- Dan Roodt
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Daniel Francois Roodt Born 26 May 1957
Springs, Gauteng, South AfricaOccupation Activist, Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Literary Critic. Nationality South Africa
roodt.orgDaniel Francois Roodt (born 26 May 1957) is a South African activist, literary critic and writer.
Contents
Biography
Early life and education
Roodt was born in the mining town of Springs, east of Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his schooling in Johannesburg, after which he enrolled for a Bachelors degree at the University of Witwatersrand.[1] Roodt lectured at the University of Durban-Westville for a while, and in 1985 left South Africa for France to avoid conscription in the South African Defence Force.[1][2] His literary works had been banned by the South African government.[3]
While studying in France, Roodt's political ideas changed; where he was once anti-establishment and opposed the Afrikaner government in South Africa, he became a staunch opposer of communism.[1]
Career
After returning to South Africa in 1992, Roodt worked for Citibank until 1999, and in 2000 he co-founded PRAAG (Pro-Afrikaanse Aksiegroep, or Pro-Afrikaans Action Group),[1] which describes itself as an extra-parliamentary movement devoted to the rights of Afrikaners.[4] PRAAG also has a publishing division, which has published some of Roodt's most recent writing. Roodt has contributed articles to Focus, the journal of the liberal Helen Suzman Foundation, columns to American Renaissance, a white nationalist magazine, various scientific or academic journals in South Africa, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as a host of articles in South African newspapers such as The Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times, Business Day, Beeld, Die Burger and Rapport. He also regularly appears on television and radio talkshows in South Africa.
In May 2011 Roodt stood for the Freedom Front Plus during the municipal elections as a candidate in Johannesburg, but was not elected.
Activism
Roodt has strong views on the preservation of Afrikaans and Afrikaner culture.[2] He maintains a blog and the PRAAG website, commenting constantly on actual issues in South Africa. Roodt also regularly writes letters regarding political matters to various South African (mostly Afrikaans) newspapers and the literary e-zine LitNet.[5]
Controversy
Roodt caused a controversy after creating an internet site for the purpose of insulting South African journalist, writer and activist Max du Preez. Roodt explained that he had set up the site so that anyone who disliked Du Preez and his views, could openly express their dislike on the website.[6]. When contacted by Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport for comment, Du Preez merely replied that 'it only confirms what I suspected: That Dan has a homo-erotic fixation with me'.[7] In May 2011, the domain name in question was seized by the regulator of South African web domain names, and given to Du Preez.[8] A judge had ruled that Roodt had misused Du Preez's name as part of a slanderous campaign against the latter.[9] The website has since been offline.
In March 2010 Roodt advised Afrikaners to support the football team of the Netherlands instead of the South African team in the FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa in June and July 2010.[10]
In May 2010 Roodt travelled to Europe where he met with Neo-Nazi and far-right political associations to discuss the ideal of the Afrikaner Volkstaat.[11] In Sweden he met with members of the Swedish Resistant Movement (Swedish: Svenska Motståndsrörelsen),[11] an openly militant Neo-Nazi organization that honours controversial figures such as Adolf Hitler.[12] Roodt reportedly held talks with Filip Dewinter, one of the leading members of the Flemish seperatist party Vlaams Belang.
On the July 5th episode of The Daily Show with John Stewart Roodt was interviewed by John Oliver in a piece entitled "The Amazing Racists." During the interview (which Oliver refers to as a "tasting tour of some of the finest examples of vintage bigotry") Roodt discusses his views on the dangers of interracial breeding, the supposedly inherent differences between races, and the need for a separate exclusively white nation.[13]
Writing
Roodt's first novel, Sonneskyn en Chevrolet (Taurus, 1980), is an anti-establishment commentary on South African society (and specifically Afrikaner society) of that time.[14] His only published volume of poetry to date, Kommas uit 'n boomzol (Uitgewery Pannevis, 1980), structurally parodies Komas uit 'n bamboesstok (Human & Rousseau, 1979), a volume of poetry by famous Afrikaans poet D.J. Opperman.[14] Afrikaans literary critic John Kannemeyer asserts that there is 'no one poem of any intrinsic value' in Kommas uit 'n boomzol, and similarly views Roodt's subsequent prose work Twee sinne (Taurus, 1985).[14]
Roodt's first publication after Twee sinne is a long critical essay on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) entitled Om die Waarheidskommissie te vergeet ('Forgetting the Truth Commission', 2001). This would be PRAAG's first publication of one of Roodt's works. In 2004, PRAAG published the novel Moltrein, which is about a promising musician who leaves South Africa during the 1980s to avoid military service in the South African Defence Force. Kannemeyer notes that the use of the Afrikaans language in this novel is testament to the author's ineptness with using the language, and that with this novel Roodt makes no new contribution to the Afrikaans literature.[15]
In 2005 Roodt released The Scourge of the ANC (PRAAG), a heavy critique against the ANC, but also against the former South African government under leadership of FW de Klerk.[1] The following year, Aweregs (PRAAG, 2006), another collection of political essays, was released. Regarding Aweregs, Venter notes that if the ultimate aim of the book is
to demonstrate the author's pessimism regarding Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), "the new" South Africa, and supporters of the idea that Afrikaans can only survive by developing multilingualism in South Africa, then Roodt's vision succeeds. But it is a limited and distressing vision. Aweregs is in that case merely a sly, polemical work for the sake of being mean and controversial.[5]
Personal life
Roodt currently lives with his wife, Karin (née Bredenkamp), and their three children in Dainfern Golf and Country Estate in Johannesburg, South Africa.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Radical thoughts of a right-wing reactionary". Times LIVE. 2005-04-03. http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article72497.ece. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ a b "LitNet: Die mond is nie geheim nie". Oulitnet.co.za. http://www.oulitnet.co.za/mond/danroodt.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/555568/South-Africa/260145/Literature
- ^ PRAAG Homepage
- ^ a b Venter, A. 2007. Book Review: Aweregs: politieke essays. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, 47(3):pp. 501-502.
- ^ http://afrikaans.news24.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Du-Preez-Roodt-kruis-swaarde-20100110
- ^ http://www.nuus24.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1479/781e3207a1eb4375ae2eb325f7c643fe/10-01-2010-07-05/Du_Preez,_Roodt_kruis_swaarde |title=Du Preez, Roodt kruis swaarde: Nuus24: Suid-Afrika: Nuus |publisher=Nuus24 |date=2010-01-10 |accessdate=2010-07-28}}
- ^ http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Max-du-Preez-kry-sy-naam-terug-20110528
- ^ http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Max-du-Preez-kry-sy-naam-terug-20110528
- ^ http://www.praag.co.za/dan-roodt-magazine-178/7373-afrikaners-behoort-nederlandse-sokkerspan-te-ondersteun.html
- ^ a b http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Roodt-soek-in-Europa-steun-van-neo-Nazis-20100605
- ^ Patriot.nu
- ^ http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-july-5-2010/oliver---world-cup-2010--into-africa---the-amazing-racists Dan Roodt in Satire on The Daily Show
- ^ a b c Kannemeyer, J.C. 2005. Die Afrikaanse literatuur, 1652-2004. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. p.608.
- ^ Kannemeyer, J.C. 2005. Die Afrikaanse literatuur, 1652-2004. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. p.609.
External links
Categories:- 1957 births
- Living people
- Afrikaans-language writers
- South African white nationalists
- South African writers
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