Arts, Culture and the Revolution

“WE CHARGE OUR CULTURAL WORKERS WITH THE TASK OF USING THEIR CRAFT TO GIVE VOICE, NOT ONLY TO GRIEVANCES, BUT ALSO TO THE PROFOUNDEST ASPIRATIONS OF THE OPPRESSED AND EXPLOITED.”

“In our country a new social and political order is being born. OUR ARTISTS HAVE TO PLAY AN EVEN BIGGER ROLE AS MIDWIVES OF THIS GLORIOUS FUTURE. Let the arts be one of the many means by which we cultivate the spirit of revolution among the broad masses, enhance the striking power of our movement and inspire the millions of our people to fight for the south africa we envisage.”

“The task of our artists is therefore to articulate our struggle, our hopes and aspirations using the varied forms created by their skills and talents. They can then grow into a powerful, recognisable force within the ranks of our broad liberatory movement throughout our country and beyond.”

“The apartheid enemy tries to separate us into ancient ‘tribal’ entities and pretends to be concerned with the preservation of our cultural heritage. We are one people with a rich cultural heritage which manifests itself in many variations. Our task is not to preserve our culture in its antique forms but to build on it and let it grow to assume a national character, the better to become a component of all evolving world culture.”

“In this context language, oral literature, dance, etc., become elemental parts of the national culture – a people’s possession rather than a means of tribal identification. In any case the notion of ‘tribe’ has colonial origins, is promoted by colonial regimes and serves the purposes of ‘divide and rule’. Culture does not divide. It unites because it is a universal possession.”

“Through struggle we are cultivating a sense of common nationhood, embracing the entire people, wherein various cultural strains are seen as components of a united people’s national culture rather than works of separate identity; where diversity lends variety and richness to the experience of life in society.”

“A future non-racial and democratic South Africa will be a product, not least, of our conscious cultural work.”

– President O.R. Tambo, Interview, “Rixaka”: Cultural Journal of the African National Congress, No. 1, 1985.

Castro Khwela
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