Nothing happened nothing, that is, if you believed the threats of right-wing groups who promised bombings and general mayhem during the Christmas season. Nothing, unless the police know something we dont know. Nothing, though the prospect of the overthrow of government by the white extremist Boeremag far-fetched as that may seem made for very good copy during the silly season.A Pan Africanist Congress cadre and former Apla fighter explained things to me in these words: South Africans went to the brink of full-out civil war in the 1980s, but decided to go shopping instead. The right-wing has other ideas, of course. Still, their absence from the shopping malls was most considerate, unless they were there all the time shopping like the rest of us. It needs to be said that the Apla man was not entirely happy about the situation himself. But maybe something did happen. On a remote road in the Kleinmond area of the Cape coast, a man hanged himself. One of Afrikanerdoms radical songsters, once hailed as a prophet of the volks break with the past and a thorn in President PW Bothas flesh, Johannes Kerkorrel, born Ralph Rabie, chose a truly nondescript tree in a tangle of bush for his final departure. Compared with the bizarre theatrics of the Afrikaner rightwing, this really was a case of ending it not with a bang but aWait. Though he was a central cult figure amongst newly assertive youngish Afrikaners, he was never boorish or loud. His better songs were hauntingly beautiful, capturing the spirit of regret, longing, and even alienation that has characterised so much Afrikaans writing and music since at least the Boer War. These qualities defined him as having become quintessentially mainstream by the age of 42 when his life ended. That he chose to go quietly was a statement in itself.We can be sure that his status will grow with the years. Afrikaans magazines in particular are likely to blow up an Elvis cloud around him because magazines are best equipped to reconstruct shit-stirrers like Kerkorrel as heroes. Mavericks make great retrospective role models. The irony is that by the end of his days Kerkorrel was tilting at windmills and (according to some reviewers) had little of the old rebel left in him. If depression is a state of anger without enthusiasm, he suffered severely.Kerkorrel as a younger man claimed to have been fired as a journalist at Rapport for lampooning the Groot Krokodil (the Big Crocodile, PW Botha). When he started performing in 1986 he chose the satirical name Kerkorrel (church organ), just as another fringe singer, Andre LeToit, dubbed himself Koos Kombuis (implying a kitchen boy). These Afrikaffers, as they dubbed themselves, sprang to prominence with an avowedly political satire entitled Piekniek by Dingaan. But by September 2002 when Kerkorrel gave one of his last public performances at the Potchefstroom Aardklop festival, much late-night discussion at Die Akker coffee bar concerned the troubling fact that Afrikanerdom had lost its true radicals and had chosen to well, go shopping. So something did happen after all. As the old order wore away and the new one slouched towards Bethlehem to be born, the maturing and eventual demise of Kerkorrel ran parallel with the steady reduction of Afrikaner political commitment and the steady increase of purely commercial cultural production. Few editors today need to remind themselves how the Afrikaans consumer magazine was born, and what it was for. De Huisgenoot, the home companion, was launched in 1916, a year after De Nationale Pers (now Naspers) brought out the first edition of Die Burger, to expound nationalist ideology to female readers and their families.By the turn of the millennium Afrikaner nationalism had lost its heat and was a mere white dwarf in the South African political firmament. Charmingly quaint discussions continue with the ruling ANC on the topic of Afrikaner self-determination, and deep in the southern Free State the independent town of Orania harbours the whiteys who would rather do their own dirty domestic chores than let darkies breathe their airspace. But these are mere reminders of dark and evil days when the language equated with separate development and domination.Long ago, the philosopher Immanuel Kant suggested that cultural differences give way to practical reason in order to reconcile different conceptions of rights and law, different types of social organization, views of God, and languages. This bridging of differences signals the development of humanitys moral sense since morality cannot be relativistic and apply solely to ones own group.Afrikaans the language is not Afrikaans the symbol of oppression and the divorce is healthy for politics and for publishing. Ethnic development, yes; separate development, no. The change in emphasis is not merely cosmetic but represents for the majority of Afrikaners a swing towards the Open Society and a recognition that cultural differences are no excuse for discrimination in other words, rules and rights apply to everyone equally. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the magazine press where race is not what divides language is. Rooi Rose, says its editor, Liezl de Swardt, is an upmarket magazine for todays Afrikaans speaking women: the unifying factor amongst our readers is the Afrikaans language. Colour does not play any role in this equation and we do not make any special effort to target specific colour groups. Since the relaunch of Rooi Rose in November 2000 we have gained a substantial number of coloured readers, which seems to be a continuous trend as an increasing number of coloured women are constantly moving into the top end of the LSM scale.Publishers are learning it is imperative to modernise the Afrikaans magazine or face falling readerships. Sarie, now 53 years old, underwent a dramatic facelift last year when it changed from a fortnightly to a monthly magazine, and not a moment too soon either. AMPS figures showed a steady slide (as against the new-look Rooi Rose which has climbed). Interestingly, the English language magazine Fair Lady also hit the doldrums but, while remaining a fortnightly, pulled itself up by the bra-straps to represent the modern lady.Saries publishers, Media24, admit it was losing readers who were deserting for the Engelse tydskrifte. The publishers claim that since being restyled as a very now magazine in the female market, Sarie has grown 25 to 30 percent in readership (though this is not yet reflected in the AMPS figures). In 2001 Sarie was the first Afrikaans womens magazine to win the Sappi Pica award in its category and 2002 came in as runner up. The trend in Afrikaans magazines is towards a firmer ethnic identity within a common nationhood. For some editors, psychographics matter a great deal more than demographics. As Terena le Roux, editor of dit, the Afrikaans sister publication of Womans Value, puts it: At the moment we are targeting a mindset rather than a demographic and we ensure that our content is either locally produced or adapted to the local market. She adds that while Womans Value has 18 percent black and 18 percent coloured readership, dit