I don't know how it happened in the rest of the world, but I can tell you about one small place. It is called Diepsloot, a volatile informal settlement on the edge of Johannesburg where I have been spending some time. Here it all began with a couple of people who started a small radio station which gave voice to the 200 000 forgotten people of the shanties, and gave them a way to be heard that did not involve violence. At first they used the radio to talk to each other, then they used it to talk to the politicians, and call them to explain themselves. They started using mobile phones to alert people to events, and let them talk on the radio. And they started doing investigative journalism: where are the houses, and the taps, and the clinics, they asked. Then they used it to organise themselves ...
Anton Harber
(whose book, Diepsloot, is due to be published in May)
Postcard image info
Photo by Alon Skuy
Author: Anton Harber
