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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | 'An irritating pebble in Kruger's shoe': Eugène Marais and 'Land en Volk' in the ZAR, 1891-1896 |
Author: | Swart, Sandra |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | Historia: amptelike orgaan |
Volume: | 48 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 66-87 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | journalism journalists resistance colonial history biographies (form) |
About person: | Eugène Nielen Marais (1871-1936) |
Abstract: | Celebrated as an investigative journalist exposing a corrupt government, dismissed as a political hack or damned as a litigious self-promoter in charge of a vulgar gossip sheet, Eugène Marais (1871-1936) played a controversial role in the pre-war South African Republic (ZAR). This paper explores his role in shaping public opinion on the ZAR's political situation, through the medium of 'Land en Volk', the newspaper he edited. The paper particularly focuses on Marais' interaction with President Kruger. It discusses Marais' participation in the faction that opposed Kruger, and that came to be labelled the 'Progressive' camp. It examines his motives and techniques in swaying opinion towards the opposition faction, with particular emphasis on the pivotal election of 1893, which saw a transformation in national politics. Furthermore, the paper investigates the influence of the progressive press, and particularly its role in 'inventing' or at least popularizing a particular image of Kruger. It also examines the ironies and paradoxes of the relationship of the progressive press (and Marais in particular) with Kruger as figurehead. Notes, ref., sum. in English and Afrikaans. [Journal abstract] |