0:00:15 > 0:00:19I am now in a position to announce that Mr Nelson Mandela
0:00:19 > 0:00:23will be released at the Victor Verster Prison
0:00:23 > 0:00:27on Sunday 11th February, at about 3pm.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32MUSIC: "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika"
0:00:34 > 0:00:39I was just filled with incredulity and excitement,
0:00:39 > 0:00:44and we were running all over. You know, phoning everybody.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48We were phoning... We couldn't reach each other.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50And our leader has come out!
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Or is coming out tomorrow! Hallelujah!
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Because, really, I think, the release of Mandela
0:01:02 > 0:01:07was the release of all of us South Africans, at last.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10TV: 'And the crowd getting excited...
0:01:12 > 0:01:13'There's Mr Mandela!
0:01:13 > 0:01:16'Nelson Mandela, a free man,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21'taking his first steps into a new South Africa.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:24MUSIC: "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika"
0:01:27 > 0:01:31'Because, you know, it's a turning point. You could cry.'
0:01:31 > 0:01:33You feel your tears.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37And then you know your life has been very useful.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42You have not done it for nothing.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44WILD CHEERING
0:01:45 > 0:01:51It is not the kings and generals that make history...
0:01:53 > 0:01:55..but the masses of the people.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13When Nelson Mandela walked to freedom in 1990,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17he'd been held in prison for 27 years.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22He and his fellow activists had been imprisoned, tortured and exiled
0:02:22 > 0:02:27in their lifelong attempt to free South Africa of its all-white rule.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36It was a struggle that had drawn to its aid
0:02:36 > 0:02:38millions of ordinary citizens,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42from dozens of countries around the world.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45We were very ambitious.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47We wanted to destroy apartheid in every area,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51stop collaboration from the sports boycott...
0:02:53 > 0:02:55..to consumer boycotts...
0:02:58 > 0:03:00..to military sanctions...
0:03:02 > 0:03:04..to economic sanctions.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09And many of these things, of course, we achieved.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14It would take more than 50 years to defeat apartheid,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18but what had started as the lonely struggle for freedom
0:03:18 > 0:03:23by a few individuals had become an unstoppable worldwide movement.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28This is the story of how ordinary citizens around the world
0:03:28 > 0:03:31changed the course of history.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43# Hey, say, what's the word?
0:03:43 > 0:03:48# Tell me, brother, have you heard from Johannesburg?
0:03:50 > 0:03:53# Tell me, what's the word now?
0:03:53 > 0:03:58# Sister, woman, have you heard from Johannesburg? #
0:04:03 > 0:04:06They've got no education, and it'll take them a couple of hundred years.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10They've only just come down from the trees.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14We cannot mix with the lower nations...at the moment,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17unless they are cultivated and educated, and so on.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Racial segregation had been the norm in South Africa
0:04:23 > 0:04:24since colonial times,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28but apartheid was adopted as national party policy
0:04:28 > 0:04:32following their victory in the 1948 election.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38We all became energised by a guy by the name of Hendrik Verwoerd,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43who devised what he called "separate development".
0:04:43 > 0:04:47It was another, softer name for apartheid.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51This is our country, and there's no doubt about that.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54If, in South Africa,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58the white man allows any form of partnership to develop,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02it will mean the gradual giving away
0:05:02 > 0:05:05of the country he has settled for so many years.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09It doesn't take very long before the black man says, "This is my country."
0:05:29 > 0:05:31We had separate schools,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33we had separate playing fields,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35we had separate graveyards.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37We had a separate everything.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40I remember my mum taking us shopping in the centre of town,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44and you could buy a cool drink or you could buy a sandwich
0:05:44 > 0:05:46from any of the cafes there,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49but you couldn't sit down and eat in their premises.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52You would have to take your cool drink and your sandwich
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and sit on the sidewalk,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59or find a bench somewhere that says "non-whites", and sit on that.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02It wasn't a pleasant way of life at all.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05It was degrading. It was undignified.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Now in power, the nationalist government
0:06:14 > 0:06:19enacted a series of racial segregation laws
0:06:19 > 0:06:22that set it apart from the rest of the modern world.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29South Africans were divided into four groups -
0:06:29 > 0:06:34white, Asian, coloured and black.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Every person's race was recorded in the National Register,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and the Group Areas Act enforced separate residential zones for different races.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Throughout the country, apartheid was absolute.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Black people were forcibly relocated to rural homelands,
0:06:54 > 0:06:59desolate, economically unsustainable areas.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04The only source of employment was as guest workers in white cities,
0:07:04 > 0:07:10where they were confined to drab townships and single-sex hostels.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15Their every movement was restricted by the notorious pass laws,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19requiring them to carry a pass book at all times.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Whites could only marry whites.
