BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT

The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-

apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political
vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist
Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.[1] The BCM represented a social
movement for political consciousness.
[Black Consciousness'] origins were deeply rooted in Christianity. In 1966, the Anglican
Church under the incumbent, Archbishop Robert Selby Taylor, convened a meeting which later
on led to the foundation of the University Christian Movement (UCM). This was to become the
vehicle for Black Consciousness.[2]
The BCM attacked what they saw as traditional white values, especially the "condescending"
values of white liberals. They refused to engage white liberal opinion on the pros and cons of
black consciousness, and emphasised the rejection of white monopoly on truth as a central tenet
of their movement [3] While this philosophy at first generated disagreement amongst black anti-
apartheid activists within South Africa, it was soon adopted by most as a positive development.
As a result, there emerged a greater cohesiveness and solidarity amongst black groups in
general, which in turn brought black consciousness to the forefront of the anti-apartheid struggle
within South Africa.
The BCM's policy of perpetually challenging the dialectic of apartheid South Africa as a means of
transforming Black thought into rejecting prevailing opinion or mythology to attain a larger
comprehension brought it into direct conflict with the full force of the security apparatus of the
apartheid regime. "Black man, you are on your own" became the rallying cry as mushrooming
activity committees implemented what was to become a relentless campaign of challenge to
what was then referred to by the BCM as "the system". It eventually sparked a confrontation on
16 June 1976 in the Soweto uprising, when Black children marched to protest both linguistic
imperialism and coercive Afrikaans medium education in the townships. In response, 176 of the
child protesters were fatally shot by South African security forces[3] and both outrage and unrest
spread like wildfire throughout the country.
Although it successfully implemented a system of comprehensive local committees to facilitate
organised resistance, the BCM itself was decimated by security action taken against its leaders
and social programs. By 19 June 1976, 123 key members had been banned and assigned
to internal exile in remote rural districts. In 1977, all BCM related organisations were banned,
many of its leaders arrested, and their social programs dismantled under provisions of the newly
implemented Internal Security Amendment Act. On 12 September 1977, its banned National
Leader, Steve Bantu Biko died from injuries that resulted from brutal assault while in the custody
of the South African Police.[4]

