A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details RE-IMAGINING SOUTH AFRICA: BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, RADICAL CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW LEFT, 1967 – 1977 By Ian Martin Macqueen A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary History University of Sussex March 2011 STATEMENT I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:…………………………………………….……………… UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX IAN MARTIN MACQUEEN DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RE-IMAGINING SOUTH AFRICA: BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, RADICAL CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW LEFT, 1967 – 1977 SUMMARY This thesis places Black Consciousness in comparative perspective with progressive politics in South Africa in the late 1960s and the 1970s. It argues that the dominant scholarly focus on Black Consciousness, which is passed over as a ‘stage’ in the Black struggle against white supremacy, insufficiently historicises the deeper roots, and the wider resonances and ideological contestations of the Black Consciousness movement. As they refined their political discourse, Black Consciousness activists negotiated their way through the progressive ideologies that flourished as part of the wider political and social ferment of the 1960s. Although Black Consciousness won over an influential minority of radical Christians, a more contested struggle took place with nascent feminism on university campuses and within the Movement; as well as with a New Left-inspired historical and political critique that gained influence among white activists. The thesis draws closer attention to the ways in which Black Consciousness challenged white activists in the late 1960s, who were primarily able, albeit it with pain and difficulty, to sympathetically interpret and finally endorse Black Consciousness. The thesis challenges the idea that Black Consciousness achieved a complete ‘break’ with white liberals, and argues that black and white activists maintained a dialogue after the black students’ breakaway from the National Union of South African Students in 1968. The thesis looks in turn at: the role played by the ecumenical movement in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s; student and religious radicalism in the 1960s; second wave feminism and its challenge to Black Consciousness; the development of Black Theology, and the relationship between Black Consciousness activists and the ecumenical Christian Institute; it closes with a study of the interplay between intellectuals Steve Biko and Richard Turner in Durban, and the significance of white students’ and Black Consciousness activists’ interaction in that city in the 1970s. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I acknowledge the generosity of the Overseas Student Research Award Scheme that made it possible to undertake this study at the University of Sussex at a greatly reduced fee. I would like to thank the European Union-funded network of excellence, CLIOHRES, which gave valuable stimulus as well as financial assistance through the three years of this study. Our European meetings were a great source of enjoyment, collegiality and sustenance. I would like to thank the South African Department of Education for their grant which made it possible for me to travel to South Africa to conduct field research. My sincere thanks to my supervisors, to Saul Dubow, who agreed to take me on as a doctoral student, and Alan Lester, for their generous encouragement, academic guidance and close feedback through the course of the research and writing. Together they have shaped this project in fundamental ways, and have provided an open door whenever it was needed. My thanks to my friends Craig and Kerry, Sue and Yun at Sussex University who made it a welcome place to be. I would also like to thank the university chaplaincy who provided a present-day model of the open ecumenism that this study explores. My thanks, as well, to my colleagues and peers at Sussex for their encouragement, support and interest. I also extend my thanks to my friends and colleagues in South Africa. To Dr Catherine Burns, for her early inspirational teaching as my undergraduate lecturer and mentor, and for writing strongly in my favour to undertake doctoral studies, as well as for important leads and encouragement at an early stage. My thanks as well to my friends: Prinisha, Stephen, Nafisa, Vashna, Hannah and Suryi, as well, for their great company while I was in South Africa and in correspondence. I would like to thank the archivists at Cullen Library, University of Witwatersrand, Michelle Pickover, Gabriele Mohale and Zofia Sulej for their friendly and very efficient help in July and August 2008. My thanks to head librarian Catherine Dubbeld, who allowed me access to read and photograph the Richard Turner papers at the E.G. Malherbe Library, University of KwaZulu-Natal. My thanks to Jewel Koopman at the Alan Paton Centre for her assistance. My thanks to Mwelela Cele and Mthunzi Zungu at Killie Campbell Africana Library for their help in May 2010 and for their encouragement. A word of thanks to my interviewees who agreed to be interviewed for this study and who provided me with the most immediate sense of the moral strength and the personal costs involved to oppose apartheid. ii I would lastly like to thank my family for their constant and caring support through the course of this degree. I especially acknowledge my aunt, Eona Macqueen, who sponsored me for the tuition costs of the degree. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Table of Contents iii Abbreviations vi Introduction 1 Origin of the thesis 4 The Awareness of Space 6 Black Consciousness in the History of Black Resistance 7 Radical Christianity 12 South Africa’s New Left 15 Chapter Outline 16 Chapter 1: Students, Apartheid and the Ecumenical Movement in South Africa 20 South Africa’s ‘liberal missionary heartland’ 21 The Context of the Ecumenical Movement 25 The Student Christian Association and the Fallacy of ‘the Bridge’ 27 The World’s Student Christian Federation and the Imperative of Radical Change 31 The founding of the UCM and the birth of SASO 34 Parallel Movements / Institutional Allies: the ASF and NCFS 39 Conclusions 48 Chapter 2: The Youth Movement and Social Change: South Africa’s 1960s 49 The Abe Bailey Conference 51 Tertiary Education and Political Struggle 53 The Mafeje Affair and the 1968 Sit-Ins 56 Students and Friars at Stellenbosch 58 NUSAS and SASO: Uncomfortable Bedfellows? 62 Turfloop, Tiro and the 1972 University Strikes 67 NUSAS’s and SASO’s Radicalisation 70 Conclusions 73 Chapter 3: Categories of Struggle: Black Consciousness and Feminism in South Africa in the 1970s 75 Gender as an Analytical Category 77 iv Masculinities and Femininities in SASO 78 Historical Antecedents, Partners in Struggle? The ANC Women’s League 80 Categories of Struggle: SASO’s Internal Politics 83 Black Consciousness and the ‘Black Nation’ 88 Black Consciousness and Feminism in South Africa in the 1970s 92 Black Consciousness and Black Feminism 95 Conclusions 98 Chapter 4: The University Christian Movement, Black Theology and Black Consciousness, 1967 – 1972 100 Interpreting Black Consciousness 101 Black Theology, the University Christian Movement and the Church 103 Biko on Christianity and the Church in South Africa 110 Black Theology Branches Out 114 New Wine in Old Wineskins? The Black Clergy and Black Theology 115 Conclusions 120 Chapter 5: The Christian Institute, Spro-cas and the Black Consciousness Movement, 1969 – 1977 122 The Christian Institute and Black South Africa 124 The Christian Institute Cape Office 128 Jorissen Street Ecumenism, Johannesburg 130 The Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society (Spro-cas 1), 1969 – 1971 131 The Special Project for Christian Action in Society (Spro-cas 2), 1972 – 1973 137 Conclusions 139 Chapter 6: Black Consciousness in Dialogue: Richard Turner, Stephen Biko and the ‘Durban Moment,’ 1970 – 1974 141 The ‘Durban Moment’ 144 The Political Figure of Turner 146 The Political Figure of Biko 149 The Complexities of Collaboration 152 The Development of SASO in Durban 157 Confrontational Politics and Community Development in Durban 160 The Eye of the Needle and Black Consciousness 161 The SASO Nine Trial and Turner’s Defence 163 v Conclusions 168 Conclusion: The Creation of a New Culture 170 Bibliography 178 vi ABBREVIATIONS AICA African Independent Churches Association ANC African National Congress ARM African Resistance Movement ASF Anglican Students’ Federation BCM Black Consciousness Movement BCP Black Community Programmes BPC Black People’s Convention BWF Black Women’s Federation BWP Black Workers’ Project CI Christian Institute CR Community of the Resurrection DRC Dutch Reformed Church IDAMASA Inter-Denominational African Ministers Association of South Africa NCFS National Catholic Federation of Students NUSAS National Union of South African Students PAC Pan African Congress SACC South African Council of Churches SAIRR South African Institute of Race Relations SASO South African Students’ Organisation SCA Student Christian Association UCM University Christian Movement UCT University of Cape Town UND University of Natal, Durban WCC World Council of Churches Wits University of the Witwatersrand WSCF World’s Student Christian Federation YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association YWCA Young Women’s Christian Association 1 Introduction On 24 October 1972 American political scientist, Gail Gerhart, interviewed Stephen Bantu Biko, leader of a new political movement in South Africa, known as the Black Consciousness movement.