THEAPARTHEIDERA
Dennis Brutus, evaded the censors and brought a strong liberationist mes-
sage to the townships. A popular black theater movement made a strong
impact on the Witwatersrand
and in Durban. As Nomsisi Kraai wrote in
the newsletter of the People's Experimental
Theatre, "Black theatre is a
dialogue of confrontation,
confrontation
with the Black situation."62
Second, the rapid growth of the economy, involving a vast increase in the
number of black semiskilled as well as unskilled workers, led to the devel-
opment of class consciousness among black workers and the creation of an
effective black trade union movement, despite its exclusion from the formal
bargaining
process. The year 1973 marked the beginning of a wave of
strikes with demands
for higher wages and improved working condi-
tions.s-'
Third, the government's
attempt to mold the minds of young black
people through
tight control over their education
boomeranged.
Black
students were profoundly frustrated by the conditions in their schools and
colleges. In 1968 Steve Biko, a twenty-two-year-old student, led a secession
from the white-controlled
National Union of South African Students to
found the exclusively black South African Students Organisation
(SASO).