The Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) was a student movement in South Africa founded in 1979 as a replacement for the banned

South African Student Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney P ...

(SASO). It would become the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) in 1986, after adopting the Educational Charter and aligning itself officially with the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democra ...

. This was to be merged in 1991 with the

National Union of South African Students The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism. Early history NUSAS was founde ...

to form the South African Students Congress.

History

Following the banning of the

(SASO), a new student’s structure was constituted to fill the void. The new structure, called the Azanian Student Organisation (AZASO), was established in 1979 by students from five black universities and one college of education. AZASO, which was formed under

Tom Nkoane Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, though it initially emerged as a continuation of SASO, later manifested itself as a different organisation that adopted

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) policies and the Freedom Charter over the

Black Consciousness The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Afri ...

Doctrine. In addition, AZASO advocated a non-racial policy towards working with other youth organisations, while SASO's philosophy of Black Consciousness called for a total break away from White student structures and as such they did not co-operate with them. AZASO also secured political cooperation with other ANC-aligned formations such as the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the

Congress of South African Students The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) is an anti-apartheid Student Organisation established in 1979 in the wake of the June 16 Soweto Uprisings in 1976 in South Africa. Background COSAS was formed in June 1979 after the South African Stud ...

(COSAS). All these developments highlighted a drift by AZASO from the philosophy of Black Consciousness and its associated organisations like SASO and the

Black People's Convention The Black People's Convention (BPC) was a national coordinating body for the Black Consciousness movement of South Africa. Envisaged as a broad-based counterpart to the South African Students' Organisation, the BPC was active in organising resi ...

(BPC).Beyond Our Wildest Dreams: The United Democratic Front and the Transformation of South Africa: Reconsiderations in southern African history, Ineke van Kesse

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azanian Students' Organisation Student organisations in South Africa Politics of South Africa Political organisations based in South Africa