Dennis  Brutus Personal Details Organization: Past Honorary Professor E-mail Address: Job Description Past Honorary Professor Other information World-renowned political organizer and one of Africa’s most celebrated poets, Dennis Brutus, died early on 26 December 2009 in Cape Town, in his sleep, aged 85. Even in his last days, Brutus was fully engaged, advocating social protest against those responsible for climate change, and promoting reparations to black South Africans from corporations that benefited from apartheid. He was a leading plaintiff in the Alien Tort Claims Act case against major firms that is now making progress in the US court system. Brutus was born in Harare in 1924, but his South African parents soon moved to Port Elizabeth where he attended Paterson and Schauderville High Schools. He entered Fort Hare University on a full scholarship in 1940, graduating with a distinction in English and a second major in Psychology. Further studies in law at the University of the Witwatersrand were cut short by imprisonment for anti-apartheid activism. Brutus’ political activity initially included extensive journalistic reporting, organising with the Teachers’ League and Congress movement, and leading the new South African Sports Association as an alternative to white sports bodies. After his banning in 1961 under the Suppression of Communism Act, he fled to Mozambique but was captured and deported to Johannesburg. There, in 1963, Brutus was shot in the back while attempting to escape police custody. Memorably, it was in front of Anglo American Corporation headquarters that he nearly died while awaiting an ambulance reserved for blacks. While recovering, he was held in the Johannesburg Fort Prison cell which more than a half-century earlier housed Mahatma Gandhi. Brutus was transferred to Robben Island where he was jailed in the cell next to Nelson Mandela, and in 1964-65 wrote the collections Sirens Knuckles Boots and Letters to Martha, two of the richest poetic expressions of political incarceration. Subsequently forced into exile, Brutus resumed simultaneous careers as a poet and anti-apartheid campaigner in London, and while working for the International Defense and Aid Fund, was instrumental in achieving the apartheid regime’s expulsion from the 1968 Mexican Olympics and then in 1970 from the Olympic movement. Upon moving to the US in 1977, Brutus served as a professor of literature and African studies at Northwestern (Chicago) and Pittsburgh, and defeated high-profile efforts by the Reagan Administration to deport him during the early 1980s. He wrote numerous poems, ninety of which will be published posthumously next year by Worcester State University, and he helped organize major African writers organizations with his colleagues Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. Following the political transition in South Africa, Brutus resumed activities with grassroots social movements in his home country. In the late 1990s he also became a pivotal figure in the global justice movement and a featured speaker each year at the World Social Forum, as well as at protests against the World Trade Organisation, G8, Bretton Woods Institutions and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. Brutus continued to serve in the anti-racism, reparations and economic justice movements as a leading strategist until his death, calling in August for the ‘Seattling’ of the recent Copenhagen summit because sufficient greenhouse gas emissions cuts and North-South ‘climate debt’ payments were not on the agenda. His final academic appointment was as Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society, and for that university’s press and Haymarket Press, he published the autobiographical Poetry and Protest in 2006. Amongst numerous recent accolades were the US War Resisters League peace award in September, two Doctor of Literature degrees conferred at Rhodes and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in April - following six other honorary doctorates – and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the South African government Department of Arts and Culture in 2008. Brutus was also awarded membership in the South African Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, but rejected it on grounds that the institution had not confronted the country’s racist history. He also won the Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes awards. The memory of Dennis Brutus will remain everywhere there is struggle against injustice. Uniquely courageous, consistent and principled, Brutus bridged the global and local, politics and culture, class and race, the old and the young, the red and