Bound to Violence (original) (raw)

Political and collective violence in Southern African historiography

Journal of Southern African Studies, 1992

Violent conflict, though by no means unique to southern Africa, has been central in its modern history. It is very difficult to write about the region in the nineteenth century without constant reference to wais, conquest and violence. While colonial ascendancy halted local warfare for much of the period between the First World War and 1960, the violence of state control, police brutality and coerced labour have remained persistent themes in the literature. Recent conflicts have put violence high on the political and academic agenda. The traumatic displacement of settler and colonial governments in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique over two decades necessitated armed struggle which militarised the region. In turn white South African fears gave rise to destabilisation strategies which have contributed to horrific civil conflicts in Mozambique and Angola. Whereas guerrilla struggle was the weapon of liberation movements up to the late 1970s, it subsequently became that of counter-revolution. Armed struggle has not made so direct an impact within South Africa; the military wing of the African National Congress was weaker and the South African government stronger. But the rise of Inkatha and vigilantes, as well as the emergence of an insurrectionary 'comrades' movement in the 1980s, further extended the deployment of violence in regional politics. As in the second half of the nineteenth century, the availability of weapons locally manufactured and pouring into the subcontinent from outside-has intensified and exacerbated conflict. Photographs and television footage have made visual images of violence an indelible element of contemporary politics. A first version of this paper, entitled 'Violence and Masculillity in South African Historiography', was writteni for a conference 'Towards a Gendered History of Men in Africa', Minneapolis, University of Minniesota, April 1990. I would like to thank Luise White, the organiser, for her encoulagement and insights; anid Kate Crehan, Shula Marks, Dunbar Moodie and Troth Wells for comments. In this version I have also tried to incorporate some of the ideas developed in papers delivered to the Joiornal of Southern1 African Stiudies/Oxford African Studies conference on Political Violence.

Violence, Inequality and Transformation: Apartheid Survivors on South Africa's Ongoing Transition

2020

Despite its lauded political transition in 1994, South Africa continues to have among the highest levels of violence and inequality in the world. Organised survivors of apartheid violations have long maintained that we cannot adequately address violence in the country, let alone achieve full democracy, without addressing inequality. This book is built around extensive quotes from members of Khulumani Support Group, the apartheid survivors' social movement, and young people growing up in Khulumani families. It shows how these survivors, who bridge the past and the present through their activism, understand and respond to socioeconomic drivers of violence. Pointing to the continuities between apartheid oppression and post-apartheid marginalisation in everyday life, the narratives detail ways in which the democratic dispensation has strengthened barriers to social transformation and helped enable violence. They also present strategies for effecting change through collaboration, dialogue and mutual training and through partnerships with diverse stakeholders that build on local-level knowledge and community-based initiatives. The lens of violence offers new and manageable ways to think about reducing inequality, while the lens of inequality shows that violence is a complex web of causes, pathways and effects that requires a big-picture approach to unravel. The survivors’ narratives suggest innovative strategies for promoting a just transition through people-driven transformation that go well beyond the constraints of South Africa’s transitional justice practice to date. A result of participatory research conducted in collaboration with and by Khulumani members, this open-access book will be of interest to activists, students, researchers and policy makers working on issues of transitional justice, inequality and violence.

Violence in the Discourses of Violence - the Case of Zimbabwean Political Crisis

International Journal of Asian Social Science, 1998

Zimbabwe has undergone a vicious political showdown and violence has been topical in the analysis of the Zimbabwean political crisis. This article analyses discourses on Zimbabwe since the advent of the Zimbabwean political crisis. It reveals that the discourse used has not only exacerbated violence but has also been violent to the readers of the literature. Further, it exposes encampments in the writings on Zimbabwean politics and the polarization that exists between neo-colonial and globalization forces against pan-African and nationalist forces. This schism has unleashed a whole new perception of Zimbabwe and its identity in the global community and has determined the nature of its relations to the same. This has choked attempts by Zimbabweans to tell the Zimbabwean story as it should be in terms of its history, identity and dignity for the heritage of Zimbabwe"s future generations. This article is a product of the analysis of various discourses on Zimbabwe and advances the notion that political crisis in the country can only be realized should the violence in these discourses find peace. Through Critical Discourse Analysis we are able to pluck out the violence within the discourse and advances that political resolution to this crisis can only be realized through studies such as these.

Contested Voices of Former Combatants in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2021

This chapter addresses non-state actors who through successful regime change find themselves trying to reintegrate while the new state deals with the problems of the huge disparities, injustices and inequalities left by the defeated regime. This does not necessarily result in heroic status or material largesse, and they can feel embittered, neglected and unrewarded. The case study used to address this theme is post-apartheid

Violence as a form of communication : making sense of violence in South Africa

African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 2013

This article explores the meaning of violence in South African society against the backdrop of its violent past. Using a perspective suggested by H.W. van de Merwe** and Sue Williams in an article in 1987 – understanding violence as a form of communication – the article seeks to analyse how the persistence and scale of violence can be understood as a legacy of our past. This approach can also help foster spaces for more constructive engagement with those who resort to violence in the face of the society’s failure to provide effective channels for more constructive communication.

The Mandela Legacy - The Repetition of Violence.pdf

2021

Nelson Mandela was both a man of peace and a leader that deployed violence during South Africa's national liberation struggle. This ambiguous legacy, and particuularly the part which involved the resort to armed struggle, creates a context for the use of violence in the post-apartheid era by certain formations. It is argued that such violence, however, to the extent that such formations eschew other channels of democratic expression, closes downs democratic space and detracts from processes of strengthening democracy. This situation, this article suggests, calls on proponents of non-violence to more assertively and skillfully challenge those who espouse violence, even if it means revisiting and reframing the strategies used by Nelson Mandela.

The contested idea of Zimbabwe and the violent power politics: Lessons for South Africa

2017

Ou Testamentiese aanslag nie. Hy probeer ook nie om kritiese vrae te beantwoord nie, maar laat Kruger in sy eie konteks self aan die woord. Wat uit die verf kom, is 'n energieke, bekwame, kindergelowige Christenstaatsman. Kruger is 'n uitstaande Afrikaner én 'n Dopper van sy tyd en 'n soeker na die wil van God in alles, ook staatsake. Uit hierdie hoek is Bergh se werk 'n aanwins vir historici.