Jump to content

Dan Roodt: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted addition of unsourced content and/or unexplained removal of content (HG)
Line 18: Line 18:
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]].<ref name="a72497">{{cite web|url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article72497.ece |title=Radical thoughts of a right-wing reactionary |publisher=Times LIVE |date=2005-04-03 |accessdate=2010-07-28}}</ref> Roodt lectured at the [[University of Durban-Westville]] for a while, and in [[1985]] left South Africa for [[France]] to avoid his mandatory service of two years in the South African Defence Force.<ref name="a72497"/><ref name="mond">{{cite web|url=http://www.oulitnet.co.za/mond/danroodt.asp |title=LitNet: Die mond is nie geheim nie |publisher=Oulitnet.co.za |date= |accessdate=2010-07-28}}</ref>
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]].<ref name="a72497">{{cite web|url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article72497.ece |title=Radical thoughts of a right-wing reactionary |publisher=Times LIVE |date=2005-04-03 |accessdate=2010-07-28}}</ref> Roodt lectured at the [[University of Durban-Westville]] for a while, and in [[1985]] left South Africa for [[France]] to avoid his mandatory service of two years in the South African Defence Force.<ref name="a72497"/><ref name="mond">{{cite web|url=http://www.oulitnet.co.za/mond/danroodt.asp |title=LitNet: Die mond is nie geheim nie |publisher=Oulitnet.co.za |date= |accessdate=2010-07-28}}</ref>


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 supporter of [[communism]].<ref name="a72497"/>
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]].<ref name="a72497"/>


===Career===
===Career===

Revision as of 07:08, 15 January 2011

Daniel Francois Roodt
OccupationActivist, Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Literary Critic.
NationalitySouth Africa
Website
http://roodt.org

Daniel Francois Roodt (born 26 May 1957) is a South African activist and writer.

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 his mandatory service of two years in the South African Defence Force.[1][2]

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.[3] PRAAG also has a publishing division, which has published some of Roodt's most recent writing. Roodt has also contributed columns to American Renaissance, a white nationalist magazine.

Activism

Roodt has strong views on the preservation of Afrikaans, which has led to some controversy in the South African media.[1][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.[4]

Controversy

Roodt caused a controversy when creating an internet site for the purpose of insulting South African journalist, writer and activist Max du Preez.[5] Roodt explained that he had set up the site 'so that everyone who has always wanted to say something about "this idiot and prat", but did not have the means, now has the opportunity'.[5] 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'.[6] As of July 2010 the site is still active.

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.[5]

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.[7] In Sweden he met with members of the Swedish Resistant Movement (Swedish: Svenska Motståndsrörelsen),[7] an openly militant Neo-Nazi organization that honours controversial figures such as Adolf Hitler.[8] Roodt reportedly held talks with Flemish nationalist Filip Dewinter, one of the leading members of 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.

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.[9] 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.[9] 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).[9]

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.[10]

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.[4]

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

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Radical thoughts of a right-wing reactionary". Times LIVE. 2005-04-03. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  2. ^ a b "LitNet: Die mond is nie geheim nie". Oulitnet.co.za. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  3. ^ PRAAG Homepage
  4. ^ a b Venter, A. 2007. Book Review: Aweregs: politieke essays. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, 47(3):pp. 501-502.
  5. ^ a b c "Sê Max sleg op dié blad, nooi Roodt: Rapport: Suid-Afrika: Nuus". Rapport. 2010-01-09. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  6. ^ "Du Preez, Roodt kruis swaarde: Nuus24: Suid-Afrika: Nuus". Nuus24. 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  7. ^ a b http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Roodt-soek-in-Europa-steun-van-neo-Nazis-20100605
  8. ^ Patriot.nu
  9. ^ a b c Kannemeyer, J.C. 2005. Die Afrikaanse literatuur, 1652-2004. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. p.608.
  10. ^ Kannemeyer, J.C. 2005. Die Afrikaanse literatuur, 1652-2004. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau. p.609.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Dan_Roodt&oldid=407983026"