Sharpeville Human Rights Day

The images at Sharpeville travelled around the world and were, for many abroad, the first image of Apartheid’s real consequences

Human Rights Day: A poem about Sharpeville by Dennis Brutus

Poetry has great power to make an impact. In a poem, written by anti-Apartheid activist Dennis Brutus, he reflects on the harrowing events on 21 March 1960.

Sharpeville Human Rights Day

The images at Sharpeville travelled around the world and were, for many abroad, the first image of Apartheid’s real consequences

Every year on 21 March, South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day. It is a vital, if harrowing, part of the country’s history.

It’s a day where we celebrate our South African human rights and remember people like Robert Sobukwe.  It’s a day for reflection for born frees and everyone else.

The fight against apartheid took many different forms, including poetry. And this harrowing poem, written by Dennis Brutus, is a stark reminder of what makes Human Rights Day such an important day of reflection.

A poem about Sharpeville

What is important

about Sharpeville

is not that seventy died:

nor even that they were shot in the back

retreating, unarmed, defenseless

and certainly not

the heavy caliber slug

that tore through a mother’s back

and ripped through the child in her arms

killing it

Remember Sharpeville

bullet-in-the-back day

Because it epitomized oppression

and the nature of society

more clearly than anything else;

it was the classic event

Nowhere is racial dominance

more clearly defined

nowhere the will to oppress

more clearly demonstrated

what the world whispers

apartheid with snarling guns

the blood lust after

South Africa spills in the dust

Remember Sharpeville

Remember bullet-in-the-back day

And remember the unquenchable will for freedom

Remember the dead

and be glad.

About Dennis Brutus

Dennis Vincent Brutus was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have apartheid South Africa banned from the Olympic Games.

The National described him as: “the South African political activist and troubadour who fought for freedom and racial equality was imprisoned on Robben Island in the cell next to Nelson Mandela.”

Human Rights Day in South Africa

While globally Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December, South Africa’s own day is celebrated on 21 March every year.

It remembers a brutal massacre where police shot and killed almost 70 protestors, many women and children. Many were shot in the back while fleeing. Several more were injured.