Mark Thabo Weinberg
{{Short description|South African socialist & anti-apartheid activist}}
Mark Thabo Weinberg (5 January 1974 – 28 January 2025{{Cite web |last=Hunter |first=Murray |date=2025-02-04 |title=Three lessons in activism from Mark Weinberg |url=https://groundup.org.za/article/three-lessons-in-activism-from-mark-weinberg/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=GroundUp News |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Yetu Infotech Collective |date=April 2025 |title=Honoring Comrade Mark Thabo Weinberg |url=https://ilrigsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WWN-130_DIGITAL_A.pdf |journal=Worker's World News |issue=130 |pages=6}}{{Cite web |last=Mtabane |first=Busi |date=2025-04-03 |title=Celebrating Mark Thabo Weinberg |url=https://www.amandla.org.za/celebrating-mark-thabo-weinberg/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Amandla |language=en-ZA}}) was a South African socialist activist best known for his role in the creation and success of the Right2Know Campaign ("R2K"). He was the son of Sheila Weinberg, and grandson of Eli{{Cite web |title=Eli Weinberg {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/eli-weinberg |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}} and Violet Weinberg{{Cite web |title=Violet Weinberg {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/violet-weinberg |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}, all prominent anti-apartheid activists. The family's contribution to the struggle for justice has been honoured by the naming of a park{{Cite web |last=Content |first=Print |date=2014-02-04 |title=Savoy Park to be renamed |url=https://www.citizen.co.za/rosebank-killarney-gazette/news-headlines/2014/02/04/savoy-park-to-be-renamed/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Rosebank Killarney Gazette |language=en-GB}} in Johannesburg. At the time of his death, Weinberg was General Secretary of Yetu Infotech Collective{{Cite web |date=2025-02-19 |title=Yetu Infotech Collective – Growing the Internet from Below |url=https://yetu.coop/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250219170909/https://yetu.coop/ |archive-date=19 February 2025 }}, as well as serving on boards of civil society organisations such as AIDC{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://aidc.org.za/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=AIDC {{!}} Alternative Information & Development Centre |language=en-US}} and Cape Town TV.
Childhood and youth
Weinberg grew up as the only child of a solo parent{{Cite web |title=Sheila Weinberg {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/sheila-weinberg |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}} who suffered repression and harassment, as did her parents (who were exiled from 1976 and 1977 respectively) and her associates. Besides witnessing his mother's personal struggles (e.g. to be able to visit his exiled grandmother after his grandfather's death), he witnessed her involvement in key moments in the anti-apartheid struggle such as the 1983 launch of the United Democratic Front and the 1985 trial of Mosiuoa Lekota and Popo Molefe. However, in his late teens came the first breakthroughs in the struggle against apartheid such as the 1991 release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the African National Congress, and at a personal level, the return of his grandmother from exile. In 1994 his mother was elected a member of the Provincial Legislature of Gauteng where she served for 10 years.
Activism and work
Weinberg began independent activism upon entering the University of Witwatersrand. His experience of student media led him into community media after leaving university without completing a degree. He then moved through a variety of civil society organisations, gaining experience which eventually enabled him to take on founding roles in new organisations.
The R2K, of which he was national coordinator{{Cite web |title=Desire for change unites post-apartheid activism |date=20 February 2014 |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2014-02-20-post-apartheid-activism-united-by-a-desire-for-change/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en-ZA}} as well as co-founder, was notably able to mobilise not only grassroots activists, but professionals, academics and "policy wonks."{{Cite journal |last=Bond |first=Patrick |date=2017-12-13 |title=Securocrat repression and 'Protest nation' resistance |url=https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/sacq/article/view/3430 |journal=South African Crime Quarterly |issue=62 |pages=103–108 |doi=10.17159/2413-3108/2017/v0n62a3430 |issn=2413-3108}} It was formed in response to the Protection of State Information Bill, which sought to classify a wide range of public information.
The significance of the R2K can be gauged from the fact that under president Jacob Zuma, the State Security Agency targeted it for infiltration, for purposes of surveillance and/or destabilisation{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=2021-01-25 |title=Commission hears of alleged covert ops in media, judiciary, civil society, academia and unions, costing taxpayers 'hundreds of millions' |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-01-26-commission-hears-of-alleged-covert-ops-in-media-judiciary-civil-society-academia-and-unions-costing-taxpayers-hundreds-of-millions/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}, as revealed by the Zondo Commission.
Weinberg's final project, Yetu Infotech Collective, aims to address the digital divide in civil society.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-12 |title=Opportunities & Threats – Yetu Infotech Collective |url=https://yetu.coop/opportinities-threats/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712152917/https://yetu.coop/opportinities-threats/ |archive-date=12 July 2024 }}
Personal life
{{citation needed section|date=April 2025}}
Weinberg married Celeste Fortuin; they had three children: Liam followed by twins Sasha and Luke. His unexpected death occurred at their family home in Harfield Village, Cape Town.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
http://www.theright2know.org/
https://web.archive.org/web/20200115121620/http://www.r2k.org.za/
https://web.archive.org/web/20250219170909/https://yetu.coop/
Category:South African socialists
Category:People from Cape Town
Category:White South African people
Category:Anti-apartheid activists
Category:South African activists
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