Human Beings Can Choose: The Life Story of Rick Turner

Statement of Intent
Human beings can choose. They can stand back and look at alternatives. Theoretically, they can choose about anything. They can choose whether to live or to die; they can choose celibacy or promiscuity, voluntary poverty or the pursuit of wealth, ice-cream or jelly. Obviously they cant always get what they choose, but that is a different question.1 - Rick Turner

The life and work of Rick Turner is an anomaly; his choices are hard to translate across the three decades since his death. He was a white anti-apartheid activist, an atheist who wrote of the Christian human model of 'loving people over things,' and converted to Islam in order to marry an Indian woman, a socialist who spoke out against the Soviet Union and its satellite states, a non-pacifist who criticized the use of armed struggle against apartheid and, most importantly, a man who stressed the impracticality of realism and the necessity of Utopian thinking.' How could a man think and act like this in the repressive atmosphere of South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s? Assassinated at the age of 36, Rick Turner lived a short life. The window in which he was able to make an influence on those around him, and the society as a whole, was very narrow. Nonetheless, for those who came into contact with them, Rick Turner's ideas had a profound effect on people's imaginations about what is possible. Since his death, his legacy has yet to take proper shape. In the severely compromised political climate following the end of apartheid, there is little room for the idealist vision that Rick Turner lived and died for. *** In the conventional biography, the presentation of lives was presumed to be objective, truthful and factually correct... The resultant linear biographical product stood as the truth' about the real individuals life.2 - Ciraj Rassool This book rejects any attempt to make such a rational, linear ordering of life, of history. My project is to tell the story of Rick Turner's life. Not only to tell the story, but to tell it with grace, to tell it beautifully, to honor his contribution to the world. The story needs to breathe, needs to call out to you in passionate prose and poetry: a man lived here, and this is what he made of his life! To do this, it is important to push the limits of what we traditionally understand to be a biography. Rather than unfolding as a dry chronology from birth to death, the structure of this book is intended to give you the feeling of being drawn in, bit by bit, allowing the curiosity to build in layers.
1

Turner, The Eye of the Needle, p. 8. C. S. Rassool, The Individual, Auto/Biography and History in South Africa (Ph.D., UWC, 2004) p 28.

Instead of handing you the definitive story of Rick Turner's life something that I frankly doubt could possibly exist I invite you to join me in the project of making meaning out of all the disparate perspectives and incomplete answers that together comprise an image of a brief, but powerful, life. Rick Turners life story begins with his death. With the actions taken and words said that drove an assassin to arrive at his door, in the middle of the night, and to put a bullet through Turners lungs. This is a biography tilted on its side, on its head. First, it moves backwards in time towards the events that caused him to be viewed as a threat to the state. The process of Turner's increasing involvement in opposing apartheid and capitalism is investigated in detail, from his upbringing on a farm outside of Cape Town, straight through till his political and philosophical writing that was covertly produced during his years as a banned person. Then the story moves forwards, towards the shifts in the movement against apartheid after his assassination, the ways Rick Turner is now remembered within the narrative of South Africa's system change, and possibilities for radical social transformation in the present moment. This book is organized, primarily, thematically. Many of these themes repeat throughout the book. For example, the section entitled The Classroom, includes stories of Turner's work as a professor, and at a later point deals with the workers' education curriculum that Turner wrote. A Murder Mystery covers all of the story relating to his banning and assassination, as well as the investigations into his murder that happened in the years following his death. The final section, The Present As History, draws links between Turner's life and contemporary social problems. This section will track the careers of his peers, the transformation of South Africa, and the problems and potential openings that currently exist. Human Beings Can Choose is narrated as a series of different voices conversing, contradicting, arguing, and interweaving: Cassette - the voices of roughly twenty different friends, family members and colleagues are presented, as spoken in interviews conducted by me. In His Own Words - Rick Turner's own voice is included, in the form of excerpts from his published and unpublished writings. Through the Eyes of Children Turner had two daughters, Jann and Kim, both of whom have written eloquently about the death of their father, and the process of trying to find his killer. Seeing Like a State - all of this will be interwoven and agitated by the documents created by the apartheid Security Police and transcripts of court proceedings that involved Rick Turner. Bird's Eye View - my own writing will be a consistent voice throughout each chapter, providing an analysis of the broader dynamics in question, and connecting Turner's story to similar situations in other places, and other times. In addition to the above voices, there are also a number of excerpts from newspaper clippings, family photographs and letters, to compliment the text. In sum, this book is a collage, a scrapbook, a recording of stories spoken by friends and family, a photo album full of portraits taken from various angles, a protest march attended by thousands of passionate protesters, a letter written lovingly by hand, sent from a dear friend.

