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Jim Crow Laws and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

After the American Civil War most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws. This included laws that discriminated against African Americans with concern to attendance in public schools and the use of facilities such as restaurants, theaters, hotels, cinemas and public baths. Trains and buses were also segregated and in many states marriage between whites and African American people.

                Mary White Ovington was a social worker who in 1904 had written a study on racial discrimination, In September 1908 she was working for the New York Post and she read an article by William English Walling, entitled “Race War in the North” that described the atrocities being carried out against African-Americans. Walling ended the article by calling for "a powerful body of citizens to come to their aid". She responded to the article by writing to Walling and at a meeting in New York they decided to form the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). Its mission is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

The difference between the two is that the Jim Crow Laws were to limit the African American rights and freedoms and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People was created to help them.

Apartheid and the African National Congress

                 In 1948, the Afrikaner-led government implemented “apartheid”, which is a government policy that segregated the country. South Africa became an oligarchy in which the white minority rule over the non-white majority. Under apartheid the mobility, occupations, and social lives of blacks were tightly restricted. Sexual relations and marriage between whites and non-whites were outlawed.

                The South African government banned communist organizations and publications in 1950. IN 1960, the African National Congress, the oldest black political civil rights group in Africa was banned after a peaceful demonstration in the township of Sharpeville. On March 21^st 1960, demonstrators gathered to protest the passbook that blacks were required to carry at all times. Police opened fire killing 68 people and wounding 180. After Sharpeville, civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who was an active member of the ANC throughout the 1950s, abandoned non-violence.  In 1963, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage against military and government property. When the African National Party fell apart in 1980s, the acting president FW de Klerk called for a new constitution based on the principal of one person one vote. In 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the African national congress was legalized.

The difference between the two is that apartheid was a policy to segregate the people in the country. The African National Congress was a civil rights group in Africa to help the Black Africans.

Part D

Referendum:

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of direct democracy. The referendums are important to decide important issues within the country or province.  An example would be, in Canada during the conscription crisis the people of Canada were asked “Are you in favour of releasing the Government from any obligations arising out of any past commitments restricting the methods of raising men for military service?”

Interest Groups:

An interest group is a group of people working on behalf of or strongly supporting a particular cause, such as an item of legislation, an industry, or a special segment of society. The importance of interest groups is that through huge campaign contribution they run the country. Motives for action may be based on a shared political, faith, moral or commercial position. Groups use varied methods to try to achieve their aims including lobbying, media campaigns, publicity stunts, polls, research, and policy briefings. Some groups are supported by powerful business or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process, others have few such resources. An example would be the Freedom to Marry Coalition group that supports gay marriage.

Preferential balloting:

                Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. The advantage of this system is that the candidate elected reflects a broader base of voters that in the one vote per person system.  An example would be if one candidate is liked by 35% of the voters and hated by 65% of voters. In a race with many candidates, this candidate may win of the vote is split. In a ranked vote system it is unlikely that the candidate would win. Preferential voting is used in Australia when they are electing candidates to single-member electorates such as the Australian Federal House of Representatives, state legislative assemblies and local government municipalities.