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As anyone who lived through that decade knows, the 1980s in South Africa were marked by protest, violent confrontation, and international sanctions. Internally, the country saw a bewildering growth of grassroots organizations -- including trade unions, civic associations in the black townships, student and other youth organizations, church-based groups, and womens movements -- many of which operated under the umbrella of the United Democratic Front (UDF). "Beyond Our Wildest Dreams" explores the often conflicted relationship between the UDFs large-scale resistance to apartheid and its everyday struggles at the local level.In hindsight, the UDF can be seen as a transitional front, preparing the ground for leaders of the liberation movement to return from exile or prison and take over power. But the founding fathers of the UDF initially had far more modest ambitions. As Azhar Cachalia, one of its core activists, later explained: "Look, when we founded the UDF, we had never in our wildest dreams expected that events would take off in the way they did.What happened was beyond everybodys expectations."Interviews with Cachalia and other leading personalities in the UDF examine the organizations workings at the national level, while stories of ordinary people, collected by the author, illuminate the grassroots activism so important to the UDFs success. Even in South Africa, writes Ineke van Kessel, who covered the anti-apartheid movement as a journalist, resistance was not the obvious option for common citizens. Van Kessel shows how ordinary people were mobilized into forming a radical social movement that developed a highly flexible and innovative form of resistance that ultimatelyended apartheid.
About the author
Ineke van Kessel is a researcher at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands.
Summary
An exploration of the often conflicted relationship between the United Democratic Front's large-scale resistance to apartheid and its everyday struggles at the local level. Interviews with Cachalia and other personalities in the UDF examine the organization's workings.
