{"title":"US Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War In Africa: A Bridge Between Global Conflict and the New World Order, 1988–1994","authors":"C. Saunders","doi":"10.1080/02582473.2022.2121851","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"because it seemed that Sedibe ‘had bought into the regime’. For Ebrahim, Sedibe’s actions were ‘betrayal, on a profound and destructive level’ (217). Perhaps it is Ebrahim’s experience with betrayal that makes him reluctant to comment on problems afflicting the ANC today. In the conclusion to Beyond Fear, he recalls how on Robben Island ANC leaders discussed being ‘servants of the people [that] were steadfastly against corruption, factionalism and ill-discipline’ (284). Though Ebrahim concedes ‘these values have become eroded’, his memoir gives no sense of how this erosion occurred (285). His views on the ANC’s degeneration would be valuable, especially because of his closeness to Jacob Zuma. But as Kasrils recalls, Ebrahim ‘didn’t like to raise his voice publicly [...] but rather within the movement and to comrades. It was that kind of loyalty’. This loyalty permeates the book and, with it, the impressive emotional and physical fortitude Ebrahim possessed that enabled him to endure banning, exile, imprisonment, and torture. But this loyalty also limits the book’s utility for scholars. While it affords valuable insight into the lived experiences of a South African freedom fighter, Beyond Fear does not take us far beyond the existing frontiers of South Africa’s political history. It might have.","PeriodicalId":45116,"journal":{"name":"South African Historical Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South African Historical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2022.2121851","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
because it seemed that Sedibe ‘had bought into the regime’. For Ebrahim, Sedibe’s actions were ‘betrayal, on a profound and destructive level’ (217). Perhaps it is Ebrahim’s experience with betrayal that makes him reluctant to comment on problems afflicting the ANC today. In the conclusion to Beyond Fear, he recalls how on Robben Island ANC leaders discussed being ‘servants of the people [that] were steadfastly against corruption, factionalism and ill-discipline’ (284). Though Ebrahim concedes ‘these values have become eroded’, his memoir gives no sense of how this erosion occurred (285). His views on the ANC’s degeneration would be valuable, especially because of his closeness to Jacob Zuma. But as Kasrils recalls, Ebrahim ‘didn’t like to raise his voice publicly [...] but rather within the movement and to comrades. It was that kind of loyalty’. This loyalty permeates the book and, with it, the impressive emotional and physical fortitude Ebrahim possessed that enabled him to endure banning, exile, imprisonment, and torture. But this loyalty also limits the book’s utility for scholars. While it affords valuable insight into the lived experiences of a South African freedom fighter, Beyond Fear does not take us far beyond the existing frontiers of South Africa’s political history. It might have.
期刊介绍:
Over the past 40 years, the South African Historical Journal has become renowned and internationally regarded as a premier history journal published in South Africa, promoting significant historical scholarship on the country as well as the southern African region. The journal, which is linked to the Southern African Historical Society, has provided a high-quality medium for original thinking about South African history and has thus shaped - and continues to contribute towards defining - the historiography of the region.