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The Role Of Soweto Uprising On June 16th

Here’s what you should know about the role of the Soweto Uprising on June 16th.

South Africa is a country that is pregnant with history. So much of this history is heartbreaking to remember or even talk about. Many of the country’s heroes did not live to tell their stories. However, their fight for freedom and a better world for their people has been said every year just so no one forgets.

46 years ago, on June 16th, 1976, the Soweto Uprising was born. According to an article on SAHistory.org, “events that triggered the uprising can be traced back to policies of the Apartheid government that resulted in the introduction of the Bantu Education Act in 1953.”

Black students, at the time, had marched out in a peaceful protest against a mandate that Afrikaans and English be the compulsory medium of instruction in schools all over South Africa. It is believed that from ‘3000 to 10000 mobilized by the South African Students Movement Actions Committee supported by BCM’ engaged in the peaceful protest against the government’s mandate.

Before meeting at the Orlando Stadium, the students were met by armed policemen with dogs, teargas, and bullets. The police fired at the crowd of unarmed students to disperse them, killing hundreds. This later turned into an uprising against the government. The uprising first began in Soweto and then spread across other parts of the country in the following year.

Images of armed police officers firing at peaceful protesters led to an international revulsion against South Africa. The brutality black people faced in their country was finally exposed. This further strengthened the fight against Apartheid.

Since then, June 16 has been celebrated every year as Youth Day to commemorate the events of that day. Youth all over South Africa always remember what happened that day and will never forget.

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