Episode 128 - TEN YEARS IN INNER-CITY JOHANNESBURG: EXPLORING "HIJACKED" BUILDINGS

I interviewed Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon about his stunning book,
The Blinded City- Ten Years In Inner-City Johannesburg, which
tells countless and complex sets of stories about people who
occupy buildings in inner-city Johannesburg.

Some call these bulldings "hijacked buildings" but Matthew
explains why this term is problematic. He has spent over ten
years getting to know the people living in these buildings,
recording their stories, following lawfare between these
communities, property developers and the City of
Johannesburg.

What emerges is an incredible book that isn't just about an
ongoing housing crisis, but a struggle for the right of people
who live precariously to be treated with dignity, an inviolable
right that they are inherently entitled to but all too often
denied.

No one with a serious interest in making sense of the urban
landscape, and our myriad political  fissures, can skip this
conversation. Listen to it, and buy Matthew's book.

This is a story about Johannesburg, in the first
instance, but one with global echoes and therefore of
international interest also.

Enjoy