Rediscovering political activism – An acoustic portrait of journalist Ruth Weiss and SA liberation politics is showing at the South African Jewish Museum until 31 October.
The fight against Apartheid South Africa bred a number of international icons who became household names: Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, etc. However, there were other – equally influential, but less well known – activists that made their mark, and whom South Africa is rediscovering.
One of these is Ruth Weiss, a renowned journalist and anti-Apartheid activist who worked extensively throughout sub-Saharan Africa covering the liberation-era politics of the region. During her career as a journalist she worked for numerous publications including the Financial Mail, the Guardian (UK), the Times of Zambia, the BBC and the Voice of Germany, and was exiled by South Africa and Rhodesia for her writings.
Internationally acclaimed for her lifelong struggle against racism and inequality, and having been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Weiss is intimately acquainted with these evils, born in 1924 into a Jewish family in Germany and having emigrated in 1936 from Nazi-Germany to South Africa.
Her work as a journalist and novelist has received acclaim all over the world, and her novel “My Sister Sara” was selected as compulsory matriculation reading in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in 2007.
Weiss, who is in her 90’s, lives in Germany again and in addition to her ongoing journalistic engagement is a productive novelist.
Throughout her career, she built up a collection of articles, manuscripts, biographical documents, professional correspondence, research material, photographs and audio recordings that offer a unique insight into the political and social environments of the day.
Ruth Weiss @ SA Jewish Museum
WHERE: SA Jewish Museum, 88 Hatfield St, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: 7 September 2014 until 31 October 2014.
WHAT: My Very First Question to You: An acoustic portrait of journalist Ruth Weiss and southern African liberation politics features a sound installation with compositions from her interview archive and five selected interview clips made during this era. Weiss’ recordings offer an intimate, unfiltered opportunity to hear 20th century African icons in their own voice.
The five interviews featured in the exhibition are:
- Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of independent Zambia (interviewed in 1979)
- Libertine Amathila, the first black Namibian medical doctor and former Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia (interviewed in 1979)
And three South African icons:
- Miriam Makeba (interviewed in 1978),
- Nadine Gordimer (interviewed in 1978) and,
- Oliver Tambo (interviewed in 1985)
Weiss will be present for the opening of the exhibition and will also launch her autobiography, “A Path through Hard Grass: A journalist’s Memories of Exile and Apartheid” (published by Basler Afrika Bibliographien, June 2014).
The exhibition is curated by Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB), the Namibia Resource Centre and Southern Africa Library in Switzerland, in collaboration with the South African Jewish Museum.
