Bianca Alcorta gave insight into the U.S's involvment in ending the apartheid movement with the article US Anti-Apartheid Movement Helped Bring Change to South Africa. The article goes over several actions taken by U.S. leaders, such as Congressmen Ron Dellums, to protest, boycott, and pressure the South African government during their oppressive rule in the 1980s. A line in the article did catch my attention. "Television news images of the violent struggles to end apartheid in South Africa captured the attention of Americans in the 1980s." I found this a little ironic because not two decades before, a similar movement had taken center stage on television in the U.S. It was interesting to discover that, while some Americans were still resenting the Civil Rights Act that many blacks fought to procure, other leaders like Ron Dellums were already at work fighting for equality in a region an ocean away.
I read Realizing Women's Human Rights in South Africa by Dr. Erin Tunney, a professor of Women's Studies and Sociology, and gained insight into the further level of inequality faced by women in the country. This link was suggested by Denise Carpenter. The article describes the injustices endured by women in South Africa, especially black women who must also contend with racial inequalities, and brings up possible solutions to these problems. Its a good read and provides useful information to take with you to Cape Town in preparing to combat racial and gender inequalities.
Lastly, I was most interested in Hashm Shokravi's posting of the trailer for Invictus (2009), a film about Nelson Mandela's effort to unite post-apartheid South Africa by enlisting the help of national rugby team to win the 1995 World Cup. It's always interesting to find out what goes on during the production of big-budget, critically successful films and Invictus is no exception. During the planning and filming stages of this project, the filmmakers an actors payed great respect to the stories they were telling. I have not personally seen the movie but it is certainly on my list.
Before signing off, I'd like to add an afterthought. For this spring break, I attended a panel during the Interactive SXSW conference called Bladerunner: South Africa's Trial By Social Media. The presenters, Amanda Whitehouse, the head of social media for one of South Africa's leading digital agencies, and Emma Sadlier, a social media lawyer working in Johannesburg, discussed how the Oscar Pistorius trial generated so much online activity from followers of the court proceedings in South Africa to the point that bets were placed on online chat rooms and hundreds of Facebook pages were started up dedicated to posting updates on the trial. In their introduction of the topic, Amanda and Emma mentioned how in the past few years this has been the global association of for South Africa: that country with the Olympic amputee who killed his girlfriend. And before that, South Africa was associated solely with apartheid. Recently, the country hosted the first successful penile transplant and pretty soon that association may catch on as well. I thought it might be helpful to bring this up not only too highlight the power of an international image but also to present a South Africa that is in tune with our own country in terms of digital age. According to the speakers, online behavior in the country has remained floating since the trial and I cannot wait to see to what extent.
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