Politics
"It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die."
Stephen Biko was a man of many things, but living in a time of segregation and discrimination, the need for a new beginning and change was brought to his attention to fully end apartheid and form a new South Africa. All Biko’s life he strived to be a medical doctor. Even though he attended various schools, his time at Lovedale Institute, fully opened his political views. When a few years later he enrolled into the University of Natal, his political protester emerged and progressed. During this process, he still hadn’t given up his dream in becoming a doctor, but being involved in political activities, such as NUSAS, his yearning for medicine slowed down because of it, until he finally gave up his dream and pointed his life towards what he wanted to fight for.
Throughout Stephen Biko’s years of politics, he became involved in many groups, protests and marches to achieve what he did. While he was attending the University of Natal, he became a part of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). It was a group of people that was open to all races for embodying and boosting the interest of college students. NUSAS was powered by a white majority making the leadership by a black man virtually impossible. They thought that black students would not be able to obtain the spot of a leader. Biko despised the way that blacks were treated and the way they were singled out. Following this, in 1968, Biko created an all-black and bro-black organization for students called the South African Students Organization (SASO). In July of 1969, he was elected the first President of the club. In time, SASO was very successful. When 1973 rolled around, Biko was banned from his home town for threatening development of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Since he was ban, this prevented him from teaching and being able to enter any educational institutes or facilities. Being the man he was, this did not stop him from doing his work and keep fighting for his beliefs.
People tend to think that since white people did not like blacks, the blacks felt the same way about them. Stephen Biko was never against whites, all he wanted was the power to do something about apartheid and do what he could to stop it. Throughout his years in politics, he starts boycotts and strikes out and on university campuses. Between 1974 and 1977, Biko was arrested four times for various reasons. Also, many other leaders that were a part of the SASO were also arrested or ban. While Biko was still in jail, things started to go downhill and the SASO, itself, was entirely banned. This got him thinking. Biko, like Nelson Mandela about ten years earlier, used one of his trails to get the word out about what he was for to his fellow South Africans. The word was out, and as he kept striving to end apartheid, one of his dreams eventually came true.
Stephen Biko was a man of many things, but living in a time of segregation and discrimination, the need for a new beginning and change was brought to his attention to fully end apartheid and form a new South Africa. All Biko’s life he strived to be a medical doctor. Even though he attended various schools, his time at Lovedale Institute, fully opened his political views. When a few years later he enrolled into the University of Natal, his political protester emerged and progressed. During this process, he still hadn’t given up his dream in becoming a doctor, but being involved in political activities, such as NUSAS, his yearning for medicine slowed down because of it, until he finally gave up his dream and pointed his life towards what he wanted to fight for.
Throughout Stephen Biko’s years of politics, he became involved in many groups, protests and marches to achieve what he did. While he was attending the University of Natal, he became a part of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). It was a group of people that was open to all races for embodying and boosting the interest of college students. NUSAS was powered by a white majority making the leadership by a black man virtually impossible. They thought that black students would not be able to obtain the spot of a leader. Biko despised the way that blacks were treated and the way they were singled out. Following this, in 1968, Biko created an all-black and bro-black organization for students called the South African Students Organization (SASO). In July of 1969, he was elected the first President of the club. In time, SASO was very successful. When 1973 rolled around, Biko was banned from his home town for threatening development of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Since he was ban, this prevented him from teaching and being able to enter any educational institutes or facilities. Being the man he was, this did not stop him from doing his work and keep fighting for his beliefs.
People tend to think that since white people did not like blacks, the blacks felt the same way about them. Stephen Biko was never against whites, all he wanted was the power to do something about apartheid and do what he could to stop it. Throughout his years in politics, he starts boycotts and strikes out and on university campuses. Between 1974 and 1977, Biko was arrested four times for various reasons. Also, many other leaders that were a part of the SASO were also arrested or ban. While Biko was still in jail, things started to go downhill and the SASO, itself, was entirely banned. This got him thinking. Biko, like Nelson Mandela about ten years earlier, used one of his trails to get the word out about what he was for to his fellow South Africans. The word was out, and as he kept striving to end apartheid, one of his dreams eventually came true.
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Apartheid: White officer asking
black man for passbook.
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-ACRONYMS-
SASO- South African Students Organization
NUSAS- National Union of South African Students'
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-ACRONYMS-
SASO- South African Students Organization
NUSAS- National Union of South African Students'
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