A call to boycott the State of Israel to stop its massacre of the
Palestinian population in both Gaza and the West Bank was launched in2005 by an international campaign under the acronym BDS (Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions). The aim was to pressure international bodies
and governments to sever their ties with this far-right, colonialist
government. A previous boycott, that of South Africa, is often presented
as the means by which the apartheid regime in place in that country from
1948 to 1991 was buried. However, it was the class war waged by its
proletarianized Black population that largely contributed to this
outcome - as we will see here.
After the Yalta Conference[1]and the division of the world into spheres
of influence by the victorious Americans and Soviets, a "Cold War"
ensued. For the United States and its Western allies, South Africa had
to remain a stronghold: beyond its internal resources (diamonds, gold,
etc.), this tip of Africa was highly strategic from a military
standpoint. It was a key observation post for global maritime, economic,
and military traffic. Faced with "business" and reasons of state, the
fate of Black South Africans mattered little. It was on the oppression
and exploitation of the South African proletariat, subjected to the
apartheid regime, that a fruitful international cooperation took shape.
Across the African continent, a wind of revolts, independence and
nationalist revolutions swept through the continent; factions paid and
armed either by Washington and its allies, or by Moscow and its
satellites of the "Eastern Bloc," clashed. Like Angola, a Portuguese
colony, which became a festering sore between the two great powers one
supporting South African mercenaries and soldiers in the name of freedom
and anti-communism, the other sending Cubans as bearers of revolution
and "socialism" behind these ideological rivalries, each imperialist
power coveted above all the riches contained in the subsoil and looked
forward to the profits to be made. It was in these countries Angola,
Mozambique, etc. that thousands of South Africans would go to train for
armed struggle. The ANC[2], which was waging an armed struggle against
apartheid (racial segregation) in South Africa, would be classified by
the American government as a terrorist organization; Nelson Mandela
himself, arrested by the South African police on CIA information in
1962, was not removed from the terrorist list until 2008.
The policy of apartheid
Following European colonization and pacification, the National Party
came to power in South Africa in 1948. Adhering to Nazi racial laws,
this white, supremacist government promoted racial segregation and the
violent repression of the Black population. Marriages and sexual
relations were forbidden between Whites and Blacks, or "people of
color." Many places and neighborhoods were off-limits to the Black
population, who were required to have a pass to leave the ghettos
townships where they were confined. These restrictions quickly provoked
resistance among the Black population, particularly through its
associations (linked to the Church) and its political organizations,
such as the ANC and the ASPC[3]. These two organizations would join
forces underground.
On March 21, 1960, during a peaceful protest in the township of
Sharpeville (population 40,000 Black), police opened fire, killing 69
and wounding 150. Organizations and political parties were banned. Armed
struggle then became part of the resistance strategy of Black South
Africans: Mandela founded the armed wing of the ANC, which went
underground. The Sharpeville massacre, which sent shockwaves around the
world, led the United Nations General Assembly to impose an arms embargo
on South Africa shortly afterward. This non-binding measure would, of
course, have no effect. France, South Africa's primary arms supplier,
would shamelessly circumvent the UN decision through its various
networks and front companies. It would even help Pretoria develop a
nuclear program. In this cordial agreement, the city of Nice was twinned
with Cape Town in 1974.
A divided bourgeoisie
During these years, numerous solidarity demonstrations took place
worldwide against the Pretoria government. Calls for a boycott were
symbolized by the Outspan orange, represented on posters by the severed
head of a Black South African held in a citrus juicer by a white
hand[4]. Appeals to governmental and international bodies were made, but
it wasn't until 1989 that the UN imposed its first sanctions against
South Africa. This was because the economic blockades implemented to
denounce apartheid were harming business. Furthermore, the liberal
business class feared the emergence of a powerful revolutionary popular
movement that would threaten not only the white South African
bourgeoisie, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the interests of
the capitalists who had invested in the country. These international
sanctions led the South African government to modify its domestic policy.
The economic crisis that affected the country, like others, during the
1970s and 1980s also played a role. The bourgeoisie was divided over the
political choices ahead: to continue supporting a racist regime and its
brutal repression, or to exert pressure against it at a time when the
winds of decolonization were blowing and the Afrikaner nationalism of
1948 had faded and lost its impact, while the Soweto uprising had
awakened the power of a collective consciousness and a desire for Black
people. The necessities of the moment soon forced the Pretoria
government to contact the leaders of the ANC, as banks were refusing it
new loans or closing their branches in South Africa. But business
continued. Thus, numerous South African branches sprang up, and both the
white bourgeoisie and the emerging Black petty bourgeoisie prospered. It
was during this period of embargo, from 1985 to 1989, that the country
increased its exports by 26%.
Soweto... and the Forgotten Social Struggles
The impact of the boycott of South Africa and the economic embargo
imposed by international bodies against its regime, intended to force it
to change, is often mentioned. But the intense social struggles taking
place in the country also played a significant role: the strikes of a
powerful labor movement resonated with the protests and actions of
university and high school students...
