In 1976, 20,000 students in the Soweto township in South Africa led a mass school walkout. Their decision to riot after police fired live rounds into their protest –killing 23 of them – sparked a nationwide rebellion that took months to put down. School boycotts and youth uprisings infected the workers' movement, which by the 1980s made sections of South Africa ungovernable. This talk will unpack the student struggle that catalysed the fight against Apartheid.