Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Steve Biko: Murdered by South African Cops On this Day in 1977

Steve Biko, South African socialist and leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, was murdered by the cops 43 years ago today. His legacy lives on in the critically important contributions he and BCM made to the struggle against apartheid.

Scott Cooper

September 12, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share

On September 12, 1977, South African police murdered Bantu Stephen Biko — known to the world as Steve Biko. He was a few months shy of his thirty-first birthday. An important leader of the anti-apartheid movement, he had been arrested a month earlier at a police roadblock after violating his banning order — which forbade him from traveling.

Steve Biko was a leader of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), a tremendously important part of the anti-apartheid movement that is far less known than Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC). The BCM emerged from grassroots activists in the period following Mandela’s imprisonment and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre.

Initially linked to Christianity, it very rapidly became what was arguably the most radical element of the anti-apartheid movement. “Black Consciousness” — a specific rejection of white liberals and their “condescending” values — was expanded by Biko and others into a powerful ideology centered on smashing apartheid and moving South Africa to socialism. In 1968, Biko spearheaded the founding of the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO) as an alternative to the multirace National Union of South African Students. SASO took up Black Consciousness as its central tenet. Strongly influenced by the Black Power movement in the United States, Biko popularized the slogan “Black is Beautiful” in South Africa — and worked tirelessly to promote the ideas of Black Consciousness as widely as possible.

The BCM adopted “Black man, you are on your own” as a rallying cry, and taught at every turn that what people needed to confront was “the System” that propped up apartheid — and that it was more than just a racist system, but also a capitalist system of exploitation. In 1972 and 1973, the BCM played a central role in a large protest and strike wave that broke out, especially in the city of Durban, and that eventually involved more than 100,000 workers. The BCM’s participation, and especially its powerful call for Black leadership of unions, led in part to a government clampdown. Virtually the entire leadership of SASO was banned, with the government describing as “treasonous” the development of “consciousness” by Black South Africans. 

It was the BCM that sparked the Soweto uprising of Black schoolchildren in 1976 — a key moment in the anti-apartheid struggle — against the imposition of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Black schools. That uprising, and the massacre of 176 demonstrators by the South African Security forces in response, spurred rebellion across South Africa.  

Biko wasn’t at the Soweto uprising, because in 1973 the South African government had placed him under a banning order, characterizing him as a subversive. This placed harsh restrictions on his activities and ability to travel in the country. He did violate the ban several times, leading to being detained and beaten on multiple occasions.

The specific circumstances around Biko’s death in 1977 are notable. He had traveled to Cape Town, where one of his aims was to meet with Neville Alexander — a Trotskyist leader in South Africa. Alexander refused the meeting, not for political reasons but because he suspected that police monitoring of Biko’s movements would put him at risk, as well. On the way back, Biko and his traveling companion Peter Jones confronted the roadblock and were taken into custody. Biko was murdered by the cops on September 12; Jones was held for 533 days, interrogated and tortured repeatedly before being released.

The importance of Black Consciousness to the ultimate victory of the anti-apartheid forces in South Africa cannot be overstated. The BCM played a significant role in unraveling many of the social restraints that apartheid placed on Black people in general and that had repercussions within the struggle. For instance, it empowered regular folks in the townships to recognize that they did not need to wait for exiled or imprisoned leaders to liberate them, and that their own mass action was necessary, in the streets, to fight the apartheid regime. BCM leaders preached a sort of “fearlessness” that led to numerous confrontations with police and the army; these emboldened people and made the overall movement even stronger by demonstrating to the state that people were “ungovernable” under apartheid.

Almost without exception today, Trotskyists in South Africa — no matter the international organization with which they may be affiliated — trace their political origins in their own country back to the Black Consciousness Movement.

On this day, the anniversary of his murder by the cops, we declare: Steve Biko, Presente!

Facebook Twitter Share

Scott Cooper

Scott is a writer, editor, and longtime socialist activist who lives in the Boston area.

Middle East-Africa

Nigeria’s Unprecedented Election Shows Importance of Politicized Youth in Time of Crisis

Nigeria’s national election is shaped by deepening capitalist crisis, outsider candidates, and an activated youth.

Sam Carliner

February 28, 2023
The crowd at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, holding a huge Palestine flag that reads "Free Palestine"

The Palestinian Cause Is a Winner of the World Cup

Palestine, while not having a team at the FIFA World Cup, won the hearts of fans and national teams, and grew in international support during the games.

Julia Wallace

December 19, 2022
US President Joe Biden and DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi joke during a group photo at the G20 of World Leaders Summit on October 30, 2021

Biden Shores Up Imperialist Interests at U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

The United States is hosting a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. The Biden administration’s supposed interest in developing African leadership is just a new strategy for U.S. imperialism to plunder the continent and counter China.

Sam Carliner

December 13, 2022
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa in a suit

“Farmgate” Threatens the Very Foundations of Capitalist Stability in South Africa

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces an impeachment vote Tuesday. More than a simple case of corruption, it’s a political crisis of the ruling party and of capitalist stability in the country.

Sam Carliner

December 5, 2022

MOST RECENT

Customers clear shelves of water Sunday at Fresh Grocer in West Philadelphia.

A Chemical Plant Just Poisoned Philadelphia’s Water: A First-Hand Account of the Crisis

A company dumped thousands of gallons of poisonous chemicals into Philadelphia’s drinking water. This is an on-the-ground account by a Philadelphia worker and socialist.

Jason Koslowski

March 27, 2023
A group of protesters, in the front of whom are a line of protesters wearing red vests. In the front right corner, a white sign reds "vive la retraite," with a skeleton wearing a red hat in the middle of the sign on a black background with a text bubble on its left that reads, "oiv a bosse, c'est pas pour en crever!"

“French March”: The Right to Revolutionary Optimism

Evoking memories of '68, the students enter the fight against Macron. In our chaotic world, the future can only be built in the streets.

Eduardo Castilla

March 26, 2023

Joe Biden Is Deporting Russians Who Escaped Putin’s Draft — Let Them All In!

The United States is deporting Russians who sought asylum following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a heinous attack against war resisters and shows that the proxy war in Ukraine is about capitalist rivalry first and foremost.

Sam Carliner

March 26, 2023

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023