“…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
Unity in Flight (Botsotso, 2001)
This volume was the first anthology of fiction (2001) and included work by writers who had been published in the Botsotso Literary Journal. The themes reflect the turmoil of the 1980’s and the new issues raised in the 90’s.
Maropodi Mapalakanye’s stories focus on the political-military struggle against apartheid with an emphasis on the deadly ‘twists of fate’ that insurrection spawns with regard to the need to resist and its collateral damage to oppressed people. Peter Rule deals with more personal issues such as the anguish of rape and homophobic violence, the devastation of AIDS and the trauma of surviving police interrogation.
Zachariah Rapola brings a surreal and tragic touch to stories about lonely misfits in Alexandria, Joburg’s oldest African township. Michael Vines, on the other hand, writes about arty white suburban youth whose alienation is just as acute despite their wealthier environment. Phaswane Mpe’s stories all foreshadow his novel Welcome to our Hillbrow which also deals with student life in Johannesburg and the ramifications of the Aids epidemic.
Lastly, Kolski Horwitz touches on both the general political landscape of decolonization and internal corruption within the liberation movements as well as the shifting tides of sexual behaviour.