Rick Turner (philosopher)
Encyclopedia
Richard Turner known as Rick Turner, was a South African philosopher who was allegedly assassinated by the apartheid state in 1978. Nelson Mandela
described Turner "as a source of inspiration".
in 1963 attaining a B.A. Honours. He continued his studies at the Sorbonne
in Paris
where he received a doctorate for a dissertation on the French intellectual, Jean-Paul Sartre
.
He returned to South Africa in 1966 and worked on his mother’s farm in Stellenbosch for two years before lecturing at the universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Rhodes. He moved to Natal in 1970 and become a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Natal and in that same year he met Steve Biko
and the two formed a close relationship.
Turner became a prominent academic at the University and assumed a leading role in South African political science and published a number of papers. His work was written from a radical existential perspective and stressed the virtues of bottom up popular democracy
against authoritarian Stalinist and Trotskyist strands of leftism. He was a strong advocate of workers control and a critic of the reduction of politics to party politics.
In 1972 Turner wrote a book called The Eye of the Needle - Towards Participatory Democracy In South Africa. The South African authorities thought that the book exercised a strong influence on opposition thinking with its plea for a radically democratic and non-racial South Africa. Such a society, he argued, would liberate whites as well as blacks.
In 1973 he published a widely influential article titled "Dialectical Reason", in the British journal Radical Philosophy
. In the same year he was banned by the South African authorities for five years. He was not allowed to visit his two daughters or his mother and had to stay in the Durban area. Even though he was banned this did not stop him from speaking out and in April 1973 Turner and other banned individuals staged an Easter fast to illustrate the sufferings that bannings impose on people. The fast was supported by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. After his bannings Dr Turner was kept on the staff at the University even though he was not allowed to lecture.
He attended the Saso terrorism trial of nine Black Consciousness movement leaders as a defence witness in March 1976 where he expounded on theories expressed in The Eye of the Needle. In November 1976 Dr Turner received a Humboldt Fellowship, one of the world’s leading academic awards from Heidelberg University, but after months of negotiating with the Minister of Justice was refused permission to travel to Germany.
In September 1977 Steve Biko was murdered by the apartheid police.
On January 8, 1978, Turner was shot through a window of his home in Dalton Avenue, Bellair, and died in the arms of his 13-year old daughter, Jann. After months of investigations police investigations turned up with no clues, and his killers were never identified. However it is widely believed that he was murdered by the apartheid security police.
He is recognised as the most significant academic philosopher to have come out of South Africa. His work is still read in popular radical movements and leading South African academics like Anthony Fluxman, Mabogo Percy More, Andrew Nash and Peter Vale have continued to make use of his work.
Turner's first wife, Barbara Follett, later became a British Labour Party
Member of Parliament.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
described Turner "as a source of inspiration".
Life
Turner graduated from the University of Cape TownUniversity of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
in 1963 attaining a B.A. Honours. He continued his studies at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he received a doctorate for a dissertation on the French intellectual, Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
.
He returned to South Africa in 1966 and worked on his mother’s farm in Stellenbosch for two years before lecturing at the universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Rhodes. He moved to Natal in 1970 and become a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Natal and in that same year he met Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
and the two formed a close relationship.
Turner became a prominent academic at the University and assumed a leading role in South African political science and published a number of papers. His work was written from a radical existential perspective and stressed the virtues of bottom up popular democracy
Popular democracy
Popular democracy is a notion of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will. The concept evolved out of the political philosophy of Populism, as a fully democratic version of this popular empowerment ideology, but since it has become...
against authoritarian Stalinist and Trotskyist strands of leftism. He was a strong advocate of workers control and a critic of the reduction of politics to party politics.
In 1972 Turner wrote a book called The Eye of the Needle - Towards Participatory Democracy In South Africa. The South African authorities thought that the book exercised a strong influence on opposition thinking with its plea for a radically democratic and non-racial South Africa. Such a society, he argued, would liberate whites as well as blacks.
In 1973 he published a widely influential article titled "Dialectical Reason", in the British journal Radical Philosophy
Radical Philosophy
Radical Philosophy is a British academic journal of critical theory and continental philosophy, appearing six times a year. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movements of the 1960s, in philosophy...
. In the same year he was banned by the South African authorities for five years. He was not allowed to visit his two daughters or his mother and had to stay in the Durban area. Even though he was banned this did not stop him from speaking out and in April 1973 Turner and other banned individuals staged an Easter fast to illustrate the sufferings that bannings impose on people. The fast was supported by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. After his bannings Dr Turner was kept on the staff at the University even though he was not allowed to lecture.
He attended the Saso terrorism trial of nine Black Consciousness movement leaders as a defence witness in March 1976 where he expounded on theories expressed in The Eye of the Needle. In November 1976 Dr Turner received a Humboldt Fellowship, one of the world’s leading academic awards from Heidelberg University, but after months of negotiating with the Minister of Justice was refused permission to travel to Germany.
In September 1977 Steve Biko was murdered by the apartheid police.
On January 8, 1978, Turner was shot through a window of his home in Dalton Avenue, Bellair, and died in the arms of his 13-year old daughter, Jann. After months of investigations police investigations turned up with no clues, and his killers were never identified. However it is widely believed that he was murdered by the apartheid security police.
He is recognised as the most significant academic philosopher to have come out of South Africa. His work is still read in popular radical movements and leading South African academics like Anthony Fluxman, Mabogo Percy More, Andrew Nash and Peter Vale have continued to make use of his work.
Turner's first wife, Barbara Follett, later became a British Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of Parliament.
Writing by Rick Turner
- What is Political Philosophy?, Radical, 1968
- The Eye of the Needle, 1972
- http://www.sahistory.org.za/r-turner/pdfs/Dialectical%20reason.pdfDialectical Reason, Radical PhilosophyRadical PhilosophyRadical Philosophy is a British academic journal of critical theory and continental philosophy, appearing six times a year. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movements of the 1960s, in philosophy...
, No.4., 1973] - The Relevance of Contemporary Radical Thought, SPRO-CAS, 1971
Articles on Rick Turner
- Philosophy & the Crisis in South Africa, M.A. Nupen, 1988
- Richard Turner and the Politics of Emancipation, Duncan Greeves, 1987
- Biographical introduction in 'The eye of the needle' by Tony Morphet, 1980
- Brushing Against the Grain: Oppositional Discourse in South Africa by Tony Morphet, 1990
- The Moment of Western Marxism by Andrew Nash, 1999
- Re-Reading Rick Turner in the New South Africa, by Tony Fluxman and Peter Vale, 2004
- Black Consciousness in Dialogue: Steve Biko, Richard Turner and the ‘Durban Moment’ in South Africa, 1970 – 1974, Ian McQueen, SOAS, 2009