Chapter Outline Introduction Who am I? Why am I writing the book? Who is Rick Turner? Why was he killed? PART ONE: A Murder Mystery The events leading up to Turner's death on the 8th of January, 1978. The Farm Turner's childhood on a farm outside Stellenbosch, through undergraduate years. The Classroom Turner's years in Paris studying Sartre towards a PhD, and Sartre's ideas. The Farm Turner's involvement in the UCT Sit-ins in 1968, and in the months after. PART TWO: The Tea Party reaction to black consciousness, encouraging white radical politics. The Classroom Turner's teaching style, philosophy of education, and educational projects. The Tea Party Home life, busy activist involvement, The Eye of the Needle. The Union encouraging involvement with black workers, wages commission, Durban strikes. The Present As History analysis of Turner's vision of an ideal society, and what he saw as possible openings towards such a radical transformation. PART THREE: Seeing Like a State the Schlebusch Commission and the banning of Turner and many others. The Union the 'one-dimensional heroes,' and the co-optation of the IIE. A Murder Mystery some explanations of the murder & the investigation that leads nowhere. The Present As History the movement after Turner's death, the legacy of his politics.

Conclusions the vision of an 'ideally possible society' and why we still need rick turner. Appendix information on sources cited and ways to find additional information. Chapter Summaries Introduction What kind of a man was Rick Turner? What made him special? Inevitably, for someone in his position, living and dying in opposition to the apartheid state, this question must be answered on two levels. First, there are the depictions of Rick given by his close friends and family. But then, also, there is the nagging question of how the state viewed him, why they saw him as a threat and, in the end, saw fit to kill him. These questions will recur continually throughout the book. PART ONE: A Murder Mystery: A Climate That Sanctions Killing Richard Turner was murdered in his home on the night of January 8th, 1978. The assassin knocked on the door around midnight, and then shot Turner through the window of his bedroom, as Rick peeked out to see who was there. He then ran through the house bleeding, and passed out on the floor. Jann tried to resuscitate him using mouth to mouth, but to no avail. For some moments afterwards, the telephone did not get any dial tone, and by the time she got through to the police, her father was already

