From Soweto to 2026: What the Youth of 1976 Still Teach Us

In 1974, the Department of Bantu Education issued the Afrikaans Medium Decree, which was a policy that mandated the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in Black secondary schools. This proved to be a significant hardship on black learners and educators who were not properly equipped to teach and learn subjects in a language that was not their mother tongue. This law was met with rejection from black students who saw the language as that of ‘the oppressors’ and thus associated it with the systemic subjugation of Bantu Education.

The rejection and criticism of the decree eventually escalated on the 16th of June 1976 when thousands of black students in Soweto organised a peaceful protest march against the apartheid government’s oppressive educational policies. The peaceful protest that was attended by an estimated 20 000 black students was met by armed police who responded with tear gas and live ammunition, killing hundreds of youths and sparking nationwide uprisings that became a major turning point in the struggle against the apartheid regime.

Although the youth of today does not live under a regime as violent as apartheid, it does live under the remnants of the system of racial segregation, remnants that manifest as unequal access to quality education, spatial segregation, high unemployment rates and income inequalities. However, what we are missing is the spirit of the 1976 youth, which was characterised by fearless courage, collective solidarity, and determination to stand up against oppressors.

2026 marks 50 years since the uprising and the youth of 1976 is still considered the most impactful youth in South African history. So… what can we, the youth of today, learn from the youth of 1976?

Solidarity

The most important factor of the 1976 uprising — and, really, every other impactful social movement — is solidarity. Solidarity acts as the primary catalyst for every revolution. One of the issues of modern times is the prioritisation of individualism and isolation. Although at its core, individualism aims to celebrate personal freedom and autonomy, it often comes at the cost of community. Community as a socialising institution is no longer prioritised and it will eventually collapse due to the fracturing of the collective bonds, shared responsibilities and support systems that traditional communities are anchored upon. What this means is that systematic and structural issues such as the unequal access to quality education eventually become viewed as individual failures which people are less likely to support due to the belief that individuals should solve these themselves.

Proactivity

The Youth of 1976 was proactive in taking matters into their own hands regarding an issue that primarily affected them. Although parents and educators expressed grievances towards the Afrikaans Medium Decree, their opposition did not lead to an immediate revolt. It is not until the students took initiative and decided to take it to the streets that real impact was felt. This is yet another lesson we can learn from the youth of 1976 — take initiative and be proactive. Older generations have said this so much that it has become a cliché, but there is a problem with young people expecting other people to fix issues that primarily affect them. This expectation falls short because while many can be sympathetic to your issue, it is only you who truly understands the depth of it. Time has proven over and over again that waiting for institutional solutions is not a viable strategy; it is up to us to stand up and fight!

Critical Thinking

The Youth of 1976 demonstrated critical thinking by analysing the systematic limitations of Bantu Education, they recognised that the Afrikaans Medium Decree was an intentional act to restrict their intellectual growth, and they understood that doing nothing about it would not only affect them but also generations to come and ultimately the black population entirely. The art of critical thinking has been under siege in recent years. With the emergence of AI and our increasing reliance on it — which we have explored in previous posts — the rise of anti-intellectualism, the digital age where information is bite-sized for easier digestion at the cost of context and nuance, as well as the harmful practice of fuelling misinformation, ‘information’ has become easier to come by. And the infinite data we have access to at our fingertips makes it harder to separate fact from opinion. As a result we resort to believing everything and questioning nothing. We see this all the time in social media commentary where young people constantly believe any and everything without doing proper research. This is a practice we need to do away with for our own liberation, and the good news is that we have all the tools to help us with that — however, we need to know how to use them effectively without overly relying on them.

Speaking

Speaking up and voicing concerns regarding social and systemic issues is the first step towards a revolution and ultimately liberation. Speaking up is how you come across people who face the same challenges as you, people you can form solidarity with and be proactive with. The youth of 1976 was able to be heard simply because they spoke up. That was the first step to demonstrate that they were against the Afrikaans Medium Decree; by the time they took it to the streets, the apartheid government was already aware that learners were unhappy. One of the reasons current social and systemic issues seem to be worsening is because we are not saying anything, which signals complicity. The refusal to speak out allows oppressive systems to normalise harmful practices, which in turn makes them harder to dismantle over time.

Furthermore, it is important that when speaking up, we do not accept short-term solutions. When you look at movements such as Fees Must Fall, although impactful, a decade later we are still essentially fighting the same battle. This is because every year, when students speak up against unfair academic policies that hinder them from registering and getting their qualifications, we protest for a short while until we are given temporary solutions and we become satisfied with that until the next year. It is incredibly important to fight for long-term solutions because temporary fixes suppress anger without dismantling the root cause of the crisis. This also results in the loss of hard-earned momentum. So even in the face of short-term solutions — SPEAK UP.

In Closing

The youth of 2026 has tools that the youth of 1976 could not even dream of. We are able to reach thousands and thousands of people through one LinkedIn post, one post on X, and one TikTok. Instead of using social media for scrolling mindlessly, why not use it to apply the knowledge from those before us. Why not use it to speak up for social and systemic injustices, educate ourselves, form communities that we can be in solidarity with, and ultimately use it to move closer to the line of liberation.

Applying these lessons is how we begin, truly, to dismantle what still holds us back.