Disputing the notion of a 'miracle' transition in South Africa, the author argues that the new South Africa had to happen as it did because of the socio-historical make-up of the country and the leading players involved.He identifies and explains some of the turning points at which critical choices were made by local and international forces. Alexander, a former leading political activist and commentator who spent time on Robben Island, goes beyond what he calls 'the effervescence of parliamentary debate and grandstanding' and explores a range of issues in post-apartheid South Africa including national identity and the rainbow nation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the role and status of language, showing the volatility, the tentativeness, and the fluidity of the evolving situation. Neville Alexander teaches at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town

Neville Alexander is not a household name, but he should be. As a revolutionary public intellectual, activist and former political prisoner, he is among the most important theorists of racial capitalism to emerge during the struggle against Apartheid. Alexander's writings engage with some of the important debates in South Africa from the last 50 years, many of which have international resonance today: from the unresolved national question and the relationship between 'race' and class; the continuities of racial capitalism in post-apartheid South Africa; the role and purpose of schooling and higher education; and the importance of nation building and multilingualism. An opponent of the neoliberal trajectory embarked upon by the post-apartheid establishment in the 1990s, Alexander was always reflective and humble but never wavered from his own self-description: a non-dogmatic Marxist, pan-Africanist and internationalist. This carefully curated collection brings his incredible body of work to an international audience for the first time. It features a comprehensive introduction, a timeline of key events in the life of Alexander, selected articles, speeches, op-eds, book chapters and a bibliography of his writings.

This book brings together the contributions of twelve scholars engaged in language activism, in research and in promoting peace. The writers are keenly attuned to the potentially genocidal consequences of language differences. In the articles they have written, they make compelling cases for indigenous non-hegemonic languages to be used and promoted, not only as a means of communication but to preserve the multilingual communities inhabiting the world. The book is a product of a collegial effort resulting from a symposium on Language Policy and the Promotion of Peace or the Prevention of Conflict, which was held at the University of Osnabruck, Germany, in 2011. While many different `angles of vision', positions, approaches and emphases are argued in the contributors' commentaries and in their case studies, the twelve scholars and activists are united in their call for a multilingual global habitus. Neville Edward Alexander, the principal editor of this compilation, spent about 30 years studying and making policy proposals about the language question in South Africa. In that country, eleven languages are officially recognised by the post-apartheid government, and yet only two, English and Afrikaans, enjoy high-status functions in official communications. Alexander persistently called for mother-tongue instruction for children in their formative years of schooling. Sadly, this radical scholar and acknowledged sociologist of language died of lung cancer while he was working on this volume in 2012. Arnulf von Scheliha, the co-editor of this compilation, is professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Osnabruck in Germany. His main research topics are political ethics, interreligious hermeneutics, history of theology, and transformation of religion in pluralistic societies. He was the main organiser of the symposium that brought international scholars together to reflect on language policy and the promotion of peace, and that provided the wide-ranging 'raw material' for this book.