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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Democracy Knows No Colour': Rationales for Guerilla Involvement among Black South Africans
Author:Orkin, MarkISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:18
Issue:3
Period:September
Pages:642-669
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:national liberation struggles
guerrilla warfare
nationalism
Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637303
Abstract:Umkonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was formed in 1961, a year after the ANC was outlawed. This paper offers a contribution to the story of the armed struggle waged by MK in South Africa, by presenting and comparing three black South Africans' accounts - one from each of the three decades of MK's struggle - of the circumstances and motivations through which they chose to become guerrillas. The three are Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim (1937), who was recruited to MK soon after its inception; Mandla Maseko (1951), who joined MK after the Soweto revolt of 1976; and Dumisane Nkabinde (1962), who joined MK in 1983 in anticipation of an Inkatha onslaught on students at the University of Zululand. The accounts are based on interviews conducted by the author in 1990 with each of the men, in gaol, in the brief period between their having been found guilty and their being sentenced. The purpose of the interviews was to prepare expert written evidence to be presented in court on their behalf in mitigation of sentence. The first section presents background information by describing the social movements of the time. The next three sections contain the narratives. The final section is an interpretation of the narratives based on Weber's 'social action' perspective. Notes, ref.
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