dead. When the police arrived, they were gruff and cold. They filed a report claiming that it was an accidental death. Turner's assassination happened within a broader context of escalating state repression. Just a few months before Turner's death, Steve Biko was murdered in custody and a series of Black Consciousness activists and sympathetic whites were banned. One of these whites, journalist Donald Woods, managed to flee the country with his family just one week before Turner's death, on the 1st of January, 1978. Fatima Meer, a lifelong Indian activist and close friend of Turner, survived a firebomb attack on her house just a few days before Rick was killed. The Farm: Home Richard Turner was born on the 25th of September 1941 in Cape Town. A child of British migrants, he was raised in many ways in a typical, colonial upbringing. Isolated in the white middle class society of Western Cape liberalism, Turner moved from a private boarding school to UCT. He was raised on a farm, but did minimal farm labour, preferring books and conversation, already in his teenage years. While his father died young, his stern but loving mother provided him with ample room to explore his initial desires and to pursue his studies in philosophy. The Classroom: A Thrilling Time Rick Turner received his Ph.D. in philosophy at the Sorbonne, in Paris. His Study of Jean-Paul Sartre proved to be fundamental to his overall world-view, and to his later involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle. Turner absorbed Sartre's ideas and approach towards politics on a number of levels, including his distaste for authoritarianism, his disregard for property, and most fundamentally his sense that human beings have the freedom to choose their values and the society that they would like. The Farm: Coming Home In 1966, having completed his studies, he responded to his mother's request and returned home to help manage the family farm, outside of Stellenbosch. While his career as a farmer was short-lived, and he quickly returned to the university setting, his time at the farm included a number of engaging connections with leftist students and Afrikaner intellectuals, from both the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch. When the students took over the administration building at the University of Cape Town, in 1968, Turner taught at the Free University initiated by the sit-ins, and the classes continued out at his family farm, in Stellenbosch, in the months that followed. PART TWO: The Tea Party: Whites First Rick Turner wrote that, The paradigm for human relationships in white South Africa is the tea party in which the white ladies coo properly over the maid's cakes and circulate pre-digested opinions about 'the servant problem.' Not an idea, not a moment of communication, troubles the smooth, empty atmosphere. Rick Turner defied expectations, and refused to comply with the dictates and perks of a privileged person in an unjust society. His commitment to equality led him to develop relationships with black South Africans that were unusually respectful and collaborative amongst white people at the time. His marriage to Foszia Fisher a so-called half-caste in the eyes of the state violated three separate apartheid laws. He refused absolutely to enter whites' only spaces, taking his children to the Indian beach and the only movie theatre in town that allowed for mixed-race seating. Further, he insisted on never having a black domestic servant of any kind, and consciously lived a simple, frugal

lifestyle. The Classroom: Un-Training Rick Turner wrote that, "There is no body of key facts that have to be learned in some special order. What has to be learned is a particular way of thinking, the ability to analyse, to think critically, and to think creatively. And if there were a body of key facts children would not learn them in school." As a professor, Turner based his teaching on raising important questions, rather than on lecture. He spoke clearly, avoiding slogans and stiff, inaccessible formulations. Turner believed strongly in people's capacity for rational thought, and their ability to think critically about foundational issues, such as race, economics and freedom. His teaching was grounded in a deep critique of authoritarian methods of education, and a deep striving for equality in his relationships. Turner was an unusually popular lecture, and developed a supportive relationship to white students involved in nusas. The Tea Party: A Very Busy Time When speaking before the government commission which decided to ban Turner, Biko, and a number of other activists, Turner was asked:
Commission: In fact, you are politically a very active man, is that correct? Turner: I would say active, for an academic on an English campus very active. Commission: Could you explain that please? Turner: Well, most of the academics are not very active or are completely inactive. So relatively speaking I am very active.

In addition to his role as a professor, Rick Turner was also involved in a number of educational and activist initiatives outside of the classroom. When teaching in Durban, Turner initiated a number of extra-curriculum forums for study and debate, principally a monthly inter-racial discussion forum called Platform. He also founded the Education Reform Association, for public school teachers. Turner was also on the board of the Gandhi family's Phoenix Farm, north of Durban, and ran political education courses on the farm during school breaks. The Union: A Concrete Alternative Rick Turner believed that, There is only one sphere in which Africans do have potential power and in which their power potential is in fact growing: This is within the economy. He saw the growing wealth of apartheid society as necessarily producing an increasingly skilled working class, capable of organizing against capital and in their own interests. As Nusas students at the University of Natal grew sympathetic to this analysis, a number of them grew increasingly involved in labour organizing. Their first initiative was the Wages Commission, a student organization that interviewed black workers in various occupations and made recommendations to them and to the government wages board that the workers ought to be given a living wage. The Present As History Rick Turner wrote that, In order to theorize about society perhaps the first step (psychologically) we have to make is to grasp the present as history. History is not something that has just come to end. In

