ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history of how specific political ideas were employed through a number of cultural and educative forms by specific political formations between the 1940s and 1980s. It engages with how the experiences of past cultural struggles could be brought into dialogue with youth activists today in predominantly working-class communities through Hip Hop. The chapter argues against those values which have resulted in the commodification of a cross-section of cultural expressions including forms of cultural activism. In engaging the history, theory and practice of cultural activism, a large part of the focus is on the Western Cape, South Africa. Accessing alternative media remained one of the biggest problems for activist youth groups during the 1990s, given the security clampdown of the late 1980s and the poor relationship between many academics, politically experienced activists and the youth. United Democratic Front cultural activists gained a firm foothold within the labour movement.
