Fifty years on: what Rise '76 taught me about South Africa

One of the things I've enjoyed most about living in Johannesburg is that its history isn't confined to museums. It's everywhere. It's in neighbourhoods, in conversations, in public holidays and, perhaps most powerfully, on stage.

Last week we went to see Rise '76: The Story of June 16th at the Market Theatre, following a recommendation from a friend.

The play marks the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, telling the story through the eyes of students and teachers at a fictional Soweto school in the days leading up to 16 June 1976. It centres on the apartheid government's insistence that Afrikaans be used as a language of instruction in Black schools.  

The Afrikaans language developed from Dutch and is historically associated with the descendants of European settlers, particularly the Afrikaner community. For many Black South Africans, it wasn't a language spoken at home but the language of the apartheid government itself. Being compelled to study subjects in Afrikaans therefore wasn't simply an educational policy, it became a powerful symbol of oppression and control. So what begins as a dispute over education quickly becomes a story about dignity and equal opportunity.

It was one of the most powerful pieces of theatre I've seen. Probably because I knew so little of the Soweto Uprising beforehand or its significance. On 16 June 1976, thousands of schoolchildren marched peacefully through Soweto to protest against an education system designed to keep them subservient. Police opened fire on them. Hundreds were killed or injured, although the exact number remains disputed. The photographs that later emerged, most famously the body of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried through the streets, shocked the world. Historians now widely regard the uprising as a turning point in the struggle against apartheid, accelerating international pressure on the regime and inspiring a new generation of resistance. Today, 16 June is commemorated as Youth Day in honour of those students.

What surprised me also was discovering that several Afrikaans South Africans I spoke to afterwards knew very little about it. That isn't intended as a criticism. Every country has uncomfortable parts of its history that receive less attention than perhaps they deserve. I could write a similar post about Britain. But I found it odd that an event which feels so fundamental to understanding modern South Africa isn't necessarily understood in the same way by everyone who grew up here.

I think South African history remains so uncomfortable for many people here because the reality today is sadly not entirely different. The tragic irony that the central issue of 1976, education, is still relevant today. The children who marched did so because they believed education was worth protesting for. They wanted more than classrooms designed to prepare them for lives of servitude. Fifty years later, apartheid has thankfully ended and millions more children attend school, but educational inequality remains one of South Africa's greatest challenges. While access has improved enormously, many schools serving poorer communities still lack the resources, facilities and teaching support that wealthier schools take for granted.

The injustice looks different, but it hasn't disappeared. I think that's why Rise '76 is such an extraordinary piece of theatre. It's a reminder that history isn't over and its consequences are still shaping the country around you, fifty years later. As someone who's only been living in South Africa for a few months, that's becoming one of the biggest lessons of all. The more I learn about this country, the more I realise that understanding its present means understanding its past. And thanks to the Market Theatre, I now understand both a little better.

Notes from 26° South.