Anthony Holiday
Anthony Holiday | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 November 1940 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Died | 10 July 2006 (aged 65) Cape Town, South Africa |
| Other name | Tony[1] |
| Education |
|
| Occupation | Journalist
Activist Philosopher |
| Known for | Anti-apartheid activism and journalism |
Anthony “Tony” Holiday was a South African journalist, activist, academic and philosopher. Holiday was best known for his work as a journalist and anti-apartheid activism.[2][3][4] In his philosophical work Holiday was known as expert on the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.[5]
Holiday was born into a devout Catholic family in Cape Town, South Africa. Although he attended high school at St. Joseph's Marist College in Rondebosch he was unable to complete his secondary education due to an early childhood injury. He attended a weekly gathering of mostly Catholic intellectuals where he met and befriended Professor Martin Versfeld.
Versfeld recognised his intellectual talents; writing Holiday a letter of recommendation which help him secure a job as a junior reporter at the Cape Times in 1965.[2] He was later recruited as a reporter for The Rand Daily Mail.
During his time as a journalist Holiday was a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the African National Congress (ANC). In 1976 he was arrested by the apartheid authorities and charged under the Terrorism Act for accepting funds from the ANC and SACP, being trained by the ANC in subversive activities, organizing an underground cell, and producing propaganda.[2][3][4] He was sentenced to six years in prison, being detained for a total of seven years,[3] during which he did a correspondence course through the University of South Africa.[2] After his release he moved to the United Kingdom where, with the assistance of ANC contacts, he enrolled in the University of Oxford to do his doctorate in philosophy on Wittgenstein.[2]
Following the end of apartheid in 1994 Holiday returned to South Africa, left the SACP, and became an academic, teaching philosophy at the University of the Western Cape until his retirement in 2005.[2] Holiday died from cancer on 10 July 2006.[2][3]
References
[edit]- ↑ Marais, Nel. "Tony Holiday: One of many who fought for what is now being stolen". Daily Maverick. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shaw, Gerald (17 August 2006). "Anthony Holiday". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 Marais, Nel (26 September 2016). "Tony Holiday: One of many who fought for what is now being stolen". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- 1 2 "Anthony Holiday | South African History Online". sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- ↑ Wessel, de Kock (11 July 2006). "Philosopher, activist and journalist dies". IOL. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
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- 1940 births
- 2006 deaths
- 20th-century South African philosophers
- People from Cape Town
- South African people of English descent
- South African newspaper journalists
- 20th-century South African journalists
- Deaths from cancer in South Africa
- Cape Times journalists
- South African anti-apartheid activists
- Academic staff of the University of the Western Cape
- Philosopher stubs