The Site of the Red Square was a favourite political meeting place for protest movements around the 1940s and 50s. The Site is now covered by the South Mall and Car Park 4 of the

Oriental Plaza The Oriental Plaza, known locally as the Plaza is a large shopping centre and tourist attraction in Fordsburg, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Consisting of multiple connected malls, it was created for Indian traders who were forcibly r ...

. The defiance campaign was launched here in 1952, this was the first mass anti-apartheid campaign led by Nelson Mandela as volunteer-in chief of the

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 ...

.Completed in 1976, the Plaza was built to accommodate Indian traders evicted by the apartheid government from the main trading street, 14th Street as well as other streets including the eastern and western boundary street, Delarey and Krause streets of Pageview, Fietas.

History

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical bui ...

or Freedom Square was an open community square in

Fordsburg Fordsburg is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 8. Fordsburg is a residential suburb, although housing numerous shops and factories. Today, Fordsburg is a major centre of Indian and Pakistani culture, with a la ...

. During the 1940s and 1950s it was a political meeting place particularly popular with the Communist Party and the site for numerous defiance campaigns and gatherings. In 1952, leaders of the

sent an ultimatum to the apartheid government to repeal all unjust laws. The Defiance Campaign was launched when the government failed to comply. On 6 April 1952, the 300 year anniversary after

Jan van Riebeeck Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg, as the son of a surgeon. H ...

and the first European settlers arrived at the Cape, thousands marched to and gathered at Red Square from various locations and outlying towns. The Defiance Campaign was launched at the square by

James Moroka James Sebe Moroka, OLG (16 March 1891 – 10 November 1985) was a medical doctor and a politician, who was the president of the African National Congress 1949–1952.

, president of the ANC and Yusuf Dadoo, head of the South African Indian Congress, together with many other African, Indian and Coloured leaders. They protested against the unjust and oppressive laws and called for volunteers to defy them. This culminated in groups of defiers who protested non-violently and offered themselves for arrest. Volunteers included Nelson Mandela, Yusuf Dadoo, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and many more who all defied apartheid laws in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

and other main city centres. Mandela, working with Maulvi Cachalia also actively worked to mobilise volunteers for the campaign. This marked the beginning of non-racial co-operation in the resistance against apartheid and led to the drafting and adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955. Forced removals were enforced in the nearby suburb of

Pageview In web analytics and website management, a pageview or page view, abbreviated in business to PV and occasionally called page impression, is a request to load a single HTML file ( web page) of an Internet site. On the World Wide Web, a page request ...

(''Fietas''), destroying the existing vibrant commercial 14th Street and other streets. The Oriental Plaza was built as a compromise between the Johannesburg City Council and the Department of Community Development in the 1970s, in an attempt to reluctantly address the loss of the evicted Indian traders. In the process a substantial part of

’s urban fabric including the

was demolished. The Red Square still however holds social, cultural and historical significance.

References

Squares in South Africa Anti-Apartheid organisations Geography of Johannesburg National squares Car-free zones in Africa {{Johannesburg-stub