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poltical violence
violence and contemporary society
term paper on Violence as Ways to Bring About Political Change
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Repression by the South African government during the apartheid era, has hurt the ability for civil society groups to form. Instead of channeling grievances through civil society organizations that act as a “safety valve” for discontent in a more peaceful way, most South Africans who want to get their voices heard end up using violence as a tool in order to bring political gain.1 The use of violence as a component of South Africa's political culture was originated during the 1980s anti-apartheid struggle, where the ANC and other underground anti-apartheid groups would use violent and militaristic actions, language, and ideas to get their voices heard as part of social mobilization. Even after the end of apartheid and the establishment of the democratic regime, the elements of formal democracy such as competitive electoral politics, lobbying of interests, and open public debate have not replaced the violent and militaristic actions, rhetoric, and ideas that were the political norm of the 1980s.2 Civil society organizations still remain weak and shallow even under the current post-apartheid democratic regime, due to heavy co-optation of many civil society groups into the ANC.3 The weakness of civil society in South Africa and the reluctance of many South Africans to organize such groups under an environment of heavy political dominance of the ANC makes it possible for violent action to happen in many South African protests.4
How is it used?
Political violence in South Africa is employed in many different ways. In some cases, many violent protests do not require the use of armed weapons like machetes. In one article by Independent Online on September 15, 2005, that is cited in the Reddy article, a protest by high school studen...
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...y and the authoritarian tendencies of the state from the apartheid era could return, especially in a possibility of extremist ANC factions using political violence to take power in such a scenario. The reduction of state capacity by the ANC due to the violent and factional infighting and the lack of a strong, viable political opposition could herald a long period of political instability and uncertainty for the South African people.
Bibliography
Fields, Karl, Patrick O' Neil, and Don Share. “Cases In Comparative Politics” (New York, London: W.W. Norton, 2013)
Pinnell, Sabrina. “Topic 7: South Africa” Lecture, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, March 18, 2014).
Reddy, Thievn. “ANC Decline, Social Mobilization and Political Society: Understanding South Africa's Evolving Political Culture,” Politikon 37 (December 2010): 185-206
One striking fact of violent and nonviolent campaigns is that the frequency of both has grown throughout the years. Both had been steadily increasing since the 1900s and both had a sharp decline after 2006. However, the frequency of violent campaig...
A key argument expressed within “A Force More Powerful” is that non-violent protest is an effective method to motivate social and political change. The documentary provides three case studies as historical instances where non-violent protest met high levels of success. A main purpose of the filmmakers is to investigate the non-violent aspects of popular uprisings that had been previously underestimated in terms of their contribution to a larger conflict. The instances taken as case studies are all of groups marginalised due to racial, colonial, and economic reasons. The histories of the conflicts from which arise the case studies are given only briefly, with a focus upon the groups shown to be oppressed by their respective states and governmental institutions.
Failure to resist the consuetude of tyranny was seen in the apartheid regime that was allowed to rise in South Africa, “with its explicit policy promoting white supremacy” (Cooper 2002, 1). As a result of this establishment, non white Africans were forced to live separate and in poor conditions for years by the all white government. This yet again encumbered any chance for augmentation of self and society for the African people. While the rest of the world was creating mass transit and health care systems, Africa was being held down, it’s potential to develop as a state of power and influence,
Graham Leach is a former BBC Radio, for Southern Africa correspondent. Graham Leach has been a technical instructor for more than seven years. He joined the BBC as trainee in the 1970s. He was a reporter back then and was based in London. During the early 80s, international reporter was posted in areas such as Beirut to report on the upheavals that were occurring at the time. He is famous for writing the book; The Afrikaners – their last great trek. This book fundamentally outlines the lifestyle, struggles of the Afrikaners in South Africa, and their final triumph as wanting to be the superior race in South Africa. These two books portray Graham Leach as a form of activist towards Apartheid, as he’s books are influential and inspiring towards the abolishment of Apartheid and the coming of a new age. This book aims to enlighten the reader of the change South Africa had gone through, that it lay on the brink of massive change. However a question is being posed on whether Apartheid can dismantle peacefully, or could this violently emerge into a revolution and end up in a civil war. This is what Graham Leach sets out to understand as he provides for the reader an up to date guide of the experiences in South Africa during that time, the political situation and provides an outlook towards the future chance/outcomes for South Africa. By looking at South Africa from Graham Leach’s point of view during Apartheid, a justification can be made on whether he’s views towards South Africa, accurately measures out the the change occurring in South Africa politically and socially during this time and whether or not it will peaceful or characterised by violence.
