Ack S.african Rebellion
Socialist Press1976 1976-09-08Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 1 →
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Not only the size and persistence of the demonstrations daily rocking the Vorster regime in South Africa, but also the forms the struggle is taking, are becoming every day more threatening to the oppressive apartheid system.
Latest unconfirmed reports suggest that a further extension of the recent massive 3-day general strike is being prepared - with calls for a three week national stoppage by African workers.
SOWETO In Soweto the call for the three-day general strike between August 23rd and 25th was followed by 80% of Johannesburg's black workers.
In their efforts to break the strike, the armed police and the BOSS (Bureau of State Security) demonstrators was not intimidating the rest, took advantage of the especially insecure position of those migrant workers who live in hostels to try to promote internecine strife among the black workers.
The hostel dwellers are under the 24-hour vigilance of white hostel supervisors; they can be sent back to their "tribal homelands" at a moment's notice.
By making threats of this kind the police tried to blackmail these workers into attacking the participants in the demonstrations.
Several black journalists present in Soweto all heard a white police officer say to these hostel workers:
"You have been ordered to attack only the trouble makers. If you attack buildings belonging to the administration we will be fanna to infarrona againot von "
Since the regime was unable to censor such press reports, this manoeuvre backfired and in the long run has merely served to deepen the hatred of all black workers for the racist regime responsible for their appalling conditions of life.
COLOURED
The most striking new upsurge of the last ten days has been in the Western Cape. There the "Coloured" (mixed-race) population has shown itself to be at one with the black workers and students and to share the same militancy and courage.
After demonstrations in the University of the Western Cape in which students turned firehoses on their white teachers, the suburbs of Cape Town itsell erupted.
Every day for the past week demonstrations of thousands of workers and students have Cont'a Rack Pase Col 5
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fage 2 SOCIALISȚ PRESS, Wednesday 8th September 1976