A 'silent decade' and its end

By the late 1960s apartheid looked secure - but resistance was quietly regrouping.

After Sharpeville (1960) the state banned the ANC and PAC, jailed leaders such as Nelson Mandela, and drove the liberation movements into exile and underground. Open mass protest inside the country was crushed, and the 1960s are sometimes called the 'silent decade'.

• Repressive laws allowed detention without trial and banning of activists.
• The economy grew, but Africans remained excluded from political power.
• New resistance would grow from students, workers and communities rather than the banned parties.

Black Consciousness and Steve Biko

'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.'

Frustrated by white-led student politics, black students broke away to form the South African Students' Organisation (SASO) in 1969, with Steve Biko as its first president. Their philosophy, Black Consciousness (BC), urged black South Africans to reject an inferiority complex, take pride in their identity, and free themselves psychologically before they could free themselves politically.

• 'Black' was defined politically to include African, Coloured and Indian people oppressed by apartheid.
• The Black People's Convention (1972) spread BC ideas into communities through self-help projects.
• BC gave a new generation the confidence and language to resist.

The Soweto Uprising

A student protest against Afrikaans in schools became a nationwide revolt.

In 1974 the government ordered that Afrikaans be used equally with English as a medium of instruction in black schools. Students, many influenced by Black Consciousness, saw this as 'the language of the oppressor'. On 16 June 1976 thousands of Soweto students marched peacefully; police opened fire, and the protest exploded into an uprising that spread across the country.

• Official figures put the dead at 23 on the first day; later estimates run far higher.
• The image of a dying Hector Pieterson made world headlines.
• Thousands of young people fled into exile and joined the liberation movements.

Biko's death and the 1977 bannings

The state tried to kill an idea by silencing its organisations.

Steve Biko was detained and died in police custody on 12 September 1977 from injuries sustained during interrogation. His death caused an international outcry. On 19 October 1977 the government banned around 18 Black Consciousness and related organisations, including SASO and the Black People's Convention, and shut down newspapers that had reported on the movement.

• Biko became a global symbol of resistance and of apartheid's brutality.
• Banning the organisations did not destroy the ideas they had spread.
• Many activists regrouped through unions, churches and community bodies.

The power of organised labour

Strikes and unions turned economic muscle into political pressure.

The Durban strikes of 1973 - tens of thousands of workers downing tools - showed the power of collective action and sparked a new wave of independent black trade unions. These grew through the decade, forming the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) in 1979 and, in December 1985, the much larger Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

• COSATU was launched on 1 December 1985 with Elijah Barayi as president and Jay Naidoo as general secretary.
• Unions linked wage demands to the wider fight against apartheid.
• Strikes and stayaways became powerful weapons in the 1980s.

The Tricameral Parliament

A 'reform' that gave some a vote while excluding the majority.

In 1983 the government introduced a new constitution creating a Tricameral Parliament with three separate chambers: one for whites, one for Coloureds and one for Indians - but no representation at all for the African majority. It was designed to divide the oppressed and give apartheid a more acceptable face.

• Real power stayed firmly in white hands through a weighted system.
• Africans were meant to exercise 'rights' only in the Bantustans.
• Instead of dividing opponents, it united them in protest.

The United Democratic Front

'UDF unites, apartheid divides.'

On 20 August 1983 around 10,000 people gathered at Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, to launch the United Democratic Front (UDF). Answering a call from Rev. Allan Boesak to oppose the Tricameral constitution, delegates from about 565 affiliated organisations - civics, unions, churches, student and women's groups - joined a single, broad coalition.

• The UDF openly identified with the ideals of the Freedom Charter and the exiled ANC.
• Leaders included Albertina Sisulu, Archie Gumede and Popo Molefe.
• It coordinated boycotts, stayaways and mass campaigns across the country.

Civil resistance, 1969-1986

1. 1969 SASO launched; Black Consciousness spreads
2. 1973 Durban strikes revive the trade unions
3. 1976 Soweto Uprising (16 June)
4. 1977 Biko dies in custody; BC organisations banned
5. 1983 Tricameral constitution; UDF launched
6. 1985-86 COSATU formed; nationwide state of emergency

States of emergency, 1985-1986

As townships rose up, the government ruled by emergency decree.

In January 1985 the ANC in exile called on people to make apartheid 'ungovernable'. Townships erupted in rent and consumer boycotts, school boycotts, stayaways and the setting up of street committees. The state responded with a partial state of emergency on 21 July 1985, and a nationwide state of emergency on 12 June 1986.

• Thousands were detained without trial, including many UDF activists.
• The army occupied townships and the press was heavily censored.
• Repression slowed the revolt but could not restore apartheid's legitimacy.

Boycotts, stayaways and international pressure

Resistance combined pressure from inside and outside the country.

The idea that outlived the bans

Black Consciousness argued that liberation began in the mind.

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steve Biko, 1970s

Biko's insight explains why the 1970s and 1980s resistance was so powerful. Once people rejected the belief that apartheid was natural or permanent, no banning order could fully restore that belief. The confidence built by Black Consciousness fed the youth revolt of 1976, the unions, and the mass mobilisation of the UDF.

What we learned - and questions to answer

Internal resistance rebuilt from ideas to mass action, and apartheid's legitimacy collapsed even as repression grew.

Between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s, resistance moved from Black Consciousness to the 1976 uprising, the rise of the unions, and the mass mobilisation of the UDF. The government's Tricameral 'reform' and its states of emergency failed to win legitimacy, setting the stage for negotiations at the end of the decade.