JODACJohannesburg Democratic Action Commitee was a group organized by whites for whites. We were involved in organizing whites around specific issues under the banner of the UDF; United Democratic Front, which acted as an umbrella organisation uniting all anti-apartheid organisations nationaly. This involved unions, cultural groups, communal and more specific political groupings. It was the UDF for example, in an attempt to mobilize a mass movement , that coined the phrase; "liberty now, education later". Thus mobilizing the black students in their bid to break the back bone of the Apartheid Government. They also supported the rent boycotts in the townships and received the brunt of the governmental retaliations. In Natal it was the war between Nkatha (Zulu Nationalist Party) and the UDF that attracted the most attention as the UDF was seen as a front for not only the then still banned ANC but also for the SACP (South African Communist Party). Added to that UDF members in the Eastern Cape, specifically in the Port Elizabeth area were in constant war with AZAPO (Azanian Peoples Organisation) a black conciousness movement which as with the PAC did not agree with the UDF's working with whites as "Africa belongs to Africans" and whites should not only keep their mouths shut but if possible drown themselves in the sea. It was the PAC which coined the phrase "one Boer one bullet" which they have since denounced. The reason why JODAC worked specifically with whites was simply the acknowledgement that it was absurd that we should or could go into the townships and organize the black population. We thus organized cultural events, concerts, exhibitions (for example together with the ECC; the End Conscription Campaign, a specifically white issue) to which non-politicised whites would come and in a relatively passive way show their solidarity. We had a lot of success. One of our greatest triumphs was organizing a convoy of more than fifteen mini- buses which then set out for a banned funeral of 22 killed community dwellers of Alexandria Township. Shot by black policemen for boycotting their rents. This convoy was made up of very ordinary whites. A month later we returned. To show our respects, and when threatend by the police with arrest not one of these people climbed down. It doesn't sound like much but under the State of Emergency, where the police and Army had unlimited powers it was symbolically meaningful. The problems we had with the police were the normal ones of harressment until they arrested most of the leaders and sewed seeds of mistrust amongst the rest. It was no longer possible to organize in the open. And so they forced us underground. This meant that our "cultural propaganda" work could no longer take place. wits.ac.za - JODAC |
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