Today: March 29, 2024

Black Lives Matter: four lessons in white allyship from the South African anti-apartheid movement

At joint meetings of the Congress Alliance, the white Congress of Democrats was criticised for dominating. And in 1959, the Pan-Africanist Congress split from the ANC because it feared the struggle would be dominated by white communists. Others argued that there was no place for white people in their struggle.

Still, the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955 at the Congress of the People, a large multi-racial gathering of the Congress Alliance, had showed that most anti-apartheid activists recognised that “black and white” should “strive together” until “the democratic changes … have been won.” Alongside this message of non-racialism and joint struggle, it was made abundantly clear that freedom for the African people was at the heart of the movement.

As A B Ngcobo, a member of the ANC Youth League asserted in 1987: “The Africans, that is their struggle in the first place, and they’ve got to lead that struggle.”

Those who do not experience oppression are not best placed to make decisions on how to overcome it.

As the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa shows, mobilising white privilege can be a useful tool for advancing the struggle against racism. Yet, the fight must be led by those who are oppressed by it. White allies must show up, listen and put their bodies on the line.  – The Conversation