Daya Naicker, the editor of the radical South African student magazine, Mnyama, has died. Few will have heard of the title, which is the Zulu for Black, and none will have read it in print. The first edition submitted to the authorities at The Island – the University College for Indians housed in a former army barracks in Durban Bay -was promptly banned. Continue reading
Black Consciousness
The Indian Question
Unsurprisingly two decades of purified capitalism administered by the African National Congress – with the help of the IMF and World Bank -have done little for South Africa’s poor and dispossessed. Putting it charitably the party was outwitted into giving away control of the economy and enticed into abandoning its faith in socialism. What next? Continue reading
Plan B
Some years ago I shared a platform in the House of Commons with then Secretary for International Development, Clare Short. “Hold the fort, I’ll be back”, she said as she suddenly left to vote on a contentious motion. And so unable to address the remarks she had yet to make on helping poor Africans, I spoke about the genesis of Black Consciousness in South Africa. I suggested there was also a pressing need for psychological emancipation, for shrugging off deference in this class-ridden society. The response was polite. Continue reading
Drowning Witches 