Black South Africans while under the Apartheid period and black Bahamians before Majority rule had to protest for their freedom. Desmond Tutu, a man who played an important position in bringing about an end to Apartheid writes, “ In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights” (Par 2). This quote means that during Apartheid, blacks labored against Apartheid and all the negative things it entailed for the black people of South Africa which was most, if not all, of their human rights. During Apartheid, educated black Africans attempted to cooperate in an attempt to go against white rule, but because of the high numbers of uneducated black Africans, and the lack of necessary funds, their efforts were weakened. South Africans also protested Apartheid though peaceful protestations but the penalties for these protest were harsh. In addition, black Africans also received help from the United Nations whom established a...
Many strategies must sometimes be used to obtain one’s goals, as shown by the story of Nelson Mandela. Peaceful protest may give way, in turn, to picketing, rallying, marching, and sabotage when each is outlawed. T...
The word apartheid comes in two forms, one being the system of racial segregation in South Africa, and the other form is the form that only those who were affected by apartheid can relate to, the deeper, truer, more horrifying, saddening and realistic form. The apartheid era truly began when white South Africans went to the polls to vote. Although the United Party and National Party were extremely close, the National party won. Since they won, they gained more seats and slowly began to eliminate the black’s involvement with the political system. With the National Party in power, they made black South African life miserable which continues to exist in South Africa’s society today. To decrease the political power of black South Africans even more, they were divided along tribal lines. During apartheid in South Africa, The National Party, along with the help of the white social classes damaged the social and political life of black South Africans which continue to leave a devastating effect on South Africa today.
From 1900 to 2006, nonviolent campaigns worldwide were twice as likely to succeed outright as violent insurgencies… [In fact,] this trend has been increasing over time, so that in the last 50 years, nonviolent campaigns are becoming increasingly
Coster, P., & Woolf, A. (Eds.).(2011). World book: South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Movement, (pp. 56-57). Arcturus Publishers: Chicago.
It can be easily stated that the apartheid movement bestowed cruel and unusual punishments upon the people of South Africa, in order to execute its purpose. However, apartheid could have not been carried out if they were not individuals who believed in its principles. In order to understand the National parties ideologies regarding the issue of apartheid, it is essential to acknowledge the history of Boer soc...
...rry their pass books (“Black’s resistance to Apartheid”). “During 1980 there were 304 major incidents concerning struggle with apartheid including arrests, tear gas violence, stoning, and strikes (“Black’s resistance to Apartheid”). In 1986 violent conflict forced the government to assert a national state of emergency (Wright, 68). The Public Safety Act increased penalties such as fining, imprisonment, and whippings for protesting the law (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”).
Political violence is the leading cause of wars today. Personal agendas have led to many of the political objectives that cause violence today this has caused many problems throughout the world and will continue to do so until a solution to this issue is found. Political objectives have been advanced involuntarily dependent upon the kind of government a nation exercises. For instance, in a democratic nation political groups must worry about convincing the majority in order to advance ethically. Those who try to influence the majority through acts of violence are considered today as “terror” organizations. Though perhaps if it were not because of the recent 9/11 terror attacks that maybe such warrants would not be seen as terror attacks, but instead the result of partisan advancement. Acts of terrorism have been around throughout the evolution of mankind. Terror attacks have even been traced back as far as the religious roots of an ancient middle east (Ross, Will Terrorism End?, 2006). However as man evolved, so did terrorism. Today’s extremism involves some of the main characteristics of ancient terrorism, but much more developed. Political advancement is no longer the root cause of terrorism acts. Instead influxes of “holy” wars have been appended the prior definition of terrorism. Mistakably modern terrorism has been confused for Political violence with political objectives, but research will establish that the nature of terrorism is fundamentally different from other forms of political violence.
A system of legal separation amongst races dominated the Republic of South Africa, namely apartheid between 1948 until 1993. Apartheid led to the separation and discrimination between whites against people of colour. Not only was this racism commonly accepted between whites against blacks, but it was also legally enforced as white’s maintained priority in terms of housing, education, political power and jobs. I will be examining a particular event, The Soweto Uprising of 1976 which was an education related outcry by students. This event carries with it a great deal of importance as it was a very powerful thing to impact South Africa and help in the deconstruction of the Apartheid government.
Old South Africa is best described by Mark Uhlig, “The seeds of such violent conflict in South Africa were sown more than 300 years ago, with the first meetings of white settlers and indigenous black tribes in an unequal relationship that was destined one day to become unsustainable” (116).
...ellent policies, 5) the Constitution had come into existence through the working together of various groups that had composed South Africa, 6) South Africa's political and economic institutions are well established, 7) and that South Africa is by far the most developed country in Africa. However, there are still avenues that can impede further progress, more so economically then politically. Primarily the lack of foreign investment, especially when South Africa's gold and diamond reserves are emptied as other parts of economy are not as developed. Secondly, the economic gap between whites and blacks that was stretched during the time of apartheid needs to be tightened or else it could become dangerous to the stability of the political system. However, due to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s current government structure exists to solve these issues.