The Guardian (South Africa)

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The Guardian was a newspaper in South Africa founded in Cape Town in 1937 under the name Cape Guardian , which contributed to public criticism of the apartheid situation through investigative research and comments .

history

In the initial phase, the paper began as a local and socialist- oriented newspaper in Cape Town , the thematic focus of which is the organized workforce. The editorial work received your personal support from left-wing political circles, the people involved from the trade union movement, the universities and the Communist Party of South Africa(CPSA). In the 1940s it gained the reputation of being the leading publication organ of the anti-apartheid movement because it was very widespread among readers of the black, colored and Indian ethnic groups. Due to the later membership of the newspaper founders in the CPSA, the paper became the most important print medium for this party in the 1940s, but without being its party organ. Its first publisher was a European-based publishing company that also produced the Cape Standard daily newspaper, Cape Standard , which was primarily aimed at colored readers. In 1947, the Prudential Printing and Publishing Co. took over the Guardian; it was a company of Indian-born financiers, which also owned the Passive Resister .

Some members of the CPSA, such as Ruth First , Brian Bunting , Wolfie Kodesh and Rusty Bernstein , preferred journalism with the radical socialist The Guardian . However, Ruth First oriented herself in the 1950s through her work for the monthly journal Fighting Talk in the political proximity of the ANC-led Congress Alliance .

When the Unie Volspers printing works had to be closed for economic reasons in 1951, they looked for a new workshop. The printing was now carried out by the printer of Leonard Lee-Warden , who already carried out orders for the CPSA. He was an entrepreneur, political activist in South Africa and a member of the Congress of Democrats . He repeatedly had economic problems with his company, which also affected the publication of the Guardian. His personal political commitment led him in 1954 as a Native Representative (German: "native representative") for the Cape Province in its parliament.

The topics addressed include the Alexandra Bus boycott , the scandals of the potato plantations around Bethal , the disastrous living conditions in the slums and the precarious working conditions of sedentary people and migrant workers in South Africa. Because of the reactions of the apartheid state to their reporting, the editorial office had to be closed several times and the newspaper had to be renamed. The weekly The Guardian received a 1952 exorcism and appeared afterwards under other names, such as People's World , Advance , New Age and Spark . One of the better-known renaming is the title New Age .

Among the members of the editorial team were some well-known anti-apartheid activists from South Africa. For example, the following worked for the editorial team of the newspaper and its successor titles:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Brave Few. in Mail & Guardian of March 25, 2008 (English), accessed April 21, 2013.
  2. ^ South African History Online : A History of the Springbok Legion . at www.sahistory.org.za (English).
  3. ↑ AJ Friedgut: The Non-European Press . In: Ellen Hellmann , Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Oxford University Press, Cape Town / London / New York 1949, pp. 485, 502.
  4. ↑ Sheridan Johns: Invisible Resurrection: The Recreation of a Communist Party in South Africa in the 1950’s + footnote 24. In: African Studies Quarterly, 2007 (9), issue 4. online version ( Memento from October 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ South African History Online : Wolfie Kodesh . at www.sahistory.org.za (English).
  6. ^ South African History Online : Leonard (Len) Lee-Warden . at www.sahistory.org.za (English).

further reading

  • James Zug: The Guardian. The history of South Africa's extraordinary anti-apartheid newspaper . East Lansing, Pretoria 2007, ISBN 978-087013810-2 Entry in WorldCat .
  • Terry Bell: The Guardian: The History of South Africa's Extraordinary Anti-Apartheid Newspaper (review) . In: African Studies Review, 52, No. 2 (2009), pp. 231-233. (Book review)
  • Donald Pinnock: Writing left. Ruth First and radical South African journalism in the 1950s . 1990, ISBN 978-1-86888-365-3

Web links