ABSTRACT
From 1984 to 1986, the Free South Africa Movement, a coalition of anti-apartheid groups, sustained a grassroots mobilization against US relations with South Africa that prompted local and state governments, corporations, banks, churches, and academic institutions to reassess their ties to the apartheid system. Contesting Apartheid asserts that anti-apartheid activism represents a rational effort to promote change and restrain further American complicity with the systematic erosion of human rights in South Africa. The Anti-Apartheid Act revealed that concern about racial injustice in South Africa had penetrated American politics. The study of anti-apartheid activism is significant because it illuminates both familiar and novel challenges to political participation patterns in American society. Developing a more thorough understanding of anti-apartheid activism requires challenging conventional categorizations and constructions. Examination of grassroots mobilization against apartheid reveals alterations in the material and ideational base that engender contemporary social and political movements. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
