Poqo
By Connor Collins
Biography
On the Eastern Cape, Poqo had other methods of recruitment, as creative as scheming bogus funerals to discuss plans with potential members. In April of 1962, Poqo set their target on the new chief of Transkei. When a mission to kill him went wrong, Poqo got into a skirmish with the police, and many significant members of the group were arrested both at the scene, and afterwords. In an attempt to break their comrades out of the jail, 250 Poqo members marched to the police station with the intent on burning it down. Once again, police responded by arresting even more members of the wing. Following the final push, a majority of Poqo was either sentenced to death or prison. From 1963-1969, Poqo was slowly taken down by the police, and fizzled out.
Significance
The Azanian Manifesto
"Our struggle for national liberation is directed against the historically evolved system of racism and capitalism which holds the people of Azania in bondage for the benefit of the small minority of the population, i.e. the capitalists and their allies, the white workers and the reactionary sections of the middle classes. The struggle against apartheid, therefore, is no more than the point of departure for our liberatory efforts. The Black working class inspired by revolutionary consciousness is the driving force of our struggle for national self-determination in a unitary Azania. They alone can end the system as it stands today because they alone have nothing at all to loose. They have a world to gain in a democratic, anti-racist and socialist Azania, where the interests of the workers shall be paramount through worker control of the means of production, distribution and exchange. In the socialist republic of Azania the land and all that belongs to it shall be wholly owned and controlled by the Azanian people. The usage of the land and all that accrues to it shall be aimed at ending all exploitation."
Above is the intro to the Azanian Manifesto, the document that sums up the PAC's goal for anti-apartheid. They believed that in order to fight apartheid, the struggle for national liberation must be against racist capitalism. Therefore, Poqo fought to defend this document. The rest of the Manifesto can be viewed in the link below.\
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8oMa8fmoEUGNjljNTNhNWItMjNhMS00NmFhLWFhNTgtMjY1OTU1NTg5ZGRm/view
References
"Poqo in the Western Cape and Transkei in the Early 1960s." Jonas. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
(link: http://www.sahistory.org.za/organisations/poqo)
1.4 Packet
Hlongwane, Ali Khangela. "Reflections on the Pan Africanist Congress 'Underground' in the era of the 1976 youth uprisings." Journal of Pan African Studies 3.4 (2009): 55+. World History Collection. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.