UWC vice chancellor Robert Balfour speaks about language, education, politics and society on Crossing the Line podcast.
The writings of black consciousness leader Steve Biko from the 1970s made him feel that there was a future for him and others like him in a democratic South Africa, the University of the Western Cape vice chancellor and rector, Professor Robert Balfour, told Ryland Fisher in a wide-ranging interview on the Crossing the Line podcast.
Crossing the Line is a podcast started by Fisher, media veteran and former Cape Times editor, last year and, as result of a partnership, IOL features one of the interviews every week. The latest one is with the UWC vice chancellor.
“Bear in mind that I was not reading Biko as a black person. I was reading as a white person, and as somebody from the LGBTQI community,” said Balfour.
“What impressed me was his commitment to emancipation and how that resonated with a solidarity among the oppressed. Biko wrote across the colour line and advocated a solidarity that included oppressed groups. I realised that inequality was a construct, not only in race terms.