0:07:21 > 0:07:27The Immorality Act made sex between different races a crime.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35I'm Jackie Haines, coloured, and a local journalist here.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Perfectly happy, except that I can't live where I want to,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44I can't work where I want to, I can't go to the school that I want to,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46and I can't marry the girl I want to.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51As South Africa strengthened ties with Western powers
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and became the wealthiest African nation,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57it only increased its oppression of the non-white majority.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Conditions for blacks deteriorated.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08A new generation of leaders emerged
0:08:08 > 0:08:12and embarked on their long campaign for freedom.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17I'm a man of confidence.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22I've got terrific confidence in doing things.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Oliver made me feel it more.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Nelson made me feel it more.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32It was necessary
0:08:32 > 0:08:35to condition people for hard times,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37including death,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41so that nothing came to us as a surprise.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48Sisulu, Mandela and Tambo proposed mass civil disobedience,
0:08:48 > 0:08:54which they'd seen used to stunning effect by South Africa's Indian population.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59The idea of non-violent resistance had been developed by Mahatma Gandhi
0:08:59 > 0:09:03while he was living in South Africa at the beginning of the century.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08The ANC joined with the South African Indian Congress
0:09:08 > 0:09:11in their first combined campaign.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Coming together with the Gandhis
0:09:13 > 0:09:16showed us that you could very well
0:09:16 > 0:09:19bring the enemy down non violently.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32In 1952, in the largest display of non-violent resistance ever seen in South Africa,
0:09:32 > 0:09:39Chief Albert Luthuli led the ANC's first mass action, the Defiance Campaign,
0:09:39 > 0:09:44alongside their compatriots from the South African Indian Congress.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52There were 21 of us in the first batch of volunteers,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55to the launch of the Defiance Campaign.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57I was one of the 21.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01So we marched - chanting, singing -
0:10:01 > 0:10:04until we reached the railway station,
0:10:04 > 0:10:09where we walked into the Europeans-only sitting accommodation.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14The police, of course, took us all in.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Now, Boksburg Jail mostly had African prisoners there in the past,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26so there was no way they could segregate us,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29because they didn't have the facilities,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31so we all had to live together, which was very nice.
0:10:31 > 0:10:37For the first time in my life, I could sleep with other nationalities in the same room!
0:10:38 > 0:10:43The Defiance Campaign was not successful in changing the law,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47but it brought together South Africa's non-white population
0:10:47 > 0:10:50in the struggle against apartheid.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54We were strengthened - intellectually and spiritually.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57We were reinforced against the system of oppression.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06The African National Congress, in December,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10decided to call all people in South Africa
0:11:10 > 0:11:14to participate in the Congress of the People,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17to demonstrate that both black and white can live together.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28This culminates in the adoption of the Freedom Charter,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32based largely on the Charter of the United Nations.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37The Freedom Charter called for nothing less than a multiracial democracy
0:11:37 > 0:11:39which would dismantle apartheid.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41This, for the first time,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45lays the foundations for a democratic South Africa.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56But the government would not surrender white supremacy so easily.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Little did we realise
0:12:00 > 0:12:04that the state was actually plotting a massive case against us.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12It was at about two in the morning when there was a knock at the door.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15They showed me the warrant where it said
0:12:15 > 0:12:18that I was required to face charges of high treason.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I said, "What?!"
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Ultimately, we were all - all 136 - arrested together.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Being in jail together.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48When we received the paper the following morning at the Johannesburg Central Prison,
0:12:48 > 0:12:54the banner headline screamed that the sentence for treason was death.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08As protests spread throughout South Africa,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12their plight came to the attention of Canon John Collins.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16I was travelling in the train to the north of England
0:13:16 > 0:13:22and read in the evening paper that all the leadership of the ANC
0:13:22 > 0:13:30had been arrested and were on a charge of such a nature
0:13:30 > 0:13:34that they obviously were asking for the death penalty.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40And so I felt so moved by this that as soon as I had an opportunity
0:13:40 > 0:13:41I sent a telegram.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45And so John said, "We will guarantee to raise a fund
0:13:45 > 0:13:51"to pay all the legal expenses and to look after the wives
0:13:51 > 0:13:53and families of the men on trial."
0:13:53 > 0:13:58This was our first serious intervention in South Africa.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01To my astonishment, it poured in.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06I didn't think it would. I thought I'd have a terrible job to get it. But it poured in.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10I said, "Please, feel free to get the best barristers."
0:14:13 > 0:14:16The treason trial would drag on another four years
0:14:16 > 0:14:20with legal support at every stage from Collins' fund.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26Gradually, defendants were acquitted as the prosecution's evidence
0:14:26 > 0:14:28proved more and more unconvincing.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36They couldn't convict these people
0:14:36 > 0:14:39because there was simply no evidence at all.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42So, in the end they were ALL freed.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46This was our one big success. Every single one was acquitted.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57As, one by one, the ANC leadership walked free,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01the trial had demonstrated the value of outside help.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04They called on the international community
0:15:04 > 0:15:06to support their struggle to overthrow apartheid.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11Just as the world went to war in defence of democracy, they say,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14so the world must come out in defence of democratic values
0:15:14 > 0:15:15in South Africa.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Not necessarily by harming but by using pressure.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Do you think Great Britain is doing enough to help find the solution?
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Well, we appreciate what Great Britain is doing but,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28quite frankly, it is not enough.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37The British were deeply...
0:15:37 > 0:15:39instinctively...
