1955 - The Freedom Charter

Three years later, at a mass meeting in Soweto that included Indians, Coloureds, and sympathetic whites, called the Congress of the People, the Freedom Charter was adopted. Expressing the principles of the struggle and a culture of human rights and non-racialism. It states, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black or white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.” 

The government broke up the meeting, arresting more than 150 people, charging them with high treason. To prevent further gatherings, the government passed the Prohibition of Political Interference Act, which banned the formation and foreign financing of non-racial political parties.