It was in my extended and communal family that the seeds of love for the many were sown. While this communal family world is disappearing in the storm of modernity and progress, I am deeply grateful to all of you for contributing to making me who I am. My mother and father gave me the best examples of how to bring courage to my convictions. There is undying love in these communal ties which I will always cherish.
Central to my transformative praxis is a belief in the collective intellectual. Transformative knowledge is co-created in the social relations of activism, movement building and mass politics. Hence some of these writings are also co-written. I want to thank all co-authors for some of the writings in this book. I want to thank all the trade unionists, grassroots women, workers, community activists, students, movements, networks and radical academics that contributed to the tacit knowledge of transformative politics in these writings, including in the Democratic Marxism series and my Emancipatory Futures Studies in the Anthropocene project.
The Cooperative and Policy Alternative Centre (copac) has been a space to nurture, evolve and deepen transformative praxis. I have worked with many amazing young people in the copac team, over the years, both as employees and volunteers. They are too numerous to mention but want them all to be acknowledged for their contributions to programs of the organisation. In the recent period I want to thank Athish Satgoor, Andrew Bennie, Courtney Morgan, Aaisha Domingo, Sunanda Mathis and Alexia Daoussis. Also an immense gratitude has to be expressed for all board members, past and present, but specifically Annie Sugrue who has been consistent, ever willing to give advice and proffer encouragement. For this book the comments and engagements from Charles Simane, Awande Buthelezi, Stacey Hope-Bailie and Ferial Adam are appreciated. Jane Cherry played a crucial role in compiling the materials, securing permissions and putting it all together. Her support role made all the difference.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has always been true to the spirit of ‘Red Rosa’. They have supported copac and my transformative praxis work for over a decade, including during precarious times. I thank them for their support for this book. I also want to thank the Emancipatory Futures Studies project at Wits University, for assisting with writing retreats, as well as a contribution to the publication costs of this book.
To the woman who recognised that I was not a ‘political Frankenstein’ despite being a Marxist and, at the time we met, a South African Communist Party
My appreciation also goes out to the Wits University Historical Papers Research Archive for establishing and housing the Vishwas Satgar Papers, which contains many of my writings.
Finally, a special expression of gratitude to David Fasenfest for his unwavering support, patience and encouragement, as well as, for the editorial team at Brill for their production support, editorial assistance and promotion of this book.