Beginning with ubuntu, rather than the braai, puts a completely different spin on how we approach Heritage Month, says Thabo Makgoba.

Dear Colleagues:

We are a group of Palestinian, Israeli, and other oral historians and academics from Europe, South Africa, and North America calling on you to boycott the June 2014 ‘International Conference on Oral History’ organised by the Oral History Division of the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While all Israeli universities are deeply complicit in the occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is particularly noteworthy, as we explain below. 

Keynote Address to the IMBIZO ON
GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER:
ITS LEGACY AND LESSONS

Peninsula Technikon

Chairperson, colleagues and comrades

IN the aftermath of Zanu PF founder and former minister Enos Nkala’s death, debate has been raging about his role in Zimbabwe’s political history, particularly the liberation struggle, as well as his contribution to nation-building, and also repression in the mid-south-western regions immediately after Independence in 1980.

IN THE week when Pretoria University philosophy lecturer Louise Mabille had to resign her post after expressing racist views it was easy to feel depressed about the academic world. But at the same time, as news of Mabille’s disgusting racism was breaking, I had been through one of the most important books I’ve read in years – Gillian Hart’s Rethinking the South African Crisis.

Extracts from ‘The New Radicals, A Generational Memoir of the 1970s’ by Glenn Moss

The imposing figure sitting at the fire had a laugh that came from deep within his chest. He had consumed as much cheap red wine as the rest of us, maybe more. Chortling, he moved over, put his arms around my waist and lifted me up. ‘This one,’ roared Steve Biko, ‘this one understands.’

On Africa Day (25th May) we celebrate the hard-fought achievement of our freedom from European colonial powers, as well as African Unity. How important is our history to our unity? And what does being united entail? Some thoughts.

'The People Of Africa Are Crying For Unity' - Kwame Nkrumah. African Liberation Day was founded in 1958 when Kwame Nkrumah convened the First Conference of Independent States. He gave one of the greatest speeches of his life on 24th May 1963 when 32 independent African countries met in Addis Ababa to find ways to unite the continent.

The silent recolonisation of Africa is happening on a mass scale. To address this issue, the first Africa Conference on Land Grabs is set to take place in South Africa on 27–30 Oct. 2014. Land is the source of life and death, but it might not always be with us.

“I don’t understand why all these statues are still there”, remarked a new acquaintance in reference to the classical apartheid and colonial monuments dotted around the city of Cape Town. I often have to field this question after explaining my work on heritage formation and commemorative culture in post-apartheid South Africa. The short answer is that the state’s abandonment of iconoclasm—except for the most egregious cases—stems from the values of reconciliation and nation-building that inform the democratic dispensation. Our culture of monumental tolerance goes back to apartheid.

On June 6 1944, more than 150,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy. Their number rose to 1.5m over the next six weeks. With them came millions of tons of equipment, ranging from munitions, vehicles, food, and fuel to prefabricated floating harbours.