Press Release
17 June 2008
HISTORY MATTERS RESPONDS TO JAY NAIDOO’S CALL FOR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
History Matters, the new blog established by South African History Online, applauds Jay Naidoo’s call for a national dialogue. SAHO’s CEO Omar Badsha argues that it is not enough to just have a “national conversation” but that there is an urgent need for civil society to initiate a national conference / indaba.
Badsha argues that South Africans of all shades of opinion need to build a new national consensus and social compact to effectively address the numerous crises facing the nation (including but not limited to education, health, basic services, infrastructure, skills shortages, political conflict and xenophobia).
As a nation, we have no option but to face up to these challenges and join in the hard work of overcoming them. We have done this successfully in the past and we need to do so again. We have a great depth of experience in organizing public participation and promoting local activism and we dare not let this rich resource go to waste in this time of national need. Never has our history mattered as much as it does today. We call on all citizens of South Africa to support this initiative, participate in the national conversation and make their concerns and proposals heard in a national indaba of South Africans committed to the prosperous future for our country and all its people.
SOUTH AFRICA HISTORY ONLINE (SAHO) LAUNCHES A NEW BLOGGING FORUM AT HISTORYMATTERS.CO.ZA.
South African History Online (www.sahistory.org.za) is the largest online resource of South African history, hosting some 96 000 pages of content, including the entire school history curriculum. As part of our commitment to South Africa’s development, SAHO is launching a new blogging forum called History Matters.
History Matters is a forum for all South Africans. It offers a platform for a national conversation and a forum where people can put forward practical solutions around which the nation can develop a new consensus. History Matters will be an open and transparent forum that will contribute to the national dialogue between civil society, the government, political formations and parliament so that we can advance the idea of an new and inclusive social compact.
Issued by South African History Online
www.sahistory.org.za
www.historymatters.co.za
June 17, 2008
Press Releases