green. He was an emblem of solidarity with all those peoples oppressed and environments wrecked by the power of capital and state elites – hence some in the African National Congress government labeled him ‘ultraleft’. But given his role as a world-class poet, Brutus showed that social justice advocates can have both bread and roses. Brutus’s poetry collections are: Sirens Knuckles and Boots (Mbari Productions, Ibaden, Nigeria and Northwestern University Press, Evanston Illinois, 1963). Letters to Martha and Other Poems from a South African Prison (Heinemann, Oxford, 1968). Poems from Algiers (African and Afro-American Studies and Research Institute, Austin, Texas, 1970). A Simple Lust (Heinemann, Oxford, 1973). China Poems (African and Afro-American Studies and Research Centre, Austin, Texas, 1975). Strains (Troubador Press, Del Valle, Texas). Stubborn Hope (Three Continents Press, Washington, DC and Heinemann, Oxford, 1978). Salutes and Censures (Fourth Dimension, Enugu, Nigeria, 1982). Airs and Tributes (Whirlwind Press, Camden, New Jersey, 1989). Still the Sirens (Pennywhistle Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1993). Remembering Soweto, ed. Lamont B. Steptoe (Whirlwind Press, Camden, New Jersey, 2004). Leafdrift, ed. Lamont B. Steptoe (Whirlwind Press, Camden, New Jersey, 2005). Poetry and Protest: A Dennis Brutus Reader, ed. Aisha Kareem and Lee Sustar (Haymarket Books, Chicago and University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 2006). He is survived by his wife May, his sisters Helen and Dolly, eight children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren in Hong Kong, England, the USA and Cape Town. (By Patrick Bond) Statement from the Brutus Family on the passing of Professor Dennis Brutus Professor Dennis Brutus died quietly in his sleep on the 26th December, earlier this morning. He is survived by his wife May, his sisters Helen and Dolly, eight children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren in Hong Kong, England, the USA and Cape Town. Dennis lived his life as so many would wish to, in service to the causes of justice, peace, freedom and the protection of the planet. He remained positive about the future, believing that popular movements will achieve their aims. Dennis’ poetry, particularly of his prison experiences on Robben Island, has been taught in schools around the world. He was modest about his work, always trying to improve on his drafts. His creativity crossed into other areas of his life, he used poetry to mobilize, to inspire others to action, also to bring joy. We wish to thank all the doctors, nurses and staff who provided excellent care for Dennis in his final months, and to also thank St Luke’s Hospice for their assistance. One of the first South African poets to be widely read in Europe and the U.S., Dennis Brutus' work found early critical acclaim. His first book, Sirens, Knuckles, Boots, was published while he was imprisoned for defying a 'banning' order by the apartheid government following his campaign to desegregate the South African Olympic team. His best-known book, Letters to Martha (Heinemann, Oxford and London), deals with his prison experiences. After being shot in the back by Johannesburg police during an escape attempt and breaking rocks for 18 months at the notorious Robben Island prison alongside Nelson Mandela, Brutus was exiled in 1966, and in London resumed simultaneous careers as a poet and anti-apartheid campaigner. He was instrumental in achieving the apartheid regime's expulsion from the Olympics, won numerous awards for poetry, and helped organize key African writers' organizations with his colleagues Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. Upon moving to the U.S., Brutus served in several academic positions, including at Northwestern University and the University of Pittsburgh, defeating efforts by the Reagan Administration to deport him. Following the transition to democracy in South Africa, Brutus remained active with grassroots social movements in his home country and internationally. In the late 1990s he became a pivotal figure in the global justice movement and a featured speaker each year at the World Social Forum. In the anti-racism, reparations and economic justice movements, he continues to serve as a leading strategist, working closely with international networks such as the Jubilee anti-debt movement. In South Africa, he has been a key figure in the Social Movements Indaba. In Southern Africa, he has traveled widely and has numerous contacts within the region's social justice movements. Online archives Archival Collection Name: Dennis Brutus (1924- ) Papers Location of activities: United