stark contrast to the predominantly reformist politics of the time, Rick Turners vision for a desirable future for South Africa called for a profound reshaping of the boundaries of possibility for social change. Rick Turner is most well known for writing, The Eye of the Needle: Toward Participatory Democracy in South Africa. It was written for a Christian, liberal study group. Responding to their cautious opposition to apartheid, Turner implored, on page one, "Let us, for once, stop asking what the whites can be persuaded to do, what concessions, other things being equal, they may make, and instead explore the absolute limits of possibility by sketching an ideally just society." Turner then proceeded to describe his ideally just society as one in which hierarchy is eliminated as much as possible; a radically de-centralized polity and economy, which would rely on widespread structures of cooperative decision-making and management. PART THREE: Seeing Like a State In an attempt to stem the tide of increasingly radical politics emerging in Durban, the apartheid state carried out a wave of bannings in 1973, including a number of white student activists, Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, and Rick Turner. As a form of repressing intelligent dissidents, the South African state used banning orders to neutralize people. Perhaps even more effective than arrests and assassinations which often have the effect of making martyrs out of rebels banning sought to isolate and silence people. As a banned person, Turner was forbidden to teach, write, or be quoted in any way. He was not allowed to meet with more than one person at a time that wasnt a family member. He was required to stay within white society, unable to leave his district without official clearance from the police, under 24 hour surveillance by the security forces and habitually harassed in various ways. Although the state attempted to isolate him entirely, Rick Turner remained active and prolific throughout the five years of his banning. He published a book about the Durban Strikes, started the South African Labour Bulletin, and wrote a number of political articles under assumed names. He continued his study of philosophy, writing 500 pages of a manuscript analysing the philosophical roots of Sartre, and learning German in order to read texts in their original language. Furthermore, Rick Turners house remained a community space throughout the banning years, shared by friends, and visited often by activists seeking his advice. The Union: One-dimensional Heroes In January of 1973, a wave of wildcat strikes spread throughout the Durban area, involving more than 150 factories and roughly 100,000 workers. The strikes were spontaneously organized, without union leadership or control, and generally sought wage increases of upwards of 100%. The strikes were not suppressed violently, and workers in most factories received at least some increase in their wage. Rick Turner, working in collaboration with others, undertook a thorough study of the strikes, and published a book about his findings. The most public expression of Turner's clandestine educational initiatives during the banning years was the Institute for Industrial Education (IIE). The IIE was a correspondence course for black workers to study the history and structure of South African capitalism and worker's organizations. Turner wrote all of the curriculum for the IIE, and was crucial in shaping the direction of the organisation. The IIE was run by Turner's wife, Foszia Fisher, and a number of his close friends were on the board. While Turner intended the IIE to be available to all workers, and for the material to be open to interpretation by all students, the nascent trade unions saw the IIE as tangential and ill-conceived. The union leadership saw

the function of educating workers to be simply about teaching them the skills necessary to organize and run a union. The unions struggled to control the IIE, and then promptly shut the project down when it was under their control. A Murder Mystery
The man with the gun walks free away soft across the wet grass between the policemen who smiled and turned to cover you with their blanket. He's dead I said but they said nothing... we are not alone in our hurting, our incomprehension we are not alone in our anger we are bound, we burn together with strength with our wild fury and so I, scarred with my father's blood, I know what I must fight. Jann Turner

Building on the unsuccessful work of the private investigator hired by the family, and the tireless efforts of Rick's mother Jane, as an adult, Jann also threw herself into the investigation. In 1993, Jann Turner returned to South Africa, and ended up travelling all over southern Africa searching for the members of the security police that may have carried out the killing. Jann did extensive research, and met a number of potential killers, but found no solid leads. Furthermore, she encountered a police force that remained unwillingly to assist in her investigation, and while she was in the country the much loved leader of the ANC's military wing, Chris Hani, was assassinated. Rick Turner's case was brought before the TRC, but the commission ruled inconclusively. The Present as History

