Struggle activist turned journalist Tony Karon shares reflections on his experiences during and after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa in a conversation on Ryland Fisher’s Crossing the Line podcast.

Karon, who edited the activist publication New Era in the 1980s, explains how his early political education shaped his understanding of global struggles, including those in Nicaragua and Palestine.

He emphasises that the struggle era taught him to analyse power relations critically and to understand politics as fundamentally about power rather than mere representation.

Karon describes how, after the African National Congress (ANC) was unbanned, he transitioned into mainstream journalism but retained the analytical framework developed during activism.

He argues that events such as the Egyptian uprising reinforced his understanding that military interventions in political transitions often lead to predictable outcomes based on historical precedent.

Now based in New York since 1993, Karon reflects on his experience of the United States, noting his initial optimism during the early Clinton era and his later disillusionment.

He suggests that the US system reveals structural issues rooted in settler colonial history and questions the extent to which it embodies the democratic ideals it promotes.

A significant part of the discussion focuses on Palestine, where Karon maintains that the struggle against apartheid in South Africa provides relevant lessons for contemporary conflicts.

He argues that Israel’s relationship with apartheid-era South Africa was historically significant and that activists from the anti-apartheid movement have a responsibility to continue opposing systems of oppression elsewhere.

Karon also addresses broader concerns about democracy in Africa, noting that many young people question its effectiveness due to persistent inequality and governance challenges.

He contrasts formal electoral democracy with the idea of participatory, grassroots-driven democracy, suggesting that meaningful change requires stronger accountability and bottom-up political structures.