States Time Period of Collection: 1960 - 1984 Description: Papers of Dennis Brutus, poet, South African expatriate, and English Professor at Northwestern from 1971 to 1985. The Dennis Brutus Papers comprise correspondence, papers associated with specific organizations and events, and numerous drafts of poems, both handwritten and typed. The bulk of Brutus's correspondence falls within the period 1960-1973, and consists of family and other personal correspondence, correspondence related to teaching positions, and individual folders for correspondence with key persons. The Papers also contain much sports-related material, including but not confined to the International Committee Against Racism In Sport (ICARIS) and the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC). Brutus's work with the International Defense and Aid Fund and other anti-racial groups is documented as well. There are also a number of notebooks and daybooks with poetry and journal entries from the 1960s. A large portion of the Papers consists of manuscript drafts and typescripts of Brutus's poetry, including a small number of complete manuscripts of published poetry works. (Source: collection finding aid.) Archive Of: South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee Medium: 38 boxes Catalog Info: Opens PDF file Catalog/Finding Aid: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/findingaids/dennis_brutus.pdf Repository: Northwestern University Library, University Archives Deering Library, Room 110, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208-2300 archives@northwestern.edu http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/ Archival Collection Name: Dennis Brutus (Schomburg collection) Location of activities: United States Time Period of Collection: 1970 - 1990 Description: Papers of Dennis Brutus, a South African-born poet and human rights and anti-apartheid activist. He founded the South African Sports Association in 1961 and the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) in 1963, and was subsequently arrested and jailed, placed under house arrest, and banned from all literary, academic and political activities. He went into exile in 1966 and has lived in the United States since 1970, emerging over the years as a prominent lecturer and author, a professor of African literature and a major spokesperson in the international movement to end apartheid in South Africa. In exile Brutus and SAN-ROC spearheaded a successful campaign to ban apartheid South Africa from international sport competitions. Brutus, based in the United States, was President of SAN-ROC and Sam Ramsamy, based in London, as Chairman. The collection consists of personal and professional papers, correspondence, writings, files of SAN-ROC and the Dennis Brutus Defence Committee, anti-apartheid posters, photographs, recordings, and subject files on Nelson Mandela, human rights, South African politics, divestment, apartheid and sports, African literature, and the struggle against apartheid in general. Photographs, anti-apartheid posters and audio-visual recordings transferred respectively to the Photographs and Prints, the Art and Artifacts and the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Divisions. Archive Of: South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee Medium: 19.5 linear feet Catalog/Finding Aid: http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b4962314 Repository: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The New York Public Library, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801 (212) 491-2200 http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html Archival Collection Name: Dennis Brutus (Worcester State College collection) Location of activities: United States Time Period of Collection: Mostly 1970s - 1990s Description: The collection consists of a range of primary documents donated by Dr. Dennis Brutus, a well known poet, anti-apartheid activist and human rights defender. He grew up in South Africa and founded the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) in 1963. His anti-apartheid activities led to a sentence of 18 months on Robben Island. In 1966 he went into exile and SAN-ROC established itself in London. In 1970 Brutus moved to the United States and established a stateside SAN-ROC, as well. The archive includes manuscripts, correspondence, texts of speeches, travel documentation, publications of anti-apartheid organizations and photographs. One box includes material on Apartheid and sports, the sports boycott and the Olympics including material related to SAN-ROC, the American Coordinating Committee for Equality in Sport and Society (ACCESS) and South African