AWB - Afrikaner Resistance Movement ( Afrikaner weerstands beweging )

On 7 July 1973, a former police officer named Eugene Terre'Blanche called a meeting of a few men in Heidelberg in Transvaal Province ( now Gauteng ) of South Africa.

He was disillusioned by what he thought were Prime Minister B.J. Vorster's "liberal views" of racial issues in the White minority country, after a period in which Black majorities had ascended to power in many former colonies.

Terre'Blanche was also worried about, what he said, is communist influences in South African societies.

He decided to form a group with six other men that shared his views. They named themselves the Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging, AWB ( Africaner resistance movement ). They aimed to promote Afrikaner and Christian nationalism. 

Eugene Terre'Blanche was elected head of the group and held the position until he was murdered on his farm in April 2010.

During the 1970s and 1980's the group members grew by the 1000s as lots of white South African members joined.

In the 1980s they opposed an amendment to the apartheid laws in South Africa by tormenting open-minded politicians and participating in large disorderly rallies. They railed against the repeal of many so-called "petty apartheid" laws. Examples of such laws as interracial marriage.

During the "state of emergency" of 1984 - 1986 there were reports of AWB violence and murders of unarmed non-whites. The AWB was also very much against the then-illegal African National Congress ( ANC ). The then ruling National Party considered the AWB to be a little more than a fringe group.

The group operated rampant until 1986 when white South African Police officers took the bizarre step of using tear gas against the AWB when they disrupted a National Party rally. The estimated support for the AWB in 1988 was amongst 5-7% of the White South African Population.

During negotiations between the National Party and the African National Congress that led to the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the AWB engaged in violence and murder. During the battle of Ventersdorp, where president F.W. De Klerk was speaking, the AWB confronted the police, and "several people were killed and injured". Later the AWB stormed the Kempton Park World Trade Centre, where negotiations were taking place, by breaking through the glass front of the building with an armored car. They then entered the main conference hall, threatening people and painting slogans on the wall but left shortly after. Six members of the AWB were sentenced to death after they killed four black people at a fake roadblock they set up to terrorize black people.

In 1988 claims were made that Terre'Blanche had an affair with journalist Jani Allan. In July of 1989, Cornelius Lottering ( a member of an AWB breakaway group) tried to kill Jani by placing a bomb outside of her apartment. Terre'Blanche submitted a sworn statement to the London High Court in 1992 denying that he had an affair with Allan.

In 1994, the AWB gained international attention when he defended the dictatorial government of Lucas Mangope in the homeland of Bophuthatswana. The AWB along with about 90 Afrikaner Volksfront militiamen entered the capital Mmabatho on 10 and 11 March. The black policemen and soldiers who were out in force to support President Mangopa disappeared from the street. They later returned and turned against the militiamen at Mafikeng airport. One AWB member was shot and killed when they tried to leave the airport to go to Mmabatho. While in Mmabatho the members found themselves under siege from soldiers as well as citizens of Bophuthatswana. When they attempted to leave on the 11 of March, 3 AWB members were killed after they were wounded by a rogue soldier who defected to the ANC. The AWB claimed that they were asked to the country and only entered to try and help the Bophuthatswana government.

After the 1994 incidents, the next big news of the AWB is in 2001. When, on the 17  of June, Terre'Blanch was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting a petrol station employee. The employee sustained permanent brain damage due to the assault. He was also sentenced for the attempted murder of a security guard and former employee. Terre'Blanch was released in June 2004 after serving 3 years in Rooigrond prison near Mafikeng. During his time in prison, he became a born-again Christian.

In March of 2008, the AWB announced that it was re-activating for "populist" reasons. These reasons included the energy crisis, corruption in government, and high crime rates. Plans include a demand for land that they say is legally theirs. They would do this through the International Court of Justice in The Hague and if that fails they would take up arms. In April of 2008, Terre'Blanch would have spoken in several AWB rallies in Vryburg, Middelburg, and Pretoria.

In 2008 the Mail and Guardian newspaper reported that the AWB group has over 5000 members and appeals to 18 - 35-year-old people to join the organization's youth wing. By 2016 the AWB  still used social media to recruit new members

In 2010 Steyn Von Ronge was elected as the new leader after Terre'blanch was killed by an employee after a salary dispute.

Sources

wikipedia.org

www.southafricatoday.net

www.stormfront.org

www.occidentaldissent.com

www.buzzfeed.com