Issue 93 | The Journalist

Remembering the Blue Notes: South Africa’s first generation of free jazz

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Art | 1005

Music is shared love

That’s changing. On September 22, trumpeter Marcus Wyatt launches the debut recording of his Blue Notes Tribute Orkestra in Johannesburg. In a recent interview with me Wyattt declares the work of McGregor, Dyani, Pukwana and the rest as “gold”. “Not many people knew about it, but it’s music people should know.”

His project is just one flower of a slow growing interest in recovering the legacy that seems finally to be breaking into bloom.

Tension and violence at UFS

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Spotlight | 152

“We live by hope, that’s what keeps us moving”

Unshackling my chains

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Kau Kauru Voices | 856

I will not be bound by patriarchy

Bodies Fight Back

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Kau Kauru Voices | 1437

New strategies to protect womxn and LGBTI students at UFS

Why media freedom remains fragile in South Africa

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | The Craft | 925

The battle for media freedom isn’t over

Four decades after the Black Wednesday crackdown on the media and the Black Consciousness Movement, South Africa is a different country. Freedom of expression is guaranteed in the constitution and a slew of institutions and laws support the guarantee. At the same time, powerful groups continue to seek ways to limit and undermine journalism.On October 19, 1977, two South African newspapers – World and Weekend World – and a church journal – Pro Veritate – were closed…

Ahmed Timol inquest: why uncovering apartheid crimes remains so important

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Spotlight | 117

The reopening of an inquest can establish the truth of apartheid era atrocities.

Pen for hire: General Agent SM Bennet Ncwana

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Pioneers | 172

“Chairman of Propaganda”

One notable propagandist of the 1920s was Samuel Michael ‘SM’ Bennet Ncwana, who wrote for a prolific number of South African newspapers. Ncwana faced vehement criticism from his peers and rivals alike, for his political volatility. At various times he was a member of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), South Africa’s first major black trade union, the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU)…

New report reveals the toughest places in the world for a girl to get an education

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Spotlight | 50

The global crisis that perpetuates poverty

Always Another Country

by journalist | Oct 24, 2017 | Books | 1126

Sisonke Msimang: Growing up in exile, longing for home and the baggage of being South African.

Acclaimed activist and author Sisonke Msimang released her first book, ‘Always Another Country’. From Kenya and Ethiopia, through to Canada and the USA, Msimang reflects on what it means to be born in exile in the midst of the South African liberation movement. Her memoir contains beautiful details of childhood punctuated with pain, lessons and revolutionary heroes.