What I quickly discovered is that our so-called new South Africa has as much material for a story-teller as the old one. The landscape hasn't really changed. Who is in power now is different to who was in power then, but the squatter camps grow like cancer, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the persistence of social inequality and the unchanged nature of the landscape despite political changes in South Africa.
Athol Fugard's quote highlights the irony that despite the transition to a 'new' South Africa, the fundamental issues of inequality and social justice remain largely unaltered. While the political figures leading the nation may have changed, the struggles faced by the impoverished are still evident, and the societal landscape reflects continuous hardships for those who live in squatter camps, illustrating a cycle of wealth and poverty perpetuated by systemic issues.
In practice
During a speech on social change, one could reference this quote to highlight ongoing inequalities.
For most of my writing life, I've refused to allow myself to believe that writing was a significant form of action. I always felt very uneasy about the fact that all I did was write in a situation as desperate as apartheid South Africa. Whether I was correct or not is a different issue.
You'll see that the strong, the affirmative, the positive voice in any of the plays I've written is that of a woman. My men are, well, not quite worthless, but they are certainly weak, and that reflects the reality I grew up with and what I think has in a sense shaped me.
I can't think of a single one of my plays that does not represent a coincidence between an external and an internal event. Something outside of me, outside even my own life, something I read in a newspaper or witness on the street, something I see or hear, fascinates me. I see it for its dramatic potential.
For you in the West to hear the phrase 'All men are created equal' is to draw a yawn. For us, it's a miracle. We're starting out at rock bottom, man. But South Africa does have soul.
As fascinated as I was by words on paper, it was matched by my fascination with words in people's mouths. The spoken word. And that is the world of theatre.
Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.
The Universe is very, very big. It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely strict rules. Rule number one: Nothing lasts forever. Not you or your family or your house or your planet or the sun. It is an absolute rule. Therefore when someone says that their love will never die, it means that their love is not real, for everything that is real dies. Rule number two: Everything lasts forever.
Much of what ails our modern life is exactly because we reduce the value of a human being to a number, say salary or consumer power.
No system of religion should go in partnership with barbarism. Neither should any Christian feel it his duty to defend the savagery of the past.
Security is elusive. It's impossible. We all die. We all get old. We all get sick. People leave us. People change us. Nothing is secure.
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