Cry Freedom

Donald Woods is an editor of the Daily Dispatch, a Journal in East London, South Africa. One morning he gets news of a police raid in the black township Crossroads which lies in Cape Town. He also gets photos of the raid and he decides to print them although the government doesn ‘t allow to print such photos. Woods doesn t believe the demand of the black people but he is trained as a lawyer and doesn ‘t like police brutality against black people. So he also writes an editorial about a Biko, the leadership of ?The SC”. The next day Dr.
Mamphela who works for Biko in is clinic, comes to Woods office to speak to him, about this article. She is very angry, because she thinks, that Woods has printed rubbish about Biko and that he is uninformed about the ideas that Biko has. So she invents him to meet Biko in his banning area. chapter 2 and 3: Some days later Woods meets Steven Biko in an old church were he wants to make a centre for black people. First he is critical against Biko, but then he listens to Biko’s opinion and they mentally changed the roles. Biko also goes with Woods to the clinic, which Biko has built.
The clinic is only for black people, with black workers and a black doctor. But Woods already think that black and whits should work together, but he also understands, that the blacks wants something that they put up themselves. At the end Biko invites Woods to come and see how black people in South Africa really live. chapter 4 and 5: In the black township, they eat with a black family. Biko, the family and are discussing about the system, the history how the white came to South Africa and how the black people got their bad situation which they have now.

After this visit Woods change his mind, because he sees for the first time how worse the black has to live, how big their espair is but also how strong their togetherness stay. At the end of this day Biko and Woods become friends. chapter 6: Six weeks later Woods gives TenJy and Mapetla, two friends of Biko, a Job in his newspaper. Mapetla takes Woods and Ken to a footballmatch of the black. Instead of the match Biko helds a speech. Ken and Woods were convinced by this speech and the ideas Biko represent. hapter 7: After the match Biko is caught by the police because an informer of the government had told the police about the speech. In the police office Biko gets hit by Captain De Wet. After he fght between Biko and De Wet two policemen throw Biko out of the office. Two weeks later Biko is a main witness for the defence of two student organizations who arranged two years before a large meeting in support of the new government in Mozambique. Woods prints the words of Biko although it is against the law. chapter 8: In this night Captain De Wet and two other policemen smash all things of value in the church.
Donald Woods cannot print this in his newspaper because the witness is a black man called Dilima and if Woods prints his name, Dilima would kill by the police. So Woods approach to Kruger, the Minister of Police, and speaks with him about the incident. The minister declares him that he will pursues that matter because he doesn ‘t want that such sort of things happen. Woods thinks that the police men aren’t as worse as many blacks think, Woods unfortuantely trust him. chapter 9: But on sunday afternoon two policemen come and want to know the name of the witness from Woods.
Woods explains them that he was by Kruger and he gets angry because Kruger had betrayed him. Because the two havent a warrant Woods could send them away without saying the name. It does not happen anything for weeks and Woods thinks that it is alright. But it is not. chapter 10: One night the two policemen check the passport of Woods black housekeeper Evalina. Woods throws them out of his property. The next day, the police take revenge: Three men jump out of a car and take Mapetla in it. Donald Woods thinks that Mapetla gets beaten by them and that they make an example so that no other black person will dare him.
Two days later TenJy gets arrested without any charges. After a week Mapetla is dead. The official explanation of the death from Mapetla is, that he anged himself. But Biko and Woods cannot believe that, so Biko demands a inquest. TenJy is the main witness at the inquest but the Judge closes the inquest without fix the death of Mapetla on anybody. chapter 1 1: Biko drives to Cape Town to speak in an important meeting of black students although he knows that it’s forbidden for him. On the way back form Cape Town the car was stopped by the police and they want to see the papers from Biko.
As they recognize the person in the car, they arrest him promptly to the prison in Port Elizabeth. Six days later the police call a doctor to look at Biko. The body is covered with bruises, the forehead and eyes seriously injured. On the chest and lips are cuts. The doctor orders to bring Biko in a hospital. Although the doctor tells them that Biko possible has a brain damage they want to bring him to the police hospital in Pretoria a 1000 kilometres away and not to Port Elizabeth Wich is only 4 kilometres away because they would have the control about him.
The doctor cannot do anything against the police and so they put Biko on a blanket at the floor in the back of a Land Rover. Then they drive with Biko on thousand km rough country roads and during the Journey Biko’s head is bumping on he floor. chaper 12: Biko dies and Woods prints a article about him with the headline “BIKO DIES IN CUSTODY”. The Minister of Police denies police responsibility and he says that Biko has been arrested outside his banning area and died because he starved himself to dead.
