A STORY OF RESISTANCE: ‘CONCERNED SOCIAL WORKERS’

 The story of Concerned Social Workers (CSW), a progressive South African anti-apartheid social work organisation active in the 1980s and early 1990s, provides important lessons in social work activism in situations of inequality and injustice. This article describes the context in which CSW emerged, the raison d’être of the organisation, and activities in which the group engaged. Reflected through a qualitative study, members remember their CSW activism as shaping both their personal and professional identities. They suggest that CSW made an important contribution to the South African social work landscape. A record of this social work engagement provides younger social workers with inspiration to become social agents in a time where injustice continues to prevail and prompts older social workers to become energised and confront any complacency.