Оңтүстік Африка авторы Риан Малан және нәсілдік қатынастар туралы толғаулары

South African author, journalist, and songwriter of Afrikaner descent

Rian Malan is a South African author, journalist, documentarist and songwriter of Afrikaner descent. He first rose to prominence as the author of the memoir My Traitor's Heart (1990), which, like the bulk of his work, deals with South African society in a historical and contemporary perspective and focuses on racial relations. As a journalist, he has written for major newspapers in South Africa, Britain and the United States.

Malan grew up in a middle class and pro apartheid Afrikaner family in a white suburb of Johannesburg. He attended Blairgowrie Primary School in Randburg where one of his contemporaries was the columnist, Jani Allan. He then attended Woodmead School, South Africa's first non racially based high school. He has described how, as a teenager, he formed a rock band that associated with black artists and wanted to rebel against the apartheid system, at a time when he in fact had virtually no interaction with black people. He attended the then Witwatersrand University for a year. To avoid conscription, which was compulsory for all white males, he moved to Los Angeles in 1977 and worked as a journalist.

Returning to South Africa in the 1980s, he wrote My Traitor's Heart, his memoir of growing up in Apartheid era South Africa in which he explores race relations through prominent murder cases. In addition, he reflects on the history of his family, a prominent Afrikaner clan that migrated to the Cape in the 17th century and included Daniel François Malan, the South African Prime Minister who was a principal ideological force behind Apartheid doctrine. Malan reveals that Linda never received any royalties for the song; however, an ensuing court case established that 25 percent of the song's past and future royalties should go to Linda's three daughters.

Malan has generated controversy by repeatedly questioning the seriousness and scope of AIDS in Africa. In articles in Rolling Stone, The Spectator and Noseweek, a controversial South African monthly, he proposed that AIDS statistics are greatly exaggerated by researchers and health professionals who are trying to obtain more funding. His hypothesis was roundly criticised by national and international AIDS organisations, and Malan was accused of endangering lives in Africa. In an interview in the Afrikaans magazine, Insig, Malan said, 'I get a kick out of it when the Treatment Action Campaign attacks me; it's like sport.' In 2007, he said, 'In truth, I never claimed that Aids was not a problem – on the contrary, I described it as a terrible affliction that was claiming countless lives. At the same time however, it was clear that Aids numbers were being exaggerated and good news suppressed. I stand by that story.'

In 1990, Malan appeared as the presenter of an episode of BBC Television's Omnibus, titled Tales of Ordinary Murder: Rian Malan in South Africa. In 1994, he appeared as the presenter of BBC Television's travel documentary, Great Railway Journeys (series 2, episode 2). The episode was titled Cape Town to the Lost City. In 2004, he appeared in an episode of Channel 4's Without Walls, titled The Last Afrikaner. A Search with Rian Malan, written by Malan and directed by Don Boyd. In 2005, his struggle for justice for the heirs of Solomon Linda (see above) was documented in A Lion's Trail, directed by François Verster. In 2009, Malan, together with Lloyd Ross, produced the documentary The Splintering Rainbow for Al Jazeera. The film documents a journey through South Africa, investigating unfolding political dramas and taking the pulse of the Rainbow Nation.

He has released a CD of his own songs, titled Alien Inboorling. The title translates as "Alien native"; the songs were described by one journalist as "parables of contemporary South Africa told in the voices of Afrikaners who have stayed and those who have left. The songs are dusty, weary, a stream of consciousness for the Afrikaans 'tribe'." He also performs with Hot Club d'Afrique, a gypsy jazz band. Malan contributed lyrics to Stoomradio and Opgestook, the first two albums by Afrikaans roots music/boeremusiek band Radio Kalahari Orkes and appears on guitar on their second CD, Die Nagloper He also contributed lyrics to Say Africa by Vusi Mahlasela.