Most of our time at U.C.T. so far has been spent in class or wading through bureaucratic quagmires. Today we got to experience one of the advantages of being part of an academic community – a round-table discussion of human rights issues in Africa featuring one of our personal heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Archbishop Tutu was really the reason we attended, but some of the other speakers were quite striking as well. We were not familiar with any of them, but they are some of the most prominent figures in struggles against oppression all across the continent. Here are brief introductions, with links if you are interested in more details.
Guillaume Ngefa documented and reported on human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under several leaders, and was treated brutally for his work. He is currently in exile and continues to speak out on the situation in his home country.
Freedom Neruda was a leading journalist in the Ivory Coast who was attacked and jailed several times for writing in opposition to several governments.
Koigi Wa Wamwere has been a political activist in Kenya for over 30 years. During that time he has been a political prisoner at least five times, often being held without charge for long periods, and was even kidnapped by Kenyan forces who crossed the border into Uganda to get him.
Samuel Kofi Woods founded the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission in Liberia, an organization that reported on human rights abuses during the country's civil war. His investigative work, in the face of government threat, led to the release of several political prisoners who were being held without charge.
Denis Goldberg was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. A white leader in the largely black ANC, he was a political prisoner for 22 years and then exiled for about 10 as a result of his work.
The final speaker was Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy (who visited South Africa in 1966 and spoke out against the apartheid regime of the day). Ms. Kennedy recently completed a book called Speak Truth to Power, profiling individuals who have paid a high price to defend human rights around the world.
This forum was especially meaningful to us because we don't always feel like we're in Africa. Part of the reason for this is that Cape Town is so developed, relatively wealthy in many areas (including where we live), and has strong European influence of many kinds (British, Dutch, French, German). Events like this are a good reminder of what goes on around us. Political situations are shaky in many places, including here to some extent. The ruling party in South Africa, the ANC, is experiencing an ethnic split between those who back the current president (Thabo Mbeki, a Xhosa) and the new ANC president poised to replace him (Jacob Zuma, a Zulu). There is also a controversy involving the ANC's decision to disband a special corruption investigation unit known informally as the Scorpions. At the end of the forum, Kerry Kennedy made a simple but profound statement: if Western governments do not voice their disapproval, it will be assumed that they are okay with a situation. Putting aside any discussion of intervention, failure to speak is complicity with the oppressors.
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