United Nations Photo

Headline Apartheid: The Tyranny of Racism Made Law

Caption Description In white-ruled South Africa, black people are denied their basic human and political rights; their labour is exploited, their lives segregated, precarious and fearful. In 1982 almost one million of them were to be transferred to another country - Swaziland - without their having any say in the matter whatsoever. That is the tyranny of apartheid, of racism made law, of a system under which a small white minority holds all economic and political power, and dictates in the minutest detail how and where the large black majority will live, work and die. It is this system of institutionalized racial discrimination which defies the principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that has set South Africa on a collision course with the rest of the world. It must be brought to an end before it erupts into a racial war between ""whites"" and ""blacks"" that would have tragic consequences for the whole world.
Synthetic-oil-from-coal-fuel plants belonging to SASOL (the national energy corporation) not far from Johannesburg. Faced with increasing political isolation and the threat of an international embargo the Government is seeking energy self-sufficiency through the development of such fuels. The country is rich in coal but lacks oil and natural gas. In 1980 heavy damage was caused by fire at three SASOL plants in a dramatically coordinated act of industrial sabotage. It was the first such successful act against strategically crucial facilities, and revealed growing skill and determination on the part of blacks fighting for their rights. [Exact date unknown]

Unique Identifier UN7557897

NICA ID 293535

Production Date 01/01/1982 9:18:44 AM

Country South Africa

Credit UN Photo