The South African governments repressive measures in response to the Sharpeville Massacre, however, intensified and expended the opposition to apartheid, ushering in three decades of resistance and protest in the country and increasing condemnation by world leaders. [6]:p.163, The African National Congress (ANC) prepared to initiate a campaign of protests against pass laws. Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedypaved the way for themodern United Nations, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Jennifer Davis: Exiled hero of South Africas anti-apartheid movement, Ralph Ziman: I hated apartheid. The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. Nelson Mandela was a member of the banned African National Congress and led an underground armed movement that opposed the apartheid by attacking government buildings in South Africa during the early 1960s. Migration is a human right, How the Sharpeville massacre changed the United Nations, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. March 21, is celebrated as a public holiday in honor of human rights and to commemorate the . [9] The Sharpeville police were not completely unprepared for the demonstration, as they had already driven smaller groups of more militant activists away the previous night. Unlike elsewhere on the East Rand where police used baton when charging at resisters, the police at Sharpeville used live ammunition. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Its been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. The march leaders were detained, but released on the same day with threats from the commanding officer of Caledon Square, Terry Tereblanche, that once the tense political situation improved people would be forced to carry passes again in Cape Town. On this 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, the world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. ISCOR and SASOL, the state's metal and fuel companies, were and continue to be the two key role players in the provision of employment in the Sharpeville region. In response, a police officer shouted in Afrikaans skiet or nskiet (exactly which is not clear), which translates either as shot or shoot. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid . The moral outrage surrounding these events led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial . The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. At this conference, it was announced that the PAC would launch its own anti-pass campaign. Reddy. Some of them had been on duty for over twenty-four hours without respite. [6]:pp.14,528 From the 1960s, the pass laws were the primary instrument used by the state to detain and harass its political opponents. [10], PAC actively organized to increase turnout to the demonstration, distributing pamphlets and appearing in person to urge people not to go to work on the day of the protest. Time Magazine, (1960), The Sharpeville Massacre, A short history of pass laws in South Africa [online], from, Giliomee et al. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg. Eyewitness accounts and evidence later led to an official inquiry which attested to the fact that large number of people were shot in the back as they were fleeing the scene. The significance of the date is reflected in the fact that. Furthermore, a new police station was created, from which the police were energetic to check passes, deporting illegal residents, and raiding illegal shebeens. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. The events also prompted theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discriminationwhich took effect on 4 January 1969. By the 25 March, the Minister of Justice suspended passes throughout the country and Chief Albert Luthuli and Professor Z.K. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. the Sharpeville Massacre The massacre also sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. The world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance to the apartheid state. March 21 Massacre in Sharpeville In the Black township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed Black South African demonstrators,. But attempts to transform this non-binding moral declaration into a binding legal code were immediately bogged down in cold war disputes. I will argue that the massacre created a major short-term crisis for the apartheid state, a crisis which appeared to This shows a major similarity as they wanted to achieve the same things. The Sharpsville Massacre was a seminal moment in the history of South Africa. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. UNESCO marks 21 March as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in memory of the massacre. and [proved to be] the only antidote against foreign rule and modern imperialism (Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom 2008, 156) . On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot hundreds of people protesting laws that restricted the movement of blacks. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. During those five months roughly 25,000 people were arrested throughout the nation. What event happened on March 21 1960? Racial and religious conflicts; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle between the sexes; conflicts between management and labor; and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals all stem, in whole or in part, to oppression. In 1960, states had no binding international human rights obligations and there were no oversight mechanisms. "[1] He also denied giving any order to fire and stated that he would not have done so. A few days later, on 30 March 1960, Kgosana led a PAC march of between 30 000-50 000 protestors from Langa and Nyanga to the police headquarters in Caledon Square. The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar. By mid-day approximately 300 armed policemen faced a crowd of approximately 5000 people. The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by these organisations. Pogrund,B. [20], Sharpeville was the site selected by President Nelson Mandela for the signing into law of the Constitution of South Africa on 10 December 1996. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws thatd force segregation, classification, educational requirements, and economic purposes. They were mild campaigns at first, but as the government became more hostile, so did ANC protests. Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. Expert Answers. The targeted protest became infamous in the Civil Rights Movement, marked Bloody Sunday and was crucial to gaining favor of the public (civilrights.org). Copyright 2023 United Nations in South Africa, Caption: Selinah Mnguni, a Sharpeville massacre survivor, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. As the number of UN members from Africa increased, the commission reversed its no power to act position and turned its attention to the human rights situation in South Africa. By 9 April the death toll had risen to 83 non-White civilians and three non-White police officers. Furthermore, during the nineties to the twenties, leaders of African Americans sought to end segregation in the South, as caused by Plessy v. Ferguson. In March 1960, Robert Sobukwe, a leader in the anti-apartheid Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) organized the towns first anti-apartheid protest. Although the protests were anticipated, no one could have predicted the consequences and the repercussions this would have for South African and world politics. To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma. Reports of the incident helped focus international criticism on South Africas apartheid policy. This movement sought to overcome the subjugation the racist South African government and apartheid laws imposed on Blacks. In March 1960, South African police shot dead 69 black protestors, sparking worldwide outrage . Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Some of them remain in prison", "Sharpeville Memorial, Theunis Kruger Street, Dicksonville, Sharpville ABLEWiki", Calls for inquiry into Israels Gaza killings, Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sharpeville_massacre&oldid=1140778365, Killings by law enforcement officers in South Africa, Short description is different from Wikidata, Use South African English from April 2016, All Wikipedia articles written in South African English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 19:08. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because they did not have a parade permit (Reed 26). Weve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. [5], The official figure is that 69 people were killed, including 8 women and 10 children, and 180 injured, including 31 women and 19 children. As an act of rebellion the passes were set alight, as seen in a picture by Ranjith Kally. Other PAC members tried to stop bus drivers from going on duty and this resulted in a lack transport for Sharpeville residents who worked in Vereeniging. (2000) Focus: 'Lest We Forget', Sunday World, 19 March. Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, 1960), incident in the Black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, in which police fired on a crowd of Black people, killing or wounding some 250 of them. On that day, demonstrations against the pass laws, which restricted the rights of the majority black population in apartheid South Africa, began in the early morning in Sharpeville, a township in Transvaal. "[6]:p.538, The uproar among South Africa's black population was immediate, and the following week saw demonstrations, protest marches, strikes, and riots around the country. 351 Francis Baard Street,Metro Park Building ,10th Floor As the protesters tried to flee the violent scene, police continued to shoot into the crowd. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Protestors asyoung as 12and13were killed. Participants were instructed to surrender their reference books (passes) and invite arrest. By the end of the day, 69 people lay dead or dying, with hundreds more injured. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. The University had tried to ban the protest; they handed out 12,000 leaflets saying the event was cancelled. (1997) Focus: 'Prisoner 1', Sunday Life, 23 March. The policemen were apparently jittery after a recent event in Durban where nine policemen were shot. The poet Duncan Livingstone, a Scottish immigrant from the Isle of Mull who lived in Pretoria, wrote in response to the Massacre the Scottish Gaelic poem Bean Dubh a' Caoidh a Fir a Chaidh a Marbhadh leis a' Phoileas ("A Black Woman Mourns her Husband Killed by the Police"). This abuse towards people of colour in South Africa made people around the world want to protest against South Africa's government. "[18][19], Since 1994, 21 March has been commemorated as Human Rights Day in South Africa. The key developments were the adoption of Resolution 1235 in 1967, which allowed for the examination of complaints of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as exemplified by the policy of apartheid, and Resolution 1503 in 1970, which allowed the UN to examine complaints of a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights. The OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa also produced a series of digital stories on the Sharpeville massacre and young peoples concerns about their human rights. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Selinah was shot in her leg but survived the massacre. