higher and there had been a significant rise in the influx of arrests and prosecutions in the area, all of which contributed to a more difficult life for Africans in the immediate area.
Tear gas proved ineffectual, and policemen elected to repel these advances with their batons. It were these implications that highlight how the massacre at Sharpeville -and three weeks immediately following it- was undoubtedly a decisive, watershed moment in modern South African history.
No Easy Path to Peace. The timing of this was unquestionably impeccable. A History of South Africa. The government was also forced to respond on an international level, with the South African representative to the United Nations leaving the table when pointed discussions surrounding the Sharpeville massacre arose.
It is likely that the police were nervous as two months before the massacre, nine constables had been assaulted and killed, some disembowelled, during a raid at Cato Manor.
The outbreak of demonstrations caused further violence and the government reacted by declaring a state of emergency. The New York Times adequately reflected international outrage at the shootings in an editorial the following day.
The PAC also attracted the disenchanted youth demographic, who were eager to commit to their ideological beliefs with action. The Sharpeville massacre occurred in unique circumstances, and proved to be a tragic event that would shape the future of the apartheid struggle.The Sharpeville massacre of and the events it precipitated had a profound and long lasting effect on South African society and the already volatile political climate of the time.
The Sharpeville massacre was a haunting historical response by black people against the Apartheid oppression. For almost fifty years black South Africans had strived for their struggle against oppression and exploitation with the greatest patience.
maguindanao massacre Essay The Maguindanao massacre, violent as it already was, is a. Sharpeville Massacre Essay In March of both the ANC and the PAC decided to hold demonstrations against the 'pass law'. While the ANC planned peaceful protests, Robert Sobukwe wanted to do something a little bit more extreme/5(11).
To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the 'Witness accounts' tab above. According to the police, protesters began to stone them and, without any warning, one of the policemen on the top of.
The Sharpeville Massacre signaled the start of armed resistance in South Africa, & prompted worldwide condemnation of South Africa's Apartheid policies.
Sharpeville massacre: Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, ), incident in the black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, in which police fired on a crowd of blacks, killing or wounding some of them. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa.