African Resistance Movement

The African Resistance Movement (ARM) was a militant anti-apartheid resistance movement, which operated in South Africa during the early and mid-1960s. It was founded in 1960, as the National Committee of Liberation (NCL), by members of South Africa’s Liberal Party, which advocated for the dismantling of apartheid and gradually transforming South Africa into a free multiracial society. It was renamed "African Resistance Movement" in 1964.

Immediately after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, the apartheid government imposed a state of emergency, which allowed it to apply a broad range of sanctions against its political opponents, such as detention without trial and banning meetings, and enabled the Special Branch to secretly detain and interrogate whomever it deemed a threat to the government, without due process.

After the state of emergency was lifted, the new Minister of Justice, B.J. Vorster, introduced legislation that made many parts of the emergency regulations permanent (the Sabotage Act of 1962, and the 90-day Detention Act of 1963). Much of the Liberal party’s leadership was banned, detained or forced underground, rendering it impotent.

A number of young Liberals became increasingly frustrated, and, in 1960, formed the National Liberation Committee (NLC). Initially focused on helping hunted people escape the country, the NLC progressed to sabotage government installations and services, explicitly eschewing violence against people. It launched its first operation in September 1963. From then, until July 1964, the NLC/ARM bombed power lines, railroad tracks and rolling stock, roads, bridges and other vulnerable infrastructure, without any civilian casualties. It aimed to turn the white population against the government by creating a situation that would result in capital flight and collapse of confidence in the country and its economy. It launched four attacks in 1961, three in 1962, eight in 1963, and ten in 1964.

In May 1964, the NLC was renamed the African Resistance Movement. The name change coincided with increased internal debate about the use of violence against people, i.e. guerrilla warfare.

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