ISSUES
ADVOCACY
JOURNALISM
. Has it advanced Truth or is it
merely the flip side of the propaganda coin?
URING the war in Viet-
nam, American propagan-
da always projected Ho
Chi Minh's army as in-
capable of withstanding
American firepower. "US
troops will have those
Commies on the run, and
come home to victory,"
broadca<it the generals and
slate officials to the Vietnamese, the
American public and the world. Unfar·
tunatcly, the Americans believed their
own propaganda, underestimated 'the
enemy's' strength, and lost the war.
Today, nearly 20 years later, America
still suffers [rom that trauma.
Falling for one's own propaganda is
not uniquely American. In South Africa's
prolonged low·intensity internal connicl,
the regime - and its opposition - have
fallen just as hard. The State's sophisti-
cated propaganda machinery converted
the ANC. UDF, SACP and other or·
ganisalions inlO 'terrorists' with suppos-
edly as little support as America at-
tributed to Ho au Minh and his Viet-
cong.
The emergence of the alternative
Press in the eighties was to counter this:
Grassroots, New Era, New Nation,
South, The WeeklyMai~ NewAfrican and
a host of others, in effect, joined a battle
against the State's representation of
'reality' and repression of the majority's
voice.
When Cape Town-based Grassroots
was fonned in 1980, the intention w~
that it would "write for the people", that
it would be their voice and help them to
build democratic organisations such as
civics and women's and youth organisa-
tions. It also became a vital link between
organisations such as the ANC and the
UDF and the people- in times ofrepres-
sion, under the State of Emergency, per-
haps the only link.
"All roads lead to Rocklands", wesaid
when we launched the UDF in that part
of Mitchells Plain in 1983. From there
"all roads" always led somewhere- bare-
Iydescribed, but strongly invoked to rally
the masses.
We thought It Important to exag-
gerate the strength of the ANC and to
sketch Nelson Mandela larger-than-life.
Any internal organisational problems or
flaws were attributed to apar1heid, State
propaganda, repression. We were uncriti-
cal of the Mass Democratic Movement
and swept most contradictions and con-
troversy under the talpCI.lntemationally
our sentiments rested with the socialist-
New Era reporter oriented countries in Eastern Europe,
ADLIJACOBS Latin America and Southeast Asia. Their
projected success inspired our struggle;
sees the need for we refused to look further.
In our attempts to hang apartheid and
advocacy journalists its perpetrators we became infected by
the very methods - and perhaps values-
to learn the lessons that we found abhorrent. 'Tbe SABC gave
coverage virtually only to the ruling Na-
of the past decade tional Party. By and large they kept the
and transcend the population in the dark about govenunent
foul-ups and cover-ups, about tbe CCBs,
propaganda tbe Operation Vulas, the alleged SA oil
reserves. State-supporting newspapers
war failed to encourage debate and OpeMess
around issues of national importance -
PLEASE TURNOVER ..
REVIEW, June 1991 - 43

open schools, Group Areas, endemic
violence and countless others. Yet, in en-
gaging in the propaganda battle with the
State, we shot ourselves in the fool.
This reactive inversion of all Stale
propaganda can be seen ao; a child of
circumstance. Too many Grassroots and
New Eras have been banned, too many
media workers harassed and detained.
We have been pushed up against a wall
of desperation by the power of the State,
a formidable opponent when we
'alternative' media represent only two
percent of media in the country.
The weapons nearest at hand have
been stereotypic images and clich&1
rhetoric: charismatic revolutionary
leaders, clenched fists, toyi-toying
crowds, rabid police, Casspirs, bar-
ricades and naming townships with the
echoes of "Wethe people" and "Forward
to this, forward to thaL...
We haveascarred media tradition, and
only just now are many of us realising
how our own media has been injured in
the war against the Slate. Whatstaned out
a<i necessary propaganda and positive
projection became the reality for too
many of us. We overestimated our own
We've grown big by staying smalL
44 - REVIEW,June J99J
ISSUES
strength and support. We falsely cannot simply give views that simplisti-
presented theANOMDM as being inter- cally counter State viewpoints. We need
open with
changeable schools,
'theGroup
people'. a pro-active rather than a reactive jour-
Areas,
In order to endemic
build a true democracy, we nalism. We need to transcend the
need a violence
new type and ofcountless
journalism. Dem- propaganda battle.
ocracy others.
needs Yet, in engaging
a society that is fully in- Also, we need to acknowledge that we
formed,in the
in propaganda battle
order to panicipate con- are not 'the people', nor is any single
with the
sciouslyand fully. political organisation, or all of them put
ThisState,
placesweparticular
shot ourselves
demands on the together.
alternative media.
in the fool. At its last annual We activists, or activist-journalists,
general meeting, Grassroots received a remain a small section of society. Our
strong mandate from its organisational perspectives therefore cannot exist solely
affiliates to become more critical of all within the framework of the ANC or
parties and to not align itsclfwith anyone SACP. Our main responsibility is
party. towards ordinary people, and it is their
The implications for all of us alterna- genuine experiences, hopes and fears to
tive media workers is that we can no which we need to give voice.
longer paint idyllic pictures of the libera- Finally, we need to begin to write
tion movement and no longer shirk the without anger. We need to look at reality
task of criticism and self-criticism in and sct about renecting it in ways that
order to stimulate debate. We need to will not destroy our integrity or our
shake offsimplistic analysis and to admit values in the long tenn.
the complexity of forging a 'new South This docs not mean that weshould not
Africa'. take a political position or not choose
This means that in order to beinforma- sides. However, it docs mean that these
tive, as alternative journalists, we need to choices must not blind us, or in any way
be informed ourselves. This requires excuse \l'i; from challenging ourselves. •
thorough research around issues, events
and discussions. It also means that we This (Jrljd~ first appeL1r~d in Cross Tim~s.
To mtasurt Iht grtalntsS of • univusity, ~mt would
count Iht studtnls. Wt'd r.thtr m.kt surt lht studtnts wunt.
This is uaetly why,.1 Rhoda, you won't find yourstlf ont of
ItnS of thousands. bUI ont of thrte .nd • half thousand. A
numbtr wilh numtrous Idvlnlllts. Such as I nlio of ont
J«:turtr 10 lwtlvt studtnts ... ruidtnctS. ftw minutts' Wllk
from J«:IUru ... 1M privacy of single rooms ... Ind tl!Y
ICttSS to .U 32 sports, from surfing 10 skydivinl'
tl\tvit.bly, aU Ihis, and mort, hIS givtn Rhodes I IlUl
nlmt. Wbich is why you milbt ,,·ish to wtilt it
.fttr yours.
Rhodes University "
For filII dtf~i/s. wntt 101M R"IsI,."r, R40du U"iwm'()', 6140 GrIIll~MJtow"