Attention all volunteers, activists, concerned citizens, politicians and recorders of knowledge
The events that began in May 2008 relating to xenophobia in South Africa have resulted in the displacement of approximately 80 000 people as well as 62 deaths and significant psychological trauma to countless individuals.
At first, the imperative for civil society lay in responding to the crisis by meeting the material needs of the displaced and trying to ensure that the levels of direct violence did not escalate. As the situation continues, however, it becomes clear that a significant drama within our unfolding democracy is taking place requiring careful and considered analysis. To this end, the University of Cape Town would like to develop a comprehensive public archive including (but not exclusive to) the following:
· Media reports
· NGO / Government responses
· Civil communication
· Site Assessment
· Volunteer coordination
· Personal narratives / witness accounts
· Reports
The physical archive will be housed in the African Studies Collection at the University of Cape Town, but will be freely accessible via the internet to all interested parties and will be linked to the websites of relevant NGOs and government bodies. As a pilot, the archive will be developed around the Soetwater site, but will expand to include all other locations in the near future.
Any submissions that you may have would be enormously appreciated. Please email them with your name, contact details and the relevant source to xenophobia.archive@gmail.com.
July 15, 2008 at 10:27 am
Hi Lauren,
An excellent initiative. For material from Cape Town, you should get in touch with the Social Justice Coalition – they emerged out of TAC and led the response here while the province and city were squabbling. Have a look at the post Mass Rally for Democracy in Zimbabwe on this blog for their contact details. In Joburg, get in touch with the Chapter 9 and Civil Society Xenophobia Crisis Forum. Their contact details are in the xenophobia resources post, also in the Activism directory on this blog, along with lots of other xenophobia resources.