{"id":916,"date":"2016-07-22T08:53:16","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T06:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.satyagraha.org.za\/word\/?p=916"},"modified":"2017-11-09T15:54:40","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T13:54:40","slug":"womens-day-60-years-hence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/womens-day-60-years-hence\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Day 60 Years Hence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"woman<\/a><\/p>\n

On 9 August, 1956 South Africa saw the staging of a huge peaceful march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria by 20\u00a0000 women in opposition to the extension of the pass laws to women.\u00a0 This was done at a time when the country had declared a state of emergency.\u00a0 This meant that no meetings could be held, people\u2019s movement were restricted.\u00a0 People were subjected to blockages in terms of traffic and could be sent back home and political activities were not allowed.<\/p>\n

In these circumstances women gathered, in groups of three from different sides of the City and assembled in this huge gathering that made it difficult for the authorities to act against them.\u00a0 They were also peaceful and silent.\u00a0 They only burst out into song after the petitions were delivered.<\/p>\n

The march was multi racial and even the delegation was chosen carefully to include each race group\u00a0 to go to the Prime Minister with the petitions.<\/p>\n

The whole demonstration was carefully organised and strategically orchestrated.\u00a0 The skills\u00a0 and discipline of the women was demonstrated in this march and so\u00a0 impressive was the whole organising and the demonstration that 9th August was declared initially by the ANC as women\u2019s day but later it was recognised as women\u2019s day in other African countries and in 1994 it received official recognition by the South African democratic government.<\/p>\n

The importance of this day is in studying the detail with which the march was organised.\u00a0 The strategy they used to overcome the restrictions placed on them and the care they took to be inclusive and disciplined.\u00a0 These are important lessons for future generations.\u00a0 When we learn from past success stories we can build on their attention to detail to ensure that we are not destructive , we are not violent and we are not leaving a legacy of failed and futile attempts.<\/p>\n

When we review a decade or so later the demonstrations where schools are burnt down, where libraries are destroyed , where important heritage sites such as the Fort Hare University is\u00a0 not respected than one begins to wonder what are we learning from our heritage and what heritage are these people leaving for future generations.<\/p>\n

Children of those who have destroyed the schools will no doubt have a story to tell.\u00a0 The generation deprived of education and of their heritage will have a story to tell.\u00a0 The unknown faces behind that destruction will surely have to be identified and held accountable for these deeds which will go down in our annals as tales of destruction and pillage.<\/p>\n

Indeed in these stories the real need of the people will not be the focus.\u00a0 It will be overshadowed by the destruction and pillage as it is now.\u00a0 People will remember the 30 schools burnt, the Fort Hare University which should be treated as a temple desecrated.<\/p>\n

What were the grievances?\u00a0 That will become secondary.<\/p>\n

This is not the case with the Women\u2019s march.\u00a0 The pass laws take the centre stage.\u00a0 It was a march against the pass laws.\u00a0 It was well organised and a great demonstration.<\/p>\n

Let us not repeat these unsavoury stories but rather learn from our women.\u00a0\u00a0 The women taught us the value of unity, of discipline and of\u00a0 nonviolence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 9 August, 1956 South Africa saw the staging of a huge peaceful march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria by 20\u00a0000 women in opposition to the extension of the pass laws to women.\u00a0 This was done at a time when the country had declared a state of emergency.\u00a0 This meant that no meetings could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-july-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gdt.org.za\/gdt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}