The Medu Festival Edition has been termed as such because it contains some of the best articles, poems and short stories collected in earlier editions. This is Medu's contribution to the Culture and Resistance Festival of 1982. The aim of the festival was to showcase examples of the rich cultural heritage of southern Africa. The display of art and culture aims to challenge the brutal and systemic repression of the cultural life faced by the oppressed in South Africa. This edition contains a range of poetry and short stories each poignantly reflecting on the tumult of the 1980s. The poetry and prose of Mongane Serote, John Donne, Miles Pelo, Mafika Gwala and Mandlenkosi Langa are included. The edition is ended with an interview with Thami Mnyele and graphics from Medu members. Front page graphic a collection of Medu poster arranged by the Medu Art Collective on silkcreen.
Nadine Gordimer writes this insightful paper on the key concepts of "relevance" and "commitment" in relation to black and white writers. She argues that black writers write from their communities and have daily lives which are embedded within relevant contexts. So too, their commitment to black liberation is innate. She suggests that white writers ought to break out of white value systems and a false consciousness to create relevant art and to openly admit that their experience as being white is of a different order to being black. These are the imperatives which both black and white writers face. The whole aim of art, in its attainment of truth and essence, requires the white writer to attain a true consciousness so that both black and white writers may work for the same end.
This document, composed by the Medu Art Collective, is a political input calling for a cultural boycott against Apartheid. This boycott aims at foreign artistic or cultural groups touring South Africa, boycotting the Apartheid government's cultural events and for progressive organisations to collectively and diligently organise these boycotts against Apartheid.
In this paper, it is argued that the theatre of Athol Fugard very rarely engages with the experiences of the proleteriat and the oppressed. The author argues that while Fugard did manage to transcend racial categories in his early work and engaged extensively with the scene and identities of the black working classes, he has failed to consistently produce meaningful plays which engage these audiences.
The title of this Medu special edition is "No to the White Republic, Yes to the People's Republic". While PW Botha held celebrations for the anniversary of the Apartheid republic, Medu used this edition to say "Stop the Republic Day Festival". Bachana Mokwena's article on the 20th anniversary of the "bloodthirsty republic" gives a strong historical background to the processes of the republics formation, and the united opposition against it. Further, John Donne writes about Grigori Oganov's insight into the relationship between culture and resistance and between art, artists and their communities. Artworks by Thami Mnyele and Judy Seidman are included throughout the publication, including a sharp and graphic description of black life in South Africa entitled "Fragments: A Brief Comment on Black Lives in South Africa" by Thami Mnyele. Front page graphic by Judy Seidman and the Medu Art Collective.
The central thrust behind this newsletter by the Medu Art Ensemble is the need to do art collectively and with a consciousness about community. The poetry section includes "Out of the faceless ghettos" by Bachana Mokwena. In this poem, his constant refrain to "Momma" reflects on the personal and structural pain of Apartheid through alternating between the words "momma", "mother" and "motherland". Here he laments the long history of racial oppression, the scars on Momma's back and the near-freedom which he grasps. A short story by Tebogo Mosabako entitled "Moshupa Story" relays a story of a young man in Moshupa Botswana, who through an act of goodwill receives care and reciprocity. In the section "Art Review", Dimakatso Dimakatso reviews Penny Miller's "Myths and Legends of Southern Africa", which, it is argued, reinforces the racist myths and legends of southern Africa. Es'kia Mpahlele's "Chirundu", a novel about the "entire process of life" in an (un-named) newly independent African state, is reviewed by Njabulo Ndebele. Each of these artforms presented in this edition speak to community, change, resistance and creativity.
