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Focuses on the symposium on historical geographies of modern southern Africa held at University of Sussex, Great Britain in April 2002. Analysis of developments in tradition of historical geographies; Effect of structuralist Marxist history on historical geography.

In light of the fact—despite a widespread impression to the contrary—that the collapse of Communism in the fall of 1989 did not happen overnight, the paper explores the kind of gradual societal work that had led to the emergence of democratic polities in Central Europe but that had generally escaped the notice not only of policy makers and the leaders of the “free world” but also of theorists. The concept and practices of performative democracy as it manifested itself in the period of late Communism (1970s–1989), but also in South Africa at the dusk of apartheid, and the conditions for political performativity, as well as its main features, are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interprets Gavin Hood's film adaptation Tsotsi (2006) of Athol Fugard's eponymous novel (1980) from a constellation of angles: institutional (exploring the politics behind film funding and viewing in South Africa), historical (in relation to the interpretation of terms such as tsotsi, and the importance of understanding historical places such as Sophiatown and the impact of art forms such as kwaito), socio-political (in terms of the circulation of political discourses in contemporary South Africa), and aesthetic (examining the ways in which the film medium may be orchestrated for particular meaningful ends). After contextualizing the film within the landscape of post-apartheid cinematic production, I proceed to analyze whether Tsotsi represents a truly independent national cinematic voice, or whether its potential critique is compromised by commercial aims and certain ideological underpinnings. Situating the film at the intersection of South Africa's two major political discourses - liberalism and Marxism - I examine how the film engages with questions of violence, critique, the representation of South African realities, and redemption. To do so I draw on rare archive material concerning the novel, as well as personal interviews that I have undertaken with contemporary South Africa filmmakers. I offer a comparative perspective on Tsotsi in relation to other recent South African film adaptations, which - like Tsotsi - 'update' South African literary texts written in earlier periods so as to offer stringent critiques of contemporary violence in the country. Ultimately I argue that Tsotsi, however, focuses on certain forms of contemporary violence at the expense of another, very important kind of violence in South Africa: violence against women and children. I also argue, in the final instance, that the film sacrifices a possible Marxist critique of class division and submits to a neoliberal point of view on social relations. In conclusion, I question whether Tsotsi, a film about redemption, has its own redeeming features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gwendolen Carter frequently mentioned communism in her seminal 1958 book, The Politics of Inequality: South Africa Since 1948. This paper will analyze South African communism in the opening decade and a half of apartheid. It will consider the characterization of communism in opposition as presented in Carter's book, in light of recently published autobiographies and biographies of communists and African nationalists who were active in the 1940s and 1950s. The 1950 Suppression of Communism Act forced the formerly legal Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) to transform itself into the underground South African Communist Party (SACP). The paper delineates the important features of organized communism underground up to its near collapse as a result of the arrests at its Rivonia headquarters in 1963. It then briefly examines its deepening collaboration with the African National Congress over the next 30 years and concludes with observations on the significance of this early apartheid era history for the SACP's position in post-apartheid South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses various dimensions of a complex situation arising out of the conflict between the media and the state, and the raging conflict between the general perception of democracy and the Eritrean government's perception of it. This is within the context of a fast developing global village of which all African states will be members one day. Eritrea, though liberated in 1991 from Ethiopian rule, shares many characteristics of other dictatorial regimes in the neighboring countries. The state-run electronic and print media, centralized economy, lack of a parliamentary election process, independent judiciary, and suppression of fundamental rights, especially the freedom of expression, mark the dictatorial character of the regime in Eritrea in contrast to the accepted conventions of democracy in the West. The Eritrean government promotes a democratic model in which democratization is sought through education. Achieving democratization is limited to holding regular elections to local bodies at grass-root level. By the Government's not holding elections to its Parliament, the present policies of governance have not only turned deviant from its own once highly avowed and publicized macro-policy and the Constitution, but also have become vulnerable to mounting criticism. The present study, supported by a survey of the opinion of a random sample of people via mobile as well as Internet channels by means of open-ended questions, offers a snapshot of the growing desire of the people for full implementation of the Constitution, a liberalized economy and the free media, which their counterparts enjoy in many European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What sort of expectations of transformation of higher education have been aroused by liberation movements? Has the new South Africa fulfilled such expectations? This paper explores the promises and processes that have enveloped South African universities in recent decades. It focuses on the underlying assumptions shaping academic disciplines in the humanities, the debates contesting them and the social-political-economic movements encompassing them. It traces the impact of marxism, africanism, postmodernism and neoliberalism on the production of knowledge. It concludes that South African universities are caught up in a complex field forces where they are subject to conflicting pressures. The result is a state of contradictory transformations - one stemming from the politics of liberation and the other from the demands of the global market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Looks at how the politics of ecology in South Africa played out on the radical left may be illustrated by the views of the anti-apartheid activist Edward Roux. Relationship between ecological and political order; Importance of ecology in South African politics; Use of evolutionary biology by Roux to argue against racism.

Attempts to relate Black Theology in South Africa to relevant salient points in the Marxist tradition, especially to Marx himself. Gustavo Gutierrez and `Liberation Theology'; Marxist influence on South African church leaders; Black Consciousness; Marxist trends in black theology.

The article focuses on the impact of the slogan of the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, Russia on the Communist Party in South Africa. It discusses how the slogan was created as well as the disruptions caused by the Comintern's intervention into the party's affairs. It also looks into the nature of coordination within the international communist movement in 1920 as well as how South Africa became linked with questions of the black diaspora in the eyes of the Comintern.

Describes developments in the Communist Party of South Africa (SACP) which had survived the collapse of communist states. Shift from politics of insurrection to the politics of structural reform; Partial control of the state bureaucracy through appointment and election; Inconsistency in SACP's approach; Future prospects for the SACP.