Black Consciousness Movement
From Halbeeg, the open encyclopedia · Af-Soomaali
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The Black Consciousness Movement was a political and intellectual movement that emerged in South Africa in the late 1960s. Its philosophical foundation held that Black people must first free their minds from the fear and self-deprecation that the system of apartheid (state-mandated racial segregation) had created, before pursuing political liberation.
The movement argued that freedom was a task for the oppressed to accomplish themselves, rather than something to be granted by white liberal allies. Accordingly, it created organizations whose membership comprised exclusively the oppressed, so that decision-making remained in their hands.
Origins and organizations
The movement is associated with Steve Biko and university student activists who split from the broader student organization and founded a Black student organization (SASO) in the late 1960s. This was followed by social and national political organizations (BPC), and projects in health, education, and rural development undertaken in townships.
Key ideas
The movement defined the term "Black" broadly: it encompassed all groups that the law discriminated against, not merely one race. "Black" thus became a political marker of solidarity rather than merely a racial descriptor. Another central idea was self-reliance: communities would build their own institutions, knowledge, and history rather than awaiting charity.
Impact and repression
The movement's ideas influenced urban youth, notably during the Soweto student uprising of 1976. The government responded with arrests, bans, and the suppression of many movement-related organizations. Steve Biko died in police custody in 1977, an event that became internationally significant and sparked international political debate.
Following the bans, new organizations carrying forward the ideas emerged, among them Azapo. Although the movement did not achieve the strength of a major party in the years following democracy's advent in 1994, its concepts and arguments concerning cultural and economic dignity remain visible in South African political discourse.