The death of Rick Turner signalled the end of an era of resistance in South Africa. The majority of organizations that he had been a part of or had influenced were either finished or so severely hammered by repressive measures as to be rendered virtually unrecognisable. Ironically, the brutal repression of independent and non-violent opposition groups (which thrived in the absence of the African National Congress and the Communist Party) led to a resurgence of armed struggle and commitment to the banned ANC and SACP. By choosing to repress absolutely everything the apartheid State breathed fresh life into their supposed worst enemies. In the years after Turner's death, the movement against apartheid grew generally much more powerful, but also more centralized, more 'united,' and 'disciplined' under the leadership of the ANC, the Communist Party, and the trade unions. In contemporary South Africa, the hell of apartheid has given way to a new desert of possibilities. After the ANC became a legal organization in 1990, and many of the top leaders returned to the country, the negotiations became public, and took on much more importance. During this period, the mass organizations created by the movement within South Africa were almost entirely dismantled, as more and more power was placed within the hands of the ANC elite at the negotiating table. Essentially cut off from any popular participation, the ANC leadership moved forward with a carefully orchestrated transfer of power. Once in power, the ANC has steadily implemented a series of policy decisions which maintain the highest level of inequality in the world, forcing free-market 'austerity' on the country's poorest, abandoning them to sprawling squatter camps, unemployment, and a galling lack of social

services. The current governing alliance is deeply stagnated, hemmed in by their own frightening mix of socialist rhetoric, Stalinist organizational principles and capitalist policies. Conclusions I have been deeply inspired by Rick Turner's ethical choices. There are a number of ethical positions that Turner articulated that resonate with me: place more value in people than things, and strive to share property as fully as possible; use dialogue to stimulate critical thought and change values; avoid, to the greatest extent possible, authoritarian and hierarchical methods of working together; and a corresponding trust in 'the educative function of participation,' the ability of people to develop the capacity to control their own lives through the act of collaboration. These are, indeed, troublingly quiet times. It is tempting to drift into the numb comfort of cynicism. But simply naming the moral depravity of our times is not enough. The only escape from cynicism, at this point, lies in utopian thought, in articulating and defending a vision of an 'ideally possible society.' Appendix Cite all sources. Include short excerpts of secondary materials on Rick Turner, such as from the memorial lectures given about him, funeral speeches, and academic articles.

For whom? And why now? We are in a moment in history when the problems of both the present and future are daunting, and fresh ideas are in dire need. The recent elections in South Africa recorded the lowest percentage of votes for the African National Congress since Nelson Mandela's triumphant victory in 1994. Many municipalities saw record numbers of spoiled ballots, implying a longing for an alternative that isn't visible in the present moment. There is in the country a marked weariness in relation to the perceived limitations of party politics and neoliberal economic policies. Meanwhile, the story of South Africa's struggle against apartheid is solidifying through a rather narrow lens, which places a heavy emphasis on the role of the ANC. This weariness, this searching for alternatives, is increasingly a global phenomenon. A story which can revive the ideas and efforts of a man who lived outside of the entrenched cold war logics of capitalism vs. communism will have broad appeal. Furthermore, a book which can shed light on a neglected and Utopian moment will be enticing to people who are interested in radically transforming our society. Rick Turner's story marks an important intersection between a number of different strands of the movement against apartheid. Primarily, his impact was amongst white liberals and radicals, and particularly young people in the student movement. However, he also had a role within the initial attempts at labour organizing in the early 1970s, the radical Black left, the Indian community, and a wide array of educational alternatives. Turner raised a number of fundamental questions about the role of privileged people in struggle, and about the nature of an ideal society, many of which have yet to be adequately assimilated into the political conversations in South Africa since his death. Turner was active in a period of years that are now referred to as the Durban Moment. The Durban Moment was marked by an unusually high level of protest activity in a short period, and in particular by the development of a politics that was increasingly radical in its rejection of both racialism and capitalism, while remaining apathetic towards or even hostile to the traditional Nationalist and Communist structures. 2013 marks the fortieth anniversary of the wildcat strikes that spread through over 100 factories in the summer of 1973, which was a high point of the Durban Moment. The dynamics of this period of protest (and the production of radical proposals that came with it during that period) is important to grapple with at this moment in history, because they offer an alternative to the narrow, sterile definitions of radicalism that have proliferated since Turner's death, and which continue to linger in our present stagnating political atmosphere. As of yet, no extensive study of Rick Turner's life has ever been published. While his daughter Jann produced a short biographical documentary, there is no biography of Rick Turner. Aside from a handful of academic articles and a series of memorial lectures, no extensive piece of writing on Turner yet exists, and much of what does exists is limited to the academy. The general climate of political biography in South Africa is focused principally on the stories of a sort of cannon of heroes, and the dramatics of their armed struggle against the apartheid state. There are of course exceptions, but the majority of titles reflect this strong trend. Included in this trend are the numerous books on Mandela's life, a biography and multiple collections of essays on Steve Biko, the biography of Thabo Mbeki, In a Different Time (the story of an ANC assassin squad) and most recently Hani: A Life Too Short. Regarding white participants, the trend is to capture the stories either of liberals, or of those affiliated with the ANC. Liberal Parliamentarian Helen Suzman, fiction writer and life-long liberal Alan Paton and Donald Woods, the editor of the liberal East London paper, The Daily

