Freedom Charter

Freedom Charter, document outlining the aspirational principles of freedom and democracy in South Africa. The charter was adopted in June 1955 in opposition to the apartheid regime of the time by the Congress Alliance, a broad coalition consisting of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), the South African Coloured People’s Organisation, and the South African Congress of Democrats.

The principles outlined in the charter are summarized as follows:

• The people shall govern: civic participation by all people, “regardless of race, colour or sex”
• All national groups shall have equal rights: ending racial segregation and apartheid
• The people shall share in the country’s wealth: equal opportunity in, and collective ownership of, industry
• The land shall be shared among those who work it: ending restrictions on movement and land ownership
• All shall be equal before the law: equal enforcement of the law and the right to a fair trial
• All shall enjoy equal human rights: guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, and the right to privacy
• There shall be work and security: equal pay for equal work, equal benefits, and the right to unionize
• The doors of learning and of culture shall be opened: free exchange of ideas, encouragement of cultural expression, and “free, compulsory, universal and equal” education for all children
• There shall be houses, security and comfort: freedom to live where one chooses and expansion of social programs for housing, food security, and health care
• There shall be peace and friendship: encouragement of peaceful relations abroad and self-determination for all the peoples of Africa

The charter was formulated as apartheid policies proliferated under the governance of the National Party, which had come to power in 1948. In opposition to these policies, a mass movement had coalesced around the ANC and the SAIC, whose new leadership called for resisting apartheid with increased militancy. In 1952 these groups organized a campaign in which thousands of volunteers defied discriminatory laws by passively courting arrest and burning their pass books (see pass law).

The movement’s principles were codified during a mass meeting in 1955 called the Congress of the People, which included people of Indian descent, Coloureds, and sympathetic whites as well as Blacks. The delegates adopted the Freedom Charter, asserting that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and…no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.” Government forces broke up the meeting and subsequently arrested more than 150 people, who were charged with high treason. Although the trial did not result in any guilty verdicts, it dragged on until 1961.