He was a visionary thinker, an activist against an oppressive regime, but also a forgotten figure. No longer. Wits University Press recently released the book Rick Turner's Politics as the Art of the Impossible to universal acclaim, with it even being named News24’s Book of the Month for August.

Gideon van Riet, a senior lecturer in Political Studies and International Relations at the North-West University (NWU), served as one of the editors of the book.

Turner was a pioneering South African philosopher and political theorist who rose to prominence as a leading intellectual voice during the turbulent years of apartheid. Born in 1941, Turner pursued his studies at the University of Cape Town and later in Paris, where he absorbed the ideas of existentialism and Marxism that would shape his radical thinking.

By the late 1960s, Turner had returned to South Africa, taking up a teaching position at the University of Natal in Durban. There, he quickly gained a reputation for his bold and uncompromising views on social justice, fiercely opposing apartheid and advocating for a non-racial, democratic society built on equality and human rights.

Turner’s groundbreaking book, The Eye of the Needle, published in 1972, took aim not only at the apartheid state but also at its liberal critics. He argued for a participatory democracy and a socialist overhaul of the country's socio-economic structures. His ideas struck a chord with a new generation of activists, including the iconic Steve Biko, cementing Turner’s status as a significant figure in the struggle against apartheid.

However, his outspoken activism came at a high price. In 1978, at the age of just 37, Turner was assassinated at his home in Durban.

According to the publisher, Rick Turner's Politics as the Art of the Impossible considers Rick Turner’s challenge that political theorising requires thinking in a utopian way. The publisher further states that: “The contributors to this volume engage critically with Turner’s work on race relations, his relationship with Steve Biko, his views on religion, education and gender oppression, his model of participatory democracy, and his critique of poverty and economic inequality. It is an important contribution to contemporary thinking and activism.”

Gideon van Riet