What was the international context in which apartheid was implemented?

South Africa – The Sharpeville Massacre, 1960

In this course, Dr Daniel Feather (Liverpool John Moores University) explores South Africa in the build-up to and aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre. In the first lecture, we think about the international context within which apartheid was implemented. In the second lecture, we think about how conflict within South Africa led to the Sharpeville massacre. In the third lecture, we think about the immediate impact of the Sharpeville massacre on the anti-apartheid movement. Next, we think about how the National Party solidified control of South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how the National Party implemented their policy of separate development in the context of Africa being decolonised.

What was the international context in which apartheid was implemented?

In this lecture, we think about the international context within which apartheid was implemented, focusing in particular on: (i) the contrast between the National Party’s 1948 election victory and implementation of apartheid and the expansion of decolonisation around the world, from the end of the Second World War into the 1960s; (ii) the Second World War as a strong contributor to the initiation and expedition of colonialism by highlighting the hypocrisy of White colonial European powers fighting fascism, the weakening of the European empires, and the anti-colonial nature of the US and Soviet Union as developing superpowers; (iii) the Afrikaner population of South Africa, which could date its heritage back to the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 17th century, meaning that Britain couldn’t simply forcibly revoke White rule in South Africa; (iv) the Afrikaner view that they themselves had been colonised by the British after their defeat in the Second Boer War (1899-1902); (v) the increased urban migration of African people during the Second World War to fill the job roles left empty by many of the White population leaving the country to fight; (vi) the view that Jan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa from 1919-24 and 1939-48, was ‘soft’ on segregation and was preoccupied with international affairs, especially the formation of the United Nations (UN); (vii) the election of the National Party in 1948 on the apartheid policy, partly in response to Jan Smuts’ lack of focus on segregation; (viii) the resistance to the apartheid regime from the moment it was implemented, through protests and violence; (ix) pass laws as some of the most hated apartheid legislation, which required African people to carry passes which stated where they were allowed to be and for what reason; (x) Harold Macmillan’s Wind of Change speech, which highlighted the decolonisation process and focused on the importance of the Cold War in terms of these newly established nations siding with the East or the West; (xi) Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1958-66, and his stark disagreement with Macmillan’s message; (xii) South Africa’s vote to leave the Commonwealth on 5 October 1960.