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In 1948, the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which supported the Apartheid policy of racial segregation, came to power. This is when Nelson Mandela first became actively involved in national politics.\n

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The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The ANC decided to implement, a national action the following year, based on non-cooperation with certain laws considered unjust and discriminatory. The conference in the course of a lengthy public statement on this historic decision stated:\n

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\"All people, irrespective of the national group they belong to and irrespective of the colour of their skin, who have made South Africa their home, are entitled to live a full and free life\".\n

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Demonstrations in support of the Defiance Principles were organised for April 6, 1952, the 300th anniversary of white settlement in the Cape of Southern Africa. Of approximately 10,000 people who protested the unjust Apartheid laws, around 8,500 of them were imprisoned, including Nelson Mandela.\n

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In 1955, the ANC created a \"Congress of the People\". The ANC organised 50,000 volunteers to go to the townships to mobilise support for their demands. The ANC, along with South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress and the Congress of Democrats, joined together to form the \"Congress Alliance\". Mandela led a meeting of the Congress in Kliptown, a suburb of Johannesburg, at which the jointly created \"Freedom Charter\" was read out. The Charter was the foundation of the entire anti-Apartheid movement, setting out principles such as \"Free and compulsory education, irrespective of colour, race or nationality\" and a commitment to a non-racial South Africa. The meeting was broken up on its second day and Mandela only escaped arrest by dressing up as a Milkman.\n

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Mandela was committed to non-violent resistance. Despite this, in 1956 he was arrested along with 150 other activists, and charged with treason. The case continued for five years until every defendant was acquitted by the judges. Although Mandela was committed to non-violence, the ANC was made up of many people, some of whom felt that violence was the only way to overthrow Apartheid. This group, known as the Africanists, became increasingly strong and influential in the ANC. In 1959, the Africanist group split out from the ANC, forming a new, much more militant group, the PAC. This left the non-beligerant ANC \"competing\" with a strongly beligerant PAC for black African support. The ANC were becoming increasingly frustrated at the absolute lack of movement of the white-only government and Mandela, in particular, was becoming a convert to the idea of using force to achieve his objectives.\n

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In 1939, Nelson Mandela moved to Johannesbugh and became a lawyer.\n

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With the introduction of Apartheid in 1948, Nelson Mandela set up a legal firm with his friend, Oliver Tambo, and started to give free or low cost advice to Blacks who lacked representation.\n

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Mandela started to become actively involved in national politics by joining the African National Congress (ANC). He helped set their policy to strive for a South Africa in which \"all people are entitled to live a full and free life\".\n

", "sources": "", "Feedback": "", "title": "The Politics of Protest (1948 - 1956)"}