One day after Bikos dead Ntsiki, who is the wife of Biko, Woods and Ken go to the mortuary to find out how Biko actually died. They were all shocked by the appearance of Biko’s body, the lips are swollen, a huge lump on the forehead and many bruises around his eyes. Ken suddenly puts out a small camera and makes photos of Biko’s body. Woods and his wife arrive at the funeral and they see thousands of black people with pictures of Biko. There would come more black people but there are road-blocks of the police. The mood of the crowd is angry but also sorrowful.
After a speech the crowd begin to sing the African Song which Steven Biko loved. chapter 13: Woods wants that other newspapers write about Biko’s death, because if he does, the government would shut the Daily Dispatch. But all the other newspapers are also afraid and wouldn’t fight the system this way. So Woods decides to fly to New York under a false name. The day he leave he sends the photos to England an America printed the pictures of Biko’s body and demands on an inquest. But on the airport two securitys stopp Woods and bring him in an office.
There Lieutnant Beukes reads from a warrent to Woods that he becomes a banning person for five years. chapter 14: Although the police forbid Woods to write he starts to write a book about Biko ‘s life, because he thinks that Bikos ideas have to live on. family has to escape from South Africa if they don ‘t want to get killed. Wendy first doesn’t agree with this idea and the two have a big conflict. A few days later, the hildren of Woods reached a anonym parcel with poissoned Shirts. After this awful experience Wendy also wants to publish the book. hapter 15: So Woody quickly begins to plan the escape with Father Kani and Bruce McCullough. The 31st December in the night Woods escape begins: He disguise himself in father Curren and Wendy drives Woods to King Williams town, from where he hitch-hike to a place beyond Queenstown. There he meet Father Kant, who drives him to the edge of the river Telle. In the early morning of the 1st January Woods should crossover the river but it doesnt work because the river was too wide and deep. So he went back to the edge of the river. chapter 16: Woods knows that Tami, a friend of Biko lives near, so he walks to him.
Tami brings him by car to the Telle Bridge, when Woods wants to open the gate, a Land Rover stopp in front of him. Fortunately the man, called Moses, was from the postal service and he even take Woods to Maseru. At the passport station he has no problems, so he gets to Lesotho without more problems. There he quickly phones to his family, they also follow. chaper 17: Moses brings Woods to the point where he meets Bruce, who brings him to Maseru, where he talks to the Brithis cting high Cmmisioner to ask him to enter their country. chapter 18: The next morning Woods family also arrives in Lesotho.
The whole family gets passports from the United Nations and flyes with a private pilot, who wills to fly over South Africa without landing. Woods felt a little sad when he sees his homeland because he might never see it again. But he was also happy, because he will publish his book and show Biko’s ideas to the whole world. He hopes that men’s minds could be change, before the price become too high. In his mind he hears the crowd of thousands singing at Biko’s funeral. Donald Woods is one of the important persons in the story. He is married with Wendy and has five children.
Woods is 42 and the editor of the Daily Dispatch. In the beginnig of the book he doesn t believe that black people should be allowed to vote and he also accepts the laws that forced blacks and whites to live in separate areas. He only disagree the police brutality against the black. The meeting with Biko in the curch, when they change the roles mentals, the speech of Biko at the stadium and his first view of the township, when he feels the strong sense of togetherness Woods change his mind about his political ideas. He becomes a good friend of Biko and he helps him to fght for more rights for the black.
So he gets troubles with the government and in the end he has to escape of the country where he has born, because he wants to publish the book about Biko. Stephan Biko is a serious, intelligent and handsome young black man. He is a warm and gently person. Stevenn is married with Ntsiki and has two children. He is a banned person which means that he can only be in his banning area and he is able to speak only with one person except his family. Biko gets in this situation because he fghts for more rights for the black. He is one of the most important leader of the Black Consciousness.
Steven often goes out of his banning area and so once he gets caught and finally kill by the is dedicated to the struggle for black rights. For him South Africa was for black and white, they only had to find a way to live together without violence. Biko is banned because of his leadership of a movement called “The Black Consciousness” (equal rights for blacks and whites, live together without violence, black should be proud of being black, blacks should know their history, not anymore accept the handship imposed by the system, confrontation without violence)