Guerrilas In Their Midst: Armed Struggle and the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement
Author: Gay Seidman
Abstract
Echoing a general silence in social movement theory, discussions of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement tends to ignore the impact of armed struggle on mobilization. The anti-apartheid movement is usually described in terms of mass mobilization and civil rights struggle rather than as an anti-colonial movement involving military attacks by guerilla infiltrators and clandestine links between open popular groups and guerilla networks. This article explores some of the reasons why researchers might avoid discussing armed struggle, including some discomfort about its morality. Then it considers how more systematic investigation of armed struggle might change our understanding of the anti-apartheid movement, including its legacies for post-apartheid politics. Finally, it suggests that these questions may be relevant for social movement theories.
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