ABSTRACT
On 6 May 1987 South Africa held a 'whites only' general election. The governing National Party won the election on a ticket of security and reform. The security threat, according to the Nationalists, came from two concerted fronts: internally from the resistance movement in the townships and the factories, and externally from the African National Congress. This chapter focuses on the crisis in South Africa and the internal resistance movement. Generally, resistance is attributed to conservative anti-change forces that strive to maintain the status quo. In the South African context the opposite applies. The resistance movement is best seen as a representation of social forces. The actors engaged in resistance therefore see the state as organised coercion. Resistance which might entail the use of violence is therefore a strategy or an attempt to bargain with the state in order to redress inequities.
