Memories of Mass Repression by Selma Leydesdorff

Author:Selma Leydesdorff [Leydesdorff, Selma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, World, Political Science, Human Rights, Social Science, General
ISBN: 9781412842174
Google: rgn_TPIVGvYC
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2011-02-01T04:58:37+00:00

Underground Resistance

By the middle of the 1980s, following on successive waves of state repression, much of the resistance was driven underground. Immediately after the declaration of the first State of Emergency in July 1985, a large number of the leadership of black Grahamstown was arrested, forcing the remaining activists to enter a secret world of operating underground. One of the most important challenges to the authorities in this period was the organization of the 1986 consumer boycott. Other measures included rent boycotts and renewed efforts to force black town councilors (constituting the unacceptable local government structures) to step down.

Amidst ever-tightening control measures and efforts by the security police to combat these programs of defiance, one of the activists believes that the strong system of street committees had been very successful. He asserted:

During that time we were able to make sure that we set up street committees at grassroots level, and in that sense we were able to involve a lot of elderly people who were not involved before.

I was involved in making sure that they were set up in all the streets. So I went from street to street, setting them up. Chairing those meetings, making sure that people elect their leaders at the street level, providing guidelines as to what the functions of the street committees would be, determining the frequency of meetings, etc.

The street committees did not only confine themselves to political issues; the issues that were put forward were quite interesting because they included issues that would have a direct effect on their lives. Issues like death in the neighborhood, water that has been thrown out and smelling—those kinds of issues were very important to people. They could not speak freely at the meeting and this was a first taste of democracy for most of the people. For the first time they also got to know the word accountability.38

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