History Matters

http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/100-years-african-national-congress-neville-alexander The lavish celebrations in Mangaung this past weekend, among other things, reminded me of the late Van Zyl Slabbert. Renowned for his ready wit and as a master of repartee, he once quipped in response to a question about the likelihood of a one-party state in the new SA, given the dominance of the [...]

this article was extracted  from graemebloch.com (click to view blog) (visiting adjunct Professor, School of Public and Development Management, Wits University). The simple reply on why matric is important, is to look at the debate the results have kicked off on where our education system is going and why education is important to the nation. Secondly, [...]

The birth of the African National Congress a century ago, on January 8, 1912, was a landmark in the history of Africa, marking the beginning of the end of centuries of exploitation and humiliation of the continent. It received hardly any attention at the time internationally or from the white establishment in South Africa. M.K. [...]

South African History Online (SAHO) invites you to the launch of The Final Prize: My Life in the Anti-apartheid Struggle by Norman Levy and Alex Hepple: South African Socialist by Bob Hepple, two new books in the SAHO’s Lives of Courage series. The launch will take place on Thursday 6 October at The Book Lounge, [...]

Between June 14 and June 23, 2011, a delegation of 11 scholars, activists, and artists visited occupied Palestine. As indigenous and women of color feminists involved in multiple social justice struggles, we sought to affirm our association with the growing international movement for a free Palestine. We wanted to see for ourselves the conditions under [...]

Recent calls for nationalisation of mines and expropriation of land  without compensation have  evoked a sense of anxiety  and discomfort in  sections of  South African society,  the international financial sector and observers of South Africa’s policy processes. These ideas are said to be to be based on the Freedom Charter, adopted by the Congress of the People, on [...]

Côte d’Ivoire: No War, but No Security AfricaFocus Bulletin Jun 10, 2011 (110610) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor’s Note “Between May 13 and 25, Human Rights Watch interviewed 132 victims and witnesses to violence by both sides during the battle for Abidjan and in the weeks after Gbagbo’s arrest. Killings, torture, and inhumane treatment [...]

By Jane Duncan Christopher McMichael is a PhD candidate in the politics department of Rhodes University. His research investigates the ways in which the international governing body of football, FIFA, used the security arrangements for the 2010 World Cup to cannibalise public funds to the benefit of the Association and its sponsors. South Africa had [...]

by Raymond Suttner With Ma Albertina Sisulu’spassing, many feel they havelost a political figure, but alsosomeone who meant much more thanthat, who sensitively but where necessary firmly, guided others on a path thatwould help them as human beings.Ma Sisulu was warm and generallysmiling while she hugged and kissed allher children. She combined this withstrict ethical norms [...]