Against the Tide by Steven Friedman

The annual Heritage Day ritual, in which public figures dress in traditional clothing to show us how much they care about their roots, has come and gone. But the outward displays hide the fact that much public discussion and policy making assumes that we should all want to mimic the West. This makes it more difficult to solve problems and relegates millions to the sidelines.

That is the view of my weekly Against the Tide column sent to subscribers this morning. To subscribe, visit the Against the Tide website. To discuss a free or reduced subscription, contact info@againstthetide.co.za

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.