INVITATION: Tracing the Unbreakable Thread

21 years after the end of apartheid and the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa remains a country defined by race. Despite the strong ideological tradition of non-racialism in the liberation struggle in South Africa and the centrality of the founding principle of non-racialism to the much lauded South African Constitution, the legacy of the apartheid policy of race classification and the concomitant economic, social and political stratification this system both entrenched and enforced remain all too evident today.

A recent Nelson Mandela Foundation position paper argued that public discourses on race today "are dominated by expressions of denial, alienation, obfuscation and even self-hatred" and laments the apparent disappearance of those "robust narratives of non-racism and of Black Consciousness... that defined identity in terms of a political vision and a concomitant way of life, or praxis... that shaped our struggles for liberation and our negotiating of a post-apartheid polity."

To ignite reconsideration of these "robust narratives", SAHA, in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, invites you to mark Heritage Day 2015 by joining us for the launch of a 25th anniversary commemorative online edition of "The unbreakable thread: non-racialism in South Africa" by Julie Frederikse, and taking part in a dialogue forum considering the legacy of non-racialism in South Africa today.

Based on over 100 interviews conducted in the late 1980s with liberation struggle veterans, such as Ray Alexander, Billy Nair and Joe Slovo, and a then-new generation of leaders like Cheryl Carolus, Frank Chikane, and Cyril Ramaphosa, this online edition will be made freely accessible, along with the related interviews transcripts, historical documents and photographs through a new SAHA online repository in order to prompt and enable critical consideration of what progress has been made in the building on a non-racial democracy in South Africa.

PANELISTS:

Ms. Obenewa Amponsah - CEO, Steve Biko Foundation
Mr Neeshan Balton - CEO, Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
Mr Sello Hatang - CEO, Nelson Mandela Foundation

WHEN: 17h30 for 18h00, Tuesday 22 September 2015

WHERE: Women's Gaol Atrium at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg

RSVP: By email to info@saha.org.za or by phone to 011 718 2560 by 15 September 2015