Editing Steve Biko (section)

===On a post-apartheid society===
Biko hoped that a future socialist South Africa could become a completely non-racial society, with people of all ethnic backgrounds living peacefully together in a "joint culture" that combined the best of all communities.{{sfnm|1a1=Ahluwalia|1a2=Zegeye|1y=2001|1p=462|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=280–281}} He did not support guarantees of minority rights, believing that doing so would continue to recognise divisions along racial lines.{{sfnm|1a1=Ahluwalia|1a2=Zegeye|1y=2001|1p=462|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=282}} Instead he supported a [[one person, one vote]] system.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=102|2a1=Ahluwalia|2a2=Zegeye|2y=2001|2p=462|3a1=Mangcu|3y=2014|3p=282}} Initially arguing that [[one-party state]]s were appropriate for Africa, he developed a more positive view of [[multi-party system]]s after conversations with Woods.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=108}} He saw individual [[liberty]] as desirable, but regarded it as a lesser priority than access to food, employment, and social security.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=107}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=Black, said Biko, is not a colour; Black is an experience. If you are oppressed, you are Black. In the South African context, this was truly revolutionary. Biko's subsidiary message was that the unity of the oppressed could not be achieved through clandestine armed struggle; it had to be achieved in the open, through a peaceful but militant struggle.|source=[[Mahmood Mamdani]]{{sfn|Mamdani|2012|p=78}} }}

Biko was neither a [[communism|communist]] nor [[capitalism|capitalist]].{{sfn|Mngxitama|Alexander|Gibson|2008|p=3}} Described as a proponent of [[African socialism]],{{sfn|Wilson|2012|p=16}} he called for "a socialist solution that is an authentic expression of black communalism".{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=100}} This idea was derided by some of his Marxist contemporaries, but later found parallels in the ideas of the Mexican [[Zapatista Army of National Liberation|Zapatistas]].{{sfn|Mngxitama|Alexander|Gibson|2008|p=3}} Noting that there was significant inequality in the distribution of wealth in South Africa, Biko believed that a [[socialism|socialist society]] was necessary to ensure social justice.{{sfn|Ahluwalia|Zegeye|2001|pp=461–462}} In his view, this required a move towards a [[mixed economy]] that allowed [[private enterprise]] but in which all land was owned by the state and in which state industries played a significant part in forestry, mining, and commerce.{{sfn|Ahluwalia|Zegeye|2001|p=462}} He believed that, if post-apartheid South Africa remained capitalist, some black people would join the [[bourgeoisie]] but inequality and poverty would remain.{{sfn|Ahluwalia|Zegeye|2001|pp=461–462}} As he put it, if South Africa transitioned to proportional democracy without socialist economic reforms, then "it would not change the position of ''economic'' oppression of the blacks".{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=102}}

In conversation with Woods, Biko insisted that the BCM would not degenerate into anti-white hatred "because it isn't a negative, hating thing. It's a positive black self-confidence thing involving no hatred of anyone".{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=55}} He acknowledged that a "fringe element" may retain "anti-white bitterness"; he added: "we'll do what we can to restrain that, but frankly it's not one of our top priorities or one of our major concerns. Our main concern is the liberation of the blacks."{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=55}} Elsewhere, Biko argued that it was the responsibility of a vanguard movement to ensure that, in a post-apartheid society, the black majority would not seek vengeance upon the white minority.{{sfn|Ahluwalia|Zegeye|2001|p=462}} He stated that this would require an education of the black population in order to teach them how to live in a non-racial society.{{sfn|Ahluwalia|Zegeye|2001|p=462}}