#fifty years

The toast of the day

The students of 1976 had challenged a system. The system remained standing throughout the 1980s and early 90s. Every year, when June 16 came around, adults would tell us about the bravery of the students who marched through Soweto. We learned about Hector Pieterson, the 13-year-old boy whose limp body you have probably seen in that iconic Sam Nzima photo, shot dead during the protest, carried by high school student Mbuyisa Makhubo, Hector’s sister Antoinette Sithole, running alongside them, wailing. We learned about Tsietsi Mashinini, a prominent student leader. We learned that young people had helped change the course of a country. What I remember most is the feeling that they were not much older than we were. As children, we are taught that history is made by presidents, generals, and famous leaders. The story of Soweto taught us something different. It taught us that history can be made by schoolchildren carrying placards. It can be made by teenagers refusing to accept what adults tell them is inevitable. That lesson mattered.

First Reds

Happy 50 years to a legendary animation studio Aardman

Now or Never