“…The struggle of black people inevitably appear in an intensely cultural form because the social formation in which their distinct political traditions are now manifest has constructed the arena of politics on ground overshadowed by centuries of metropolitan capitalist development, thereby denying them recognition as legitimate politics. Blacks conduct a class struggle in and through race. The BC of race and class cannot be empirically separated, the class character of black struggles is not a result of the fact that blacks are predominantly proletarian, thought this is true…”- (Frank Talk Staff Writers in ‘Azania Salutes Tosh’ – circa 1981)
front cover:
Tosh by Steve Gordon
back cover:
Kippie by Basil Breakey
No Free Sleeping by Donald Parenzee, Vonani Bila and Alan Finlay (Botsotso, 1998)
This threesome reflects seemingly quite different sensibilities but running underground are common sources, primarily a genuine sense of observation and empathy.
Parenzee’s fine delineation of detail, his ideological openness but strong sense of justice link well with Vonani Bila’s ‘makoya poetry’ (rendered largely in Xitsonga with English translations).
This poetry that rails in its own manner against money madness and apartheid barbarism stands apart from Finlay’s quieter voice but both command reflection. After all, it is a phrase in a Finlay poem that titles this anthology. Finlay’s work in general contains images of dissolution in a search for meaning from suffering.