African Studies Institute - Seminar Papers

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End date: 1979Subject: search.filters.subject.Boycotts. South Africa

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    A long way to walk: Bus Boycotts in Alexandra, 1940-1945
    (1979-04) Stadler, Alfred William
    Bus boycotts assumed central significance in the political struggles in urban areas during the forties and fifties. The Alexandra boycott of 1957, which evoked sympathy boycotts across the country, even in areas in which bus fares had not been increased, reached the proportions of a major confrontation between the state on the one hand and African communities and political organisations on the other.
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    The consequences of a hypothetical economic boycott on South Africa
    (1977-11) Spandau, Arnt
    By a boycott we mean the refusal by persons to deal with one or more other persons. The purpose of the boycott is generally to punish, or induce abandonment of a course of action, by economic pressure. Likewise, an international boycott refers to the refusal of citizens of a state to trade, or enter into other economic relations with the citizens of another state, in order to manifest resentment or bring pressure. A boycott is to be distinguished from measures of economic retortion such as reprisals, sanctions, embargoes or blockades, which are initiated by a government to bring pressure upon a state guilty of unfriendly, reprehensible or illegal behaviour. Boycotts, however, merge into such official procedures if they are encouraged or organized by government....As far as South Africa is concerned, there has been a notable tendency for an increase in the calls for an economic boycott.... An articulate demand for an investment boycott was made last year in a joint statement issued by Chief Gatsha Buthelesi and Dr. C.F. Beyers Naude.... It is not the purpose of this paper to assess the validity of the theologians' reasoning. Suffice it to say that social and economic devastation is a most unlikely scenario from which South Africa will emerge as a peaceful multi-racial society. In my opinion it is rapid economic growth, and NOT the enforced abandonment of prosperous international economic links, which is best suited effectively to further the case of the South African Black. Be this as it may, let us look now at the consequences which a hypothetical economic boycott would have for South Africa.
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    'We are being punished because we are poor'. The Bus Boycotts of Evaton and Alexandra, 1955-1957
    (1979-03) Lodge, Tom
    This article concerns itself with two bus boycotts, one well known, the other less so. They are interesting in themselves, but here it is suggested that they are relevant towards an understanding of South African black resistance in general, and in particular in the context of the 1950s when African political organisations were attempting to mobilise large numbers of people in campaigns which had the ultimate aim of hastening the collapse of the existing political structure. A problem of that period , noted by many commentators both hostile and friendly to the liberation movement, is that despite the Congress Alliance's efforts to articulate its long-term aims through immediate issues: pass laws, wages, and so forth; despite the government's lack of concern to effectively legitimise its authority in the eyes of the masses; despite this being a period of economic stagnation relative to the preceding decade, so wages rose only very slowly and probably declined in real terms, nevertheless, mass response to African political organisation was uneven and often disappointing. Ben Turok, a former activist within the Congress movement, tells us that by the second half of the 1950s, after an initial promise at the beginning of the decade, support for the national movement was falling off in urban areas; that frustration and repression were beginning to promote political apathy (Turok 1973: 333). The boycotts will therefore be discussed within the general context of the problems of political mobilisation.