Council of Sport (SACOS), and also HART in New Zealand and CARE in Australia. There are, as well, materials Brutus's involvement with the divestment movement in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, the Dennis Brutus Collection houses an extensive amount of material related to the Dennis Brutus Defense Committee's dealings with the attempt by the U.S. government to deport him and the successful campaign to block the deportation. The archive includes material Amnesty International and the campaign against the death penalty; Brutus served on the board of Amnesty International USA. The archive contains numerous interviews with Brutus in print, audio and video. Most of the archive is housed at the Worcester State College Library but some material is at the Center for the Study of Human Rights. See Dennis Brutus at Worcester State College (Source: Wayne Kamin, archivist, and Aldo Guevera, Human Rights Center coordinator at Worcester State College) Includes Materials Of: South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee Medium: 5,000+ documents, audio, video, photographs Catalog/Finding Aid: http://wwwfac.worcester.edu/dbrutus/Default.htm Restrictions: These materials are now available for access by scholars, students, and independent researchers from outside Worcester State. For permission to examine the collection, please contact Dr. Guevera at the Center for the Study of Human Rights (508) 9... or Dr. Donald Hochstetler, Director, Learning Resources Center. Repository: Worcester State College Library 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA 01602-2597 Dennis Brutus Online Photo Archive Other online material about Dennis Brutus Dennis Brutus Events Dennis Brutus tribute, with SMI & Durban community groups 23 January 2010 Dennis Brutus honored by War Resisters League, 18 September 2009 Dennis Brutus: Reconciliation and the Work of Memory in Post-apartheid South Africa, 3 April 2009 Dennis Brutus celebrations, honorary doctorates, 16- 18 April 2009 Dennis Brutus at Jubilee SA 10-year anniversary celebration, Johannesburg, 29-30 November 2008 CCS celebrates Dennis Brutus's 84 birthday 28 November 2008 Dennis Brutus at Boston 'Encuentro5', 23 November 2008 Dennis Brutus at Worcester State College 17 -20 November 2008 Dennis Brutus on Apartheid Reparations 26 September 2008 Dennis Brutus plays Marx in Soweto at Brecht Forum 23 September 2008 Dennis Brutus at the Jubilee South Africa National Conference 21-24 August 2009 Dennis Brutus poetry at Annual Diakonia Lecture 14 August 2008 DENNIS BRUTUS, on Steal This Radio, 15 July 2008 Dennis Brutus at TIAA-CREF shareholder meeting, Denver, 15 July 2008 Dennis Brutus poetry in Philadelphia, 11 July 2008 Dennis Brutus and Patrick Bond at the CT Book Fair 17 June 2008 Dennis Brutus at Split the Rock poetry festival, 22 March 2008 Dennis Brutus Dennis Brutus says 'No thanks' to SA Sports Hall of Fame, 5 December Dennis Brutus is Marx in Nairobi, 25 November 2007 Dennis Brutus at the Ken Saro-Wiwa celebration in CT, 22-23 November 2007 Dennis Brutus at the Ilrig conference on the G20, 15 November 2007 Dennis Brutus Marx in Swaziland, 4 November 2007 Dennis Brutus & Patrick Bond at Friends of the Earth international conference in Swaziland, 4 November 2007 Marx @ KwaSuka - Dennis Brutus plays Karl Marx, 26 & 28 October 2007 Dennis Brutus: 'Karl Marx @ UKZN', 25 October 2007 Dennis Brutus at Christopher Okigbo celebration in Boston, 20 September 2007 Dennis Brutus at Fort Hare, 29 August 2007 Online Publications Brutus, Dennis and Cashdan, Ben (2001) World Conference Against Racism: South Africa Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Z-Mag July 11: -. More  Brutus, Dennis (2006) Dennis Brutus on the crisis in Darfur: “You shouldn’t send in killers to stop the killing” . Centre for Civil Society : -. More  Brutus Dennis (2009) Poetry Collection.  : 1-49. More  Brutus, Dennis & Bond, Patrick  () Trevor's toy telephone can't ring Wall Street or Washington. The Mercury : -. More  Brutus, Dennis Translation by ka-Manzi, Faith  (2008) Umarx ethekwini. Centre for Civil Society : -. More  Goodman Amy & Brutus Dennis  (2008) Interview with Dennis Brutus. Democracy Now : -. More  Brutus Dennis & Bond, Patrick (2008) UKZN may snuff out its left brain : What's next for Durban's best-known institute of social and environmental justice?. Eye on Civil Society Column (The Mercury)  : -. More  Brutus, Dennis  (2009) Poems for the Crises and the Commons conference. Crises and the Commons conference : -. More  Brutus, Dennis (2009) Poem by Dennis.  : -. More  Brutus Dennis (2006) Poetry & Protest: A Dennis Brutus Reader. Haymarket Books : 1-416. More   Back