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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | 'Democracy Knows No Colour': Rationales for Guerilla Involvement among Black South Africans |
Author: | Orkin, Mark |
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. |