CAS, History Dept. Host Anti-Apartheid Movement Event

The History Department and College of Arts and Sciences, along with Dean Peter Schraeder, invited Martha Biondi, author of “We are Internationalists: Prexy Nesbitt and the Fight for African Liberation,” to speak at Loyola as part of Black History Month Series. Biondi spoke to students and faculty about the historical discrimination present in South Africa during the 1970s and ’80s.

Biondi’s book addresses the social movement which aimed to support struggles for freedom and national liberation in South Africa, referencing the life trajectory of Chicagoan activist Prexy Nesbitt. Specifically, the book focuses on the hardships faced in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa during the time of apartheid, according to Biondi.

Apartheid, the legal system for racial separation and white minority rule, was implemented in South Africa from 1948 until 1994, according to Stanford University. 

Biondi said her book encapsulates the American desire to end Apartheid by analyzing historical protests, actions and organizing Chicagoans engaged in, such as fights for divestment legislation led by the unified groups, like the Coalition for Illinois Divestment in South Africa and the Illinois Labor Network to End Apartheid.

“Activists were fighting to change not only policy in Southern Africa, but policy in the U.S.,” Biondi said.

In the early ‘80s, then-President Ronald Reagan pursued “constructive engagement,” a policy based on the principle that by remaining engaged politically and economically in South Africa, the United States could improve conditions for oppressed populations from within. This seemingly minimized the extent of the violence and endorsed state action within South Africa, according to the University of Michigan.

As protests occurred throughout the United States, a national push for divestment legislation urged Congress to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. The Act imposed sanctions against South Africa and listed preconditions for the repealing of sanctions, according to the University of Michigan.

Reagan vetoed the bill, claiming these measures would hurt the Black population of South Africa, but Congress overrode the veto and successfully passed the Act, according to the University of Michigan.

Biondi said she hopes students are able to identify the power of the legislative branch within her story.

“I think that in our own time we’ve seen Congress’ role in making and shaping foreign policy recede to the margins and sidelines,” Biondi said. “We’ve seen greater executive authority on its own and making foreign policy.”

Biondi’s discussion mentioned that Chicago activists fought for divestment legislature through the Chicago City Council and state legislature in Springfield, Ill..

Over three decades after the end of Apartheid, Chicago continues to fight against human rights struggles, Biondi said.

“They’re continued to be very important fights, ongoing fights for racial justice in Chicago, particularly around policing, but also around housing and education,” Biondi said.  “So these issues are still sadly very relevant in our own times.”

Assistant Professor of history Tikia Hamilton said she considers Chicago’s Anti-Apartheid Movement to be a very important, but little-known history. The movement helped shape politics throughout the 1970s and 1980s and allowed many people to stay globally aware of racial injustice.

“It is important for students to gain an understanding of struggles that connected the experiences of people in other parts of the world to the local struggle for civil rights,” Hamilton said.

By looking at history through a transnational approach, people are able to appreciate others’ efforts towards challenging regimes like Apartheid, according to Hamilton.

Hamilton said she hopes students are able to see the possibility of ways to overcome unjust racial systems, both in the United States and abroad.

Third-year psychology major Amanda Andujar and third-year biology major Rosy Quispe attended the event to complete an extra credit assignment for their HIST 212 class.

Recent class discussions have consisted of the evolution of rights for Black individuals and women in America, according to Andujar.

“I think it can be relevant to the class because we’re talking a lot about racial tensions between African Americans in the U.S.,” Andujar said.

The history of white supremacy in America is similar to the system of apartheid, according to Quispe.

“Apartheid is similar to what happened here in America, only white people want power and so they displaced the Native Americans and also the black people in South Africa,” Quispe said.

Biondi said she hopes students learn there are many diverse ways to get involved in civic organizing and social movement activism.

Through protests of the past, today’s generation can learn how to fight for societal improvement and better government systems, according to Biondi.

“I think that these stories have a lot to teach us about how to try and make American democracy more robust, live up to its promise and how to fight for a more inclusionary and egalitarian society,” Biondi said.