South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - Printable Version +- Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora) +-- Forum: Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-1.html) +--- Forum: Historical Events (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-8.html) +--- Thread: South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 (/thread-3386.html) |
South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - Magda Hassan - 22-03-2010 South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre drew worldwide condemnation South Africans have marked the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, a turning point in the nation's liberation struggle. Sixty-nine people died on 21 March 1960 when police gunned down unarmed people protesting against apartheid laws. The dead were honoured as part of Human Rights Day, with church services, the laying of wreaths, and a speech by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. Critics say people in the township still face poor living conditions. People gathered at the Roman Catholic church in Sharpeville, and laid wreaths at the cemetery on the graves of those killed in the massacre. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. </p> Reverend Mary Shenkane, an eyewitness, and Ma Phethane, a survivor, remember the massacre Mr Motlanthe spoke to survivors and relatives of the victims at the Garden of Remembrance. Later addressing a crowd of about 5,000, he said: "We say never, never and never again will a government arrogate itself powers of torture, arbitrary imprisonment of opponents and the killing of demonstrators." "In the same breath, we state that our democratic government undertakes to never ignore the plight of the poor, those without shelter, those without means to an education and those suffering from abuse and neglect," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. Defining moment The Sharpeville Massacre is remembered as one of the bloodiest moments of the liberation struggle, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from Johannesburg. Our lives started changing with Nelson Mandela's release, but people are still financially struggling and finance is still in white people's hands Abram Mofokeng, Sharpeville resident Sharpeville recalls 1960 massacre On This Day 1960: Sharpeville Fifty years ago, South African police opened fire on demonstrators in Sharpeville township, 50km (30 miles) south of Johannesburg. Sixty-nine people died and at least 180 were injured - many shot in the back as they were trying to flee the scene. They had gathered outside the police station to protest against pass laws, which required all blacks to carry identity documents - known as pass books - at all times. No police were ever convicted over the killings. The Sharpeville massacre led to the banning of the African National Congress (ANC) and its rival liberation movement, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and signalled the start of the underground armed resistance in South Africa. Today, many in the township are disappointed that the ANC has failed to improve their lives since it came to power, our correspondent says. Many of the shops in Sharpeville have closed down, unemployment persists and there is a sense among some residents that basic public services are inadequate. "Our lives started changing with Nelson Mandela's release, but people are still financially struggling and finance is still in white people's hands," Abram Mofokeng told Associated Press news agency. He was 21 when the massacre took place. In recent weeks the ANC has faced protests from other communities in South Africa, who fear that cronyism and corruption have overshadowed the party's agenda. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8578549.stm South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - Paul Rigby - 22-03-2010 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v032/32.1.schettler.html Callaloo Volume 32, Number 1, Winter 2009 E-ISSN: 1080-6512 Print ISSN: 0161-2492 DOI: 10.1353/cal.0.0315 Reviewed by Meta L. Schettler Wilderson, Frank B., III. Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid. Boston: South End Press, 2008. Quote:Wilderson taught classes at two universities in South Africa, the University of the Witswatersrand and Vista University, both in Johannesburg, and he helped organize protests by student groups while simultaneously working with an underground cell in MK. From his first trip to South Africa in 1989, as an outsider, Wilderson painfully predicted (using Fanon) the cooption of the ANC’s radicalism by liberal establishment forces and Nelson Mandela’s probable role in allowing that cooption. South Africans rarely received Wilderson’s Marxist critiques of Mandela willingly, which is understandable, but in the end Wilderson’s analysis proved prophetic. Wilderson recalls one memorable incident [End Page 285] which even put his life at risk, when, during a secret meeting with an MK cadre, the comrade slammed his head against the steering wheel of his car and held him at gunpoint in response to Wilderson’s commentary on Mandela. Wilderson recalls his thoughts in that moment, “Breathe, Frank, breathe. I knew that he had a black belt in karate and I could feel it in his firm, expert grip pinching my neck. Guess you don’t do Jesus jokes in Jerusalem” (287). Despite this frequent backlash, Mandela’s reputation being unassailable, Wilderson also documents how his own immediate circle of ANC comrades attempted to resist the coming “Hydra” of “English liberalism and African conciliation” (144). South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - Paul Rigby - 30-03-2010 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18401 South Africa to Kick Homeless Off Streets before World Cup by Gary Anderson Quote:Thousands of homeless people are being forced off the streets of South Africa to hide the scale of poverty there from World Cup fans. Dumping large numbers of poor black people in the middle of nowhere? Now who used to do that, I wonder? South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - David Guyatt - 30-03-2010 Yup, we can't have the uncomfortable fact of the poor and starving blemishing the tens of billions on revenue from countless nations gorging themselves on beer and barbies. South Africa commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 - Paul Rigby - 30-03-2010 How long, one wonders, before the ANC's Wabenzi start issuing passes to the great unwashed? |