EVENT INFORMATION

16
December
1961

MK announces its first sabotage actions

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Biography 📅 16 December 1961 📍 South Africa

Explosions targeted government offices and an electrical transformer in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. The founding strategy selected installations and infrastructure as targets in an effort to avoid deaths and injuries. This was a consequential strategic shift from nonviolent mass action toward sabotage under conditions of banning and repression. The distinction between sabotage and attacks on people was central to MK’s stated rationale and must be retained in describing the armed struggle.

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People in this event

Nelson Mandela

Organizations in this Event

Umkhonto we Sizwe

African National Congress

South African Communist Party