South Africa Books

Desai's book is about elderly women who will put their bodies between their neighbour's house and the men with guns and dogs and sunglasses who have come to effect another eviction. It's about the ecology of the neighbourhood and the struggles to constitute the people stuck on the wrong side of the razorwire into movements. It is about fighting and tenderness and coming to Durban.

Desai's story starts in Chatsworth, Durban. Here the new South Africa meant unemployment for the poor after 10 000 jobs in the clothing industry were sacrificed to The Market when tariffs protecting our market from sweatshop imports were removed 4 years ahead of the WTO schedule. For many this was followed by disconnections from electricity and water and then evictions from their homes as the Durban Metro began to reorganise the provision of basic, life sustaining services in accordance with `international norms' and under the cold logic of profit. Desai tells us how a movement of the poor was built in Chatsworth, how it spread to other townships in Durban, drew in students and workers, made connections with similar movements developing in Johannesburg and Cape Town, put somewhere between 20 000 and 30 000 people on the streets outside the UN conference on racism in Durban last year and became part of the global movement of movements against the subordination of all aspects of society to The Market.

All these years after Machiavelli and Sartre and Fanon much academic work continues to flee the disorder and mess of life for the more comfortable worlds of abstracted empiricism and theory where the sterile manipulation of numbers or words becomes a self-referential end in-itself. Desai's book has no elaborate graphs or references to Homi K. Bhabha. Numbers and theories are only employed to illuminate lived experience. This book, with its stories of children prostituting themselves to stave off their family's eviction and mothers fighting off the police, can not be reduced to a power point presentation. Desai describes it as "journalism - an account from the frontlines of the establishment's `undeclared war' on the poor."

Scholars like Patrick Bond and Hein Marais have published valuable critiques of the herding of the energies and hopes of the democratic movements in to the Market's corral. And David McDonald and James Kilgore (writing as John Pape) have shown that in the post-apartheid era up to 10 million South Africans have been disconnected from water; the same number have been disconnected from electricity; a further 2 million people have been evicted from their homes and 1.5 million have had their property seized for failure to pay their water and electricity bills. McDonald and Kilgore have also found that the majority could not pay their water and electricity bills, that many of those who do pay do so at the expense of things like school fees and health care and so the idea of a `culture of non-payment' should be seen as, at best, a myth. They also show that none of this is necessary and that this assault on the poor it is a direct consequence of the shift away from policies based on the principle of cross-subsidisation to ensure sustainable access to services by poorer citizens and towards policies that aim to generate profit by recovering the full cost of the services provided to each customer, including installation costs. The rich had the installation of their basic services subsidised by apartheid many years ago and so what the World Bank calls `good public fiscal practice' means that electricity costs 30% more in Soweto than in Sandton and schools in poor communities in Durban have their water disconnected in the midst of cholera epidemic.

Radical thought usually takes the oppressive power of the state and the market as its focus. And explaining the nature of the structural violence in and from which the oppressed must make their lives is important work. But Desai, like Frantz Fanon and the Italian Autonomist School, does something different. He begins with the creative energies of the oppressed. And so he gives us storms and tributaries and rivers of struggle. We discover the Hindu festival of light, Diwali, re-imagined with the electricity disconnecting Durban Metro cast as the villain of darkness. And there is Psyches, the rapper who makes beautiful the heroes of the latest ugly clash with the police; Sifiso Sithole a polite young man who usually reconnects a few people to the electricity grid before settling down to his homework in the afternoons; the UDW students, steeled by the murder of one of their number by the police while protesting the exclusion of poor students from their university, who defend fragile new born spaces for critical thought and action from "the goons from the ANC youth league" and the mothers and grandmothers across the country, like Mama Manqele in Chatsworth and Mevrou Samsodien in Taflesig, who rebel because obedience can mean disaster and even death.

The movements encountered in this book are familiar in that they are a return to the non-racialism of the UDF (as opposed to the longstanding multi-racialism and more recent bougoise nationalism of the ANC) but excitingly strange in that their aspirations are not to seize political power but rather to diffuse it with the aim of creating neighbourhoods in which individuals and communities can flourish. But the movements in this book are perhaps at their most unfamiliar and challenging when, in the words of Mpumalanga township activist Maxwell Cele, it becomes clear that "No one is in charge of the protests, except the anger and hunger in every person."