may match the coloured figure but not the black simply because the Afrikaans language is not widely spoken amongst blacks.In contrast with the Afrikaans newspaper press, which has seen an alarming reduction of titles and is battling to grab and keep young readers, many new Afrikaans magazines have appeared in the past few years and they keep on coming. The variety of new titles is impressive. Finesse, Maksi-Man, and Insig have arrived to fill the glaring gap in niche marketing to women, men and the more discerning reader. Old stalwarts like Landbouweekblad, Wiel and Finansies & Tegniek appeal to the farmer, motorist and businessman respectively. The elite publication De Kat seems to have hovered between success and failure without ever realising its tremendous potential but then every sector of the magazine industry has had these lame ducks. Now, under new owners, with a change of format to make it more stylish and appealing, De Kat is coming back from a low base where the only way is up.The reconstruction of ethnic identity in the wake of the disaster of apartheid is well under way. Ethnicity is not just a group thing, it is intensely personal, as our language and cultural symbols define who we are. Magazines are very good at cementing our sense of identity by applying traditional values to the passing show, covering sport, crime, love and relationships, reminding us of our heritage, reviewing arts and music, defending nature and damning outsiders. This comfortingly conventional formula has been the secret of success for Huisgenoot over the years ensuring its role as the genuinely loved home companion of the Afrikaans woman. No wonder it became the model for its equally successful English counterpart, You, in the early nineties. By that stage, share of market rather than share of voters was what mattered to the publishers, who had anyway done their own bit towards bringing about the downfall of the Nat party. Naspers reasoned that there was no equivalent home companion amongst consumer magazines targeting English-speaking households. Readership figures quickly proved them right. It was not long before the black magazine Drum limping along badly after once being a standard bearer of the ANCs defiance campaign in the 1950s was acquired and given the same editorial formula as the other two magazines.Despite the growing dominance of English language and western lifestyles, South Africa has never really been a melting pot of ethnic identities, as people of all races have clung to their home identities. A melting pot implies that we believe the distinctions between people of different ethnic backgrounds are relatively unimportant. This viewpoint has been popular amongst liberals but today a resurgence of ethnic pride and interests is under way, in all the subcultures of South Africa and indeed throughout the world.English is busy flattening all other languages like a steamroller, says an article by Elretha Louw and Hannelie Booyens in a recent issue of Huisgenoot. Although there are between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world, more than half of the worlds population speak only the 20 major tongues, and 96 percent of the languages are spoken by a mere four percent of the population, say the writers. The solution is to remain emotionally anchored in Afrikaans, being personally committed rather than forcing a legislative solution as was attempted under the old order. The Christian element remains strong in Afrikaans publishing, as it does in the volk as a whole (witness the decision to continue with the name Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education: reminiscent of many a fundamentalist college in the United States). Faith is good for circulation: Jesus saves, and Christians buy. Result Finesse magazine, a Christian, broad-spectrum family advisor with a majority of women readers, has climbed to 289,000 readers in five years. Its owners, Carpe Diem publishers, are so pleased with their success that they have just launched the male-oriented MaksiMan, and the word is out that they are planning another (English) magazine for the black market, probably entitled Soul. As the country can support a parliamentary African Christian democratic party, so there is room for plenty of good works in the publishing industry.But ethnicity is not everything. The upsurge in Afrikaans magazine publishing bespeaks a rising understanding amongst marketers that reaching readers in their own language is the way to go. Alain de Jongh, researcher at FCB Headspace, says growth of adspend is about 10 percent a year, concentrated mainly in promotional spending on events, Internet and sponsorships. The reason is that Afrikaans speaking South Africans comprise 16.2 percent of the total adult population with a very high proportion of middle to upper LSMs.There has been a resurgence of pride amongst Afrikaans youth as they reaffirm their place in the national tapestry, says De Jongh. He expects to see further entry of new titles and greater focus on editorial relevance in a changing South Africa, striking a balance between conservative and modern Afrikaans readership trends. What he does not expect is a growth in African audiences, as they are most likely to adopt English as the lingua franca whilst seeking to ensure the survival of their own mother tongues.Magazine editors as a whole are upbeat about the future, apparently because they see untapped markets amongst women, youth, business people and special interest groups. And there is evidence to back up this optimism. In November 2000, the Caxton group relaunched Rooi Rose specifically targeting Afrikaans women with a glossy fashion and femininity package. Within three months, advertising revenue had grown by 100 percent and circulation by 60 percent.The figures for dit seem equally bullish. Although dit will only be included in the SA Advertising Research Foundation AMPS survey from February 2003, the interim readership is claimed to be 185,000, and in terms of circulation it has nearly doubled the initial target of 35,000 for the first year to achieve 68,000 in the January-June period in 2002. Advertisers must take space in both Womans Value and dit or their ads are turned down a remarkably confident approach which, says editor Terena le Roux, has gained the respect and understanding of most clients and agencies.Only a brave new capitalist Afrikaner world could have such magazines in it. In the old days, ads were turned down if they did not suit the ideology of the ruling party. Because publishers have embraced the free market and all it implies fierce competition between titles, and intense bidding for the right staffers the quality of Afrikaans magazines has improved markedly providing readers with more choices, depth and focus.It is a far cry from the stifling atmosphere of Afrikaans publishing when Johannes Kerkorrel took on PW Botha, and lost. Whats won, since then, is the profit motive. Whats to come barring any right-wing triumph or populist left-wing takeover of government, both of which could put the brakes on market forces depends entirely on the resurgence of the Afrikaans spirit.