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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 women's 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 UDF's 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
everybody's expectations."
Interviews with Cachalia and other leading personalities
in the UDF examine the organization's workings at the
national level, while stories of ordinary people, collected
by the author, illuminate the grassroots activism so
important to the UDF's 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
ordinary citizens. Van Kessel shows how these people were
mobilized into forming a radical social movement that
developed a highly flexible and innovative form of
resistance that ultimately ended apartheid.
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"Based on thorough, meticulous, and discerning scholarship,
van Kessel's book shows a mature understanding of South
Africa's political dynamics. Outstandingly perceptive while
broadly sympathetic, van Kessel achieves an admirable
objectivity regarding the foibles and weaknesses of the
actors in her story. She succeeds in conveying the real
texture of politics on the ground."
--Gail M. Gerhart, American University in
Cairo
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