The narrative power of journalist James Cameron’s 1966 book, Witness — an account of the Vietnam War from the perspective of Hanoi — is captured in a line that cuts to the heart of every human enterprise: "Once you turn all the political value judgments into terms of people, they become both simpler and more difficult." Ideology, powerful as it was, failed to illuminate the lives of the North Vietnamese, even if, with their village committees and labour heroes, they seemed possessed of all the cheerless ardour of their Marxist revolution. What really impels people, though, can be easily mistaken, especially when those who presume to speak for them make political value judgments that appear at once authentic and popular. The contrast is sharply drawn in SA today as we strive to leave the past behind and make a better future, which was the subject of a recent address by Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa on transforming the heritage landscape to "affirm and validate African iden...
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