On this day in 1960, the Sharpeville Massacre occurred at a police station in Sharpeville, South Africa when police fired into a crowd of anti-apartheid protesters, killing 69 people and injuring at least 180 more.

The protests were organized by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), a black nationalist rival to the African National Congress (ANC). More than 20,000 protesters showed up at the police station in opposition to apartheid.

The unarmed crowd was met with armored police armed with Sten submachine guns and Lee–Enfield rifles. After F-86 Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers flew low over the crowd, within a hundred feet of the ground, in an attempt to scatter it, the crowd began throwing rocks at police.

The police responded by opening fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and injuring 180 others. 29 children were casualties of the violence, and many people were shot in the back as they fled.

A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries and condemnation from the United Nations. Sharpeville marked a turning point in South Africa's history; the country found itself increasingly isolated in the international community.

The Sharpeville Massacre contributed to the banning of the PAC and ANC as illegal organizations. The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by both of these groups.

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  • JuryNullification [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Comrades, I’m depressed.

    The “org” I’m in sucks. We can’t put together a D&D game, let alone a revolution.

    I’ve tried to join PSL three times, and they never call. I get a lot of emails from them, so I know the submission went through.

    I joined CPUSA, and, at the new member orientation, someone asked what to do if you don’t want to slavishly support the DNC, and the cochair of the national org said to join a different org, so I quit.

    Comrades, I’m depressed. I keep coming to the conclusion that it’s time to give up on my dreams. I don’t have politically active friends outside of the “org” I mentioned. I’ve run into some “anarchists” that were just radlibs, but no ML’s.

    I started reading Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus because I’m depressed and slipping into nihilism, and Camus sucks.

    I decided I’m not quitting my job to go back to school because, honestly, it’s really easy for how much they pay me, and I still can’t figure out a major in my mid 30’s.

    I don’t know what to do anymore, and I don’t just want to be hug boxed but I’m kind of at my wits’ end here.

    Comrades, I’m depressed.

    • Crow_de_Pluto [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      unfortunately 99% of politically active people will not be as cool as some of the posters on Hexbear. thankfully it's 2023 and everything is changing very quickly, so just hold on a little bit longer, comrade, a new age is upon us

      • silent_water [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        idk, I hope I'm wrong but my experience is that hexbear, being an internet forum, doesn't exactly encourage real organizing offline. whereas if you find a local food not bombs, you'll meet a lot of people who may not 100% agree with your ideology but who will have your back to the hilt in a confrontation with the cops or the fash, whether it's just to oppose the latter, or to protect the encampments of the unhoused. we're only going to build a successful party if we can organize the people actually doing work into something greater than the loose network of affinity groups and collectives that have taken root in one's place. anarchists, for all the shit they get on here, are good people doing deeply necessary work - if you can't find like-minded MLs, it's a different avenue that's worth a shot.

      • Alf [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        deleted by creator