0:15:39 > 0:15:42racist, many of them, without realising it.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44They would deny it furiously.
0:15:44 > 0:15:51But they instinctively assumed that Africa would never equal the white,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54intellectually or in any other way.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58More in hope than expectation in 1959,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Chief Lutuli called on Britain to boycott South African goods.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07He simply said that this boycott idea
0:16:07 > 0:16:10is not one where we're asking you to do a lot.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11All we're saying
0:16:11 > 0:16:14is withdraw your support from apartheid,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17don't buy South African goods.
0:16:17 > 0:16:23One always met the argument that if you boycott goods of South Africa,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27you'll hurt first the poor man in the street,
0:16:27 > 0:16:33which is sheer hypocrisy because they're the ones saying, "Do it.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"Anything to get this evil off our backs."
0:16:48 > 0:16:54But the boycott started initially by small groups demonstrating outside shops
0:16:54 > 0:16:56soon spread to the continent.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Everybody was glad for the opportunity to do something,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03even if it was negative - NOT buying South African goods.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05But even that was something.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09We were at the beginning of discovering South Africa,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11discovering its problems.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Over the following decades, the boycott grew and grew.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Can you imagine
0:17:25 > 0:17:30generating a movement where, for 35 years,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33people were boycotting South Africa goods?
0:17:37 > 0:17:43In 1959, there were a few hundred people taking part in the boycott.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49By 1988, 29 million.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07One of the significant points of the campaign
0:18:07 > 0:18:10was that British journalists and the public
0:18:10 > 0:18:13were asking WHY boycott South Africa?
0:18:13 > 0:18:16So journalists were sent to South Africa to do reports.
0:18:16 > 0:18:23It just so happens that journalists were present in South Africa in March, 1960.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36That year in the township of Sharpeville,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39South African history would change forever.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41We were supposed, on that day,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46to order our people to leave their passes at home.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49March peacefully but in a very military fashion.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55By now, passes had become the most hated instrument of apartheid.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58All movements of the black man are controlled.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04Failure to obey the pass laws is punishable by fine or imprisonment.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07The white man may not carry his card
0:19:07 > 0:19:09but if the black man does not, he is arrested.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13In direct defiance of these laws,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16thousands of blacks left their passbooks at home
0:19:16 > 0:19:20and presented themselves at police stations to be arrested.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26They were led by a new organisation, the Pan-Africanist Congress.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29People were kept down because they were afraid.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32They were afraid of going to jail.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36We decided that we must break the idea of fear.
0:19:39 > 0:19:46By late morning, 7,000 peaceful unarmed marchers reached the police station in Sharpeville.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08GUNSHOT
0:20:25 > 0:20:27That was a shock.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30They shot so many people. I mean, 69!
0:20:32 > 0:20:36And...they shot their backs.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Which means they were running away and the police were shooting them.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58That news reverberated throughout the whole world,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01with those horrible pictures of a massacre.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04This photograph in Sharpeville,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07this famous one of victims lying on the ground.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10That was splashed all over the front page.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15And that, I think, was a turning point for many people,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18suddenly realising what was going on in South Africa.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25At last, the world sat up and took notice.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27From the United States to the Vatican,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31across Europe and every other country in Africa,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35the outrages of apartheid could no longer be ignored.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55The United Nations condemned the police action
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and called on South Africa to abandon apartheid.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The South African Government's response was swift and uncompromising.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14And the very next day, there was a state of emergency declared.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18They were clamping down heavily. We could see it and feel it.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24They had banned and house-arrested hundreds and hundreds of people.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27DOG BARKS AND PEOPLE SCREAM
0:22:27 > 0:22:33One night, I think it was about two o'clock, I heard a knock at the door.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36And there were many of us.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39And the entire leadership of the province
0:22:39 > 0:22:43and the national leadership in the area,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46it ALL went to jail.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56'The strong arm of the South African Government.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59'The police raids and the mass round-ups have been crushingly effective.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02'The anti-passbook campaign has been stifled,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05'the control system is being fully restored.'
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Outwardly, everything is calm again.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12The last remnants of negro resistance are being stamped out or frightened underground.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21The ANC looked for new ways to continue the struggle.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27In order to keep the public outside the country informed,
0:23:27 > 0:23:33it was important that one of us be outside the country
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and we decided on Oliver Tambo doing that.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41He was a diplomat and a courageous man.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45We sent him away precisely because
0:23:45 > 0:23:47we wanted to save him.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50We wanted him to plan the revolution.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53He must continue as he would have done.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00No-one but Oliver would mobilise adequate support for the struggle.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07What we want is that our humanity should be acknowledged
0:24:07 > 0:24:09in South Africa.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14I should feel that I'm a human being in that country.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17And I don't feel so now, at all.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22I feel I'm a stranger, a foreigner and, at best, erm,...
0:24:22 > 0:24:26an animal in South Africa. This is how I feel.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Now in exile in London, Tambo began the gruelling work
0:24:33 > 0:24:36of building a worldwide anti-apartheid movement.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43He would not return home to South Africa for 30 years.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49I think that the first year
0:24:49 > 0:24:51must have been a horrendous one
0:24:51 > 0:24:55which even I, as living in Britain, I don't think I appreciate it.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00There were no resources at that time.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Literally, he through himself into this with no funds
0:25:03 > 0:25:06from which to say, "Here's your support."
