Black Community Programmes: The Practical Manifestation of Black Consciousness Philosophy

This pamphlet, by Mwelela Cele, tells the story of the Black Community Programmes, which were set up in the 1970s as a practical expression of Black Consciousness. It shows that Black Consciousness was not only about ideas or identity. Activists built clinics, publications, education projects, a factory and support networks for political prisoners and their families. The aim was to help Black communities organise themselves, build confidence and power, and meet some of their own needs under apartheid. The pamphlet also shows how these projects were repressed and eventually banned, but argues that their ideas and methods lived on in later trade union and community struggles.

Black Community Programmes