The Noah Revolution's Freedom Charter

We, the citizens of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, all citizens of all races and nationalities, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the citizens of South Africa; that all citizens of South Africa have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality; that our country will never be prosperous or free until all the citizens of South Africa live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities; that only a democratic state, based on the will of the citizens of South Africa, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of color, race, sex or belief; And therefore, we, the citizens of South Africa, black and white together - equals, countrymen and brothers - adopt this Freedom Charter. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.

The citizens of South Africa Shall Govern!

Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;

All citizens of South Africa shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;

The rights of the citizens of South Africa shall be the same, regardless of race, color or sex;

All bodies of minority and majority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by equal democratic organs of self-government;

All of government shall be equally representative in all departments regardless of race, colour or sex;

All National Groups Shall Have Equal Rights!

There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races;

All citizens of South Africa shall have equal right to use their own languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs;

All citizens of South Africa shall be protected by law against insults, hate speech and prejudice to their race, language and national pride;

The preaching and practice of national, race or colour discrimination and contempt shall be a punishable crime;

All apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside.

The Citizens of South Africa Shall Share In The Country's Wealth!

The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all citizens of South Africa, shall be restored to the citizens of South Africa;

The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the citizens of South Africa as a whole;

All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the well-being of the citizens of South Africa;

All citizens of South Africa shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions.

The Land Shall Be Shared Among Those Who Work It!

Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re-divided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger;

The state shall help the farmers with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;

Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;

Any citizen of South Africa shall have the right to occupy available land wherever they choose;

Citizens of South Africa shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be a punishable crime.

All citizens of South Africa Shall Be Equal Before The Law!

No citizens of South Africa shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial;

No citizens of South Africa shall be condemned by the order of any Government official;

The courts shall be equally representative of all the citizens of South Africa;

Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the citizens of South Africa, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance;

The police service and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the citizens of South Africa;

All laws which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief shall be repealed.

All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!

The law shall guarantee to all the citizens of South Africa their right to speak, to organise, to meet together, to publish, to preach, to worship and to educate their children in a moral and legally correct way;

The privacy of the house and person from police action shall be protected by law;

All citizens of South Africa shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad;

Pass Laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be a punishable crime.

There Shall Be Work And Security!

All citizens of South Africa who work shall be free to utilize the governmental trade union, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers;

The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits without any prejudice or exclusion;

Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work;

There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers;

Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work;

Child labour, compound labour, the tot system and contract labour shall be a punishable crime.

The Doors Of Learning And Of Culture Shall Be Opened!

The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love the citizens of South Africa and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;

Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;

Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The colour bar in cultural life, in all sports and in all education shall be abolished.

There Shall Be Houses, Security And Comfort!

All citizens of South Africa shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security;

Unused housing space to be made available to the citizens of South Africa if not owned by another citizen of South Africa;

Rent and prices shall be lowered; food plentiful and no one shall go hungry;

A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state;

Free professional medical care and professional hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for the aged, mothers and young children;

Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crèches and social centres;

The aged, the orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state;

Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all the citizens of South Africa;

There Shall Be Peace And Friendship!

South Africa shall be a fully independent sovereign state, which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations;

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation-not war;

Peace and friendship amongst all the citizens of South Africa shall be secured by upholding the equal rights, opportunities and status of all;

The citizens of the protectorates-Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland-shall be free to decide for themselves their own future;

The right of all of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognized and shall be the basis of close co-operation.

Let all who love all the citizens of South Africa and their country now say, as we say here:

“THESE FREEDOMS WE WILL FIGHT FOR, SIDE BY SIDE, THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, UNTIL WE HAVE WON OUR LIBERTY.”

Welcome to the Revolution.