It is notable for an infamous event during the struggle against apartheid (which, in an earlier post I confused with the massacre at another township, Sharpeville [I think it's called]).
The SA Ministry of Education, in the mid 1970's, sought to supress black consciousness, by requiring that all education of black schoolchildren be conducted in Afrikaans--the language of the Boers. Teachers were teaching in a mixture of English and native languages. Connecting the kids with English connected them with a largely anti-apartheid outside world, and filled them with subversive ideology. Afrikaans was the language of the pro-apartheid minority, and it's news media presented no threat to the kids accepting their subordinate role. The Ministry of Education saw no real problem in there being very few Afrikaans-speaking black schoolteachers, which made compliance impossible. On June 16, 1976, thousands of children marched unarmed in Soweto, to protest the language rule.
Agitation ensued within the crowd, and among the police,sent to break up the demonstration. Stones were thrown, and the police opened up with live ammunition, firing into the crowd. Hector Pieterson, a 13 year old, was killed. A photo of him, being carried dying from the
scene by another schoolchild, shot around the world, provoking widespread outrage. In the ensuing violent uprising, 566 people were killed. Even white South Africa began to realize that apartheid was unsustainable, though it would be many increasingly violent and fearful years before Nelson Mandela was released from prison and a democratic constitution was established.
Soweto is also notable as perhaps the only city where two Nobel laureates (Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu) live on the same block.
Several posts following this one will mention details of our time in this fascinating and very large part of greater metropolitan Joburg.
No comments:
Post a Comment