Note: A brilliant intervention by black consciousness writer Mandisi Majavu on the shortcomings of Heinrich Bohmke's writings, his misrepresentation of social movements and his attacks on black activists.
by Mandisi Majavu
2012-04-19, Issue 581
from: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/81483
A colonial mindset still pervades some intellectual critiques of social movements in post-apartheid South Africa.
Frances Piven and Richard Cloward (1977) once wrote that when poor people’s movements go against the doctrine of those who regard themselves as the intellectual revolutionary vanguard, the movements are often derided and dismissed. History is full of examples in which movements were dismissed for either being too ‘nationalistic’ or for ‘lacking class consciousness’. For instance, although the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) is now regarded as one of the political movements that played a significant role in the fight against the apartheid regime, it was once accused of being manipulated by the CIA. The Unity Movement, a defunct political organisation that also fought against the apartheid regime, characterised the BCM as an ‘American implantation, class-based and manipulated by the CIA’ (Chisholm 1991).
by Mandisi Majavu
2012-04-19, Issue 581
from: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/81483
A colonial mindset still pervades some intellectual critiques of social movements in post-apartheid South Africa.
Frances Piven and Richard Cloward (1977) once wrote that when poor people’s movements go against the doctrine of those who regard themselves as the intellectual revolutionary vanguard, the movements are often derided and dismissed. History is full of examples in which movements were dismissed for either being too ‘nationalistic’ or for ‘lacking class consciousness’. For instance, although the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) is now regarded as one of the political movements that played a significant role in the fight against the apartheid regime, it was once accused of being manipulated by the CIA. The Unity Movement, a defunct political organisation that also fought against the apartheid regime, characterised the BCM as an ‘American implantation, class-based and manipulated by the CIA’ (Chisholm 1991).