Mandela Dialogues, South Africa
Phase 1, South Africa, Johannesburg/Maropeng
Organised by the GIZ Global Leadership Academy (GIZ is the German international cooperation agency) and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, from 6 to 10 November 2013, the first phase of the so-called Mandela Dialogue was held. Ivana Franović and Nenad Vukosavljević from CNA were invited to participate.
Twenty-seven participants from South Africa, Kenya, Cambodia, Canada, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and a team made up of South Africans and a Brazilian discussed memory culture and policy and the so-called areas of tension that appear in relation to these issues. We re-examined the main objectives of working on memory, constructing narratives and their relation to the present, we encouraged and challenged each other.
Particularly inspiring as integral parts of the programme were the visits to two key monuments in Johannesburg, the so-called Voortrekker Monument dedicated to European settlers and, on the hill opposite, the newly-built Freedom Park complex dedicated mostly to the struggle against racism and apartheid.
With insight into the life of the poor inhabitants of Johannesburg living in shanty towns akin to those of our local Roma, we got a rough picture of life in South Africa twenty years since the abolishment of apartheid.
The programme also included a public debate at the Nelson Mandela Foundation bringing together 145 prominent South African individuals active in memory and/or human rights efforts who answered our questions and talked about the challenges they face in their work.
The Dialogue Programme consists of three phases to be conducted over the period of one year, and documents containing the central discourses included in the exchange will be published. The next meeting is planned for March 2014 in Cambodia.
View the photo gallery here.