0:25:08 > 0:25:11There were times when he was without food,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14without the kind of basic needs people had,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16but you could never see it on him.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20He was always impeccably dressed, took great care
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and just carried this enormous amount of dignity
0:25:24 > 0:25:28in terms of the mission and the cause that he had.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36He had no infrastructure to turn to and he had to
0:25:36 > 0:25:40create a mechanism to get all those resources
0:25:40 > 0:25:45and where could OR turn for that help?
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Oliver came to us and said, could we help him
0:25:52 > 0:25:58find offices and set up an organisation, which we did.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05He had immense personal charm. He was a very, very warm human.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09I mean, you just couldn't help loving him.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13He really put the ANC on the international map.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16So, if you really want the architect
0:26:16 > 0:26:19of the South African transition,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21then it's Oliver Tambo.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28With almost no money and no influence at all
0:26:28 > 0:26:30with western governments,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Tambo looked to the rest of Africa for help.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38He saw the need to begin to mobilise the support in
0:26:38 > 0:26:43a structured way, but that he would not focus exclusively on Britain.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47His view was, to do that work, he needed to get
0:26:47 > 0:26:52to the African continent. To build support within Africa
0:26:52 > 0:26:54to confront the western countries.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Africa was going through major
0:27:05 > 0:27:08historical changes.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17For centuries, Africa had been ruled by Europeans.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29In 1957, Ghana had thrown off colonial rule.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33We must realise that, from now on, we are no more a colonial
0:27:33 > 0:27:35but a free and independent people.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37CHEERING
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Dozens of African nations followed.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42In 1960, Tambo's first year in exile,
0:27:42 > 0:27:4617 African countries gained their independence.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56It was really a time of great idealism.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Most of our countries had just come out of
0:27:59 > 0:28:04a long, difficult, independence struggle
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and most of the leaders where, in a sense,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08the fathers of this independence.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Therefore, when they became head of state,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14they continued to have that kind of idealism.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Julius Nyerere, the liberation leader of Tanzania,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21welcomed exiles and organisations
0:28:21 > 0:28:24from across the African continent.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Dar es Salaam soon became the city
0:28:27 > 0:28:30at the centre of Africa's transformation.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43Tambo set up the first ANC office in exile and began networking.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48We met in Dar es Salaam. For one thing,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51we were not strangers to each other
0:28:51 > 0:28:53because we had worked together in the past.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59We left on a mission to seek aid from the African states.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I'm talking of material aid for the struggle
0:29:02 > 0:29:06and diplomatic support of the African states.
0:29:06 > 0:29:12We didn't meet one person who said, "There's nothing I can do about it."
0:29:12 > 0:29:17All people, solid African people, solid. Solid everywhere, really.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27With the whole continent behind him, Oliver Tambo
0:29:27 > 0:29:30now turned his attention to the British Commonwealth,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32where the former African colonies
0:29:32 > 0:29:34were becoming a force to be reckoned with.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36In London last week, the dozen met -
0:29:36 > 0:29:39several of them wanted by the South African police -
0:29:39 > 0:29:43met in secret to launch a campaign throughout the Commonwealth.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Their aim, to guarantee the meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers
0:29:47 > 0:29:50will exclude the New Republic Of South Africa
0:29:50 > 0:29:53so long as the policies of apartheid are enforced.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Our policy is one...
0:29:56 > 0:29:59which is called by an Afrikaans word - apartheid.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04And I'm afraid that has been misunderstood so often.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08It could just as easily, and perhaps much better, be described
0:30:08 > 0:30:12as a policy of good neighbourliness.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18Seven of the Prime Ministers are bitterly opposed to Dr Verwoerd's
0:30:18 > 0:30:22policy of apartheid. After all, six of them have coloured skins themselves
0:30:22 > 0:30:25and in South African, they wouldn't even be allowed
0:30:25 > 0:30:28into the same restaurant as Dr Verwoerd.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Dr Verwoerd, when he arrived, described apartheid as,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33"a policy of good neighbourliness."
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Is that description acceptable to you?
0:30:37 > 0:30:42I should like to be Dr Verwoerd's neighbour, that's all I can say.
0:30:42 > 0:30:43LAUGHTER
0:30:43 > 0:30:48When Nehru got to London, Tambo and myself, we went to see him.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53That is when I was really impressed by Mr Nehru.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Yes, and I do see him as a towering figure.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Very knowledgeable.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03And not as angry as we were.
0:31:03 > 0:31:09We were going haywire and Mr Nehru was very cool, very collected.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11He said, "We are going to fight."
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Down with apartheid!
0:31:13 > 0:31:17But the British Prime Minister, at the time, Harold MacMillan,
0:31:17 > 0:31:18stood in their way.
0:31:18 > 0:31:24The British government was supporting South Africa in the United Nations
0:31:24 > 0:31:27voting against the resolution that condemned
0:31:27 > 0:31:30her policies of apartheid.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36The hypocrisy of Mr MacMillan makes me...