History[edit]
The Black Consciousness Movement started to develop during the late 1960s, and was led
by Steve Biko, Mamphela Ramphele, and Barney Pityana[citation needed]. During this period, which
overlapped with apartheid, the ANC had committed to an armed struggle through its military
wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, but this small guerrilla army was neither able to seize and hold
territory in South Africa nor to win significant concessions through its efforts. The ANC had been
banned by apartheid leaders, and although the famed Freedom Charter remained in circulation in
spite of attempts to censor it, for many students, the ANC had disappeared.
The term Black Consciousness stems from American academic W. E. B. DuBois's evaluation of
the double consciousness of black Americans, analyzing the internal conflict that black, or
subordinated, people experience living in an oppressive society.[5] Du Bois echoed Civil War era
black nationalist Martin Delany's insistence that black people take pride in their blackness as an
important step in their personal liberation. This line of thought was also reflected in the Pan-
Africanist, Marcus Garvey, as well as Harlem Renaissance philosopher Alain Locke and in the
salons of the sisters, Paulette and Jane Nardal in Paris.[6] Biko's understanding of these thinkers
was further shaped through the lens of postcolonial thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Léopold
Senghor, and Aimé Césaire. Biko reflects the concern for the existential struggle of the black
person as a human being, dignified and proud of his blackness, in spite of the oppression of
colonialism. The aim of this global movement of black thinkers was to build black consciousness
and African consciousness, which they felt had been suppressed under colonialism.[7]
Part of the insight of the Black Consciousness Movement was in understanding that, black
liberation would not only come from imagining and fighting for structural political changes, as
older movements like the ANC did, but also from psychological transformation in the minds of
black people themselves. This analysis suggested that to take power, black people had to
believe in the value of their blackness. That is, if black people believed in democracy, but did not
believe in their own value, they would not truly be committed to gaining power.[8][9]
Along these lines, Biko saw the struggle to build African consciousness as having two stages:
"Psychological liberation" and "Physical liberation". While at times Biko embraced the non-violent
tactics of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., this was not because Biko fully embraced
their spiritually-based philosophies of non-violence. Rather, Biko knew that for his struggle to
give rise to physical liberation, it was necessary that it exist within the political and military
realities of the apartheid regime, in which the armed power of the white government outmatched
that of the black majority. Therefore, Biko's non-violence may be seen more as a tactic than a
personal conviction.[10] However, along with political action, a major component of the Black
Consciousness Movement was its Black Community Programs, which included the organisation
of community medical clinics, aiding entrepreneurs, and holding "consciousness" classes and
adult education literacy classes.[11]
Another important component of psychological liberation was to embrace blackness by insisting
that black people lead movements of black liberation. This meant rejecting the fervent "non-
racialism" of the ANC in favour of asking whites to understand and support, but not to take
leadership in, the Black Consciousness Movement. A parallel can be seen in the United States,
where student leaders of later phases of SNCC, and black nationalists such as Malcolm X,
rejected white participation in organisations that intended to build black power. While the ANC
viewed white participation in its struggle as part of enacting the non-racial future for which it was
fighting, the Black Consciousness view was that even well-intentioned white people often re-
enacted the paternalism of the society in which they lived. This view held that in a
profoundly racialised society, black people had to first liberate themselves and gain
psychological, physical and political power for themselves before "non-racial" organisations could
truly be non-racial.
Biko's BCM had much in common with other left-wing African nationalist movements of the time,
such as Amílcar Cabral's PAIGC and Huey Newton's Black Panther Party.[12]
Early years: 1960–76[edit]
In 1959, just leading up to this period, the National Party (NP) established universities that were
exclusively for black students. This action aligned with the Party's goal of ensuring racial
segregation in all educational systems.[13] Although the ANC and others opposed to apartheid had
initially focused on non-violent campaigns, the brutality of the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March
1960 caused many black people to embrace the idea of violent resistance to apartheid. However,
although the ANC's armed wing started its campaign in 1962, no victory was in sight by the time
that Steve Biko was a medical student in the late 1960s. This is because the organization was
banned in 1960, preventing it from having a strong influence in South African politics for
approximately two decades.[14] During this same time, students of colour "marched out" of the
National Union of South African Students organization which, although it was multiracial, was still
"dominated" by white students.[15] Even as the nation's leading opposition groups like the ANC
proclaimed a commitment to armed struggle, their leaders had failed to organise a credible
military effort. If their commitment to revolution had inspired many, the success of the white
regime in squashing it had dampened the spirits of many.
It was in this context that black students, Biko most notable among them, began critiquing the
liberal whites with whom they worked in anti-apartheid student groups, as well as the official non-
racialism of the ANC. They saw progress towards power as requiring the development of black
power distinct from supposedly "non-racial groups". This new Black Consciousness Movement
not only called for resistance to the policy of apartheid, freedom of speech, and more rights for
South African blacks who were oppressed by the white apartheid regime, but also black
pride and a readiness to make blackness, rather than simple liberal democracy, the rallying point
of unapologetically black organisations. Importantly, the group defined black to include other
"people of color" in South Africa, most notably the large number of South Africans
of Indian descent.[15] In this way, the Black Consciousness Movement provided a space for the
"unity of South Africa's oppressed" in a way that the students defined for themselves.[15] The
movement stirred many blacks to confront not only the legal but also the cultural and
psychological realities of Apartheid, seeking "not black visibility but real black participation" in
society and in political struggles.[16]
The gains this movement made were widespread across South Africa. Many black people felt a
new sense of pride about being black as the movement helped to expose and critique the
inferiority complex felt by many blacks at the time. The group formed Formation Schools to
provide leadership seminars, and placed a great importance on decentralisation and autonomy,
with no person serving as president for more than one year (although Biko was clearly the
primary leader of the movement). Early leaders of the movement such as Bennie
Khoapa, Barney Pityana, Mapetla Mohapi, and Mamphela Ramphele joined Biko in establishing
the Black Community Programmes (BCP) in 1970 as self-help groups for black communities,
forming out of the South African Council of Churches and the Christian Institute. Their approach
to development was strongly influenced by Paulo Freire.[17][18] They also published various
