Steve Biko

Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a noted nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s. He was born in King Williams Town, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. He was a student at the University of Natal Medical School. He was initially involved with the multiracial National Union of South African Students, but after he became convinced that black, Indian and Colored students needed an organization of their own, he helped found the South African Students' Organization (SASO) in 1968 and was elected its first president. The SASO evolved into the influential Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). In 1972 Biko became honorary president of the Black People's Convention. He was banned during the height of apartheid in March 1973 meaning that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time, was restricted to certain areas, and could not make speeches in public. It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations, or to otherwise mention him. In spite of the repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a large role in organizing the protests which led to the Soweto riots on 16 June 1976.

In the aftermath of the Soweto riots, police began to target Biko further. On 18 August 1977, he was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody and was chained to a window grille for a full day. On 11 September 1977 police loaded him into the back of a car and began the 740-mile drive to Pretoria. He died shortly after the arrival in the Pretoria prison. Police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike. He was found to have massive injuries to the head which many saw as strong evidence that he had been heavily and brutally clubbed.

Due to his fame, news of his death quickly spread across the world, and it provided a great wake-up call internationally to the extent of the brutality of the apartheid regime. His funeral was attended by many hundreds of people, including numerous ambassadors and other diplomats from the United States and Western Europe. Journalist Donald Woods, a personal friend of Biko, photographed his injuries in the morgue and was later forced to flee South Africa for England, where he campaigned against apartheid and further publicized Biko's life and death.

The following year on the 2 February 1978, the Attorney-General of the Eastern Cape stated that he would not prosecute any police involved in the arrest and detention of Biko and on 7 October, 2003, the South African Justice Ministry officials announced that the five policemen who were accused of killing Biko would not be prosecuted because of insufficient evidence. During the trial it was claimed that Biko's head injuries were a self-inflicted suicide attempt, and not the result of any beatings. The judge ultimately ruled that a murder charge could not be supported partly because there were no witnesses to the killing. Charges of culpable homicide and assault were also considered, but because the killing occurred in 1977, the time frame for prosecution had expired. Account of homicide accusations against the police in The Independent

Influences and formation of ideology

Like Frantz Fanon, Biko originally studied medicine, and also like Fanon, Biko developed an intense concern for the development of black consciousness as a solution to the existential struggles which shape existence, both as a human and as an African (see Negritude). Biko can thus be seen as a follower of Fanon and Aimé Césaire, in contrast to more pacifist ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Albert Lutuli who were first disciples of Gandhi.

Biko saw the struggle to restore African consciousness as having two stages, "Psychological liberation" and "Physical liberation". The non-violent influence of Gandhi, and Martin Luther King upon Biko is then suspect, as Biko knew that for his struggle to give rise to physical liberation, it was necessary that it exist within the political realities of the apartheid regime, and Biko's non-violence may be seen more as a tactic than a personal conviction Companion to African Philosophy, edited by Kwasi Wiredu, William E. Abraham, Abiola Irele, Ifeanyi A. Menkiti. Blackwell Publishing (2003). Thus Biko's BCM had much in common with other left-wing African nationalist movements of the time, such as Amilcar Cabral's PAIGC and Huey Newton's Black Panther Party.

Quotations

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
("White Racism and Black Consciousness", in I Write What I Like)
“Apartheid—both petty and grand—is obviously evil. Nothing can justify the arrogant assumption that a clique of foreigners has the right to decide on the lives of a majority”
(Woods, 130).
"You and I are now in confrontation, but I see no Violence."
("Cry Freedom", The Film.)
"The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country. Not so long ago this used to be freely said in parliament, even about the educational system of the black people. It is still said even today, although in a much more sophisticated language. To a large extent the evil-doers have succeeded in producing at the output end of their machine a kind of black man who is man only in form. This is the extent to which the process of dehumanization has advanced.”
("We Blacks", ibid.)
"The system concedes nothing without demand, for it formulates its very method of operation on the basis that the ignorant will learn to know, the child will grow into an adult and therefore demands will begin to be made. It gears itself to resist demands in whatever way it sees fit."
("The Quest for a True Humanity", ibid.)
"In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift—a more human face."
"It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die."
"Even today, we are still accused of racism. This is a mistake. We know that all interracial groups in South Africa are relationships in which whites are superior, blacks inferior. So as a prelude whites must be made to realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior."

