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Books > Humanities > History > African history > General
‘The freezing loneliness made one wish for death,’ journalist Joyce Sikakane-Rankin said of solitary confinement. With seven other women, including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, she was held for more than a year.
This is the story of these heroic women, their refusal to testify in the ‘Trial of Twenty-Two’ in 1969, their brutal detention and how they picked up their lives afterwards.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is South Africa's fifth post-apartheid president. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as the founder of the National Union of Mineworkers. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990, Ramaphosa was at the head of the reception committee that greeted him. Chosen as secretary general of the African National Congress in 1991, Ramaphosa led the ANC's team in negotiating the country's post-apartheid constitution. Thwarted in his ambition to succeed Mandela, he exchanged political leadership for commerce, ultimately becoming one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, a breeder of exotic cattle, and a philanthropist.
This fully revised and extended edition charts Ramaphosa's early life and education, and his career in trade unionism - including the 1987 21-day miners' strike when he committed the union to the wider liberation struggle - politics, and constitution-building. Extensive new chapters explore his contribution to the National Planning Commission, the effects of the Marikana massacre on his political prospects, and the real story behind his rise to the deputy presidency of the country in 2014. They set out the constraints Ramaphosa faced as Jacob Zuma's deputy, and explain how he ultimately triumphed in the election of the ANC's new president in 2017. The book concludes with an analysis of the challenges Ramaphosa faces as the country's fifth post-apartheid president.
Based on numerous personal conversations with Ramaphosa over the past decade, and on rich interviews with many of the subject's friends and contemporaries, this new biography offers a frank appraisal of one of South Africa's most enigmatic political figures.
Van al die gebeure in die Kaapkolonie gedurende die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog het die teregstelling van Hans Lötter, asook dié van kmdt. Gideon Scheepers, die meeste emosie onder Afrikaners ontketen. Lötter en sy mederebelle in die Kolonie het die verbeelding van die plaaslike bevolking aangegryp en die Britte maande lank hoofbrekens besorg. Sy gevangeneming, verhoor en teregstelling deur ’n Britse vuurpeloton op Middelburg, Kaap, het groot woede en verontwaardiging veroorsaak en hom verewig as Boeremartelaar in die Afrikaner-volksoorleweringe. Nou word sy boeiende verhaal vir die eerste keer volledig vertel.
To understand the current situation in Egypt it is necessary to see
it in a broader historical perspective and examine the evolution of
Egypt since Nasser's 1952 revolution. No one is better placed to
offer this perspective than Aly El-Samman, previously a close
advisor to Anwar Sadat and now a promoter of intergenerational
dialogue to the young pioneers of today's revolution. In Egypt from
One Revolution to Another, El-Samman offers a rigorous and vivid
analysis of these last sixty years of Egyptian history. His memoir,
rich in revelations and anecdotes, gives us a rare insight into the
thinking of some of the most famous figures of the 20th century,
including the leaders of the existentialist movement in France.
But, more importantly, it sets out a real strategy of peace for the
shores of Mediterranean Sea and far beyond.
On Pietermaritzburg station in 1893 a young Indian lawyer, newly
arrived in South Africa, was ejected from a train to Pretoria for
insisting on his right to travel first class. It was to the cold
night hours spent in the waiting-room that Gandhi himself traced
the genesis of his great resolve - to fight injustice by
non-violent means. Crucial as this episode was, it was but one of
the manifold influences which shaped the Gandhi-to-be during his
sojourn in South Africa. This title arose from a conference held a
century later, in 1993, at the Universtiy of Natal,
Pietermaritzburg, to reaffirm the South African Gandhi. It traces
some of the influences which effected his transformation from an
unsuccessful and insecure young man to a mature political and
spiritual leader ready to carve his niche in history after his
return to Indian in 1914. The Mahatma's moral vision, of a way to
resolve conflict and right injustice without resorting to violence,
remains relevant to post-apartheid South Africa and to the world.
It also remains a difficult vision to grasp; but a better
understanding of his vital formative years will perhaps help to
make it more accessible.
On 8 January 2012 the African National Congress (ANC) of South
Africa, the oldest African nationalist organisation on the
continent, celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. This historic
event has generated significant public debate within both the ANC
and South African society at large. There is no better time to
critically reflect on the ANC's historical trajectory and struggle
against colonialism and apartheid than in its centennial year. One
Hundred Years of the ANC is a collection of new work by renowned
South African and international scholars. Covering a broad
chronological and geographical spectrum and using a diverse range
of sources, the contributors build upon but also extend the
historiography of the ANC by tapping into marginal spaces in ANC
history. By moving away from the celebratory mode that has
characterised much of the contemporary discussions on the
centenary, the contributors suggest that the relationship between
the histories of earlier struggles and the present needs to be
rethought in more complex terms. Collectively, the book chapters
challenge hegemonic narratives that have become an established part
of South Africa's national discourse since 1994. By opening up
debate around controversial or obscured aspects of the ANC's
century-long history, One hundred years of the ANC sets out an
agenda for future research. The book is directed at a wide
readership with an interest in understanding the historical roots
of South Africa's current politics will find this volume
informative. This book is based on a selection of papers presented
at the One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories
and Democracy Today Conference held at the University of
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg from 20-23 September 2011.
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