Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The firing lasted for approximately two minutes, leaving 69 people dead and, according to the official inquest, 180 people seriously wounded. Tear gas was again fired into the crowd but because of wind the gas had little effect on dispersing the students, some of the protesters picked up the tear gas canisters and threw them back at the Guard. With the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994, the apartheid system ended. At least 180 were wounded. We must listen to them, learn from them, and work with them to build a better future.. A state of emergency was announced in South Africa. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. the Sharpeville Massacre After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}264118S 275219E / 26.68833S 27.87194E / -26.68833; 27.87194. 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. Through a series of mass actions, the ANC planned to launch a nationwide anti-pass campaign on 31 March - the anniversary of the 1919 anti-pass campaign. Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa . South Africa had already been harshly criticised for its apartheid policies, and this incident fuelled anti-apartheid sentiments as the international conscience was deeply stirred. The policemen were apparently jittery after a recent event in Durban where nine policemen were shot. As part of its response, the General Assembly tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. But attempts to transform this non-binding moral declaration into a binding legal code were immediately bogged down in Cold War disputes. As the campaign went on, the apartheid government started imposing strict punishments on people who violated the segregationist laws. On March 21, demonstrators disobeyed the pass laws by giving up or burning their pass books. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. March 21 is a public holiday in South Africa in commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre. [7][8], On 21 March, 1960, a group of between 5,000 and 10,000 people converged on the local police station, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passbooks. According to his "Testimony about the Launch of the Campaign," Sobukwe declared: To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the, According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at, Afrikaner Nationalism, Anglo American and Iscor: formation of Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation, 1960-70 in Business History", The Sharpeville Massacre: Its historic significance in the struggle against apartheid, The PAC's War against the State 1960-1963, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1960-1970, The Sharpeville Massacre - A watershed in SouthAfrica, Saluting Sharpevilles heroes, and South Africa's human rights, New Books | Robert Sobukwes letters from prison, South African major mass killings timeline 1900-2012, Origins: Formation, Sharpeville and banning, 1959-1960, 1960-1966: The genesis of the armed struggle, Womens resistance in the 1960s - Sharpeville and its aftermath, Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960, List of victims of police action, 21 March, 1960 (Sharpeville and Langa), A tragic turning-point: remembering Sharpeville fifty years on by Paul Maylam, Apartheid: Sharpeville Massacre, 21 March 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 1, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 2, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Documents, and articles relating to the Sharpeville Massacre 1960, Editorial comment: The legacy of Sharpeville, From Our Vault: Sharpeville, A Crime That Still Echoes by J Brooks Spector, 21 March 2013, South Africa, Message to the PAC on Sharpeville Day by Livingstone Mqotsi, Notes on the origins of the movement for Sanctions against South Africa by E.S. At this point the National Guard chose to disperse the crowd, fearing that the situation might get out of hand and grow into another violent protest. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. A lot of Afrikaners felt a sense of guilt for the behavior they allowed to happen from their race towards another. Youth standing up against racism was the 2021 theme, aimed at fostering a global culture of tolerance, equality and non-discrimination that calls on each one of us to stand up against racial prejudice and intolerant attitudes. Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. The ANC was encouraged and campaigned for democracy in South Africa. The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. [16], The Sharpeville massacre contributed to the banning of the PAC and ANC as illegal organisations. Furthermore, the history of the African civil rights movement validated: Nationalism has been tested in the peoples struggles . The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. And with the 24th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Voting Rights Act of 1965 being ratified, the civil rights movement and the fight to end segregation reached its legal goal (infoplease.com). 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. It also came to symbolize that struggle. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. The argument against apartheid was now framed as a specific manifestation of a wider battle for human rights, and it was the only political system mentioned in the convention: Nazism and antisemitism were not included. The Population Registration Act of 1950 enacted, requiring segregation of Europeans from Afrikaans . Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. 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. The police assembled and used disproportionate responses to the protest. The PAC argued that if thousands of people were arrested, then the jails would be filled and the economy would come to a standstill. Find out more about our work towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Only the four Native Representatives and members of the new Progressive Party voted against the Bill. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In the late 1980s, one of the most popular anti-apartheid movements that contributed to the end of the apartheid was the Free Mandela campaign. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. The adoption of the Race Convention was quickly followed by the international covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights in 1966, introduced to give effect to the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 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. 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. The mood of the protest had started out as peaceful and festive when there were . During this event 5,000 to 7,000 protesters went to the police station after a day of demonstrations, offering themselves for arrest for not carrying passbooks. The police shot many in the back as they turned to flee, causing some to be paralyzed. The two causes went hand in hand in this, rocketing in support and becoming the main goal of the country - the end of segregation was the most dire problem that the Civil Rights Movement needed to solve. The march was also led by Clarence Makwetu, the Secretary of the PACs New Flats branch. At its inaugural session in 1947, the UN Commission on Human Rights had decided that it had no power to take any action in regard to any complaints concerning human rights. A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. Pass laws intended to control and direct their movement and employment were updated in the 1950s. After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. Following the Sharpeville massacre, as it came to be known, the death toll rose to 69 and the number of injuries to 180. 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. The ANC Vice-President, Oliver Tambo, was secretly driven across the border by Ronel Segal into the then British controlled territory of Bechunaland. 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. On 24 March 1960, in protest of the . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities, Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world today. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . 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. However, the police simply took down the protesters names and did not arrest anyone. As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. Early on that March morning, demonstrations against the pass laws, which restricted the rights of apartheid South Africas majority black population, had begun in Sharpeville, a township in Transvaal. The events also prompted theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discriminationwhich took effect on 4 January 1969. On March 30, the South African government declared a state of emergency which made any protest illegal. All the evidence points to the gathering being peaceful and good-humoured. Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. Under the country's National Party government, African residents in urban districts were subject to influx control measures. Both organisations were deemed a serious threat to the safety of the public and the vote stood at 128 to 16 in favour of the banning. A United Nations photograph by Kay Muldoon, Courtesy of the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, SATIS (Southern Africa - the Imprisoned Society). And then there are those who feel deeply involved and moved, but also powerless to deal with the enormity of the situation (Krog 221). Furthermore, a new police station was created, from which the police were energetic to check passes, deporting illegal residents, and raiding illegal shebeens. During those five months roughly 25,000 people were arrested throughout the nation. Let's Take Action Towards the Sustainable Development Goals. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. Both were tasked with mobilizing international financial and diplomatic support for sanctions against South Africa. The ban remained in effect until August 31, 1960. This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. When an estimated group of 5000 marchers reached Sharpeville police station, the police opened fire killing 69 people and injuring 180 others in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. This set the UN on the path towards the recognition of all human rights for all, and, eventually, the establishment of the Human Rights Council, and the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights performance of all states. Sixty-nine protesters died, and the massacre became an iconic moment in the struggle against apartheid. 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. 20072023 Blackpast.org. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid. According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at Drum magazine: The police have claimed they were in desperate danger because the crowd was stoning them. On March 21st, 1960, the Pan Africanists Congress, an anti-Apartheid splinter organization formed in 1959, organized a protest to the National Partys pass laws which required all citizens, as well as native Africans, to carry identification papers on them at all times. The enforcement of Pass Laws and the reissue of laws that restricted the. Within hours the news of the killing at Sharpeville was flashed around the world. When police opened . Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedy paved the way for the modern United Nations, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. As segregation and civil rights become national topics, their. Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa. He became South Africa's . The Minister of Justice called for calm and the Minister of Finance encouraged immigration. Pogrund,B. Kgosana agreed to disperse the protestors in if a meeting with J B Vorster, then Minister of Justice, could be secured. [3], South African governments since the eighteenth century had enacted measures to restrict the flow of African South Africans into cities. