History Matters

May 21 2012 at 11:11am By Mary Corrigall Mary Corrigall FOR almost as long as heads of state have been the subject of official commissioned portraits they have been the subject of unsolicited satirical representations. Naturally, the former is designed to portray the leader in the best light as possible. In the case of the [...]

The beginning of the end Since the release from incarceration in 1990 after more than a quarter of a decade behind bars South Africa has undergone a dramatic transformation. What ensued in the subsequent years was one of the most dramatic occurrences in recent world history with the dismantling of the oppressive system of apartheid. [...]

Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party: what needs to be reassessed? by Tom Lodge The evidence that Stephen Ellis refers to about Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party is pretty definitive. It is based upon recollections of party members some of whose testimony is derived from first hand experience. Joe Matthews was a member of [...]

Aspects of some expereinces of women in the struggle for liberation in the MK: 1976 – 1988: A case study of 10 women Download the thesis here: Table of contents and Dedication pages Aspects of some expereinces of women in the struggle for liberation in the MK

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 [...]