0:31:36 > 0:31:39makes shudders go up my spine.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Barbara Castle began to work on a very imaginative idea
0:31:45 > 0:31:50that since 72 people killed at Sharpeville,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54a vigil around the building of the Commonwealth conference
0:31:54 > 0:31:58with 72 public personalities standing vigil
0:31:58 > 0:32:00for 72 hours.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Oh, it took some organising cos we had to make it news worthy.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09So we wrote to Bishops and famous actors and writers,
0:32:09 > 0:32:15MPs, journalists, and asked them if they'd give us two hours
0:32:15 > 0:32:20standing day and night outside Lancaster House.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24I remember to morning of the opening of the conference,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28standing there absolutely silent
0:32:28 > 0:32:32while the cars, the big limousines drove by
0:32:32 > 0:32:35and they all stared at us out of the window.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41And I believe we did give backbone to that conference.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49But before the conference had a chance to vote South Africa out,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53MacMillan and Verwoerd had a quiet conversation.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57South Africa voluntarily withdrew, saving Britain
0:32:57 > 0:33:00from a major confrontation with other members of the Commonwealth.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07What we were trying to do, was to make the nationalists
0:33:07 > 0:33:11in South Africa feel as though they were isolated by world opinion.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15But Harold MacMillan was frightened of the big British
0:33:15 > 0:33:19industrial and financial interests and investments in South Africa
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and he muddied the waters.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26MacMillan's curious behaviour enabled Verwoerd
0:33:26 > 0:33:28to go back and tell his people,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31"don't worry, we've still got friends in Britain."
0:33:39 > 0:33:42That really was a tragedy because
0:33:42 > 0:33:50apartheid was hostile to every western value.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54It was the absence of democracy,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56it was a police state and tyranny,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00it was racism in its most blatant form...
0:34:03 > 0:34:07and, yet, the west aligned itself with South Africa
0:34:07 > 0:34:12by refusing to condemn it.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19It took a long time for the world, especially the western world
0:34:19 > 0:34:23to become sensitive to the problem of racism.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28They had a great deal of trade with South Africa.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33And these economic relations build up their own lobbies.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37There were chambers of commerce and others who were powerful
0:34:37 > 0:34:41and who had access to parliament members, minister and so on.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45It was therefore very important that we break down
0:34:45 > 0:34:48that attitude, that mentality.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53For that reason then, we had to have friends everywhere.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Where it was difficult to approach a government
0:34:57 > 0:34:58the citizens.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04We, the oppressed, are determined to succeed.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07The forces aligned against us
0:35:07 > 0:35:09are mighty and powerful
0:35:09 > 0:35:12and it is only the spirit of our determination
0:35:12 > 0:35:16supported by the freedom loving people who love democracy
0:35:16 > 0:35:19that we can ultimately succeed.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23But as Tambo set about building western support for
0:35:23 > 0:35:26isolating the apartheid regime, in South Africa
0:35:26 > 0:35:30the ANC decided on a new strategy.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35It is useless and futile
0:35:35 > 0:35:38for us to continue talking peace and non-violence
0:35:38 > 0:35:44against a government whose reply is only savage attacks
0:35:44 > 0:35:46On an unarmed and defenceless people.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Mandela and the ANC leaders launched their armed struggle
0:35:52 > 0:35:56by bombing power lines outside Johannesburg.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02It was a dramatic shift from their principles of peaceful resistance.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10After the banning of the ANC and the PAC, there was also no way
0:36:10 > 0:36:15in which the people of South Africa had any avenue of peaceful protest.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Mandela slipped out of South Africa
0:36:18 > 0:36:22and flew to London to persuade Tambo to accept the new strategy.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28Oliver Tambo himself was a devout Christian. So was Adelaide.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33So this was going to be a radical shift in their thinking,
0:36:33 > 0:36:34and Oliver said,
0:36:34 > 0:36:39"I don't want to be having to explain this to Adelaide Tambo, my wife.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42"You, Nelson, Mandela, come and explain it.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47"Because you chaps at home have taken a decision that is moving us
0:36:47 > 0:36:50"out of the paradigm in which we've been thinking.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55"And you better come and persuade her so that in my own family
0:36:55 > 0:36:58"I have the space to do what I'm doing
0:36:58 > 0:37:01"and she won't be questioning why I'm doing it."
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Mandela did finally convince the Tambos that armed struggle
0:37:06 > 0:37:09was both essential and unavoidable.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Now Oliver had to convince the world.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16What we are asking the world to do is not to
0:37:16 > 0:37:19solve our problems for us, but to assist us solve those problems.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22We have tried to ask that that assistance should be given
0:37:22 > 0:37:25in such a way that we can solve the problems peacefully.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27That has not been forthcoming.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29And we are continuing to try
0:37:29 > 0:37:33and solve the problems within methods that are available to us.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36And the stage that has been reached is that the methods
0:37:36 > 0:37:38that are available to us now
0:37:38 > 0:37:41are those which we have tried to resist over a long period of time.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43They are the methods of violence.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47That was very tricky for us, very tricky,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50because John was really a pacifist.
