On this day in 1976, the Soweto Uprising began in South Africa after the government mandated that Afrikaans be taught in school, leading to demonstrations by more than 20,000 black schoolchildren, hundreds of whom were killed by police.

The Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 mandated all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in equal amounts as languages of instruction. Afrikaans was strongly associated with apartheid (prominent anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu called it “the language of the oppressor”), and this decree was widely resented.

At first, resistance to the measure was scattered - on April 30th, the students of Orlando West Junior School went on strike, and other schools began to follow suit. Students eventually formed an Action Committee, later known as the Soweto Students’ Representative Council, which organized a mass meeting on June 13th to develop a cohesive strategy of protest.

On the morning on June 16th, 10,000-20,000 students walked out of their schools to a mass rally, carrying signs reading “Down with Afrikaans”, “Viva Azania”, and “If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu”.

The protest turned violent after students killed a trained dog that the police had sicced on them, causing the police to open fire. Among the first students to be murdered were the 15-year-old Hastings Ndlovu and the 12-year-old Hector Pieterson (shown, photo by Sam Nzima).

Social reformer Dr. Melville Edelstein was beaten to death by the mob, a sign around his neck proclaiming, “Beware Afrikaans is the most dangerous drug for our future”. 23 people died on the first day in Soweto, and hundreds more were killed in the following weeks.

Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children. Police requested for the hospital to provide a list of all victims with bullet wounds, however the doctors refused, recording bullet wounds as abscesses.

The violence led to widespread riots and sympathy protests throughout South Africa, including white students from the University of the Witwatersrand. In remembrance of these events, June 16th is now a public holiday in South Africa known as Youth Day.

1976 Soweto Uprising: Youth rebellion and the burning desire for freedom

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  • AernaLingus [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    4·
    10 小时前
    VTuber posting

    Looks like Niji privated Twisty’s accounts, so I assume the termination announcement is incoming packwatch I got bad vibes from her from the beginning. There’s nothing inherently wrong with cringe comedy, but she really harshed the vibes in a lot of collabs. More importantly, she said some very sus stuff even in the few hours total that I watched of her right after debut that reeked of channer, which was completely borne out by the recent leak. Feel awful for her genmates…they drew a bad enough hand as it was with the timing of their debuts, and they really stood beside her during all of her difficulties.

    Unrelated, but apparently the would-be shooter at the Nashville No Kings protest was a fan of Kirsche and Pippa surprised-pika-messed-up Kirsche is just VTuber Asmongold, but as far as Pippa goes, who could have possibly predicted that using Nazi dogwhistles on stream might attract an unsavory audience?

    (if for some reason you’re still reading this and you have no idea who I’m talking about, I’m sorry for exposing you to even more dumb streamer shit. I mean, even if you do, I’m still sorry! Streamer news is basically a guaranteed cognitohazard. I just needed to vent a bit.)

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