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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'We are the Progressives': Alexandra Youth Congress Activists and the Freedom Charter, 1983-1985
Author:Carter, Charles
Year:1991
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:17
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:197-220
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:youth organizations
political parties
African National Congress (South Africa)
nationalism
Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637234
Abstract:This paper looks at the rise of a youth congress in Alexandra township, South Africa, in the mid-1980s. The formation of Alexandra Youth Congress (AYCO), in September 1983, involved creating a formal organizational structure which embodied a legalistic and constitutional ethos, central to which was the adoption of the Freedom Charter as a key organizational tenet. The document provided the youth activist with a clear set of ideals and an all-embracing philosophy. It also provided, however misleadingly, a sense of organizational and ideological security. This commitment to a particular ideological and organizational dominance was to be implicit in much subsequent AYCO activity. The paper describes these activities, distinguishing four categories: community oriented activity, internal organizational activity, school-based struggles and Youth Congress activity, and 'underground work' and 'public work'. Notes, ref., sum.
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