A Turbulent South Africa: Post-apartheid Social Protest

A Turbulent South Africa: Post-apartheid Social Protest
ISBN-10
1438469780
ISBN-13
9781438469782
Category
Political Science
Pages
294
Language
English
Published
2018-03-01
Publisher
SUNY Press
Author
Jérôme Tournadre

Description

Highlights the continuing social unrest and public protest occurring in South Africa’s poorest districts. Frequently praised for its democratic transition, South Africa has experienced an almost uninterrupted cycle of social protest since the late 1990s. There have been increasing numbers of demonstrations against the often appalling living conditions of millions of South Africans, pointing to the fact that they have yet to achieve full citizenship. A Turbulent South Africa offers a new look at this historic period in the existence of the young South African democracy, far removed from the idealistic portrait of the “Rainbow Nation.” Jérôme Tournadre draws on interviews and observations to take the reader from the backstreets of the squatters’ camps to international militant circles, and from the immediate, infra-political level to the worldwide anti-capitalist protest movement. He investigates the mechanisms and the meaning of social discontent in light of several different phenomena. These include, the struggle of the poor to gain recognition, the persistent memory of the fight against apartheid, the developments in the political world since the “Mandela Years,” the coexistence of liberal democracy with a “popular politics” found in poor and working-class districts, and many other factors that have played a crucial part in the social and political tensions at the heart of post-apartheid South Africa.

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