South African turning points

• Bunda burning his pass book in defiance of the law
• STRAND & SEE
• NET BLANKES
• BEACH & SEA
• WHITES ONLY
• Laws were created for black and white people
• The National Party came to power in 1948
• The laws that governed the country were called apartheid laws
• Apartheid


  Based on racism and built on the idea that white people were superior to everyone else
• South Africans were put into categories and classified in different racial groups


  • Black South Africans
  • Coloureds
  • Indians
  • Africans
• The whites only government ruled the country and held all the positions of power
• All the laws benefited white people
• White and black people were forced to go to separate schools, live in different areas, sit in different parts of the train, and even use separate ambulances
• White people


  Called Europeans
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written after World War II
• Universal


  Applies to everyone
• Dignity


  Being worthy of respect
• The emblem of the UNO is a dove holding olive tree branches, a symbol of peace
• The olive branch is traditionally offered by someone who wants to make peace after conflict
• The UNO wanted to keep peace among the countries of the world, promote human rights, and improve living conditions in poorer parts of the world
• In 1948, the UNO wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
• Human rights start with all human beings being born equal
• Human rights


  Basic rights that should make it possible for everyone to live free and equal lives, and be treated with dignity and respect, no matter where they are
• The rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights include:


  • The right to life, liberty and personal security
  • Freedom from torture and degrading treatment
  • The right to equality before the law
  • The right to a fair trial
  • The right to privacy
  • Freedom of belief and religion
  • Freedom of opinion
  • Freedom of peaceful assembly and association
  • The right to participate in government
  • The right to social security
  • The right to work
  • The right to adequate standard of living
  • The right to education
• When the UDHR was accepted at the UNO in 1948, South Africa was entering the most racist time in its history
• The National Party was in power, and they put into practice a policy of racial discrimination, called apartheid
• Black South Africans were denied basic human rights
• Apartheid laws ignored every one of the rights recognised in the UDHR
• The South African apartheid government did not sign the UDHR, but they remained a member of UNO
• The United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity
• Carl T. Rowan, African American writer, 1996: 'It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away, than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home'
• Eleanor Roosevelt, "In Our Hands" (speech on the 10th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1958): 'Without concerned citizen action to practice human rights close to home, we will not find progress in the larger world'
• The issue of race still affects South African society today
• Most people take it for granted that all humankind can be divided into races
• The study of human evolution shows us that all humans share a common ancestry - we are all Africans in the sense that we all descended from ancestors who lived in Africa as recently as 100 000 years ago
• The concept of human 'races' is not scientific
• Physical features such as skin colour, hair type and facial shape do not relate in any way to how people think or behave
• We are not the same, but we are all equals
• Human beings of different religions and cultures do behave differently but their behaviour is learned and not inherited
• Apartheid ideology used skin colour and other physical characteristics of South Africans to classify people into 'race groups'