Against the tide by Steven Friedman

We do not know whether a poll claiming that many South Africans support military rule is accurate. What we do know is that the attitudes of the people who tell us all what we should think makes it more likely that people in uniform, not elected politicians, will take the decisions which affect our lives.

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Steven Friedman is a public commentator and an academic, currently employed as a Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has been writing on South African politics for the entire democratic period both as a scholar and public commentator. He has published books on South Africa’s transition to democracy, the role of the trade union movement, and current South African politics. He has also written columns and articles for several South African newspapers. His writing seeks to use academic research to shed light on current politics but to ensure that this is conveyed in a way easily understood by people who have no academic training.