Allan Horwitz is a Johannesburg-based South African writer, poet, and veteran activist. He has worked for many years in the fields of South African literary creation and grassroots organizing, with a professional career spanning literary publishing and radical labor movements, making him a steadfast critical voice in contemporary South African culture.
Horwitz was a key member of the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW) and a co-founder of the radical arts collective “The Cultural Weapon.” He served for many years as an organizer for the South African Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), using the intersection of literature and union work to advance the cultural expression of the working class. His poetry and prose are renowned for focusing on the social underclass and political oppression, injecting a profound class consciousness into post-apartheid South African literature.
Horwitz is a senior member of South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP). He unequivocally defines Israeli policy as “settler-colonialism” and publicly opposes the positions of the South African Zionist Federation. He wrote:
“In conclusion, if some Jewish South Africans feel aggrieved by our government applying BDS and down-scaling our relations with Israel so as to isolate its government then it can only be because they support apartheid in Israel. Israel shames Jews and Jewish history by its actions and South Africa, despite our own recent foreign policy zig-zags, can get back on track as a moral force by sending this signal to the world and showing solidarity with an oppressed people.”