Revival of Afrikaans anti-apartheid paper is good news. But change is in order | hwasser
It provided columns with counter-cultural irreverence, satire and cutting edge aesthetics. This was reflected in the book reviews, music, recipes, travelogues and cartoons, all united by the common commitment to social change.
In short, Vrye Weekblad provided the kind of journalism that many news consumers today – in a time of shrinking budgets, and receding arts coverage and investigative journalism – would still relish. Apart from the intrinsic quality of its journalism, there were at least two other factors that contributed to Vrye Weekblad‘s success. Firstly, the repressive apartheid regime was an obvious foil for its alternative journalism. This attracted a critical readership which had an appetite for resistance., was ideologically compromised. Vrye Weekblad tapped into an Afrikaans audience that wanted independent news in their own language, which the mainstream Afrikaans newspapers couldn’t provide.
Both those factors are no longer relevant in a democratic South Africa, with a media landscape that has undergone vast changes. Can the new Vrye Weekblad flourish in this new context? Can it provide a formula that addresses the realities of a society that’s undergone major changes, and that can survive in an industry that’s in a state of meltdown?
In my view it could, but it can’t trade on its history alone. It will need to consider the challenges of the present and the future.Vrye Weekblad gave to some Afrikaans speakers a new sense of identity. Its readers were fed up with decades of lying from the establishment; of having their language appropriated and abused in the service of Afrikaner nationalism, apartheid and a claustrophobic Calvinism; of having their cultural identity tethered to an illegitimate, murderous government.
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Revival of Afrikaans anti-apartheid paper is good news. But change is in orderA progressive Afrikaans newspaper will be relaunched soon. But Vrye Weekblad can't trade on its history alone. It will need to consider the challenges of the present and the future.
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