''New Age'' was an influential

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

newspaper in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

operating from 1953 to 1962. It was formed with the co-operation of a number of left-wing groups in the area; ''New Age'' received the assets of the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Jewish Worker's Club, which had been liquidated in 1948. The newspaper later received support from a committee of the anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

South African Students' Association The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney ...

. From the start, ''New Age'' published fiction and poetry as well as journalism. The newspaper had a prize for fiction depicting the oppressions of apartheid, and introduced several important politically aware poets, most notably

Keorapetse Kgositsile Keorapetse William Kgositsile (19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018), also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 196 ...

, who became the literary voice of the South African anti-apartheid movement while in exile in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its journalists, such as Joe Nzingo Gqabi were aligned with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

, particularly the older generation of the ANC leadership. It was sympathetic to labour movements and to militant leftists of all stripes. ''New Age'' was shut down by the government in 1962. The newspaper has now been brought back to life, in 2010, however the goals and style of the newspaper are different. It now mostly focuses on South African politics, and does not have any works of fiction or poetry.

References

Mass media in Johannesburg Publications established in 1953 Publications disestablished in 1962 Defunct newspapers published in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-newspaper-stub