Full Description:

A grassroots strategy aimed at pressuring corporations, universities, and governments to withdraw their financial assets from companies doing business in South Africa. It turned the fight against ApartheidApartheid Full Description: An Afrikaans word meaning “apartness.” It refers to the system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination that governed South Africa. It was a totalizing legal framework that dictated where people could live, work, and travel based on their racial classification. Apartheid was not merely social prejudice; it was a sophisticated economic and legal machine designed to maintain white minority rule. It involved the complete spatial separation of the races, the banning of mixed marriages, and the denial of voting rights to the black majority. Critical Perspective:Critically, Apartheid was a system of racial capitalism. Its primary function was to secure a steady supply of cheap, compliant labor for the white-owned mines and farms. By keeping the black population uneducated, disenfranchised, and restricted to specific areas, the state ensured that the immense wealth generated by the country’s resources flowed exclusively to the white minority and international investors. into a global moral crusade.
DivestmentDivestment Full Description: A grassroots strategy aimed at pressuring corporations, universities, and governments to withdraw their financial assets from companies doing business in South Africa. It turned the fight against Apartheid into a global moral crusade.Divestment was a strategy of economic shaming. Student activists and religious groups targeted the flow of capital, arguing that anyone investing in South Africa was complicit in the regime’s crimes. This led to major multinationals pulling out of the country, causing a capital flight that panicked the South African government. Critical Perspective:This movement challenged the neoliberal idea that capital is “neutral.” It successfully politicized the stock market, forcing shareholders to acknowledge the moral dimension of their profits. It demonstrated that even without government support, civil society could effectively disrupt the economic lifelines of an authoritarian state. was a strategy of economic shaming. Student activists and religious groups targeted the flow of capital, arguing that anyone investing in South Africa was complicit in the regime’s crimes. This led to major multinationals pulling out of the country, causing a capital flight that panicked the South African government.

Critical Perspective:
This movement challenged the neoliberal idea that capital is “neutral.” It successfully politicized the stock market, forcing shareholders to acknowledge the moral dimension of their profits. It demonstrated that even without government support, civil society could effectively disrupt the economic lifelines of an authoritarian state.