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The University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted its second annual Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture, delivered by Professor Stephen Clingman, a distinguished biographer of Bram Fischer and professor of English literature at the University of Massachusetts in the USA.

The lecture, titled ‘Bram Fischer, Or What Happens When the World Becomes Inhospitable’, sought to examine the anti-apartheid struggle icon’s enduring relevance in both a South African and global context. The lecture was delivered on 11 October 2023 at the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. Renowned author and advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi provided a thoughtful response.

Professor Danie Brand, Director of the UFS Free State Centre for Human Rights, expressed gratitude to the late struggle hero for his immense contribution to shaping South African society, saying, "Thank you to Bram Fischer for the life that he led, and what he did for all of us during that life, and for the example his life – now long past – is still for all of us today."

What happens when the world becomes inhospitable?

In his lecture, Prof Clingman provided a deeper understanding of Bram Fischer's life and posed a thought-provoking question: "Without denying his origins or the history he came from, he did what he could to change the foundations on which that world existed. On one level, his attempt was to give the name of ‘Afrikaner’ – what its literal meaning suggested – the reality of being ‘African’... He wanted to change the inhospitable world but, in the end, the world became inhospitable to him. What can we learn from his story now?"

Prof Clingman is the author of the biography Bram Fischer: Afrikaner Revolutionary, which was co-winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa's premier non-fiction prize, in 1999.

Continuing his exploration of Fischer's life, Prof Clingman explained, "Bram was looking for a way to make the globe better, more inclusive, more rational. There are anomalies everywhere one looks, and Bram Fischer certainly had his own. He was looking to a world beyond anomaly, unified under a grand and rational idea of liberty. Despite the anomalies, he was not wrong to hope for that, and he lived in a different time when such hope – perhaps naive in some ways – was still part of a general legacy of thought. The journey was not and could not be straightforward. What happens when the world becomes inhospitable? Bram Fischer was on a journey to find a solution to that question. How he did so, with all its complications, is part of his legacy and part of what he still models for us today."

Fischer's decision to choose justice over the law was a revolutionary act in its own right. Prof Clingman cited Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected president, who noted that Fischer was fighting against his own people, a far more arduous struggle. Fischer himself had declared from the dock that it was his responsibility to challenge the oppressive policies his people had instituted.

Ngcukaitobi’s point of view

Advocate Ngcukaitobi echoed Prof Clingman's sentiments regarding the ethical dilemma Fischer faced as a lawyer when the law was morally corrupt. "Bram’s explanation for breaking the law is contained in his own statement from the dock, and perhaps there is no contradiction after all,” Ngcukaitobi explained. “He accepted the general rule that for the protection of a society, laws should be obeyed. But when the laws themselves become immoral and require the citizen to take part in an organised system of oppression – if only by his silence and apathy – then I believe that a higher duty arises. This compels me to refuse to recognise such laws."

Ngcukaitobi, an advocate, public speaker, author, and political activist, summarised Fischer's life decisions by highlighting his empathy and virtue. He emphasised that Fischer chose to side with the oppressed, even when that decision came with severe negative consequences. He said Fischer's unwavering commitment to making the world more hospitable is a testament to his idealism and dedication.