Students must rise : youth struggle in South Africa before and beyond Soweto 76 The Soweto Student Uprising of 1976 was a decisive moment in the struggle against apartheid. It marked the expansion of political activism to a new generation of young activists but beyond that it inscribed the role that young people of subsequent generations could play in their countrys future. Since that momentous time students have held a special place in the collective imaginary of South African history. Drawing on research and writing by leading scholars and prominent activists Students Must Rise takes Soweto 76 as its pivot point but looks at student and youth activism in South Africa more broadly by considering what happened before and beyond the Soweto moment. Early chapters assess the impact of the anti pass campaigns of the 1950s of political ideologies like Black Consciousness as well as of religion and culture in fostering political consciousness and organisation among youth and students in townships and rural areas. Later chapters explore the wide reaching impact of June 16th itself for student organisation over the next two decades across the country. Two final chapters consider contemporary student based political movements including #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall and historically root these in the long and rich tradition of student activism in South Africa. 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1976 June 16th uprisings. This book rethinks the conventional narrative of youth and student activism in South Africa by placing that most famous of moments the 1976 students uprising in Soweto in a deeper historical and geographic context. Publisher description Chapter 1. A brief history of the African Student Association by Sifi so Mxolisi Ndlovu Chapter 2. Youth and student culture: Riding resistance and Imagining the future by Bhekizizwe Peterson Chapter 3. The role of religion and theology in the organisation of student activists by Ian Macqueen Chapter 4. Student organisation in Lehurutshe and the impact of Ongkopotse Tiro by Arianna Lissoni Chapter 5. The University of the North a regional and national centre of activism by Anne Heffernan Chapter 6. Action and fire in Soweto June 1976 by Sibongile Mkhabela Chapter 7. What they shot in Alex by Steve Kwena Mokwena Chapter 8. SASO and Black Consciousness and the shift to Congress politics by Saleem Badat Chapter 9. Youth politics and rural rebellion in Zebediela and other parts of the homeland of Lebowa 1976 1977 by Sekibakiba Lekgoathi Chapter 10. My journey our journey: Activism at Ongoye University by Makhosazana Xaba Chapter 11. Lets begin to participate fully in politics : Student politics in Mhluzi Township Mpumalanga by Tshepo Moloi Chapter 12. They would remind you of 1960: The emergence of radical student politics in the Vaal triangle 1972 1985 by Franziska Rueedi Chapter 13. The ends of boycott by Premesh Lalu Chapter 14. Fighting for our little freedoms : The evolution of student and youth politics in Phomolong Township Free State by Phindile Kunene Chapter 15. Every generation has its struggle : A brief history of Equal Education (2008 15) by Brad Brockman Chapter 16. Contemporary student politics in South Africa The rise of the black led student movements of #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall in 2015 by Leigh Ann Naidoo