The Causes Of South African Nationalism In South Africa

Nationalism means a sense of belonging to and identifying with a nation. That is, of being linked to other people who you do not know but who are all part of the same country. Some historians have said that a nation is not real community but an imagined community. This means not everybody is part of their nation, but still imagine they share the same things in common , and that they are part of the same community.

African nationalism was an important political force in 20th century South Africa. Many people thought that a nationalist movement should include all South Africans equally. But others felt that this was not possible under a white government that supported segregation policies. They believed that black South Africans should develop

In 1902, a group of colored South Africans in Cape Town formed the African political organization (APO). Dr Abdullah Abdurahman led the party for 35 years where the APO protested against segregation laws and plans to exclude black South Africans from the right to vote. They tried to achieve this through negotiation without any violence.

In 1906, Transvaal native congress wrote to the British parliament to complain about the pass laws, but their letter was ignored. In 1909 three African newspaper editors called together a meeting, the South African native national convention in Bloemfontein where they demanded the vote for all males and the end to racial discrimination. But the British government ignored the delegation, in May 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed, and white men had all the political power.

The first major step to the rise of nationalism in South Africa was the formation of the South African native national congress (SANNC later re-named African national congress). John Dube was elected as its first president the aim of the ANC were to unite Africans by overcoming ethnic, regional and linguistic differences to encourage United action to oppose discrimination and prejudice, and to win political rights for all. The ANC tried several times to send a delegation to London and Paris to protest.The early ANC was a moderate organization and relied on peaceful

Afrikaner nationalist established several organizations to promote these aims: the broader bond, founded in 1918 was the driving force behind the growth of Afrikaner nationalism. It was also a secret. Organization which wanted to end English domination. The federation of Afrikaans cultural organizations was established by the broederbond to support cultural activities. Afrikaner cultural organizations were separate from English versions. In 1938 the broederbond organized a centenary trek to commemorate the great trek of 100 years before. Afrikaners from around the country joined, it gave a great boost to Afrikaner