Commemorating International Day of the Disappeared
On Monday August 30, 2004, International Day of the Disappeared will be commemorated for the first time in South Africa at a public gathering to be held in the Library Gardens, Johannesburg between 12:30 and 13:30 on Monday, August 30, 2004. This gathering will highlight the disappearances which occurred in our country during Apartheid. You are warmly invited to attend. The event is hosted by the Khulumani Support Group, the press statement is available by clicking here. .....
Conference: Searching for Justice
International Conference: "Searching for Justice: Comprehensive Action in the face of atrocities", December 4-5, 2004 to be hosted by York University. Looks interesting and some papers online, see the website. .....
Bush launches controversial mental health plan
President Bush announced on 26 July that his administration has begun implementing the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to "improve mental health services and support for people of all ages with mental illness" through comprehensive screening. The plan states that schools are in a "key position" to screen the "52 million students and six million adults who work at the schools" and includes recommendations for screening preschool children.
Mr Bush's announcement comes after new reports showing that increasing numbers of toddlers and children are being prescribed amphetamines, anti-depressants, and antipsychotic drugs. Concern that widespread screening will only increase the number of young people taking drugs has triggered criticism of the plan. Dr Daniel Fisher, one of the 22 commissioners responsible for writing the final report for the president, said that widespread screening—at a time when medical education was "geared to the biomedical model and teachers want to get kids fixed"—could result in greater numbers of children being given "a label, a diagnosis, and a medication. What troubles me a little bit," said Dr Fisher, "is that mental health will continue to be used as a substitute for addressing the social, cultural, and economic needs of children." More... .....
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Endorse the Apartheid Lawsuit
Today the Khulumani group launched a campaign to get endorsements for their lawsuit against companies that supported apartheid. To read more about this, and consider whether you will endorse the campaign, click here. .....
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Boeremag had breeding plans
The Mail and Guardian reports today that "The Boeremag dreamed of using a building like that of Armscor in Pretoria as a sort of breeding farm for "a new [Afrikaner] nation", the city's High Court heard on Tuesday.Free State potato farmer Henk van Zyl testified in the trial of 22 alleged Boeremag members -- facing charges ranging from high treason to terrorism and murder -- about a conversation with alleged Boeremag leader Tom Vorster.He said a Makopane herb farm owned by one of the accused, Dr Lets Pretorius, had at one stage been used as the headquarters to plan a violent coup. After one of their meetings at the farm, he and Vorster drove past Armscor's building in Pretoria". More... .....
Human rights, governance, democracy and the rule of law
The African Journal of Legal Studies (AJLS) invites submissions of articles, notes, conference reports and book reviews related to human rights, governance, democracy and the rule of law in Africa. The focus of the AJLS is on the interplay between law, public policy and social change in Africa. Though manuscripts are published in four major issues each quarter beginning in May 2004, to ensure timely commentary on major legal developments with significant implications for Africa, AJLS hopes to periodically publish one or two shorter articles in a monthly supplement. Given our flexible publication schedule, there are no deadlines for the receipt of submissions. Authors are however encouraged to send us their submissions as soon as possible, allowing sufficient time for the internal and external evaluations of manuscripts. The next issue of the journal will appear at the end of August 2004. For more information go to the website. .....
Apartheid's final surrender
The Mail and Guardian reported recently that "the party that built apartheid and turned South Africa into a pariah state completed its march to oblivion on Saturday by deciding to merge with its one-time nemesis, the African National Congress. The New National Party, heir of a mighty movement that jailed Nelson Mandela and built nuclear bombs, said its shrunken membership would dissolve and fight future elections under the banner of the black ruling party. A meeting of the NNP's federal council proposed that members join the ANC, a bitterly ironic twist for a party founded almost a century ago to promote the interests of white Afrikaners and keep blacks from power.Officials are to retain their party membership and parliamentary and local government seats as a transitional arrangement until September 2005. 'Individual members of the NNP would be encouraged to join the ANC in their respective localities. The NNP will in future contest elections under the banner of the ANC,' the NNP said in a statement". More... .....
Shattered Voices: Language, Violence, and the Work of Truth Commissions
Teresa Godwin Phelps has written a new book entitled "Shattered Voices: Language, Violence, and the Work of Truth Commissions". I have not read it yet, but the blurb on the book reads as follows: "When grievous harm happens, a rebalancing is bound to occur, whether it is orderly and lawful or disorderly and unlawful. Shattered Voices contends that language is requisite to any adequate balancing, and that a solution is viable only if it provides an atmosphere in which storytelling and subsequent dialogue can flourish. In the developing culture of ubiquitous truth reports, Phelps argues that we must become attentive to the form these reports take--to the narrative structure, the use of victims' stories, and the way in which a political message is conveyed to the citizens of the emerging democracy. By looking concretely at the work and responsibilities of truth commissions, Shattered Voices offers an important and thoughtful analysis of the efficacy of the ways human rights abuses are addressed". To find out more details about this book click the relevant link depending on your location US UK CA.
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Thursday, August 05, 2004
Iraq wants South African-style TRC
The Mail and Guardian reports, "Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said on Tuesday he wanted to create a truth and reconciliation commission for Iraq, modelled on the experiences of post-apartheid South Africa. Such a commission, 'based on confessions and pardons, would be a way to strengthen the feeling of national unity', said Amin, following his return from talks in Amman with United Nations agencies". Why does this worry me! .....
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