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. The Black resistance began to gain more momentum and increasingly became more threatening. However, the nations mentality needed work - though the popularity of Civil Rights was rising, many riots and racial hate crimes continued to occur throughout the country, with many casualties resulting from them (infoplease.com). The Sharpeville massacre was reported worldwide, and received with horror from every quarter. Its similar to an article in south africa that people have with racial segregation between black and white . The ANC and PAC were forced underground, and both parties launched military wings of their organisations in 1961. The officers asked the demonstrators to turn around; however, they did not budge. 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. [5], F-86 Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers approached to within 30 metres (98ft) of the ground, flying low over the crowd in an attempt to scatter it. Confrontation in the township of Sharpeville, Gauteng Province. When the demonstrators began to throw stones at the police, the police started shooting into the crowd. Police reports in 1960 claimed that young and inexperienced police officers panicked and opened fire spontaneously, setting off a chain reaction that lasted about forty seconds. . The massacre occurred at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville, A child demonstrates in front of Johannesburgs city hall after the Sharpeville massacre (AFP/Getty), The aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, The BritishAnti-Apartheid Movement marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre with a re-enactmentin Trafalgar Square, A family member stands next to a memorial toone of the victims of the Sharpeville massacre ahead of Human Rights Day in 2016 (AFP/Getty), Its been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. When protesters reconvened in defiance, the police charged at them with batons, tear gas and guns. Everyone should have an equal rights and better community . It also contributed the headline story at the Anti-Racism Live Global Digital Experience that marked March 21 internationally with acclaimed artists, actors and prominent speakers from South Africa including Thuli Madonsela, Zulaikha Patel and Zwai Bala. This affirmed that the elimination of racial discrimination was a global challenge that affronted the respect and dignity of all human beings. In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. There were also youth problems because many children joined gangs and were affiliated with crimes instead of schools. "[6]:p.537, On 21 March 2002, the 42nd anniversary of the massacre, a memorial was opened by former President Nelson Mandela as part of the Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct.[22]. The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid . The PAC and the African National Congress, another antiapartheid party, were banned. Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960 The day of the Massacre, mourning the dead and getting over the shock of the event Baileys African History Archive (BAHA) Tom Petrus, author of 'My Life Struggle', Ravan Press. 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. Sharpeville Massacre Newzroom Afrika 229K subscribers Subscribe 178 Share 19K views 2 years ago As South Africa commemorates Human Rights Day, victims and families of those who died at the. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. Approximately 10,000 Africans were forcibly removed to Sharpeville. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Attending a protest in peaceful defiance of the apartheid regime, Selinah and many other young people were demonstrating against pass laws designed to restrict and control the movement and employment of millions of Black South Africans. [10] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward. The Black Consciousness Movement sparked mass protests among Blacks and prompted other liberation movements to demonstrate against the apartheid. A week later, a breakaway group from the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) held its first conference in Johannesburg. Police arrested more than 11,000 people and kept them in jail. OHCHRs regional representative Abigail Noko used the opportunity to call on all decision-makers to give youth a seat at the decision-making table. Unlike elsewhere on the East Rand where police used baton when charging at resisters, the police at Sharpeville used live ammunition. After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. Some estimates put the size of the crowd at 20,000. Corrections? Take a minute to check out all the enhancements! Mr. Tsolo and other members of the PAC Branch Executive continued to advance - in conformity with the novel PAC motto of "Leaders in Front" - and asked the White policeman in command to let them through so that they could surrender themselves for refusing to carry passes. The Sharpeville Massacre took place in a south african police station of Sharpeville. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. When the marchers reached Sharpeville's police station a heavy contingent of policemen were lined up outside, many on top of British-made Saracen armored cars. [21], In 1998, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that the police actions constituted "gross human rights violations in that excessive force was unnecessarily used to stop a gathering of unarmed people. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The United Nations Security Council and governments worldwide condemned the police action and the apartheid policies that prompted this violent assault. Without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international human rights law system we have today. The Sharpeville massacre, the name given to the murder of 69 unarmed civilians by armed South African police, took place on 21 March 1960. Many people need to know that indiviual have their own rights in laws and freedom .
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