journals, including the Black Review, Black Voice, Black Perspective, and Creativity in
Development.[citation needed]
On top of building schools and day cares and taking part in other social projects, the BCM
through the BCP was involved in the staging of the large-scale protests and workers' strikes that
gripped the nation in 1972 and 1973, especially in Durban. Indeed, in 1973 the government of
South Africa began to clamp down on the movement, claiming that their ideas of black
development were treasonous, and virtually the entire leadership of SASO and BCP were
banned. In late August and September 1974, after holding rallies in support of
the FRELIMO government which had taken power in Mozambique, many leaders of the BCM
were arrested under the Terrorism Act and the Riotous Assemblies Act, 1956. Arrests under
these laws allowed the suspension of the doctrine of habeas corpus, and many of those arrested
were not formally charged until the next year, resulting in the arrest of the "Pretoria Twelve" and
conviction of the "SASO nine", which included Aubrey Mokoape and Patrick Lekota. These were
the most prominent among various public trials that gave a forum for members of the BCM to
explain their philosophy and to describe the abuses that had been inflicted upon them. Far from
crushing the movement, this led to its wider support among black and white South Africans.[19]
Post-Soweto uprising: 1976–present[edit]
Main article: Soweto uprising
The Black Consciousness Movement heavily supported the protests against the policies of the
apartheid regime which led to the Soweto uprising in June 1976. The protests began when it was
decreed that black students be forced to learn Afrikaans, and that many secondary school
classes were to be taught in that language. This was another encroachment against the black
population, which generally spoke indigenous languages like Zulu and Xhosa at home, and saw
English as offering more prospects for mobility and economic self-sufficiency than did Afrikaans.
And the notion that Afrikaans was to define the national identity stood directly against the BCM
principle of the development of a unique black identity. The protest began as a non-violent
demonstration before police responded violently. The protest devolved into a riot. 176 people
died mostly killed by the security forces [needs verification].
The government's efforts to suppress the growing movement led to the imprisonment of Steve
Biko, who became a symbol of the struggle. Biko died in police custody on 12 September 1977.
Steve Biko was a non-violent activist, even though the movement he helped start eventually took
up violent resistance. White newspaper editor Donald Woods supported the movement and Biko,
whom he had befriended, by leaving South Africa and exposing the truth behind Biko's death at
the hands of police by publishing the book Biko.[20]
One month after Biko's death, on 19 October 1977, now known as "Black Wednesday" the South
African government declared 19 groups associated with the Black Consciousness Movement to
be illegal.[21] Following this, many members joined more concretely political and tightly structured
parties such as the ANC, which used underground cells to maintain their organisational integrity
despite banning by the government. And it seemed to some that the key goals of Black
Consciousness had been attained, in that black identity and psychological liberation were
growing. Nonetheless, in the months following Biko's death, activists continued to hold meetings
to discuss resistance. Along with members of the BCM, a new generation of activists who had
been inspired by the Soweto riots and Biko's death were present, including Bishop Desmond
Tutu. Among the organisations that formed in these meetings to carry the torch of Black
Consciousness was the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO), which persists to this day.[22]
Almost immediately after the formation of AZAPO in 1978, its chairman, Ishmael Mkhabela, and
secretary, Lybon Mabasa were detained under the Terrorism Act. In the following years, other
groups sharing Black Consciousness principles formed, including the Congress of South African
Students (COSAS), Azanian Student Organisation (AZASO) and the Port Elizabeth Black Civic
Organisation (PEBCO).[23][24]
While many of these organisations still exist in some form, some evolved and could no longer be
called parts of the Black Consciousness Movement. And as the influence of the Black
Consciousness Movement itself waned, the ANC was returning to its role as the clearly leading
force in the resistance to white rule. Still more former members of the Black Consciousness
Movement continued to join the ANC, including Thozamile Botha from PEBCO.
Others formed new groups. For instance, in 1980, Pityana formed the Black Consciousness
Movement of Azania (BCMA), an avowedly Marxist group which used AZAPO as its political
voice. Curtis Nkondo from AZAPO and many members of AZASO and the Black Consciousness
Media Workers Association joined the United Democratic Front (UDF).[25] Many groups published
important newsletters and journals, such as the Kwasala of the Black Consciousness Media
Workers and the London-based BCMA journal Solidarity.
And beyond these groups and media outlets, the Black Consciousness Movement had an
extremely broad legacy, even as the movement itself was no longer represented by a single
organisation.[26][13]
While the Black Consciousness Movement itself spawned an array of smaller groups, many
people who came of age as activists in the Black Consciousness Movement did not join them.
Instead, they joined other organisations, including the ANC, the Unity Movement, the Pan
Africanist Congress, the United Democratic Front and trade and civic unions.
The most lasting legacy of the Black Consciousness Movement is as an intellectual movement.
The weakness of theory in and of itself to mobilise constituencies can be seen in AZAPO's
inability to win significant electoral support in modern-day South Africa. But the strength of the
ideas can be seen in the diffusion of Black Consciousness language and strategy into nearly
every corner of black South African politics.
In fact, these ideas helped make the complexity of the South African black political world, which
can be so daunting to the newcomer or the casual observer, into a strength. As the government
tried to act against this organisation or that one, people in many organisations shared the general
ideas of the Black Consciousness Movement, and these ideas helped to organise action beyond
any specific organisational agenda. If the leader of this group or that one was thrown into prison,
nonetheless, more and more black South Africans agreed on the importance of black leadership
and active resistance. Partly as a result, the difficult goal of unity in struggle became more and
more realised through the late 1970s and 1980s.[27]
Biko and the legacy of the Black Consciousness Movement helped give the resistance a culture
of fearlessness. And its emphasis on individual psychological pride helped ordinary people
realise they could not wait for distant leaders (who were often exiled or in prison) to liberate
them. As the ANC's formal armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe struggled to make gains, this new
fearlessness became the basis of a new battle in the streets, in which larger and larger groups of
ordinary and often unarmed people confronted the police and the army more and more
aggressively. If the ANC could not defeat the white government's massive army with small bands
of professional guerrilla fighters, it was able to eventually win power through ordinary black
peoples' determination to make South Africa ungovernable by a white government. What could
not be achieved by men with guns was accomplished by teenagers throwing stones. While much
of this later phase of the struggle was not undertaken under the formal direction of Black
Consciousness groups per se, it was certainly fuelled by the spirit of Black Consciousness.[citation
needed]

