Politics & Society
258 records
ArticleSocialism
Socialism is a political and economic ideology aiming to create a society where all members distribute resources and wealth equally. It is…
ArticleA brief history of domestic service in South Africa
Colonial History of Domestic Work Since slaves were used as domestic servants in the settler colony from the middle to late 18th century…
ArticleVlakplaas and the History of Apartheid's Death Squad
Vlakplaas is the name of an undercover counterinsurgency division of the apartheid police that operated in the 1980s. Vlakplaas is also…
ArticleThe South African Communist Party and May Day – Some Key Moments
May Day celebrated on 1 May annually, is a celebration of workers and their work. It has a long history, being a day of commemoration and…
Article1949 Anti Indian Pogrom in Durban
On 13 January 1949 an Indian store-keeper in central Durban assaulted an African youth. This incident resulted in a wave of violence,…
ArticleNatal Indian Association (NIA)
The Natal Indian Association (NIA) was formed when the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and the Colonial Born and Settlers Indian Association …
ArticleChanging Perceptions of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is a figure who has undergone many transformations in the eye of the South African public as well as in the global…
ArticleMandela and the South African Communist Party
Mandela and MK The late 1950s saw the first hints of an armed struggle occurring in certain parts of South Africa. Various types of…
ArticlePass Laws in South Africa
The Pass Laws was a system used to control the movement of Black, Indian and Coloured people in South Africa. The pass said which areas a…
ArticleThe Daily Dispatch
Together with the Rand Daily Mail, the Daily Dispatch was one of the loudest mouthpieces for mainstream liberal critique of the Apartheid…
ArticleHow Unique was Slavery at the Cape?
The first slaves arrived at the Cape in 1658, despite Jan van Riebeeck's several prior attempts at requesting slaves for the settlement…
ArticleLouis van Mauritius and the Slave Revolt of 1808
The unique nature of slavery in the Cape Colony hindered many attempts at wide-scale resistance on the part of Cape slaves. Instead many…
ArticleBureau of State Security (BOSS)
The telling of the history of South African Intelligence Agencies is somewhat hamstrung by the fact that people from these agencies do not…
ArticleCulture and Resistance Conference, Botswana, 1982
Several hundred artists and activists from South Africa living in exile and within the country, as well as foreign nationals, were hosted…
The International Socialist League (ISL)
The International Socialist League (ISL) was formed in September 1915. It was created by a progressive faction of the South African Labour…
ArticleSS Mendi
The sinking of the SS Mendi was caused by the reckless action of the captain of the SS Darro. It remains the greatest wartime maritime…
ArticleForced Removals in South Africa
Forced removals refer to the moving of people from their homes against their will. This may not always involve physical threat or force,…
ArticleStaffrider magazine (1978-1993)
Introduction Staffrider was a South African literary and arts magazine published by Ravan Press in Johannesburg from 1978 to 1993. It…
ArticleA history of Apartheid in South Africa
Background and policy of apartheidBefore we can look at the history of the apartheid period it is necessary to understand what apartheid…
ArticleA Charge of Treason by Norman Levy
This article was taken from the book The Final Prize by Norman Levy (Chapter 12) A Charge of Treason When detectives invaded the Congress…
ArticleThe Black Sash: A History of Transformation
This article was written by Ashley Schumacher and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project During…
Zarina Maharaj Biography by Sarah Rahimi
This article was written by Sarah Rahimi and forms part of the SAHO and Southern Methodist University partnership project Zarina…
ArticleMiriam Makeba: Activist on Two Fronts by Connor Kirkpatrick
Miriam Makeba: Activist on Two Fronts Abstract: Miriam Makeba is a Grammy award-winning singer. She is from Johannesburg and…
ArticleStrong and Unnoticed: The Women of the UDF by Reid Arnold
Abstract The UDF was an umbrella organization that was founded to unify the hundreds of Anti-Apartheid movements occurring in the 1980s…
ArticleThe 1956 Women’s March in Pretoria
The 1956 Women’s March in Pretoria, South Africa constitutes an especially noteworthy moment in women’s history. On 9 August 1956,…
ArticleA history of prison labour in South Africa
Prison labour has a particularly debatable history in South Africa. Historically, South Africa operated on the understanding that prisons…
ArticleThe Empty Land Myth
The Empty or Vacant Land Theory is a theory that was propagated by European settlers in nineteenth-century South Africa to support their…
ArticleThe Early Cape Slave Trade
The year 1658 marks the beginning of the slave trade at the Cape colony. During the first four years of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)…
ArticleThe Group Areas Act of 1950
The National Party was elected in 1948 on the policy of Apartheid ('separateness'). This 'separateness' put South Africans of different…
ArticleList of uMkhonto weSizwe Operations
ANC-2nd Submission to TRC - APPENDIX FOUR Please note: Information in this list was drawn from press reports and the Annual Surveys…