All Shall be Afforded Dignity

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Apartheid and the fight against it

Apartheid in South Africa was a system of racial segregation and white supremacy, which was enshrined in law from 1948, after nearly three centuries of racist colonial rule by Dutch and British settlers. In 1948, the National Party won an all-white election on a ‘manifesto’ of ‘apartness (apartheid)’ as official policy. Over the next four decades, the Nationalists implemented this system through an increasingly oppressive and deeply discriminatory legal framework. But in 1994, apartheid was overthrown by the South African people, who worked with socialist, anti-racist and anti-colonial movements around the world for decades.

Under apartheid, all productive land was allocated to whites, while Africans were relegated to overcrowded and barren ‘homelands’. Black workers in designated white areas were subjected to stringent pass laws which severely limited their freedom of movement, and received wages below subsistence levels. Health and education facilities were segregated, with those for blacks being vastly inferior to those for whites. Repressive laws allowed for indefinite detention without trial, and the state systematically practised torture; the apartheid system was maintained through fear and coercion.

Despite brutal repression, South Africa’s African, Indian, and Coloured (the latter a term given to mixed-heritage people by the apartheid regime) communities, together with a small number of White South Africans, resisted apartheid through mass protests, strikes, boycotts, and armed struggle. They appealed to people worldwide, and with resilience and determination secured widespread popular support. In the UK, boycotts and protests targeted those doing business with the apartheid state, including banks, agricultural importers, and mining companies.

For information about key events and dates during the struggle against apartheid, click below:

Art as protest – Kaplan and exile

Cartoons tell stories and entertain, capturing and accentuating the personality of individuals by exaggerating their physical characteristics, and serve as a tool to provoke critical thinking. Political cartoons express opinion and challenge the viewer to reflect and critique an imagined or actual world. Cartoons as activism bring a sharp awareness of real-life events to audiences and make accessible complex narratives behind historical or political events.

The cartoons, designs and drawings Norman Kaplan made in exile in the UK as a contribution to the liberation struggle form a key part of his work. They were published anonymously in journals and newspapers such as Sechaba, the monthly mouthpiece of the African National Congress, The African Communist, the South African Communist Party’s quarterly journal, and its newspaper Umsebenzi (all distributed clandestinely in apartheid South Africa, passed from hand to hand). Described as ‘dangerous and subversive’ by an apartheid-era judge, Kaplan’s cartoons, viewed alongside his lino-prints, invite us to explore and re-engage with the spirit and values of the liberation struggle.

Satire is key to political cartoons which have appeared in print since the infancy of journalism. During apartheid, cartoons were published in newspapers and journals in South Africa and abroad, serving to illustrate and amplify the political and social situation in South Africa to a wide audience.

A small selection of the cartoons displayed in the physical exhibition are shown in this online showcase.

In 1986 images of Nelson Mandela were still banned and South Africa was in the grip of the latest ‘State of Emergency’ declared by the apartheid-era president, Botha, to counter the liberation forces actions across the country. Pass laws were relaxed due to international condemnation, but apartheid laws remained repressive.

Norman Kaplan created this linoprint portrait of Mandela whilst living in London, during a period of exile from apartheid South Africa. Nelson Mandela was South Africa’s first democratically elected President (Head of State) inaugurated in May 1994. He declared he would serve only one term and stepped aside five years later. He was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1993, following his unconditional release from an apartheid prison in 1990 after serving 27 years for opposing the apartheid regime. He died at home in December 2013.

“The road to 1994 was long, painful, but travelled in solidarity. In 2024, we can reflect on the lessons learned and review how we can continue together to build the South Africa and the world we all want to see. Kaplan’s work engages us with head and heart and shows the power of art to inspire action, build solidarity, and to call to account injustices wherever they are found.”

His Excellency Mamabolo, South African High Commissioner to the UK and Northern Ireland

2024 – marking 30 years of South Africa’s self-liberation from apartheid

The popular demands of South Africa’s 1955 Freedom Charter became, almost four decades later, the bedrock of the country’s new Constitution, a world-leading progressive framework for freedom, democracy and social protection.

‘All shall be afforded dignity’ is a key aspect both of the Constitution’s promise and of the commemorative programme taking place across the UK in 2024 to mark 30 years since South Africa liberated itself from apartheid. In South Africa, 27 April is designated ‘Freedom Day’ in remembrance of the country’s first democratic election in 1994. Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president on 10 May that year.

Through mass participation in protest, stay-aways, boycotts and other efforts to attain universal suffrage, an end to racist legislation was achieved, along with a government of the people, special institutions for accountability and a Constitutional court.

Norman Kaplan created this print, ‘Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika, God Bless Africa’, around the time of the elections in 1994. It radiates optimism and hope, joy at the defeat of apartheid, and faith in the ability of the people of South Africa to build a new world. It is part of the artist’s private collection, and we are delighted to show it here publicly for the first time. Its spirit fittingly illustrates our celebration throughout 2024 of the movement of ordinary people that rose up across the world in response to the injustices of apartheid’s legalised racism, joining South Africans who were leading the struggle for equality and dignity for all.

Acknowledgments

The exhibition has been organised and co-curated by sister organisations, The Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and the Liliesleaf Trust UK’s Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory & Learning. It has been made possible with generous support from the University of East Anglia.

The organisers would like to thank Ian Blackwell, Christine Felce, Bronwen Kaplan, Norman Kaplan, Jenny Morgan, The Constitutional Court Trust and the South African High Commission to Britain, Scotland and Northern Ireland for their collaboration.

Photography of artworks, unless specified below, by Steve Russell Studios

‘All Shall Be Afforded Dignity’ photograph by Ben Law-Viljoen. Constitutional Court Art Collection (CCAC). Copyright: Constitutional Court Trust

‘Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika’, all showcased cartoons and’ Self-portrait’ photographed by Norman Kaplan

Exhibition Feedback

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Completing this short survey will take just a few moments of your time and all feedback is really helpful in order for us to understand more your engagement with the themes of the exhibition and the artwork – thank you.

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