12/26/2025
Mineworkers Challenge Apartheid in Marikana, 2012
In Marikana, South Africa in 2012, platinum mineworkers engaged in a wildcat strike demanding higher wages and dignity in post-apartheid labor conditions. Influenced by militant worker traditions, the protest confronted state and corporate power. Police opened fire on strikers, killing dozens in one of the deadliest labor confrontations in modern South African history. The massacre exposed deep inequalities and reshaped debates over labor, power, and democracy in the country.