defiance campaign

In South Africa, the joint action of non-violent demonstrations and civil disobedience organized by the African National Congress and the Indian Congress Party 1952. Police and press were given notice before trained volunteers trespassed on ‘whites-only’ areas, broke curfews, or assembled without their passes. The campaigners' aim was to overcrowd the prisons and embarrass the authorities. Over 8,300 arrests were made.

The campaign coincided with tricentenary celebrations marking the first permanent European settlement established in South Africa by Jan Van Riebeeck. The government response was a draconian Public Safety Bill 1953 allowing it to declare a state of emergency to combat future disorder.