SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME

Denis Theodore Goldberg grew up in Cape Town and studied for a degree n Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town. As a member of the South African Communist Party, an organisation which was suppressed by the apartheid regime which came into power in 1948,he joined others in forming the Congress of Democrats of which he became the leader. He was detained in 1960 and spent four months in prison without trial.

When Umkhonto we Sizwe was founded in 1961, Denis became its technical officer. He was arrested in 1963 at the Rivonia headquarters. He was sentenced in 1964 at the end of the famous Rivonia Trial to four terms of life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1985, after spending 22 years behind bars. Denis was appointed Special Advisor to Ronnie Kasrils, MP, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry until 2004. In 2010 he published his autobiography, The Mission: A Life for Freedom in South Africa.

Denis has been a vociferous advocate for the importance of memory, and will share his reflections appropriate to the theme of the symposium, Memory in a time of Freedom.    

10h30 – 11h20               Memory projects reflecting on their main challenge (two panels)

o   Steve Biko Foundation

o   Lilliesleaf

o   Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum

o   South End Museum

o   Transcending History Tours

o   Fietas

o   Red Location

o   Sophiatown / Trevor Huddleston Memorial

o   Robben Island

o   District Six Museum

THEME 1:        Re-imagining divided and unequal cities: cultural geographies of racial and class identity                              14h00 – 16h30 (including tea break)

FRAMING PRESENTATIONS

Overview of Cape Town Urbanisation patterns (past to present)

Cities, race and racism – what would Biko say?

WORKSHOP FORMAT: 5 GROUPS (1 hour including tea break)

a.       Workshop discussion: Key issues that emerge from the presentation; possibilities for strengthening participatory democracy in urban spatial planning; memorialisation practice ideas to break down racial, class and other barriers in the City; Cultural experiences that speak to our common humanity;

b.      Participants to share their stories of moving from the past into a future that is fair and rests on a foundation of social justice (in 5 groups)

                FEEDBACK FORMAT: MAPPING IDEAS ON PIN BOARD (45 mins)

c.       Mapping relationships (bodies in space)

d.      Mapping collaborative possibilities

Sathasivan Cooper is a graduate of the Universities of South Africa and the Witwatersrand . He obtained his PhD in Clinical / Community Psychology as a Fullbright scholar from Boston University in 1989.

A close colleague of the late Steve Biko and one of the founders of Black Consciousness in South Africa (SA), Cooper has played a key role in the struggle against apartheid, the advent of democracy in SA, the unification and ascendancy of psychology and youth and community reconstruction and development during and after apartheid. He was banned and house-arrested when he was 22 years of age, and jailed for nine years. His longest period of incarceration was from 25 September 1974 to 20 December 1982, being the first accused in the seminal SASO/BPC trial in Pretoria (January 1975-December 1976). He spent over five years in Robben Island in the same cell-block as former President Mandela, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu, and in 1988 was declared a ‘victim of gross human rights violations’ by SA’s Truth and Reconciliation

After release from Robben Island in December 1982, he continued in various leadership roles (National Forum Convenor, AZAPO President) when state violence was at its height. His house was petrol-bombed in 1984 and his last imprisonment was during the state of emergency in 1986, eventually being released in September.

Cooper is Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria and Honorary Professor at the University of Limpopo, and works, inter alia, in the health, education and training sectors.

THEME 2:        Race, identity and voices

9h30 – 12h00 (including tea break)

Overview of session

Video screening of Jade Gibson’s ‘Wish you were here’

Responses from participants

Storytelling panel: ‘Lived experiences of cultural geographies of a divided city in a free country’ presented by Cultural Intersections project

Responses to stories from participants

THEME 3:        Stories of hope, social justice and a vision for a new humanity

13h00 – 15h30 (including tea break)

Site walk through the East City of District Six, via the precarious memorial cairn at CPUT (Cape University of Technology), and to the site of the new homes of the returned District Six families. This walk will be led by Museum staff and storytelling former / current residents of the District.

Returning to the Museum for presentations and discussions: Raising key questions about forms of memorialisation within land restitution contexts

How are communities shaping their thinking about memorialisation within development contexts – which land restitution processes have become. Also, when return is not possible, what options do communities draw on?

Presentations to be made by 4 memory projects of which 2 still need to be confirmed:

·         Claremont Histories Project

·         Cata Village Project

The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session from the floor