Dispatch all have biographies. Amongst ANC whites, titles include: Steven Clingman's famous biography of Bram Fischer, (the white communist lawyer for Mandela, et. al) the autobiography of ANC member and supreme court judge, Albie Sachs, Strange Alchemy of Life & Law, and ANC/SACP leader Joe Slovo's Unfinished Autobiography. In other words, to tell the story of Rick Turner's life is to bring attention to a time period (the 'above ground' oppositional work of the 1970s) and a trajectory of politics (namely, radical and unaligned to any party) that receives scant attention presently. This of course marks both a challenge and an opportunity. For those of us interested in articulating and bringing to life an autonomous politics one that rejects authoritarian methods and dogmatic Parties and structures Rick Turner's story is a vital contribution to our understanding of South African history. Very little of what exists in other countries of an anarchist tradition, has taken hold in South Africa in the last century. Turner's idealist vision of socialism, articulated without membership in any party, with an emphasis on de-centralization, cooperation, and the maximum possible reduction of hierarchies, is therefore one of the most vibrant expressions of an autonomous politics to come to life in South Africa. Furthermore, it is important that Turner's ideas (and his efforts in struggle) are not fixed solely within the narrative of the anti-apartheid struggle. I am attempting to produce a book which can successfully straddle the line between academic study and people's history. This book is thorough enough in its scope, and in the disciplined methods of research involved to be useful to serious scholars of South African history. The structure of the book draws heavily on innovative artistic ideas, and the prose is clear and simple, so as to be engaging to students and socially engaged thinkers internationally. It is my intention that the book can be available not only in South Africa, but also in Europe and North America, as many of the themes addressed are universal. Minor Compositions is well suited to take part in the publication of a work about Rick Turner, because you already understand the significance of Utopian theory and the necessity of fusing this vision to social movements. Furthermore, you clearly understand the need to present radical politics, and historical analysis with a careful attention to aesthetics, so as not to imprison our political imagination in a dry and vacuous coffin.

Practical Details The first draft of the manuscript is roughly two-thirds done. My aim is to be finished by the end of the year at the very latest. The remaining chapters (part three) have already been substantially written, but need to be revised and polished. As my work is so heavily reliant on interviews with friends and family, I am making sure all the relevant people get a chance to read the chapters as they are completed, and make suggestions for revision. So, what I'm calling a first draft, is actually in all cases a second draft. I am expecting the final product to be roughly 100,000 words, and including about two dozen scanned archival materials, including police surveillance files, newspaper clippings, and personal documents and photos from the family. My vision for the layout and design of the book is very much linked to my understanding of the politics behind telling the story of one man's life and particularly of a life lived in struggle. It feels essential that the aesthetics of the book convey the way in which the overall narrative is comprised of various voices, which both support and contradict one another, weaving together into a cohesive (but not always comprehensive, and even chaotic, at times) collage. I have been working with a graphic design collaborator, who has produced the design attached in the sample chapters. She is willing to do all of the design work, but is also willing to collaborate or cede her role, if there is a feeling that the layout should be modified in some way. I have received positive confirmation from two different presses in South Africa (one academic and one socialist) that they are interested in publishing the book, and are awaiting the final manuscript. Therefore, I would ask Minor Compositions to act as a co-publisher. The South African publisher would take care of all the work of production, as well as promotion and distribution within South Africa, and Minor Compositions would only need to take responsibility for promotion and distribution within Europe. I am of course willing to make myself available for any amount of touring to give talks/workshops, and to otherwise help get the book out into the world. I have quite a bit of experience with radical publishing in the United States, including running a zine press for some years, publishing a book through an anarchist press (Eberhardt press in Portland) and collaborating on the production of a people's history book (Firebrands) through the Justseeds artists' collective. As such, I am able to do a lot in North America to promote my book and get it distributed on that side of the Atlantic.

