Cape Town - The apartheid process of “othering”, in which people attributed negative characteristics to others, setting them apart, was etched deeply in the South African psyche and must be dealt with or “it will continue to haunt our children’s children”, psychologist and anti-apartheid activist Saths Cooper said.
Cooper was speaking during a webinar marking the 43rd anniversary of Wednesday, October 19, 1977 - a year and four months after the Soweto uprising and two months after the arrest of Steve Biko - when Black Consciousness organisations and newspapers critical of the apartheid regime were banned and activists, journalists and critics of its policies and brutality were detained.
Cooper, who was a close associate of Biko, said: “We need to come to terms with our past.”
Cooper said: “In the same way that we knew in the apartheid era there were members of the security branch and, later, Stratcom in the newsrooms keeping a close watch on fellow journalists as part of retention of the apartheid status quo, now we find blind, uncritical allegiance to parties and, worse still, to factions among those parties and often to individuals.”
Cooper said the media had changed “indelibly and particularly since the Independent Newspapers was taken over by Sekunjalo. Until then, stories tended to be European or white in orientation,” he said.
“At a time when we should be celebrating our diversity, as one of the most diverse societies on earth, we’re confronting the most troubling and perilous period in the short history of our democracy where rampant racism, sexism, violence, poverty, hunger, unemployment and corruption are clear and endemic.”
The webinar, hosted by Star editor Sifiso Mahlangu, was the first of three which are part of an Independent Media nationwide campaign that includes a series of online and print adverts, opinion pieces in all its publications throughout the week.
Newly appointed Daily News editor Ayanda Mdluli said: “The media industry faces threats such as job cuts as well as threats from people in the public eye, and private people who do not want to be held accountable. There needs to be accountability from people in power, and we must adopt a zero-tolerance to corruption and be a safe haven for whistle-blowers.”
Cape Argus