There are a few flaws in the editing and the layout of the book. The misphrasing of a sentence in the introduction that results in the number of people who lost jobs between 1996 and 2001 appearing to be a statistic for 2001 alone is particularly unfortunate. But the significance of this book, with its urgent, occasionally poetic and probably rushed passion that has evoked the feel of Fanon's Wretched of the Earth for more than one reviewer, is not exhausted by its novelty as the first book on the social movements of the post-apartheid era. This book matters because in an age where the human is deeply buried under a dead but respectable technicism it pulsates, rudely, with life.

We Are The Poors: Community Struggles In Post-Apartheid South Africa by South African educator, journalist, and community activist Ashwin Desai is an informed and informative explanation of how the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 failed to end the conditions of economic, social, and political inequality for the oppressed majority of South African blacks. Nonetheless, new forms of solidarity and resistance to conditions of inequality have emerged, principally in the form of new and dynamic political identities as reflected in the growth of community movements, eventually coming together in massive anti-government protests at the time of the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism. We Are The Poors is a significant and timely contribution to contemporary South African studies.

i am currently taking a comparative study course on new world slavery, and this book interested me. i enjoyed this book.

This is a seminal study which compares the development of white supremacy in Southern Africa and North America. It is well researched and provides the reader with an insightful analysis into race relations in these two regions. Although the book was published in 1982, the analysis continues to be current and essential to those readers who wish to understand the historic context of this important subject.

I have always loved nature. I consider myself a deep thinker and very ethical. Cormac taught me much! I love his applications of systems thinking and I love his heart. This is a must read if you care for the Earth!!!

This is the wisest and clearest book written on environmental law I have read. It focuses on the root cause of environmental destruction and shows us that by becoming more earth centric within law (i.e. we are not at the centre of the universe but are part of a greater system that includes the earth) we can integrate human behaviour into the ecosystem and therefore have healthier planet and therefore a healthier humanity since we are part of the whole and not separate form the Earths environment.

Read this book and decide for yourself if the supernatural is still a part of the Church today. There are so many different contributors to this book, that the evidence is overwhelming. Testimonies and photographs show that something amazing happened during William Branham's tour of South Africa. Why did God use this humble, simple man? I suppose for the same reason He chose fishermen to be his disciples.

Follows Brother Branham's ministry in South Africa, where he held one of his largest meetings in 1951. Illustrated.

This has to be one of the best books on wine ever published. The photographs are outstanding and I particularly liked the interviews with wine makers. I can recommend this book to anyone interested in wines, in book layout, in photography AND in the Southern Cape wine reagons. Excellent fare.

This is probably the most beautiful book on wine I have ever encountered. I love it! Although it focuses primarily on the South African wine industry, the information on grape growing, winemaking and brandy making is really complete and relevant to any winemaking region. The photography in this book is of the highest quality and is simply breathtaking. Anyone who has visited South Africa will agree that it has probably the most beautiful wine region in the world. This book's pictures tell the same story with excellent photography. Oh and by the way, it is the official textbook of the Cape Wine Academy in South Africa (sure doesn't look like your typical textbook -too colorful and easy to read!) I would recommend this book to ANY wine lover since a lot can be learned from it in a fun way. Makes a stunning 'coffee table' book.

There are few people who can capture all the complexity and paradox of South Africa in modern times as Brink can. This book may be big but it crystallizes a time in South African history that was very real, scary and complex.

This is a beautiful photobook providing a look into life in South Africa, and the issues that challenge it. The pictures are raw and moving, but it some strange way they leave the viewer with some feeling of despondent optimism for the country.

All six books in this series are gorgeous. They connect the geography, history, and culture of a region in a way that will interest kids and adults alike. Beautiful photos, drawings, and stunning maps. The introductory information to each project is interesting and helps kids understand why people might do certain types of art. The step-by-step project instructions are easy to follow, with drawings to accompany each step. Some projects are challenging; others easy to do with a large group, but they all are student-tested (with photos of their final products!). Best of all, they are authentic folk art projects-not the "let's make a toilet paper drum" variety. These projects work great for scout troop activities and home school projects as well as for public school teachers who want to connect art with history and geography. These books could be used with upper elementary through middle school students. Highly recommended for classroom use and as gifts for grandchildren!