This is why it is essential to tell this social story and the role it
played in the end of apartheid:
While South Africa experienced economic growth after the Second World
War, it fell into recession in the 1970s and 80s. Already low wages
stagnated in the face of inflation, while unemployment rose among the
Black population - leading the Black proletariat to intensify its
struggles. In particular, the regime sought to impose Afrikaans, a
language derived from Dutch and spoken by whites (12% of the
population), as the language of instruction in Black public schools,
even though a dozen languages or dialects were spoken in the country and
English was widely used. The government also attempted to make the use
of Afrikaans a requirement for South African citizenship. From the very
first demonstrations of resistance, the repression against students was
brutal. But the protests grew. The June 1976 Soweto riots, in the
suburbs of Johannesburg, supported by the Black Consciousness Movement,
marked a turning point in the struggle against apartheid and for Black
emancipation. Looting and arson spread into September to other
townships, and even to some neighborhoods in white cities - with their
share of demonstrators killed: 33 in Port Elizabeth, 29 in Cape Town...
This revolt officially claimed the lives of 575 people, including 570
Black people (but there were likely more than a thousand deaths). The
leaders of the Black Consciousness Movement were imprisoned - and one of
them, Steve Biko, died at the hands of the police during his detention,
which sparked further riots. In July 1976, the decree mandating the use
of Afrikaans was repealed.
A class struggle
It was the repercussions of these riots and the massacre of South
Africans that led the UN to impose an arms embargo on South Africa in
1977. This embargo was easily circumvented by arms dealers, including
France, but social and political instability destabilized the local
currency, the Rand, and eroded the confidence of international investors
during the 1980s. The Soweto uprising awakened a collective
consciousness and a desire among Black people not only to rid themselves
of the apartheid system, but also to dismantle the very structure of the
political and economic system. For a segment of the liberal bourgeoisie,
this archaic South African capitalism no longer met the needs of an
economy that employed Black labor in its various sectors, while the
white population was no longer able to manage this essential workforce
on its own.
Indeed, while some 200,000 white South Africans were fighting in Europe
alongside the British against the Nazis, South African manufacturing,
especially for the military, had to integrate and train this rural,
Black workforce, which became the majority in many manufacturing and
other sectors, where Black people also rose to positions of
responsibility. For employers and investors, this represented a
potential future consumer base.
The bourgeoisie, big business, and foreign investors thus intensified
their pressure on the South African government, and in 1983 a new
Constitution was adopted. The reform provided for three representative
chambers, but none represented Black people. In response, associations,
organizations, and unions, which had become "multiracial," called for a
boycott of the parliamentary elections and organized massive
mobilizations. In 1984, when P. Botha's government inaugurated the new
Parliament, demonstrations and strikes paralyzed the country's
industrial heartland. The labor movement was on the offensive. In 1985,
the unions regrouped to form COSATU[5], which became a powerful force
for economic and political pressure. Numerous strikes in the ports,
mines, food processing, automotive industries, and elsewhere both
secured wage demands and strengthened the unity of the Black community.
With most of the townships in revolt, the government declared a state of
emergency in 36 districts. But despite the fierce repression, the
movement expanded and created committees that controlled economic
activities and self-managed social life, not only in the townships but
even in the bantustans. Self-defense committees against the police and
their dogs also emerged, and the police and informers were hunted down.
The funerals of protesters killed by the police became rallies drawing
tens of thousands of people. Unable to crush this movement, the
government was forced to lift the state of emergency, and the apartheid
laws restricting the movement of Black people were abolished. The
country's largest general strike took place on May 1, 1986. A workers'
revolution was underway. This situation worried international investors,
and the imperialist powers and financial institutions rushed to impose
new economic sanctions and an embargo. Again, the aim was not to show
solidarity with the proletariat, but to force the hardliners of the
apartheid regime to negotiate with representatives of the ANC and its
leader, Mandela, who was then imprisoned.
In 1989, mobilizations called for by associations and organizations
fighting against apartheid took place throughout the country. The
protesters occupied government buildings, and previously clandestine
organizations officially recognized themselves. The movement was so
large that the government was unable to suppress it. President P. Botha
was forced to relinquish power to De Klerk, who released political
prisoners, including Mandela, in February 1990. And after the
assassination of the highly popular ASPC leader Chris Hani in April
1993, a general strike was called, and the population once again took to
the streets.
Thus, far more than sanctions or an international boycott, it was the
workers' strikes and popular uprisings (paid for dearly in human lives)
that brought the bourgeoisie and capitalism of this country to their knees.
But the ANC leadership then set about countering this revolutionary
social unrest. Mandela, drawing on his charisma and authority, appeared
on television to... call for calm. In May 1994, he was elected President
of South Africa.
Decaen, September 10, 2025
P.S.
This article was intended for Courant Alternatif issue no. 354, November
2025. We are publishing it here due to space constraints in the print
edition.
Notes
[1]After the defeat of the Third Reich, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
adopted a common strategy and established a new world order at Yalta,
Crimea, in February 1945.
[2]The African National Congress was founded in 1912, re-established in
1923, and banned in 1960.
[3]South African Communist Party supported by the USSR.
[4]The boycott of the 1980s against Israel targeted Jaffa grapefruits
and Carmel avocados.
[5]The Confederation of South African Trade Unions was, along with the
ANC and the ASPC, one of the tools in the fight against apartheid.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4548
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