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| Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC) a progressive activist think tank that focuses on the multi-dimensional crisis. AIDC sees the necessity of integrating both the ecological and economic dimensions of the crisis into its programmes. It does this from the perspective of developing alternatives that ensure planetary sustainability and social, economic and environmental justice. |
| Another brick in the wall: 30 years on – a short biography of the great struggle song | by Andre Marais | | Print | |
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When they protested in the winter of 1980, high school students fighting apartheid’s gutter education had a brand new marching song in their arsenal. This song became the trademark of the tumultuous events of that year and the succeeding decade, as opposition to apartheid shifted from political organisers to students, following the critical moment of June ’76 when student power burst onto the political stage. It was the catchy tune from the British rock band Pink Floyd’s 1979 release, The Wall. Although the themes of ‘Another Brick in Wall, Part 2’ made no direct reference to apartheid, it could be heard in dark school corridors and playgrounds and struck a chord amongst youth everywhere, particularly in Cape Town. It captured the moment of discontent in a country where most of the population, including the youth, had no voice. It could be heard echoing on the daily marches and during confrontations when the apartheid police hit with teargas, vicious police dogs, and brutal actions that came to characterise the period. While Roger Water, who penned the song, wrote it in a different context, its major themes of alienation and detachment were, and still are, universal. This is no accident. The song equates education with thought control. That is exactly how education is used in pretty much every dystopian literature ever written, as in George Orwell’s 1984. So while Waters may have suffered at the hands of his teachers, the song also spoke to people who had problems on a larger scale. Remember that apartheid’s deeply racially segregated school system was designed to prepare blacks for lives as second-class citizens. So the song’s warning had real meaning for us. After all, did Verwoerd not utter those famous words: ‘What use is teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?’ The uncharacteristic disco beat of ‘The Brick’ was unusual for a Pink Floyd song, and it was initially hated by the hard Floyd fans, who were more used to their epic reflective offerings. But be that as it may, the ditty found mass appeal amongst a whole new audience of angry young people in Cape Town. The use of the willing accompaniment of Islington Green School from North London on the chorus line of ‘The Brick’ was a master stroke and added to its power. Amandla! asked some of the participants of that remarkable period to reflect on how they remember the song.
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