South Africa

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The Rivionia Trail and its significance for Nelson

  • The trail lasted from 1963 to 1964
  • They were accused of recruiting fighters, attempting to commit sabotage, having links with communist organisations, and soliciting money from foreign states.
  • The prosecutor called for a death penalty however the judge gave them a life imprisionment.
  • Oliver Tambo traveled widely and was invited to adress the UN to focus on the political prisoners, the UN called for their release. After a trip to the sovient union he was able to fund the Mandela Movement.
  • The Anti-apartheid movement (AAM) was founded in 1960.
  • in 1959 they started a boycott movement, focusuing on South African products such as sherry.
  • They were excluded from FIFA in 1963
  • They were excluded from the Olympics in 1964
  • The Swedish government gave direct support to AAM
  • The US, Canada and the Netherlands housed important anti-apartheid movement.
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The Move to armed struggle

  • Individual activists had occasionally expressed themselves through violence- at East London in 1952 ect.
  • The rebels asked the ANC to assist in finding arms to fight the government, the ANC was not ready to do so. However the banning of the movemnes in 1960 and their ability to operate peacefully made a decision all the more urgent.
  • In June 1961 the ANC explicitly decided on armed struggle.
  • The MK was not formally linked to the ANC. It was a independent military wing, led jointly by Mandela (ANC) and Joe Slovo (CP).
  • The Sovient Union made the largest contributions, they helped with education and training.
  • in 1961 five African men were sent to China for training in Guerrila tactics.
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