Even after the end of apartheid, Black Consciousness politics live on in community development
projects and "acts of dissent" staged both to bring about change and to further develop a distinct
black identity.[28]
In black townships during the 1980s, rivalry between black-consciousness adherents belonging
to Azapo and the UDF led to violence. This deadly violence was most pronounced in
Soweto.[2][3]

Controversies and criticism[edit]

A balanced analysis of the results and legacy of the Black Consciousness Movement would no
doubt find a variety of perspectives. A list of research resources is listed at the end of this section
including Columbia University's Project on Black Consciousness and Biko's Legacy.[29]
Criticisms of the Movement sometimes mirror similar observations of the Black Consciousness
Movement in the United States.[30] On one side, it was argued that the Movement would stagnate
into black racialism, aggravate racial tensions and attract repression by the apartheid regime.
Further, the objective of the Movement was to perpetuate a racial divide – apartheid for the
Blacks, equivalent to that which existed under the National Party rule. Other detractors thought
the Movement-based heavily on student idealism, but with little grassroots support among the
masses, and few consistent links to the mass trade-union movement.[29]
Assessments of the movement[31] note that it failed to achieve several of its key objectives. It did
not bring down the apartheid regime, nor did its appeal to other non-white groups as "people of
color" gain much traction. Its focus on blackness as the major organising principle was very
much downplayed by Nelson Mandela and his successors who to the contrary emphasised the
multi-racial balance needed for the post-apartheid nation. The community programs fostered by
the movement were very small in scope and were subordinated to the demands of protest and
indoctrination. Its leadership and structure was essentially liquidated, and it failed to bridge the
tribal gap in any *large-scale* way, although certainly small groups and individuals collaborated
across tribes.
After much blood shed and property destroyed, critics charged that the Movement did nothing
more than raise "awareness" of some issues, while accomplishing little in the way of sustained
mass organisation, or of practical benefit for the masses. Some detractors also assert that Black
consciousness ideas are out-dated, hindering the new multi-racial South Africa.[32]
According to Pallo Jordan "The great tragedy of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was
that it was never able to gather and retain much support beyond a narrow band of African
intellectuals."[33]
Donald Woods, a white South African liberal, was close friends with Biko and a number of other
senior figures in the BCM, but nevertheless expressed concern about what he regarded as "the
unavoidably racist aspects of Black Consciousness".[34]

Funding[edit]
The Zimele Trust Fund was a trust fund created by the black consciousness movement to fund
black community programmes (BCP's). Many of the community programmes that were funded
were located in rural areas in the Eastern Cape and some in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
In May 1972, the Black Consciousness movement sponsored a church conference which aimed
at creating a more "black orientated" perspective of the Christian gospel. Church organizations
assisted BCPs and many BCPs assisted religious organisations to run church programmes. This
resulted in a collaboration between political activists & religious leaders for the improvement of
communities through a multitude of projects. The Trust Fund was officially established in 1975 by
Steve Biko on order to fund these projects.[35] The capital for many of these projects came from
fundraising done by Father Aelred Stubbs through churches in Europe.The first funding
opportunity was to assist newly released political prisoners and the start up costs income
gathering families. This assisted in economically restabilising the families of those with "political"
criminal records as many communities branded these activists as trouble makers, making it
difficult for them to secure employment. The Trust fund also supported families through bursaries
and scholarships for activists children as activists struggled to secure bursaries and scholarships
for their children due to stigmatisation.[36] The trust, much like the black consciousness
movement, aimed at assisting people towards becoming self-sufficient.[37] They presented this to
the authorities as a project run by Thenjiwe Mtintso and the Border Council of Churches. The
director of the fund was South African Students Organisation (SASO) leader Mapetla Mohapi.
The fund succeeded with a brick making scheme in Dimbaza close to King William's Town. Other
self-reliance projects included Zanempilo Community Health Care Centre, Njwaxa Leather-
Works Project and the Ginsberg Education Fund.[38][39] The trust fund assisted people regardless
of political affiliation.[40]