PICTURE: THINKSTOCK All over the world, the frustration of those who feel excluded or socially disinherited seems to be exploding into a populist, often incoherent fury, from redneck Donald Trumpery in the US to xenophobic movements all over Europe. In SA, ironically, this rage is being vented by those who, after the fall of apartheid, might have been expected to have benefited the most: black university students. Yet the anger of these young people, now erupting into violence, is the surest indicator of our social and political crisis.In his great 1963 essay, African American writer James Baldwin tried to warn of the growing black anger in the US, fuelled to a great extent by white complacency and indifference. Baldwin concluded, quoting an old slave song: God gave Noah the rainbow sign; No more water, the fire next time!SA, of course, has been hailed misleadingly as the Rainbow Nation and we are suffering a devastating drought. But you don’t need to be an Old Testament prophet to ...
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