Transcript AP World History POD #21 – Nationalism, Tribalism

AP World History
POD #21 – Nationalism, Tribalism &
Genocide in Africa
Apartheid
Class Discussion Notes
Bulliet – “Decolonization and Nation Building”,
pp. 856-864
Beck – “The Challenge of Democracy in Africa”,
pp. 1040-1045
The Struggle for Majority Rule
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“The opposition of European settlers delayed
decolonization in southern Africa. While the settler
minority tried to defend white supremacy, African-led
liberation movements were committed to the creation of
nonracial societies and majority rule. In the 1960s
African guerilla movements successfully fought to end
Portuguese rule in Angola and Mozambique. Their
efforts led to the overthrow of the antidemocratic
government of Portugal in 1974 and independence the
following year. After a ten-year fight, European settlers
in the British colony in Southern Rhodesia accepted
African majority rule in 1980. The new government
changed the country’s name to Zimbabwe, the name of
a great stone city built by Africans long before the
arrival of European settlers.” (Bulliet, p. 860)
South Africa
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The large white settler population
achieved effective independence in
1961 but kept the black and mixedrace majority in colonial era subjection
Apartheid
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Legal separation of the races in South Africa
Descendents of the Dutch and British made up 13%
of the population but controlled the most
productive agricultural lands, as well as the mining,
industrial and commercial enterprises and the
political system and governmental bureaucracy
Discrimination in housing, education and
employment confined the mixed-race (10% of
population) and the South Asians (less than 3% of
population)
Indigenous Africans (74% of the population) faced
more draconian regulations and policies
Homelands
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Created by the government restricted African
access to housing, freedom of movement, jobs and
public facilities
Designed to deny Africans all citizenship and
political rights
Typically located far from the prosperous (white
controlled) urban and industrial areas
Overcrowding and a lack of investment fostered
impoverished conditions
Best comparison is to Native American reservations
in the United States
African National Congress
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Established in 1912 as an organization to promote
African political and economic rights in South Africa
ANC organized strikes and boycotts to protest
apartheid
Soweto (1976) – a black township in which over
600 students were killed in riots over school policies
Stephen Biko (1977) – popular protest leader beat
to death while in the custody of police
State of Emergency (1986) -
Nelson Mandela
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Police fired on demonstrators in Sharpeville (1960)
and consequently banned all peaceful political
protest by Africans
Mandela and the ANC organized and led a guerilla
resistance movement against the oppression of
apartheid
1964 – Mandela was sentenced to life in jail
(enhancing his popularity at home and around the
world) but this did little to stop the resistance
movement
President FW DeKlerk caved to international
pressure by freeing Mandela from prison in 1990
Bishop Desmond Tutu
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Black South African Bishop
Encouraged a worldwide economic
boycott campaign against South Africa
for as long as the system of Apartheid
remained in place
Trade restrictions were imposed
Prohibited from Olympic competition
Suspended from the United Nations
President F.W. DeKlerk
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Elected president of South Africa in 1989
Goal was to end the political and economic isolation
imposed by the world community on South Africa
February 1990 – legalized the ANC and released
Nelson Mandela from prison
Over the next 18 months the Parliament began to
dismantle apartheid laws ending segregation and
land ownership restrictions
Called for elections in April 1994 implementing
universal suffrage.
Election of 1994
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Open to all white and black, male and
female
The Inkatha Freedom Party, a rival to the
ANC, threatened to disrupt the election, but
all went smoothly despite the extremely
long lines and the illiteracy of the electorate
The ANC won 63% of the vote and 252 of
400 seats in the National Assembly with
Nelson Mandela winning the presidency over
FW DeKlerk
Constitution of 1996
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This was a new more democratic
constitution
Guaranteed equal rights for all citizens
Included a bill of rights modeled on
that of the United States