The Southern Africa Media Center, a project of California Newsreel, brings together media specialists, teachers and activists to improve the effectiveness of media used in organizing and education around the issue of South Africa. Of these three new releases in the Center's collection, two treat the impact of apartheid on women, and the impact of women on the freedom movement; the third is a portrait of the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress.
South Africa Belongs to Us
“It is accepted all over the world that husbands and their wives be allowed to live with each other and bring up their children together. But that basic principle does not apply if you happen to be black and living in South Africa. An intimate portrait of the lives of five typical women, South Africa Belongs to Us provides the first in-depth look at the singular economic and emotional burden borne by black women in South Africa. ‘Five brave black women face the cameras illegally to talk of their fear and frustration under apartheid.... All are eloquent.' (The Daily Mail)“ --California Newsreel
• Directed by Chris Austin. Produced by Gerhard Schmidt. (1980, 35 mins, color, Print from California Newsreel)

You Have Struck a Rock!
“Though black South African women suffer the triple oppression of race, class and sex, they have not been silent. During the 1950s women took the lead in mobilizing mass opposition to apartheid. You Have Struck a Rock! is the story of the women who not only lived that history, but are still making it today.
“When the apartheid regime attempted to extend the hated pass system to women in 1952, opposition erupted thunderously across the land. Utilizing techniques of civil disobedience familiar to our own Civil Rights movement, women refused to accept their passes or gathered and burnt them publicly. The government responded with increased violence, new laws, and imprisonment. It was only after a decade of resistance culminating with the Sharpeville Massacre, the banning of political organizations, and the imprisonment of the leaders, that the regime finally succeeded in imposing the passes.
“The participants - Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Josephs, Dora Tomana, Francis Baard and others - tell their stories, illustrated with historical footage and punctuated by South African music. They have been imprisoned and banned, but are undaunted....” --California Newsreel
• Directed and Produced by Deborah May. Narrated by Letta Mbulu. (1981, 28 mins, color, Print from California Newsreel)

Portrait of Nelson Mandela
“This biographical sketch describes the forces which shaped Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned head of the African National Congress, and how he in turn helped shape the freedom movement. A lawyer and one of the bright young minds of the African National Congress Youth League, Mandela first rose to international prominence through his leadership of the massive campaigns of civil disobedience of the 1950s. But as each peaceful protest was met with increased repression, Mandela came to the reluctant conclusion that the freedom movement would have to go underground and form its own armed wing. Four years later, in 1964, Mandela was sentenced for treason to life imprisonment on the infamous Robben Island. There he remains, despite an international campaign for his release.” --California Newsreel
• Produced by Frank Diamand for Dutch Television. (1980, 17 mins, color, Print from California Newsreel)