An examination of post-apartheid politics

This volume explores some of the key features of popular politics and resistance before and after 1994. It looks at continuities and changes in the forms of struggle and ideologies involved, as well as the significance of post-apartheid grassroots politics. Is this a new form of politics or does it stand as a direct descendent of the insurrectionary impulses of the late apartheid era? Posing questions about continuity and change before and after 1994 raises key issues concerning the nature of power and poverty in the country. Contributors suggest that expressions of popular politics are deeply set within South African political culture and still have the capacity to influence political outcomes. The introduction by William Beinart links the papers together, places them in context of recent literature on popular politics and 'history from below' and summarises their main findings, supporting the argument that popular politics outside of the party system remain significant in South Africa and help influence national politics. The roots of this collection lie in post-graduate student research conducted at the University of Oxford in the early twenty-first century.

William Beinart is a historian and was Rhodes Professor of Race Relations at the African Studies Centre, at Oxford University from 1997 to 2015.

Chapter 1: Popular politics and resistance movements in South Africa, 1970-2008 William Beinart Chapter 2: The Durban strikes of 1973: Political identities and the management of protest Julian Brown Chapter 3: 'There's more to it than slurp and burp': The Fatti's & Moni's strike and the use of boycotts in mass resistance in Cape Town Tracy Carson Chapter 4: The role of the African National Congress in popular protest during the township uprisings, 1984-1989 Thula Simpson Chapter 5: Strategies of struggle: The Nelson Mandela campaign Genevieve Klein Chapter 6: From removals to reform: Land struggles in Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Chizuko Sato Chapter 7: From popular resistance to populist politics in the Transkei Tim Gibbs Chapter 8: 'It's a beautiful struggle': Siyayinqoba/Beat it! and the HIV/AIDS treatment struggle on South African television Rebecca Hodes Chapter 9: The Nelson Mandela Museum and the tyranny of political symbols Mfaniseni Fana Sihlongonyane Chapter 10: Black nurses' strikes at Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, 1948-2007 Simonne Horwitz Chapter 11: The 'New Struggle': Resources, networks and the formation of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) 1994-1998 Mandisa Mbali Chapter 12: New social movements as civil society: The case of past and present Soweto Kelly Rosenthal Chapter 13: 'Phansi Privatisation! Phansi!': The Anti-Privatisation Forum and ideology in social movements Marcelle C. Dawson