Author Information I am a writer by choice. I have been writing since my days as a frustrated and passionate teenager, churning out poetry zines and ranting pamphlets. As I've matured as a writer, my work has taken on many forms, but generally has been focused on thoughtful investigations of history. I choose to write in order to tell stories of people's efforts to liberate themselves from the many constraints that assault all of us throughout a lifetime. My first book, A Problem of Memory: Stories to End the Racial Nightmare, firmly established my ability to present history in a passionate and carefully researched manner. Rooted in conversations with students, educators, organizers and historians, this book connects the transportation of Irish people to the New World with the Haitian revolution, John Browns resistance against slavery, and present day struggles to end racial disparities. A central focal point of the book is Frederick Douglass High School, an all-black (and officially "failing") school in the now infamous 9th Ward of New Orleans. Published in 2007 by Eberhardt Press (Portland, OR) A Problem of Memory has sold all of the copies of the first printing. On the strength of A Problem of Memory, I was invited to write the introduction to Firebrands: Portraits from the Americas, published 2010 by the Justseeds Artists Collective. My master's thesis on Richard Turner, entitled, Richard Turner's Influence on a Socialist Political Culture in South Africa: 1968-1978" was completed in July, 2010. The thesis passed, with distinction and was praised by both of the examiners. Prof. Leslie Witz, the internal examiner, described the thesis as, a fine nuanced piece of work, based upon extensive research, delving through and discovering new archival material, carrying out some marvelous interviews in South Africa, London and Canada... and doing a close reading of texts. Noted historian and Professor, Christopher Saunders, described the thesis as, an excellent piece of work, and went on to say, As far as I know, this is now the best work on Rick Turner and I think it deserves to be published in some form. It is clearly written and well structured... A full biography of Turner is very much needed. Based on the success of my thesis, I have been working since 2010 on deepening my previous research (over half a dozen new interviews and over 500 pages of additional archival material) and producing a manuscript for a full-length biography of Turner. Towards this end, I received a writing grant from the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and produced a short essay for them, entitled, Thinking More Than the State Allows: Radical Politics in These Troublingly Quiet Times. The full version is available online: http://anarchiststudies.org/node/502. Additionally, I received support for this project from 50 different people on Kickstarter. (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/49143607/thinking-more-than-the-state-allows-a-life-story). I have also been granted a number of fellowships at Artist Residencies, including: The Hermit Lab (Killaloe, ON); The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst, VA) and The Stonehouse Center for Contemporary Arts (Miramonte, CA).

Taylor Sparrow wishes he was born in a different place, in a different time. not any specific country, or any specific era. just not here, and not now.

By the time I was old enough to understand my 'people' and my society... I knew that I didn't want to be a part of many of the things that they believe in and do. *
"'Be careful what you set your heart upon,' someone once said to me, 'for it will surely be yours.' Well, I had said that I was going to be a writer, God, Satan, Mississippi notwithstanding, and that color did not matter, and that I was going to be free. And, here I was, left with only myself to deal with. It was entirely up to me." - James Baldwin I have set my heart upon being a writer. Rooted in a belief that history is a human need, and the present system is undesirable, I write in order to tell the stories of people's efforts towards liberation. ** Seeing as how stories are made, are told rather than proven with all the delightfully powerful and silly sides included i insist that writing is neither a profession nor a hobby, and most certainly not a science. So then this craft that is the creating and weaving of words, wrangling it all together till beauty and meaning are there, well, then, this is art. it must be. And art is it must be in defiance of human misery, of the stifling of possibilities. *** ...and this time like the first time like every stumbling moment along the way I speak in order to learn what it is that I want to say.