ABSTRACT
This chapter locates the case study of the Crossroads squatter resistance within the broader struggle histories of oppression and resistance in South Africa. Following the rise of popular resistance and the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 1980s, the squatter movement of Crossroads formed a key part of the mass democratic movement. Crossroads squatter struggles represent an important, if excluded, example of the power, experience and memory of black popular resistance to apartheid. However, the violence that unfolded in Crossroads was messy and interspaced with forms of horizontal and vigilante violence. It focuses on the violence of oppression and the impact of oppression on the consciousness of the oppressed. It presents some of the key studies which researched the nature of violence during the apartheid wars. It focuses on the literature on popular struggles, comrade identities and the relationship between the African National Congress (ANC) in exile and the mass movement.
