Freedom Charter of South Africa

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: Read the Freedom Charter in conjunction with Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Address of 1994. To what extent do the two documents embody the same aspirations and goals? Do they differ in any important ways?
• 2.: Some efforts were made to discredit the Freedom Charter because “it was drafted by white Communists.” What role did Communism and Socialism play in the development of the document? More important, do you believe that any influence of Communism was relevant to the document's authority?
• 3.: Read the Freedom Charter in conjunction with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What principles and specific proposals do the two documents have in common?
• 4.: Why did the Africanists and the Pan African Congress break away from the African National Congress? Do you believe this rupture helped or impeded the work of the ANC?
• 5.: Racism was always a factor in the colonization of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, but world opinion held the racism of South Africa to be particularly repugnant, leading to concerted worldwide efforts to end it. What aspects of racial division in South Africa might have led to this ire?