0:37:51 > 0:37:56They never intended to kill people, they would do their best not to,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01but they recognised that there might be casualties.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04And would Defence and Aid still continue to defend them
0:38:04 > 0:38:06and look after their families?
0:38:12 > 0:38:16John felt that whatever people had done,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20they were entitled to as fair a trial as the law would allow,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23and their families shouldn't be allowed to suffer.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26So in the end we said, yes, we would continue.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34The ANC's campaign of sabotage continued.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37But those were amateur efforts.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43They were not powerful enough to affect
0:38:43 > 0:38:46the structures of the Nationalist Party.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52When Mandela returned to South Africa, the police were waiting.
0:38:55 > 0:39:01He was arrested for incitement and illegally leaving the country.
0:39:01 > 0:39:02Before the year was out,
0:39:02 > 0:39:07the entire ANC leadership was under arrest and charged with sabotage.
0:39:09 > 0:39:10Mm, so the game was up.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17I expected we would be hanged.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21There was no question really about their guilt.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26They accepted that they'd taken on sabotage.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29They hadn't done very much, they'd blown up a few things.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32So everybody said, "Yeah, there is no escape.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36"These people ARE going to die."
0:39:36 > 0:39:42That led to the Rivonia Trial which was paid for entirely by us.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Well, we were horrified, of course.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54And of course, protest meetings were held in Britain.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57We stand here because of the millions of men
0:39:57 > 0:40:01and women in South Africa who are forced to live
0:40:01 > 0:40:04all their lives in the concentration camp of colour.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09And we say that their will to be free is OUR will.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11Their struggle OUR struggle.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15Till their triumph too may be ours.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24The day Nelson gave evidence, it was so terrible to watch.
0:40:26 > 0:40:33The idea of a democratic and free society in which all persons
0:40:33 > 0:40:38live together in harmony and with equal opportunities,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41it is an idea
0:40:41 > 0:40:45for which I hope to live for
0:40:45 > 0:40:49and to see realised.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54But, my Lord, if it needs be,
0:40:54 > 0:40:59it is an idea for which I am prepared to die.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04That made everybody shiver.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Now I...
0:41:06 > 0:41:09look at the judge
0:41:09 > 0:41:15and I find that the judge is shaking.
0:41:17 > 0:41:24And I say, "Well, the only thing that would make a judge shake
0:41:24 > 0:41:28"is he knows that they are going to be sentenced to death."
0:41:31 > 0:41:35The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr U Thant,
0:41:35 > 0:41:40wrote a letter to Verwoerd in South Africa to say that,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45If you in South Africa go ahead and demand the death penalty
0:41:45 > 0:41:49and execute the Rivonia triallists, that is Nelson Mandela
0:41:49 > 0:41:51and the others, then it'll be impossible
0:41:51 > 0:41:53for the international community
0:41:53 > 0:41:56to resist the pressures for economic sanctions.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05The crime of which the accused have been convicted,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09the crime of conspiracy, is in essence one of high treason.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11Giving the matter very serious consideration,
0:42:11 > 0:42:17I have decided not to impose the supreme penalty
0:42:17 > 0:42:20which in a case like this would usually be the proper penalty.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27People were weeping with joy that they had not received
0:42:27 > 0:42:28the death sentence.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32INCOHERENT SHOUTS
0:42:32 > 0:42:36A life sentence for the Rivonia triallists
0:42:36 > 0:42:40was one of the biggest boosts to us in the underground, giving us
0:42:40 > 0:42:44a sense that we could go on fighting and we would win one day.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50As a result of this life sentence on your husband and his friends,
0:42:50 > 0:42:52have you lost hope?
0:42:52 > 0:42:56I shall never lose hope and my people shall never lose hope.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01In fact, we expect that the work will go on.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07Now, nearly all the responsibility of carrying out the ANC's
0:43:07 > 0:43:10worldwide strategy fell to Tambo.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15And none of the European countries, nor the United States,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17provided any support.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Not only would they not give arms to the liberation movement,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26they would not even tolerate the idea the liberation movement
0:43:26 > 0:43:29had the right to take up arms.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35At the same time, it is a fact also that they are providing arms
0:43:35 > 0:43:37to the apartheid regime.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42The South African military machine was becoming stronger
0:43:42 > 0:43:43and stronger and stronger.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49One other option remained.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Apartheid was an insult.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14It was intolerable and unacceptable for the Soviet Communists
0:44:14 > 0:44:20who saw it as a manifestation of the class struggle
0:44:20 > 0:44:27and class exploitation, but in an extreme, absolutely intolerable way.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43Oliver arrived in Moscow in April 1963.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49He combined great political maturity
0:44:49 > 0:44:54with an iron will in the pursuit of his political objectives.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Tambo asked for weapons, military training,
0:44:59 > 0:45:04supplies and support for training bases in Africa.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Within months, he'd got it all.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Africa was regarded as one of the areas
0:45:12 > 0:45:15of the National Liberation Zone.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17To use the terminology of those days,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21it was considered to be a part of anti-imperialist struggle.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24All cooperation with the ANC was growing.
