Common sign found in South Africa.
Apartheid in South Africa
A key factor that was a contributing cause to the 1981 tour protest was the initial opposition to apartheid in South Africa. In 1945, the National Party in South Africa won the elections and immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people. If this was not already unjust enough, in 1970 non white political representation was completely abolished and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship, becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based homelands. Apartheid was not supported by many countries internationally and there was also much conflict within South Africa, including the Sharpeville massacre 21st March 1960. Crowds of 5,000-7,000 black protesters outside the Sharpeville police station were shot at, killing over 70 people. Atrocities like this brought the issue of apartheid to be recognised worldwide and one of the main ways that the international community showed their rejection of it was through boycotting South Africa in various areas. One of the types of boycotting was through sport. South Africa obviously did not allow black people to be a part of representative sports teams under the law of apartheid, no matter how talented they were, multi-racial teams from other countries were also not allowed to play in South Africa. In 1959, the non-racial South African Sports Association (SASA) was formed and in 1962 they called for the expulsion of SA from the Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The support of this plea by the IOC shows that there was evident international contempt against apartheid and people globally were against it. This is further supported by the UN Security Council in its first action on South Africa adopted Resolution 134 deploring the policies and actions of the South African government following the Sharpeville Massacre. The Council called upon the government to abandon its policies of apartheid and racial discrimination. New Zealand people were some of the millions globally that were against apartheid so we can see how this opposition was a cause of the protests against the Springbok Tour in 1981.
A key factor that was a contributing cause to the 1981 tour protest was the initial opposition to apartheid in South Africa. In 1945, the National Party in South Africa won the elections and immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation under a system of legislation that it called apartheid. The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people. If this was not already unjust enough, in 1970 non white political representation was completely abolished and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship, becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based homelands. Apartheid was not supported by many countries internationally and there was also much conflict within South Africa, including the Sharpeville massacre 21st March 1960. Crowds of 5,000-7,000 black protesters outside the Sharpeville police station were shot at, killing over 70 people. Atrocities like this brought the issue of apartheid to be recognised worldwide and one of the main ways that the international community showed their rejection of it was through boycotting South Africa in various areas. One of the types of boycotting was through sport. South Africa obviously did not allow black people to be a part of representative sports teams under the law of apartheid, no matter how talented they were, multi-racial teams from other countries were also not allowed to play in South Africa. In 1959, the non-racial South African Sports Association (SASA) was formed and in 1962 they called for the expulsion of SA from the Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The support of this plea by the IOC shows that there was evident international contempt against apartheid and people globally were against it. This is further supported by the UN Security Council in its first action on South Africa adopted Resolution 134 deploring the policies and actions of the South African government following the Sharpeville Massacre. The Council called upon the government to abandon its policies of apartheid and racial discrimination. New Zealand people were some of the millions globally that were against apartheid so we can see how this opposition was a cause of the protests against the Springbok Tour in 1981.
Gleneagles Agreement
In 1977 the countries of the commonwealth leaders agreed at their London meeting that apartheid in sport, as in other fields, was not just and ran directly counter to the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles, which they made at Singapore on 22 January 1971. In light of this, the Gleneagles Agreement was signed, declaring that 'member countries of the Commonwealth embrace people peoples of diverse races, colours, languages and faiths, and they have long recognised racial prejudice and discrimination as dangerous sicknesses and unmitigated evils.' The members pledged to use all their efforts to foster human dignity everywhere.
The Agreement acknowledged that each government should determine on its own how it would best carry out these commitments, but emphasis was placed on the importance to do so.
In 1977 the countries of the commonwealth leaders agreed at their London meeting that apartheid in sport, as in other fields, was not just and ran directly counter to the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles, which they made at Singapore on 22 January 1971. In light of this, the Gleneagles Agreement was signed, declaring that 'member countries of the Commonwealth embrace people peoples of diverse races, colours, languages and faiths, and they have long recognised racial prejudice and discrimination as dangerous sicknesses and unmitigated evils.' The members pledged to use all their efforts to foster human dignity everywhere.
The Agreement acknowledged that each government should determine on its own how it would best carry out these commitments, but emphasis was placed on the importance to do so.