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . Early on the 21st the local PAC leaders first gathered in a field not far from the Sharpeville police station, when a sizable crowd of people had joined them they proceeded to the police station - chanting freedom songs and calling out the campaign slogans "Izwe lethu" (Our land); "Awaphele amapasti" (Down with passes); "Sobukwe Sikhokhele" (Lead us Sobukwe); "Forward to Independence,Tomorrow the United States of Africa.". On the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, the world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. Although this event in itself acted as a turning point in the struggle of black South Africans towards restoring dignity, but there were certain events which happened before Sharpeville massacre that caused widespread frustration and resentment in the black African community. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance towards the apartheid state. Often times individuals feel proud to be a member of their group and it becomes an important part of how they view themselves and their identity. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). When the news of the Sharpeville Massacre reached Cape Town a group of between 1000 to 5000 protestors gathered at the Langa Flats bus terminus around 17h00 on 21 March 1960. Do you find this information helpful? On the day passes were suspended (25 March 1960) Kgosana led another march of between 2000 and 5000 people from Langa to Caledon Square. Race, ethnicity and political groups, is an example of this. Many thousands of individuals applied for the amnesty program and a couple thousand testified through the course of 2 years. Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Individuals over sixteen were required to carry passbooks, which contained an identity card, employment and influx authorisation from a labour bureau, name of employer and address, and details of personal history. Mandela went into hiding in 1964, he was captured, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 24 March 1960, in protest of the . This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. When the demonstrators began to throw stones at the police, the police started shooting into the crowd. Under the country's National Party government, African residents in urban districts were subject to influx control measures. By standing strong in the face of danger, the adults and children taking part in this demonstration were able to fight for their constitutional right to vote. Philip H. Frankel, An Ordinary Atrocity: Sharpeville and its Massacre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001); Henry F. Jackson, From the Congo to Soweto: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Africa Since 1960 (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982); Meredith Martin, The History of Apartheid: The Story of the Colour War in South Africa (New York: London House & Maxwell, 1962). This year, UN and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joined South Africans in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, using the flagship campaign #FightRacism to promote awareness of these critical issues. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. However, many people joined the procession quite willingly. Steven Wheatley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. In particular, the African work force in the Cape went on strike for a period of two weeks and mass marches were staged in Durban. On March 21, demonstrators disobeyed the pass laws by giving up or burning their pass books. That day about 20,000 people gathered near the Sharpeville police station. The moral outrage surrounding these events led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which recognized racism as a gross human rights violation. The Sharpeville massacre also touched off three decades of protest in South Africa, ultimately leading to freedom for Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison. As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. News reports about the massacre spread across the world. Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Business Studies. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. [2] In present-day South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Massacre in Sharpeville. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans. Pheko, M. (2000) Focus: 'Lest We Forget Sharpeville', The Sowetan, 20 March. The officers asked the demonstrators to turn around; however, they did not budge. Corrections? According to the police, protesters began to stone them and, without any warning, one of the policemen on the top of an armoured car panicked and opened fire. It is likely that the police were quick to fire as two months before the massacre, nine constables had been assaulted and killed, some disembowelled, during a raid at Cato Manor. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. In Cape Town, an estimated 95% of the African population and a substantial number of the Coloured community joined the stay away. Find out more about our work towards the Sustainable Development Goals. A state of emergency was declared in South Africa, more than 11,000 people were detained, and the PAC and ANC were outlawed. The protesters responded by hurling stones (striking three policemen) and rushing the police barricades. Eyewitness accounts attest to the fact that the people were given no warning to disperse. One of the insights has been that international law does not change unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. Sharpeville was first built in 1943 to replace Topville, a nearby township that suffered overcrowding where illnesses like pneumonia were widespread. An article entitled "PAC Campaign will be test," published in the 19 March 1960 issue of Contact,the Liberal Party newspaper, described the build up to the campaign: At a press conference held on Saturday 19th March 1960, PAC President Robert Sobukwe announced that the PAC was going to embark on an anti-pass campaign on Monday the 21st.
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