References in the Arts

Cinema

Malcolm Clarke made the documentary The life and death of Steve Biko in 1978.
In 1987, Richard Attenborough directed the movie Cry Freedom, a biographical drama about Biko starring Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline. Peter Gabriel's song (see below) was included in the film's soundtrack.
He is mentioned in the Disney Channel movie The Color of Friendship.

Literature

Benjamin Zephaniah wrote a poem entitled " Biko The Greatness", included in Zephaniah's 2001 collection "Too Black, Too Strong"

Music

Tom Paxton released the song "The Death of Stephen Biko" on his 1978 album Heroes.
Steel Pulse released the song "Biko's Kindred Lament" on their 1979 album Tribute to the Martyrs.
Peter Gabriel tells the tale of Biko in the song of the same name on his 3rd self titled album Peter Gabriel (III) (alternatively known as Melt for the cover art) released in 1980. Gabriel sings: "You can blow out a candle / But you can't blow out a fire / Once the flames begin to catch / The wind will blow it higher"
Robert Wyatt covered Gabriel's song on his 1984 Work In Progress EP
Simple Minds' covered Peter Gabriel's "Biko" in their 1989 album Street Fighting Years.
Sweet Honey in the Rock's 1981 album Good News contains tracks titled "Biko" and "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto".
Billy Bragg later covered Sweet Honey in the Rock's song "Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto" in 1992, comparing Biko's death to that of Victor Jara.
The A Tribe Called Quest 1993 album Midnight Marauders includes the song "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)."
Sylvain Bujold' sings "Beak-O" on his CD Poutine Forever!.
Beenie Man's 1998 album Many Moods of Moses contains a track named after Biko.
Dead Prez reference Biko in a track entitled "I'm An African" on their 2000 album Let's Get Free.
Dirty district have a song based on the murder of Steve Biko (titled Steve Biko) on their debut album, Pousse Au Crime Et Longueurs De Temps .
Wyclef Jean mentions Steven Biko in his song "Diallo" on his album "The Ecleftic: Both Sides of the Book".
Third Sight names Biko in a track entitled "Nine In My Pocket" on their 2006 release Symbionese Liberation Album.
Saul Williams names Biko in his song "Coded Language" in his freshman release "Amethyst Rock Star".
Johnny Clegg names Biko in his song "Asimbonanga" which is included on his greatest hits album "In My African Dream".
Dilated Peoples names Steve Biko in their song "Expansion Team Theme" with the lyrics ..."Pressin’ heights Pico, live like Steve Biko".. on the Expansion Team LP.
Ian Dury mentions Stephen Biko in the doggerel Reasons to be cheerful, part 3.
Christy Moore sang a song about Biko called "Biko Drum" which makes several reverences to the South African hero. The song was written by Wally Page.
Ray Wilson covered Peter Gabriel's "Biko" in his album Live and Acoustic.
Rory McLeod references Biko in his song "What would Jesus do?".
Dave Matthews Band wrote the song "Cry Freedom" in honor of Biko.
Public Enemy references Biko in the song "Show Em Watcha Got" on their 1988 album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.

Television

In The Next Generation, there is a starship named USS Biko (NCC-50331), an Oberth class starship which is used for transport or scientific research. The episode it appeared in was entitled, "A Fistful of Datas".

Theatre

1979 Play entitled "The Biko Inquest" by Norman Fenton and Jon Blair.

Trivia

Mr. Biko was a Xhosa. In addition to Xhosa, he spoke fluent English and fairly fluent Afrikaans.
In 2004, he was voted 13th in the SABC3's Great South Africans.
The Student Union building of the University of Manchester is named in his honour.
Until its closure in 2005, the bar at the University of Bradford was also named after Steve Biko. Numerous other venues in Students Unions around the UK also bear his name.

References

Biko by Donald Woods
I Write What I Like by Steve Biko

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Steve Biko