Donald Woods was an avid spokesperson against apartheid in South Africa. He was editor of the South African newspaper, the Daily Dispatch. He was banned in 1977 by the government from speaking and writing publicly for five years because of his investigation into Steve Biko's death at the hands of the police. Woods fled and moved to Lesotho with his family where he wrote and published 8 books and continued traveling and speaking out against the racial practices of apartheid until his death in 2001. The most famous of his books, entitled "Biko," was a biography of Steve Biko's life and brought to light many of the actions of apartheid. Woods died after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 67 years old.
image from - http://www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org/
In this clip from the movie, Woods is banned from writing and leaving the country
Time 1:23:30-1:24:14
Woods had been arrested seven times for his anti-apartheid activities in South Africa and his close association with Stephen Biko. He'd been placed on house arrest by the police, and his family was threatened and even received a box with t-shirts soaked in acid, one of which burned his young daughter.
Time 1:30:00
"Biko" Review -
SOUTH AFRICA FROM TEXT TO
FILM:
by Victoria Carchidi
A DRY WHITE SEASON
"The strength of Woods's book is its immediacy. Begun while he was under banning orders, it reflects the pain of discovering one's loss of sovereignty over one's own life: Woods describes the dread created by the ever-present threat of police searches.
Since blacks in South Africa must live every day with the fear that their lives may be violently disrupted at any moment without cause or warning, the book successfully conveys the oppressiveness of the security forces, albeit not by direct representation of black conditions."
"Its weaknesses stem from the same circumstances that make it
worth reading: because of its passionate drive to testify against
apartheid, the book is unwieldy, disorganized, and rambling. Writings
by Nelson Mandela and Biko, banned in South Africa, are incorporated
in undigested chunks, distorting any form the book might have had on
its own: yet they also prove to be the most powerful and compelling indictments
of apartheid, dispelling as they do any myth of black irrationality.
Against the intense, articulate backdrop of philosophical debates
and national priorities, the story of Woods pales into insignificance."
- Stephen Biko's son said of Woods after his death,
“Donald's life should be a lesson in particular to the white people of South Africa...that we can all become agents for change….” He added that black Africans had a name for Donald Woods, “They called him Zweliyanyikima -- the one that shakes the earth.”
"the great obscene lie of apartheid.”
-Donald Woods
African American Registry
"Woods was outraged and his crusade after [Biko's] death led to his being "banned" for five years, which confined him to his home and prohibited him from writing or being in the company of more than one other person. Shots were fired at his house. He eventually fled with his family to London."
Interview with Donald Woods on WGBH 10 O'Clock News November 6, 1987 by Christopher Lydon
http://main.wgbh.org/ton/programs/5402_02.html
Relationship with Biko from television interview on WGBH -
"Lydon asks if Woods was converted by Biko. Woods says that Biko did not set out to convert him; that Biko set out to neutralize the activities and writings of Woods. Woods says that he had been writing editorials condemning black consciousness. Woods says that he mistakenly considered black consciousness to be racism in reverse at the time. Woods says that he began to realize that Biko's message was a positive message of black self-reliance. Woods says that black racism is not and never has been a factor in black politics in South Africa. Woods notes that the ANC was formed in 1912; that no credible black leader or organization in South Africa has ever been anti-white."
"Lydon reports that Woods never wanted to equate the price he paid with the price paid by Biko."
Woods says that the South African government does not respond to non-violent protests; that the South African government has forced the opposition to become violent. Woods says that black South Africans are not allowed to vote; that black South Africans are not allowed to campaign against anything. Woods notes that the South African government refuses to allow free speech or passive protests.
From The Washington Post -
Donald Woods was given the tribal name Zweliyanyikima - one who shakes the earth, and did "using his words, his wit and his standing as a journalist to battle apartheid in his native South Africa."
- Frank Van Riper, friend and colleague, Washington Post
Article by the BBC -
"Donald Woods embarked on his escape on New Year's Eve, 1977. After many close calls and interest being shown in his journey by police officers, he finally crossed the Telle River in full flood and into Lesotho. He headed to the British High Commission where the Commissioner, Jim Moffatt greeted him with the words, 'Do come in, would you like a cup of tea?'. Meanwhile Wendy and the five children also made their escape with the cover story of spending the New Year with family in the country. Within days Donald was in London and the world's press were full of the story of his flight from South Africa.He continued to write freelance articles for numerous papers, and books on the South African situation, giving many lectures around the world. He returned to South Africa to attend the wedding of Nkosinathi Biko, Steve's son. Woods, a man of great courage and humility, spent his years of exile campaigning for the end of apartheid in his own quiet way."
From The Independent, a South African newspaper, 2001 - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/donald-woods-enemy-of-apartheid-dies-at-67-666334.html
When Mr Biko died in October 1977, Mr Woods refused to believe the authorities' claim that his friend had succumbed to the effects of a hunger strike. Mr Woods, who had been editor of the Daily Dispatch since 1965, launched a lecture tour to spread the word that Mr Biko had died in suspicious circumstances. That action obliged the government to proceed with an open inquest.
This led to a state of open warfare between Mr Woods' family and the apartheid security police. He was issued with a five-year "banning order" a kind of internal exile that prevented him from being in the presence of more than one person at a time.
In 1978, Mr Woods became the first private citizen invited to address the United Nations Security Council. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire [in 2000] for his services to human rights.
In 1978, Mr Woods became the first private citizen invited to address the United Nations Security Council. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire [in 2000] for his services to human rights.
"Until I met Steve Biko I did not know my own country." -Woods
Time: 2:18:31 - - 2:19:31
"The children in Soweto are on strike
They have refused to study Afrikaans,
...refused to be trained simply as servants to the system.
The name Biko has been uttered here and there." -Woods
"It's the beginning of the end, Donald.
Change the way people think, and things will never be the same." - Biko
