‘Grounding together’ or digging movements into the ground? South African scholaractivism 30 years after democracy

The fiftieth anniversary of ROAPE coincidentally marks 30 years of what may be called ‘bourgeois democracy’ in South Africa. Walter Rodney’s debate with mainly white lecturers (including early contributors and founders of ROAPE) at Dar es Salaam in 1971 offers a pivot from which to explore the representation of popular movements in South Africa in the 2000s, which centred on the assumption that the working class had fallen victim to the adoption of neoliberal policies by the ruling African National Congress. This article explores the relationship between race, class and knowledge production as well as contested meanings of transformation in this context. While the independent left (those outside of mainstream political parties as well as the tripartite alliance) in South Africa has at times heroically supported the struggles of grassroots movements, the article argues that we have reached an impasse. Our consistent socialist rhetoric and methods of movement building tend to be out of touch with grassroots movements. A renewed political dialogue is required to explore the extent to which it remains possible to ‘ground together’ (Rodney 1969) in collaboration with the various streams of discontent and militancy in the country.