A-Infos (en) France, OCL - The End of Apartheid in South Africa: Between Boycott and Class Struggle (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

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 in 
2005 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.

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