0:45:26 > 0:45:31Any success of the liberation movement which would weaken
0:45:31 > 0:45:35the dependence on the Western powers would be helpful to
0:45:35 > 0:45:37the Soviet Union as well.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43But Soviet aid would cost the ANC dear.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49The Americans were that afraid of Communists.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52And they saw a Communist under any bed or in their drawer.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Everybody whom they couldn't understand was a Communist.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Mr Tambo, a large number of the members of the ANC
0:46:00 > 0:46:04who are active operationally have been trained in the Soviet Union.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07- Is that true?- Yes, that is true.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11The question is, what conclusion should we draw from that?
0:46:11 > 0:46:15The only conclusion you can draw is that the Soviet Union has been
0:46:15 > 0:46:18willing to assist us with the kind of assistance we want.
0:46:20 > 0:46:25If the same young men had gone to Canada to learn how to shoot,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29how to handle a weapon, how to fight,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33we would say that Canada is ready to support us to win our independence.
0:46:33 > 0:46:39But the reason we go there is not to ask to be influenced by Canada,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41by the Soviet Union.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45We ask to be assisted with a struggle that we started a long time ago.
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Soviet backing would cost the ANC
0:46:48 > 0:46:50the support of most Western governments.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55Tambo now found himself trapped in the crossfire of the Cold War.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04But some Western leaders remained fiercely independent.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07- REPORTER:- Olof Palme came to a regional meeting
0:47:07 > 0:47:11of his Social Democratic Party as an international celebrity.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15He was famous for having infuriated Washington by marching
0:47:15 > 0:47:18alongside Hanoi's ambassador in a Stockholm
0:47:18 > 0:47:20demonstration against the United States.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Palme stood up for his and neutral Sweden's right to criticise
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Washington or any other superpower.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32We protested very strongly
0:47:32 > 0:47:34against the Berlin Wall,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38against the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42Nobody in the West said that we were neutral then.
0:47:42 > 0:47:49Neutrality doesn't condemn a small country like ours to be quiet.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51I first me him at his home.
0:47:51 > 0:47:52He was having a party for his children.
0:47:52 > 0:47:58I'd gone to see him to get him to arrange an appointment for me
0:47:58 > 0:48:01with the then Prime Minister.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06We became friends from that moment onwards.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09TRUMPET FANFARE
0:48:15 > 0:48:17APPLAUSE
0:48:17 > 0:48:21In 1969, Olaf Palme was elected Prime Minister of Sweden
0:48:21 > 0:48:26and within months, he would provide crucial support to the ANC.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30If people like Olaf Palme
0:48:30 > 0:48:33who helped tremendously
0:48:33 > 0:48:39to make the struggle in South Africa not seen in terms of colour,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43that people understood it's the struggle for dignity, a struggle
0:48:43 > 0:48:45where humanity was involved.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52With Olaf Palme's help, Tambo won the backing of Sweden and other Nordic countries.
0:48:52 > 0:48:59They would give the ANC financial support for the next 25 years.
0:48:59 > 0:49:05Now, Tambo set out to enlist the help of one of the world's most powerful institutions -
0:49:05 > 0:49:08the Christian Church.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12He turned to an old friend, the British priest Father Trevor Huddleston.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14What's the good of preaching a gospel,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18which has no relevance to the living conditions of people?
0:49:18 > 0:49:20That is what politics is.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25Of course we've got to be involved in politics.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28Christ was a highly-political figure.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33Trevor Huddleston had run a mission school for blacks in Johannesburg
0:49:33 > 0:49:34from 1943 for 13 years,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37in defiance of apartheid laws.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43There, Oliver Tambo had worked for him as a teacher.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46We were together at St Peter's.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49We talked to one another as if we were equals.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54But he was white. He was a priest.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57We had not had anything like this.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04# Hallelujah
0:50:04 > 0:50:09# Amen. #
0:50:09 > 0:50:11Now as a boy of about nine,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15when this white man in a flowing cassock and a huge sombrero
0:50:15 > 0:50:17swept past,
0:50:17 > 0:50:20and he doffed his hat to my mother.
0:50:20 > 0:50:25That struck me as incredibly odd.
0:50:25 > 0:50:32A white man, doffing his hat to my mother, who was just a domestic worker,
0:50:32 > 0:50:34uneducated?
0:50:34 > 0:50:37It spoke volumes about this white man.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42I am clear today that the only possible future for this country,
0:50:42 > 0:50:48is the recognition of the fact that white supremacy is finished.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Father Huddleston's views were in stark contrast
0:50:51 > 0:50:55to many white South African Christians.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Would you explain to me the scriptural basis for apartheid?
0:51:03 > 0:51:10Deuteronomy 32:8 where God says that he divided the nations.
0:51:10 > 0:51:15THEY SING
0:51:15 > 0:51:16A lot of Christians
0:51:16 > 0:51:20were quite comfortable with the world as it was.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22I suppose you know the old saying,
0:51:22 > 0:51:29when the Europeans arrived in Africa, the Africans had the land and the Europeans had the Bible.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33The Europeans said, "Let us pray." They closed their eyes.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37When they opened their eyes, the Africans had the Bible and the Europeans had the land.
