A history of the Committee on South African War Resistance (COSAWR) (1978-1990)

COSAWR consisted mainly of white male South Africans who avoided whites-only conscription into the South African Defence Force (SADF) by going into exile in Britain and the Netherlands. COSAWR was founded in 1978 with the assistance of the African National Congress (ANC) and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. Its goals were to advance war resistance both within South Africa and overseas, research the militarisation of Southern Africa, influence the ANC's opinion on war resistance, bring Western European peace groups and soldiers' unions into the fold of the antiapartheid movement, and involve white South Africans in the anti-apartheid movement and the ANC. The thesis puts COSAWR in the context of South African history in the 1970s and 1980s. The dissertation evaluates COSAWR in relation to the personal and political dynamics of the individual members who shaped the organisation, the development of the South African war resistance movement, its association with the ANC and the broad international anti-apartheid movement, its antagonistic relationship with the South African government and the militarisation of South Africa. The discourse explores the exiles' personal and political motives for avoiding military service. These reasons helped to determine the extent to which the organisation was successful. It is a general history, because the security consciousness of interviewees and the lack of access to certain COSAWR and South African government records inhibited the writing of a detailed study.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Historical Studies

Year dc:date.issued

1996

Author dc:creator

• Collins, Brian F

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Saunders, Christopher C
• Harries, Patrick

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21779

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21779