South African exile politics: A case study of the African national congress and the South African communist party

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 181-196
Author(s):  
Andrew Prior
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Goodwin

Most theories of terrorism would lead one to have expected high levels of antiwhite terrorism in apartheid South Africa. Yet the African National Congress, the country's most important and influential antiapartheid political organization, never sanctioned terrorism against the dominant white minority. I argue that the ANC eschewed terrorism because of its commitment to "nonracial internationalism." From the ANC's perspective, to have carried out a campaign of indiscriminate or "categorical" terrorism against whites would have alienated actual and potential white allies both inside and outside the country. The ANC's ideological commitment to nonracialism had a specific social basis: It grew out of a long history of collaboration between the ANC and white leftists inside and outside the country, especially those in the South African Communist Party.


Author(s):  
Gavin Brown

Communists and members of the New Left were involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement [AAM] from its origins in the Boycott Committee in the late 1950s. In its early days, the AAM welcomed support from individual communists, but was reluctant to be seen to be too close to the Communist Party. Nevertheless, members of the Communist Party of Great Britain [CPGB] played a significant role at all levels of the movement throughout its history. Fundamental to this was the relationship between the CPGB and the South African Communist Party [SACP] whose cadre played a central role in the exiled structures of the African National Congress [ANC]. In contrast to the CPGB, other left tendencies had more complicated relationships with the AAM’s leadership. This chapter examines the relationship of different far Left tendencies to the anti-apartheid struggle during the 1970s and 1980s.


Author(s):  
Hendrik Van der Merwe

In this paper I discuss three case studies of facilitation and mediation in South Africa: 1) facilitation between the South African apartheid establishment and the African National Congress in exile from 1963 to 1989; 2) facilitation that eventually led to mediation between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front in Natal over 10 months from 1985 to 1986; and 3)mediation between the African National Congress and the Afrikaner Freedom Foundation (Afrikaner Vryheidstigting, also known as Avstig) over 18 months from 1991 to 1993.


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