BIKO one of the first antiapartheid activists

1
BIKOone of the first anti-apartheid activists
2

• Steve bantu Biko was born in 1946 in South
  Africa.
• He decided to enter a political movement while he
  was still in secondary school. Afterwards he went
  to University to study medecine and became a
  member of the national union of South African
  students which was directed by white students who
  were not concerned with the problems of black
  people.
• So, he resigned in 1969 and created the South
  African Students Organization, only composed of
  Black students.
• This movement created a new philosophy among
  South African people.

3

• In 1972, Biko was one of the founders of the
  Black Peoples Convention which put together 70
  movements and black associations which will play
  an important part during the riots of 1976 in
  Soweto. Biko was the first president of the BPC
  and was immediately excluded of the university
  where he had been studying medecine. He began to
  work full-time in social projects in Durban.
• The South African government had tolerated the
  BCM and some other black movements, but they
  began to take measures against these
  organizations at the beginning of the seventies.
  In 1973, Biko was forbidden to do a lot of things.

4

• On August 18th 1977, Steve Biko and one of his
  friends, Peter Jones were accused of terrorism
  and were arrested by the police.
• In august 1977, he was imprisoned again and
  violently beaten by the police during his police
  custody.
• During several days, Biko, as a prisoner, was
  chained up, beaten, and left without care in HQ
  of the police in Port Elizabeth .

5

• On september 11th, still unconscious, Biko was
  rushed naked to the central prison of Pretoria. A
  few hours after his arrival, he died of cerebral
  lesions on the floor of his cell.
• The emotion and the anger in South Africa and
  abroad, were great . Donald woods the editor of
  the Daily Dispatch who had become a friend of
  Steve Biko gave to foreign news papers pictures
  of his body seriously wounded and coverded with
  bruises.
• The 25th anniversary of his death was greeted by
  a flow of respects all over South Africa.

6

• So, he became the biggest martyr of the struggle
  against apartheid in South Africa. Thanks to this
  role as a leader of black liberation, he
  initiated the black conciousness of its identity
  which was the starting point of the black
  emancipation.