M.A. / The dissertation analyses the political involvement of two women's organisations, Kontak and Women for Peace, during the period 1976-1990. Both organisations were established in the political watershed year of 1976. Kontak had its roots in `verligte' Afrikaner thinking concerned primarily about the image of the Afrikaner as oppressor. Women for Peace stemmed from the heart of liberal capitalist thinking fearing that the welfare community was under threat. Both organisations thus arose from the privileged white establishment and in this aspect differ from the many other women's organisations that existed in the period under review. The meaning of "political involvement" is defined in the study and evaluated in terms of the protest registered against the apartheid system, the ideological stand that was taken and the extent to which race relations improved. The latter was after all an essential objective of both organisations, more particularly to end conflict than to ensure a complete transition to democracy. The positioning, objective and conduct of the abovementioned organisations must of necessity be highlighted against the background of the oppressive political situation of the day. For this reason the study provides an overview of the political context within which the organisations had to function. It commences with the riots of 1976 when the National Party came under increasing pressure to scale down apartheid and make it more acceptable. Mention is made of the power of the National Party to equate matters of national interest with discrete party political interests. Further mention is made of the unbridgeable gap between intra-parliamentary and extra-parliamentary politics and how the decisive power of the latter was publicly suppressed. The impossibility of "political neutrality" is emphasised and that was precisely the label that the two organisations under discussion would have liked to attach to themselves. Kontak and Women for Peace were not the only players in the field of women's organisations. The study briefly discusses a few of the other main players such as the ANC Women's League, Inkatha's Women's Brigade and the Black Sash. Both Kontak and Women for Peace explicitly stated that they wished to seek reconciliation and peace between privileged whites and disadvantaged blacks "outside of the party-political arena". Neither of them could escape their political roots, however. The new enlightenment in the National Party for example prevented Kontak from taking an increasingly critical stand against apartheid. In the same way the much sharper voice of the Women for Peace was silenced by the approval of liberal PFP thinking. Both organisations registered protest within the safety of intra-parliamentary politics. They constituted no revolutionary threat for the apartheid state and their leaders were neither imprisoned nor banned. In summary it can be said that both Kontak and Women for Peace were able to realise the objectives of reconciliation within their chosen but limited target groups. Praiseworthy projects were undertaken and strong anti-apartheid positions were adopted. Democratic adjustments were constantly made with regard to membership, leadership hierarchy and language orientation. As far as the political main stream was concerned both, however, were wrongly positioned. The black majority moved in extra-parliamentary circles, outside the field of experience and even the protest actions of privileged whites. For this reason Kontak and Women for Peace were unable to contribute directly to the democratic transition to black majority rule but to some extent succeeded in sensitising the privileged white communities to accept change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3078 |
| Date | 23 August 2012 |
| Creators | Strydom, Willemien |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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