Steven Eli Friedman (born 31 March 1953) is a South African academic, newspaper columnist, intellectual, [1] activist, [2] former trade unionist [3] and journalist. [4] He holds a doctorate in Literature from Rhodes University (2007) and directs the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a joint project by Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg. [5] His book Building Tomorrow Today: African Workers in Trade Unions 1970-1984 has been described as a classic South African text. [6] [7] He has written opinion pieces for Thought Leader and The New Age and currently writes a weekly column for Business Day . [8]
He is also a strong supporter of rights for Palestinians [9] and a proponent of a one state solution in Israel and Palestine. [10] He was appointed the National Head of the Independent Electoral Commission's Information Analysis Department during preparations for South Africa's 1994 election. [11]
He is the father of Daniel Friedman, a musical comedian known on stage as Deep Fried Man. [12] [13] [14]
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has generic name (help)The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley, it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation.
Neil Aggett was a Kenyan and South African doctor and trade union organiser who was killed, while in detention, by the Security Branch of the Apartheid South African Police Service after being held for 70 days without trial.
Anarchism in South Africa dates to the 1880s, and played a major role in the labour and socialist movements from the turn of the twentieth century through to the 1920s. The early South African anarchist movement was strongly syndicalist. The ascendance of Marxism–Leninism following the Russian Revolution, along with state repression, resulted in most of the movement going over to the Comintern line, with the remainder consigned to irrelevance. There were slight traces of anarchist or revolutionary syndicalist influence in some of the independent left-wing groups which resisted the apartheid government from the 1970s onward, but anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism as a distinct movement only began re-emerging in South Africa in the early 1990s. It remains a minority current in South African politics.
David Webster was a South African academic and anti-apartheid activist. He worked as an anthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was a senior lecturer at the time of his assassination.
The Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) was a trade union federation in South Africa.
Peter Ralph Randall was an anti-apartheid publisher in South Africa, and was banned by the former South African government between 1977 and 1981. He later became a professor in charge of teacher education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Adam Mahomed Habib is a South African academic administrator serving as Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London since 1 January 2021. He served as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, between 1 June 2013, when the term of his predecessor Loyiso Nongxa ended, and 1 January 2021. He is also a former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg.
The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World, as well as by Garveyism, Christianity, communism, and liberalism.
Martin Legassick (1940–2016) was a South African historian and Marxist activist. He died on 1 March 2016 after a battle with cancer. He was one of the central figures in the "revisionist" school of South African historiography that, drawing on Marxism, revolutionised the study of the social formation of Apartheid by highlighting the importance of political economy, class contradictions and imperialism. He was also a key figure in the independent left in South Africa from the 1970s, and a critic, from the left, of many of the analytical and strategic positions taken by the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, as well as their understanding of South African history. The author of numerous books, mainly on the history of colonialism and capitalism, he collected many of his key political writings in his 2007 book Towards Socialist Democracy.
South Africa has been dubbed "the protest capital of the world", with one of the highest rates of public protests in the world.
Daniel Friedman, known on stage as Deep Fried Man, is a South African musical comedian and writer based in Johannesburg. He describes what he does as "stand-up comedy with a guitar". He adopted his stage name, a play on his real name, because "it went along with the kind of musical comedy I wanted to do, which was an unhealthy kind of comedy".
Trevor Ngwane is a South African socialist, anti-apartheid activist, and author. He previously worked as a sociology lecturer at Wits University where he helped found the Wits Workers' School, to teach literacy to the campus cleaners and gardeners.
Johan Thom, is a visual artist who works across video, installation, performance and sculpture. He has been described as one of South Africa's foremost performance artists.
David Jacobus de Villiers was an ordained minister in the Dutch Reformed Church; a South African Government minister and a Springbok rugby captain.
Lucien van der Walt is a South African writer, professor of Sociology and labour educator. His research engages the anarchist/syndicalist tradition of Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin; trade unionism and working class history, particularly in southern Africa; and neoliberal state restructuring. He currently teaches and researches at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and previously worked at the University of the Witwatersrand. His 2007 PhD on anarchism and syndicalism in South Africa in the early 1900s won both the international prize for the best PhD dissertation from the Labor History journal, and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa prize for best African PhD thesis.
George Hallett was a South African photographer known for images of South African exiles. His body of work captures much of the country's turbulent history through Apartheid and into the young democracy.
Cedric Nunn is a South African photographer best known for his photography depicting the country before and after the end of apartheid.
Raymond Suttner is a South African activist, academic, journalist and public figure.
Tim Couzens (1944–2016) was a South African literary and social historian, and travel writer. He was educated at Durban High School, Rhodes University, and the University of the Witwatersrand. He won a number of awards for his works, and was employed in the Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
The Council of Non-European Trade Unions (CNETU) was a national trade union federation bringing together unions representing black African workers in South Africa.
Steven is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy and writes a weekly column for Business Day newspaper and BDlive.