Upon Muldoon welcoming the 1981 tour, New Zealanders and many people around the world were outraged that our government was not supporting or fulfilling the task set in the Gleneagles Agreement. An editorial in a Halt All Racist Tours (HART) newspaper said "The Government is unashamedly racist in its attitudes towards Africa" and these lines were repeated similarly in many publications by groups like HART and Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE). Muldoon however did not share the same opinion and referred to these publications as "propaganda". "We will not refuse to issue visas" said Muldoon, "we're not in the game of issuing visas". A statement that perhaps would have been accepted if the NZ government hadn't refused to issue visas to a Rhodesian Golfing Team (1976), Taiwanese Boy Scouts (1977) and North Koreans (1979). The people of NZ knew the government was capable of saying no to the tour but had chosen not to. As shown in the photos, there were many newspaper cartoons criticizing Muldoon's choice to dishonor the Gleneagles Agreement New Zealander's were proud their country had signed, supporting a racist tour. Internationally New Zealand was not favored either as countries still remembered the 1976 Montreal Olympics when earlier in the year the All Blacks had toured South Africa. In opposition to this countries, many African, boycotted the Olympic Games because NZ was competing-most famously John Walker's 1500m final was boycotted by one of his biggest rivals Filbert Bayi of Tanzania. Tanzania was the first African nation to announce that it would boycott the Games. In all, more than 20 African nations stayed away, causing a massive reorganisation of scheduled events. The fact that NZ had now signed the Gleneagles Agreement and was still supporting racist sport was outrageous to them. Muldoon and the NZ Government's disregard of the Gleneagles Agreement came as a great disappointment to many New Zealander's and caused a lot of anger in groups such as HART and CARE, becoming one of the reasons for the tour protests in 1981.
Opposition to NZ Government and Rugby Union
The Rugby Union in 1960 excluded Maoris from the All Black Tour in South Africa in order to comply with their apartheid law. This act, supported by the Government was seen by a growing number of people as South Africa's racist laws becoming a part of our own. Later on that year the Sharpeville massacre took place which led to the cancellation of a tour in 1968, at this stage the New Zealand opinion was still quite pro-tour but this was changing incredibly quickly. South Africa's response to the NZ boycott of 1968 was to modify their policy to allow Maori's to lap, however, they called them 'honorary whites' which offended many people. Activism had emerged on a small scale before th scheduled 1973 tour but was still not the dominant stance as 80% of New Zealanders still supported the our. Robert Muldoon played these statistics to his advantage when running for Prime Minister. After Labour leader and Prime Minister, Norman Kirk, postponed the 1973 tour, as part of his campaign Muldoon maintained that a National Government would welcome a Springbok team to New Zealand, 'even if there were threats of violence and civil strife’. This bought the vote of many of New Zealanders who believed that sport and politics did not mix, polls also showed that much of rural New Zealand were pro-tour. This statement by Muldoon showed what his government's stance would be and offended a large amount of the New Zealand population who believed that sports and politics did mix and it was our responsibility not to support apartheid. Muldoon appealed to a large group of people who didn't like being told who they could and couldn't play sport against by foreigners. And so, despite the Gleneagles Agreement, the Muldoon government refused to stop the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand, in order to seem as if they were supporting th agreement the government merely informed rugby officials that it disapproved. The public, however, increasingly felt that stronger action was needed. A new poll in May 1981 showed that 43% of people opposed the tour with 41% in favour. This statistic shows that the tables turned and people in New Zealand were no longer so supportive if the tour, there was an opposition to the Rugby Union and the Muldoon Government's decisions, becoming one of the causes of the protests of the 1981 tour.
The Rugby Union in 1960 excluded Maoris from the All Black Tour in South Africa in order to comply with their apartheid law. This act, supported by the Government was seen by a growing number of people as South Africa's racist laws becoming a part of our own. Later on that year the Sharpeville massacre took place which led to the cancellation of a tour in 1968, at this stage the New Zealand opinion was still quite pro-tour but this was changing incredibly quickly. South Africa's response to the NZ boycott of 1968 was to modify their policy to allow Maori's to lap, however, they called them 'honorary whites' which offended many people. Activism had emerged on a small scale before th scheduled 1973 tour but was still not the dominant stance as 80% of New Zealanders still supported the our. Robert Muldoon played these statistics to his advantage when running for Prime Minister. After Labour leader and Prime Minister, Norman Kirk, postponed the 1973 tour, as part of his campaign Muldoon maintained that a National Government would welcome a Springbok team to New Zealand, 'even if there were threats of violence and civil strife’. This bought the vote of many of New Zealanders who believed that sport and politics did not mix, polls also showed that much of rural New Zealand were pro-tour. This statement by Muldoon showed what his government's stance would be and offended a large amount of the New Zealand population who believed that sports and politics did mix and it was our responsibility not to support apartheid. Muldoon appealed to a large group of people who didn't like being told who they could and couldn't play sport against by foreigners. And so, despite the Gleneagles Agreement, the Muldoon government refused to stop the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand, in order to seem as if they were supporting th agreement the government merely informed rugby officials that it disapproved. The public, however, increasingly felt that stronger action was needed. A new poll in May 1981 showed that 43% of people opposed the tour with 41% in favour. This statistic shows that the tables turned and people in New Zealand were no longer so supportive if the tour, there was an opposition to the Rugby Union and the Muldoon Government's decisions, becoming one of the causes of the protests of the 1981 tour.