Black Consciousness in South Africa

Black Consciousness brutal murder of Steve Biko by South The security police and its blatant Africa's cover up by the coroner is only the latest in the line of repression, torture and injustice to which black oppositionists subjected for the past hundred have been The fate of Biko is however also years. a comment on the seriousness with which the racist regime regards the movement for black consciousness. Biko had been a leader in the fornation of the South African Students Organisation (SASO) which split from the white dominated National Union of South African Students (NUSAS)• In 1971 this and other organisations formed the unitary Black Peoples' Convention. Until their banning in October 1977 these were the foremost articulants of theories of black consciousness. As will be attested by any recent exile, these groups were the most influential in forming the political positions of a whole new generation of activists who Without have developed in the 1970s. doubt they were the inspiration for the activists who led Soweto's students in 1976. Despite their banning there is no doubt that the ideas of the black consciousness advocates will continue to circulate and to gain influence in the coming period. Precisely because they represent the present level of political consciousness of the mass of black activists inside South Africa it is necessary for revolutionary marxists to examine their ideas and to enter into fraternal debate with them. This article, which we dedicate to the memory of Steve Biko and to the continuation of the struggle that he led, attempts to begin this process. When SASO emerged it ended a period in which black political activity had been at a lower level than at any time for the preceding fifty years. This had resulted from the severe repression launched by the government in the early 1960s. The entire spectrum of oppositional movements, African National Congress, Pan African Congress, Unity Movement, Communist Party etc were unprepared politically or organisationally for this. After a brief period of disastrous sabotage activity most of their cadre went into exile. From there they vainly sought to organise Iural guerilla campaigns. In doing so they ignored the by now overwhelming in South Africa proletarianisation and urbanisation of the mass of blacks of working age. AS a result they became isolated from the key section of the black population. The black consciousness movement filled this vacuum. politics As Biko said: "In 1963 black people were scared of involvement in politics and there was no useful leadership..Everybody found it comfortable to lose himself in a particular position. The students have seen their role to prepare themselves for leadership role in the Black community through the political articulation of the aspirations of Black people" (Interview printed in IKwezi No 7, Dec 1977) Critical examination of the positions of the advocates of black consciousness is made a little difficult by the diversity of views and subjects of concern within the movement. One whole wing has been preoccupied with the development of "black theology". (For a sprinkling of writings on this theme see: Basil Moore (ed) "Black Theology, the South African Voice" Hurst 1973). Their positions are somewhat analagous to those of the independent churches that arose at the end of the 19th century in reaction to the clearly pro-colonial position of established They suffer from the same glarchurches. ing contradiction. On the one hand they reject white conceptions of religion, but they simultaneously sustain Christianity, which was itself perhaps the most pervasive cultural import accompanying white colonialisa. Other sections have been very much concerned with the promotion of a revival of black culture. Significantly this has not on the whole taken the form of looking back to the music, dancing etc. of precolonial societies. Rather it has tended to deal with contemporary themes and to be most heavily influenced by black American culture (for good summaries of work in these and other areas, see the 'Black Review', annual Durban based publication of Black Community Programmes, 1972 onwards). It would be quite wrong to underestimate the importance of such cultural devel opments. Whether in the religious or artistic fields they are manifestations of a developing reaction against oppression, Of course many of their initiators (especially of black theology) grossly But their very mislead their audience. existence is of crucial importance to revolutionaries, for this is our constituency too. christians The most politicised wings of the black consciousness movement actually arose out of the University Christian Movement. This was founded in 1967 on the initiative of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape. town as a multi-racial inter denominational organisation • At its 1968 conference a black caucus was founded which was directly responsible later in the year for the decision to form SASO. This stood on a policy of separate organieation for blacks• It deemed this necessary partly because NUSAS had been banned on a majority of black campuses. But its central argument was that blacks needed to liberate themselves from the dominance of whites over radical movements in South Africa and to build organisations of the oppressed which would be entirely self- In making this argument they were attacking not just reliance on liberals like Paton, Suzman etc•, but, by implication, the practice of the previously dominant sections of the nationalist movement. The ANd particularly had been heavily influenced by the mainly white leadership of the South African Communist Party. According to SASO leaders, South Africa's whites were in a privileged position that effectively prevented them from 100% association with blacks. In any case it was necessary for blacks to form separate asociations in which they would work through their own porticular problems and achieve not just organisational but psychological liberation from white domination. Such a step was extremely significant for the rebirth of black political organisation after the lull of the mid 1960s. It came into a situation where there were no effectively functioning political organisations, with the exception of those sponsored by fledgling Bantustan governments with the aim of securing backing for themselves. If black grievances were heard at all they were articulated through the distorted medium of white liberals. insistence on the need for a rebirth of self-organisation was a key in stimulating the new econonic and political milit ancy of the 1970s. 5 It was quickly followed by the development of an organisation with similar aims for non-students (Black Peoples' Conventior 1971) and by an attempt to develop black trades unions on the same lines (Black and Allied Workers' union 1972). Later a school students' movement was set up (SASSM) which was to play a leading role in promoting the 1976 unrest in the educational system. flourishing organisations Depite this flourishing of organisations the new movement never succeeded in working out a coherent political programme. Nor did it develop a functioning organisation that was capable of directing struggles beynnd the local. The most clear political statements of sections of the Black Consciousness movement were made in the BPC Aims of July 1972 and its 30 point programme entitled 'Black Communalism' passed at the Mafeking Conference, 30th May 1976, A further basic declaration was made by a meeting of 300 representatives of most of the organisations that would consider themselves part of this movement, held at Hammanskraal in December 1974. In 1972 five out of the seven points of BPC's programme concerned means for raising black consciousness in a variety of fields. The other two demanded the creation of "an egalitarian society where justice is meted out equally to all" and "an equitable economic system based on the principles and philosophy of black comm unalism", There is no attempt to formvlate any programme of precise demands for mobilisations in favour of any of these objectives. Again its 1976 Programme, while longer, is a feirly detailed cherter for a "modified version of the traditional African economic life style which is being geared to meet the demands of a highly industrialised and modern economy" (Introduction, point 1) It calls for state control of major sectors of the economy with a mixture of co-operatives and small scale capitalist businesses at lower levels. If any influences are detectable in its philosophy they are those of African 'socialism', like that of Nyerere and Kaunda who currently organise precisely such economies for the greater security of imperialist capital and the enrichment of a local bureaucratic bourgeoisie. In some ways even more important than this is that the 30 point Programme is nowhere a programme for action and could not therefore play any sort of mobilising role. In that respect the very brief concluding resolution of the 1974 Black Renaissance Convention is a little superiox. It at least precises opposition to 'separate development and all its institutions' and calls for a 'society in which all people participate fully in the government of the country through the medium of one man one vote'. programmes Overall however, the political programmes of the various sections of the movement have been a good deal legs precise than those of their forerunners of the 1950s and 1960s. This does not of course mean that these organisations have not engaged in any political actions. The record of bannings, detention and murder of their members by the government testifies to this. What has happened however is that the different-wings of the movement have tended to go ahead with diverse actions within their own particular fields. At no time have any centralised initiatives been taken by all its constituents around a commonly agreed programme of action. A chain of events like that of 1976 came about spontaneously out of unplanned initiatives in a particular local struggle. But if they were not organised by the black consciousness movement they were nonetheless products of a political milieu heavily influenced by its propaganda and arguments. I spite this tendency to political vagueness the black consciousness movement has made important strides forward on at least three key questions: 1) All its constituents have insisted on a definition of Black people as includ. ing the 'non-white ' oppressed in South Africa• Hístorically all nationalist movements in South Africa had maintained racially divided organisations even if these were federated (e.g. Congress Alliance, Unity Movement). 2) With few exceptions the new movement has been unanimous in its rejection of all collaborationist ventures. Foremost amongst these are the Bantustan governm ents, but included are such bodies as the Urban Bantu Councils which came under such heavy attack during the Soweto events. Again its clarity on this point marks off the movement from the vast majority of its predecessors and readies it to play a more uncompromising role in the struggle against the apartheid state. 3) The black consciousness movement has maintained a generally positive attitude to the question of a united front of all movements fighting for the overthrow of apartheid. In the Ikwezi interview quoted above Biko says: "I personally would like to see the ANC and PAC and the Black Consciousness Movement decide to form one liberation group! petit bourgeois On the other hand, as we have shown above, where we can find an explicit political programme it falls essentially into the same petit bourgeois category as more tradi tional African nationalism on the rest of the continent. Further, while the development of the black conscious. ness movement marks a tremendous step for ward for the struggle in South Africa, :: cannot escape the contradiction that the racism of whites does not by itself explain the nature of the state. Biko himself illuninates the problem: "There is no doubt that the colour question in South African politics was orig inally introduced for economic reasons" (Pg 36, Basil Moore (ed) op cit) But later in the same article we read an attack on those who "tell us that the situation is a class struggle rather than a racial one. Let then go to van Tonder * in the Free State and tell him this" (p838). When Biko says (ibid pg39) that "white people now despise black people not because they need to reinforce their attitude and so justify their position of privilege but simply because they actually believe that black is inf erior and bad" he is in part correct. Racist attitudes have inderd become int ernalised in the outlook of the mass of white South Africans. This fact does not mean that we have to look no further than these for an explanation for the peculiar nature of that state. In fact the instit utionalised racism that sustains it becomes more and more thoroughgoing the more advanced is the development of the South African capitalist economy and it is imp ossible to imagine the destruction of one without the other. 7 We stand in unconditional solidarity with the Black Consciousness movement and its struggles. We particularly commend the advances it has made in the development of the opposition in South Africa, But precisely because it is now the central expression of the aspirations of the most advanced sections of South Africa's blacks it is necessary to make string. ent and hopefully constructive critiques of its policies and organisation. Such a debate will be an essential part of. the necessary regroupment of forces opposed to apartheid on a principled political basis. "Africa in Struggle' invites further contribution on this and related topics. John Blair February 1978 #caricature of an Afrikaaner farmer. Soweto fights on