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Articles on Black Consciousness

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Aggrey Klaaste, right, used the Sowetan newspaper to drive his Nation-building campaign. He is seen here with John Mabatho, the newspaper’s production manager. Paul Velasco © Arena Holdings

How South African editor Aggrey Klaaste put himself on the line with his contrarian idea

Klaaste was distressed by what was happening in black communities, where residents faced state terror and political violence. He sought to restore values such as self-help and neighbourly conduct.
Percy Qoboza, editor of The World, second from left, being arrested by apartheid police following the banning of the newspaper in 1977. Arena Holdings Archives

New threats to media freedom come from unexpected directions

Journalists need to hold firmly to the ethical standards that assure audiences their work is reliable and credible.
Demonstrators protest against the decision by the South African Broadcasting Corporation to stop airing violent protest scenes. Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Why media freedom remains fragile in South Africa

As South Africa marks Media Freedom Day, it’s clear that its battle isn’t over. Attacks on journalists continue –through physical intimidation and there’s also the threat of new laws.
Saxophonist Kamasi Washington will be performing at the 2017 Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Afrofuturistic, cosmic jazz comes to the Motherland

Something really magical is happening at the intersection between jazz and hip-hop at the moment. Many of the artists involved will be playing at Africa’s foremost jazz festival.
Nelson Mandela, accompanied by his wife Winnie, walks out of the Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990. Ulli Michel/Reuters

The Mandela Foundation’s verdict on the Mandela era: it failed …

The foundation founded by Nelson Mandela in 1999 has done a major revision - it has written off most of his reign as comprising “grand symbolic gestures”.
Portrait of Miriam Tlali as part of Adrian Steirn’s 21 Icons South Africa project. Date: 15.10.2014. Adrian Steirn/Courtesy of 21 Icons South Africa

Under the influence of … the Black Consciousness novel ‘Amandla’

A South African novel, published in 1980 and dealing with the Soweto student uprising four years earlier, still provides lessons for students today.
Students want colonial symbols, such as this statue of Cecil John Rhodes, gone from their universities. EPA/Nic Bothma

Decolonising universities isn’t an easy process – but it has to happen

Calls for the decolonisation of countries, institutions, the mind and of knowledge are not new. In South Africa, these changes are crucial and long overdue. But they must be carefully thought through.

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