This personal account of African nationhood strikes a lot nerves and leaves the reader with a lot to think about on a number of levels. Put together it provides a real roller-coaster ride of emotions and insights. The book builds up beautifully in the first chapters, providing the reader with a love for Africa - full of warmth, humour and joy. The author's level-headed account of British rule and the radicalisation of white politics juxtapositioned with the black struggle for independence is fabulous. By portraying the feelings of both sides at the time and without demonising either side, it argues a strong case for tolerance, understanding and humanity on a rock bed of libertarian values. The subsequent chapters describing the gradual changes of Zambia's UNIP government are thrilling as one gradually gets caught in the middle between one's loyalty for Kaunda's original Humanism and the realisation that the regime was not what it was supposed to be.

At the end, when it has all gone so horribly wrong, the reader is left with an understanding for how it went wrong. Uniquely, it is that understanding which may provide the reader with a respect for Africa and a feeling that for Africa there can indeed be a prosperous future in waiting. The book is a personal story of ideology versus reality, but it is also powerful background reading for any person about to move to or work with Africa.

Day in the Sun for Africa's Hard-Nosed Entrepreneurs

The New Times
BOOK REVIEW
February 11, 2007
By Mwiti Marete
Kigali, Rwanda

David Fick's "Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunity" reads like a "Who is Who" list of hard-nosed African entrepreneurs who have fished in life's dustbins and weathered the elements with astounding results.

The 512-page volume is based on his belief that the second largest continent has immense potential that only waits to be tapped, and his confidence in her citizens' creativity, resilience and industry.

"While many write off Africa as the continent of despair, other enterprising individuals and organisations have recognized the huge, untapped potential of Africa and are actively pursuing business ventures across the continent," says the book.

The book features brief descriptions of these successful entrepreneurs and their ongoing enterprises in Africa. Each story captures the spirit behind these successes and highlights how they are not only creating countless job opportunities in 53 African countries but also bringing immeasurable improvement to the quality of life in African communities

Recognising the African entrepreneurs who are making dreams come true - albeit the hard way - Fick says he wrote the book to create awareness on the obstacles and successes of entrepreneurship in Africa, "to tell the story of people and their communities that are successful in developing Africa".

"By sounding out African entrepreneurs about the visions they harbour of their continent, I have tried to present the successes and the philosophies of these entrepreneurs, and also the philosophies of the economists, educators and political readers who are interested in developing Africa to its full potential for the benefit of Africans and the world," Fick writes.

And he is optimistic.

"'Old' Africa is well known for its many challenges," writes Fick. "In a 'new' Africa, the continent's challenges will be addressed and overcome with new strategies, new approaches and new ways of doing things, in order for Africa's vast opportunities to be exploited for the benefit of its entire people."

Besides calling for the developed world to come to Africa's aid, he prescribes regional cooperation as the cure for the continent's many woes.

"A successful AU will empower all of Africa, not merely the strong countries," Fick observes, and predicts: "Africa's abundant resources will then benefit the health, education and wellbeing of all Africans." He concludes with an array of proposals on how to make life on the continent brighter - aptly called "Africa's Future"............................................

What "Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunity" offers is a rich menu of information - and inspiration - for readers across the divide: policy makers, practising and potential entrepreneurs, scholars, and leisure seekers. Simply put, it is Africa's newest package for global consumption.

For the optimistic, it reinforces their resolve to make Africa a better place for all; for the pessimist, it is a jolting disproval of the old, misplaced depiction of Africa as "the Dark Continent".

And few can be as authoritative on the issues addressed in this book as David S. Fick, a graduate of Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania who has spent his entire business career as an entrepreneur in Kansas and has travelled widely, including to Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He has visited Africa's other 50 countries via research by means of the Internet and e-mail correspondence, corresponding with entrepreneurs in all the 53 countries and asking for their corrections and improvements to their rough draft text.

Add this to the rich bibliography of speeches by international opinion leaders and reports by credible international bodies and the Media.

And true to his confessed passion for a vibrant economic environment in Africa, Fick has published with an African firm, and his distributors are selected from local booksellers, according to an earlier e-mail interview with this writer. Again, the book is not a money-making venture: the author has donated his entire royalties to charity. To cap it all, the cover illustration is derived from the artwork "Africa Connections", a batik by Nuwa Nnyanzi from Uganda.