0:51:47 > 0:51:53I believed that apartheid attacked everything Christianity stood for.
0:51:53 > 0:51:59I was greatly influenced, therefore, by what Father Huddleston was doing.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06Forced out of South Africa in 1956, like his friend Oliver Tambo,
0:52:06 > 0:52:11Huddleston would spend the rest of his life fighting apartheid from afar.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14He became involved with us.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Very powerfully.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19This was a voice that was missing.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23If there were more like him,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26if there were hundreds more like him,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29things would really move.
0:52:37 > 0:52:43In 1969, Huddleston and Tambo took their cause to the World Council of Churches,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48which represented thousands of Christian churches in 80 countries.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56As it happened, the Council was dedicating its international conference that year
0:52:56 > 0:52:59to the issue of racial injustice worldwide.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Oliver Tambo attended the meeting.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07He was quite clearly
0:53:07 > 0:53:11not the rabid terrorist that everybody tried to paint the ANC.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15He was able to present the whole struggle in such a way
0:53:15 > 0:53:17as apartheid has to be dealt with,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20it has to be stopped.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22I'm not a Christian...
0:53:25 > 0:53:31..in the sense that I can tolerate exploitation and oppression and repression.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36I don't believe in that kind of Christianity at all.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40I believe in a Christianity, which defends justice.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46In a programme to combat racism around the globe,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49the World Council of Churches decided to give money directly
0:53:49 > 0:53:55to local groups, which included armed liberation movements like the ANC.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Just money, which would be used
0:54:00 > 0:54:05for organisations of black people, anywhere in the world,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08who were trying to set up their own structures,
0:54:08 > 0:54:12make their own voice heard and do their own thing.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16It was explicitly said it should not be used for violent action.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21There was then quite a vigorous debate in the churches.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25If the World Council of Churches had just passed resolutions,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29I don't think much would have changed but because they put their money where their mouth was,
0:54:29 > 0:54:35that made the member churches back in Britain and in the other countries take this seriously.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39People would get up and shout this was money for violence.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44I would say, "We pay to these poor blokes 10,000 for education.
0:54:44 > 0:54:49"When you give the money for education, they will take the money for education and use it for arms."
0:54:49 > 0:54:54It was an incredible show of fear on the part of white people
0:54:54 > 0:54:58who saw that a plural form of society was coming.
0:54:58 > 0:55:04I don't think that any church should support means of violence of the kind
0:55:04 > 0:55:10that some of these organisations, fighting against apartheid,
0:55:10 > 0:55:12are guilty of.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17I don't think the Church should ever be responsible for any bloodshed.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Michael Ramsey, said that he did not support the decision
0:55:23 > 0:55:27of the World Council of Churches to give financial aid to terrorists.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31The Church of England cut its grant to the World Council of Churches
0:55:31 > 0:55:35because they had to show their displeasure with what the World Council was doing.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38The controversy spread to churches around the world,
0:55:38 > 0:55:43where the Council found an unlikely ally in South Africa itself.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45We are not a pacifist church.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51We are saying violence may be used by the white people against the black.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55It may not be used by the black people against the white.
0:55:55 > 0:56:01Surely there can be a just resistance to an evil system.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07It's a difficult to equate a middle-aged Anglican clergyman with terrorism,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10yet it is under the all-embracing Terrorism Act,
0:56:10 > 0:56:15the most powerful weapon in of South Africa's security laws, that he was charged.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22He has been accused of being party to the decision by the World Council of Churches
0:56:22 > 0:56:24to send funds to guerrillas.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28Conviction under South Africa's Terrorism Act could mean the death penalty.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35He's been trying to put the Gospel into practice.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37This is extremely difficult.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40I think in South Africa
0:56:40 > 0:56:43you can still say, within reason, what you want.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48But if you try and practise what you say, you're liable to find yourself in trouble.
0:56:48 > 0:56:49What has he done?
0:56:49 > 0:56:54Among other things, he's distributed sums of money
0:56:54 > 0:56:56to people in need,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59to pay for schoolbooks,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02various other things of a charitable nature,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05which, under the Terrorism Act, is an offence.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Faced with prison or exile,
0:57:20 > 0:57:27Ffrench-Beytagh, like so many before him, reluctantly left South Africa for England.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38The controversy rumbled on but the World Council of Churches stood by its decision.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45That problem Christians have, when a country declares war on another,
0:57:45 > 0:57:49they are not problems.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54- So the just war theory, you subscribe to?- Absolutely. Absolutely.
0:57:54 > 0:57:55Absolutely.
0:57:55 > 0:58:01It's perfectly just. We are under an obligation to end evil.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09Oliver Tambo remained a terrorist in the eyes of the most powerful leaders in the West,
0:58:09 > 0:58:11the United States and Britain.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15But he now had an army of clergy on his side.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23Over the next decades, church volunteers in their thousands
0:58:23 > 0:58:26poured into the anti-apartheid movement.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35South Africa's long walk to freedom had begun.
0:59:15 > 0:59:17Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:17 > 0:59:20E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk