The Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Series PLANNED WOLPE LECTURES More  Articulations: A Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Collection More  Complete Programme 2009 Crisis of the Capitalist System: Where Do We Go From Here?” Immanuel Wallerstein 5 November 2009 Resolving the Israel Palestine conflict: What we can learn from Ghandi Norman Finkelstein 20 August 2009 A Pan-African Harold Wolpe Lecture Launch of the Durban Sings Oral History Project: A Pan-African Harold Wolpe Lecture with Tunde Adegbola 16 July 2009 Economic crisis and the prospects for social revolution Alex Callinicos 18 June 2009 Poverty & xenophobia: State failures, social challenges Bishop Paul Verryn 21 May 2009 'South Africa's democracy gap' William Gumede 30 April 2009 Civil Society Internationalism from Lindela to Gaza to Washington Giyani Dube, Lubna Nadvi and Kate Griffiths, plus songs by Timothy Rukombo 22 January 2009 More  Complete Programme 2008 More  Complete Programme 2007 More  Complete Programme 2006 More  Complete Programme 2005 More  Background information Click on the red arrow for background information on the Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Series. More  Previous Wolpe Lectures together with Independent Reviews Media Information & Freedom A debate between academics, journalists, civil society and the ruling party 26 August 2010 More  Social Justice Ideas in Civil Society Politics A colloquium of scolar activists, 29 July 2010 What are the ideologies, analyses, strategies, tactics and alliances that popular movements are pursuing across the world, especially in South Africa? And what are the representations of social justice struggles? More  Who scores in 2010 Durban communities march for a ‘World Cup for All, 16 June 2010 " More  What is global apartheid, and why do we fight it? Yash Tandon 11 March 2010 More  Crisis of the Capitalist System: Where Do We Go From Here?” Immanuel Wallerstein 5 November 2009 More  Resolving the Israel-Palestine Conflict What we can learn from Gandhi Norman Finkelstein 20 August 2009 More  A Pan-African Harold Wolpe Lecture Tunde Adegbola 16 July 2009 Tunde Adegbola More  Economic crisis and prospects for social revolution Alex Callinicos 18 June More  Poverty & xenophobia: State failures, social challenges Paul Verryn 21 May 2009 More  William Gumede on the Democracy Gap,30 April More  Wolpe Lecture: Civil Society Internationalism, 22 January from Lindela to Gaza to Washington More  Harold Wolpe Lecture Debate with Mosiuoa Lekota, Face to face with ‘Terror’ in post-Apartheid South Africa By Ashwin Desai I In 1955 a few thousand of our wisest and bravest ancestors gathered at a place called Kliptown. It was a gathering of delegates from every racial group in the country, comprised of women and men who believed in the unprejudiced power of democracy and who sought equality and freedom for all in the land. More  Wolpe Lecture on Zimbabwe (MDC, ZSF, Idazim) Thokozani Khupe, at Rick Turner Hall, , 22 November 2008 More  Wolpe Lecture Panel: Zimbabwe Solidarity Today! Tendai Biti (Movement for Democratic Change) and Bishop Rubin Phillip (Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum) 30 October 2008 Audio from the lecture More  Wolpe Lecture panel: Wasted Lives By Muna Lakhani, 25 September 2008 "Wasted Lives" - Waste, abuse of energy and pollution are rampant in the South African economy. This dynamic slideshow presentation interrogates the waste of resources in a country that has deep systemic social, economic and environmental problems. Lakhani suggests ways forward that represent a genuinely sustainable economy, to deliver on government's most advanced environmental, social, political and economic mandates. Muna Lakhani is a renowned environmentalist, the founder/coordinator of the Institute for Zero Waste in Africa and a member of EarthLife Africa. He is a researcher, analyst, practitioner, educator and activist, and has made numerous innovations in water/sanitation, energy and waste, ranging from practical projects to policy/legislative inputs. SLIDESHOW FROM THE LECTURE (English) SLIDESHOW FROM THE LECTURE (Zulu) More  Harold Wolpe Lecture Panel: Zimbabwe and People's Solidarity: Now's the Time! Panalists: Mary Chipende, Joy Mabenge, Richard Smith, Judith Todd, 24 July 2008 The Zimbabwe crisis now requires urgent interventions by South Africans and others committed to social justice and democracy: Those interventions have been requested by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (see below), in their recent call, alongside Cosatu, for a one-week border blockade as a popular sanctions strategy for social change - a call specifically made to distinguish people's solidarity from Washington/London-centred (or for that matter Beijing-centred) power politics. More  Wolpe Lecture panel, on the issue of Water for All! Panalists: Patra Sindane, Jackie Dugard, Dale McKinley, 28 August 2008 Four years is a long time to wait. But that’s how long it took for a judgement to be handed down in Mazibuko & Others v City of Johannesburg & Others. It was four years ago that five residents of Phiri township, with the assistance of CAWP and CALS, began to prepare a legal case in the Johannesburg High Court challenging two critical aspects of the City of Johannesburg’s water policy – the involuntary installation of prepayment water meters and the one-size-fits all Free Basic Water (FBW) policy of 6 kilolitres per household per month. The case was, at the time, and still remains, the first South African case to explicitly test the constitutional right to water, as guaranteed in our Constitution, which establishes that everyone has the right of access to sufficient water. More  Towards the light: A Review of the Wolpe Panel discussion on Zimbabwe By Mavuso Dingani 25 August 2008 There is a joke I once heard, that if you are walking in a dark tunnel and somewhere in the distance you can make out light, then you must surely know that you are not in Zimbabwe. Some jokes have a paradoxical way of articulating our hopes in our disgust. Granted, the joke shows lack of agency, a resignation to powerful and unfathomable dark forces, and of the endless nightmare that is Zimbabwe. Yet Zimbabweans laugh at this joke, maybe derisively, but more with embarrassment, because they cannot but hope for a different outcome. That somewhere in the not too distant future, darkness will give way to light. More  Communities against Xenophobia & Wolpe Lecture How do we solve our common problems? By Durban Communities & Social Movements, 12 June 2008 At a time of enormous political tension in neighbouring Zimbabwe, we continue our series of discussions on overcoming xenophobia. Durban communities have long mobilised against problems: poverty and unemployment, forced removals, evictions, relocations, bad housing, water, sanitation, electricity crisis, high food prices, racism, sexual exploitation, crime, drugs, corrupt government, political repression here and across Africa, old-fashioned colonial borders between our people, thugs who scapegoat and attack refugees…. More  Wolpe and ActionAid International Joint Lecture: Gender, States & Markets By Eunice Sahle 26 April 2008 The last two decades have witnessed attempts to reform the economic and political characteristics of African states along the lines of the neoliberal development paradigm. In the economic arena, most states have instituted development policies aimed at significantly reducing the role ofthe state. On the political front, an attempt has been made to introduce good governance practices of which an important aspect has been the demise of one-party authoritarian states and the establishment ofmultiparty political structures. In neoliberal terms, these reforms are intended to rejuvenate Africa's stunted economic and political development and thus facilitate the continent's transition to modern market-based capitalist societies. More  Truth, Propaganda, Power: John Pilger Wolpe Lecture, 30 March 2008 John Pilger, the world acclaimed journalist and documentary filmmaker, is one of the participants at this year’s Time of the Writer festival (25-30 March). Pilger, who will receive an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University, will be the featured writer in a special evening programme on Sunday, 30 March, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (University of KwaZulu-Natal). Presented in conjunction with the Centre for Civil Society’s Harold Wolpe Lecture, the evening, which will be live-streamed over the Internet, is entitled Truth, Propaganda and Power. Beginning with an extended trailer of Pilger’s new film The War on Truth, and an introduction by veteran writer activist Dennis Brutus, Pilger will be in discussion with Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee and UKZN academic and writer Patrick Bond, followed by a Q and A. More  Wolpe Lecture Panel: On ‘The State of SA’s Social Movements Mondli Hlatshwayo, Des D’Sa and Orlean Naidoo 22 November Based at Khanya College, Hlatshwayo is former coordinator of the SA Social Movements Indaba; D’Sa is a leader of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance; and Naidoo is a leader of the Westcliff Flat Residents Association. More  Wolpe Lecture: A Tradition of Activism By Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge 13 September 2007 I am grateful and humbled at this opportunity to speak with you young people today as part of the Harold Wolpe Lecture series. Wolpe was active in student politics and joined the SACP. As a lawyer, he defended liberation struggle heroes like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Lillian Ngoyi and Duma Nokwe. Wolpe was arrested and jailed a number of times before his daring escape from prison. To me, Harold Wolpe represents the caliber of activist that we need today. He was selfless and unafraid; he was prepared to speak truth to power. More  Review of: A TRADITION of ACTIVISM By Coral Vinsen 25 September 2007 There was not even standing room in the TB Davis 6 auditorium on the Howard College Campus at UKZ-N on Thursday 13 September 2007. An expectant audience of every age and race, mostly students, academics, and members of Durban’s civil society, occupied every seat, and even the steps, as they waited for Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge, ANC M.P. to address them. More  Wolpe Lecture: Robert Mugabe, the memory of colonialism and the real neo-colonial agenda By Grace Kwinjeh 23 August 2007 University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society, Durban Harold Wolpe Lecture series 23 August 2007 Introduction Why were we colonized? And were we ever really decolonized? These are the central questions that should be at the core of liberation discourse in Zimbabwe and Africa at large, in order to start dealing with neo-colonial ‘ghosts’. These ghosts are real enough when they take the form of dictatorships, exploitative neo-liberal capitalism and repression of our growing resistance to these. Rather than reflect upon now distant liberation ideals - one person one vote, or restoring the dignity of the African person, both of which are frankly further from us than they were in 1979 - I think it is important to begin by asking why as Zimbabweans and Africans we were colonised in the first place, and whether even the most radical nationalists in Zanu(PF) are guilty of what Frantz Fanon called ‘false decolonisation’. More  Grace Kwinjeh Pan-Africanism and the 21st Century African Revolution: Emancipation and Epistemological Questions A Wolpe Lecture by Horace G. Campbell 12 July 2007 Zulu Translation View Slideshow from the Lecture Introduction Pan Africanism arose as a philosophy to restore the humanity and dignity of the African person and indeed all humans. The concept of dignity and humanity has gone through many iterations from the period of enslavement to the period of colonialism, segregation and Jim Crow, the periods of apartheid and neo-colonialism to the current period of the HIV-AIDS pandemic when corporations have given themselves the right to patent life forms. There are two very basic and simple propositions. More  Horace Campbell Review of Harold Wolpe Lecture: Pan-Africanism and the 21st Century Revolution delivered by Professor Horace Campbell 12 July 2007 Reviewed by Segun Ige, UKZN I approach this review with a bit of trepidation. First, the intersection of Pan-Africanism and revolution is somewhat new to me and secondly, I had just been introduced to the lecturer the preceding day. From all indication, Horace Campbell is a distinguished Professor of African Studies and well travelled in Africa. I shall speak to the lecture, the audience and the lecturer from a third party perspective and hope that at the end, I would have done reasonable justice to the review. You enter Howard College Theatre that is already packed out with different kinds of people, from a year old to an elderly ‘gogo’; in high expectation of what was to come, then you hear in a high pitch voice: ‘What is the 21st century?’. . .and a series of other questions that crave definitive answers. One would expect this kind of question to be answered in retrospect as it is the norm. The seriousness with which Campbell wants his audience to approach the 21st century requires foresight and vision which can only be crystallised through probing reflection. In his attempt to answer the question, he differentiated between liberation and revolution and foreground his lecture on definitive intensification and resolve, that the retention of the word ‘revolution’ or ‘revolutionary values’ is apt for the African fight for perpetual freedom. More  SPECIAL WOLPE LECTURE: MBEKI UNAUTHORISED (World Premiere) Ben Cashdan, Walden Bello & others MBEKI UNAUTHORISED (World Premiere) A documentary by Ben Cashdan, Redi Direko and Meril Rasmussen The film SABC did not want you to see - about South Africa’s president, technocratic management and political paranoia Join the filmmakers, plus discussion panelists: Walden Bello, Moema Miranda and Virginia Setshedi Thursday, 28 June, 5:30-7:30pm, Ocean Conference Centre, 121 Marine Parade View Poster for the film More  Wolpe Lecture: “The rise of the disciplinary university” by Jane Duncan 17 May 2007 Howard College, University of KwaZulu-Natal Click here to read this in Zulu Introduction: a free speech code for Universities? Recently, the University of KwaZulu-Natal has been a flashpoint for controversies around academic freedom, with disciplinary action having been taken against two academics for a number of alleged misconducts, including speaking to the media. A case has also arisen at Fort Hare University, involving a law professor who is being disciplined for criticizing the University administration in his lectures, at conferences, in private conversations and in the media. These academics are accused of bringing their respective institutions into disrepute, including by lying to the media, and defaming University managers. A member of the support staff of the Tshwane University of Technology is being charged with the apartheid era offence of immorality, for distributing sexually explicit photographs to some of his friends. A disciplinary case is also being heard at Wits University, where students are being charged for bringing the institution into disrepute for criticizing the lack of freedom of expression on campus, in the media. More  Review of the Center for Civil Society’s (CCS) Harold Wolpe Lecture titled: “Making Real the Right to Housing” by Miloon Kothari, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur, 19 April 2007 By Simon Mapadimeng. CCS lectures are a major attraction for communities in and around the Greater eThekwini Municipality Metropolitan area. CCS has, from its inception, has been centrally concerned with issues of pressing concern to community struggles. Like other preceding lectures, this one also had one of the key basic service questions, housing, as its main theme. More  Miloon Kothari Wolpe Lecture: Taking up the cudgels to deepen democracy Fatima Meer February 22 2007 Taking up the cudgels to deepen democracy In this excerpt from her Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture at the UKZN Centre for Civil Society, Prof Fatima Meer calls for a South African social forum Those who are ruling us have usurped power. They are incapable of establishing equality or democracy. Who, then, will establish this democracy? More  Review of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Wolpe Lecture Regaining our Tongues: The Challenges of Writing in Indigenous Languages by Annsilla Nyar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Can we reclaim our mother tongue languages? The Harold Wolpe lecture delivered by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, one of Africa's most celebrated writers, brought the emotive issue of language-and its centrality to issues of power and ideology- once more back to the table. More  Review of the Galloway Wolpe Lecture: The Iraq War and the Responsibility of Resistance By Shannon Walsh 21 December 2006 "The blood of some is more valuable than the blood of others," lamented staunch anti-war critic and anti-imperialist George Galloway to a packed house at last week's Harold Wolpe lecture at UKZN. Spectators overflowed into the aisles as the powerful orator inspired and provoked the audience with his analysis of the war on 'terror', the responsibility of resistance and the growing movement against Israeli apartheid. More  Wolpe Lecture, A call to leadership: The role of Africans in the Development Agender Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, 30 November 2006 Ladies and gentlemen. Prior to coming here I was warned of the caliber of speakers who have stood on this floor. I am honored to follow on their footsteps. I did worry though, that as a mere preacher, their shoes might be too big to fill. Nevertheless, it is good to be here with you today. Brief Background Africa has been on the lips of many for decades. Many have been plotting, sweating and colluding to speak on behalf of Africans about Africa’s development. a) Colonial rule First came the colonial rulers with their legacy of slavery, economic expropriation and racially divisive tendencies. We know that colonial rule and its legacy in the continent was more devastating than some of the worst natural disasters such as famine, floods, etc. We do not need rocket scientists to tell us that colonial rule in Africa was particularly focused on exploiting and extracting the continent's natural resources. Infrastructure was built to exploit and extract copper, timber, oil, gold, etc from the continent. It is partly because of this system of extraction and exploitation that infrastructure in the continent is severely limited and unable to contribute to equitable development that benefits all. I will not spend time going into Gallagher and Robinson’s (1953) argument that beyond economic exploitation and political domination, colonialism was also about humanitarianism. To argue that is to argue that the husband who beats up his wife daily is doing it for her sake. It is a fallacy, at best. In fact, studies such as those done by Bertochi and Genova (1996), and Young (1994) prove that Africa’s development crises can be directly traced to European colonial rule. But we all know this, ladies and gentleman. This is why we stand proud to remember people like Nkwameh Nkrumah of Ghana, Seako Toure of Guinea, Namdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Patrice Lumumba of The Congo, to mention a few, who ushered in the era of independence in the 1960s. More  Wolpe Lecture: “Vans, Autos, Kombis and the Drivers of Social Movements” By Ashwin Desai 28 July 2006 This paper is a contribution in an on-going debate in Durban concerning the nature of left, radical politics in this city and the orientation of but the latest crop of social movements that has, since 1998, taken root here. It happens in the context of wall-towall (and somewhat dubious) coverage of these social movements in the academic literature and fairly intense debate and even contestation within an activist and social movement leadership community about the political meanings to be attached to particular social movements. More  Review of Wolpe Lecture by Phyllis Bennis: Wars in the Middle East : What Citizens Movements Can do By Lubna Nadvi 29 August 2006 At a time in our contemporary global history when both state and non-state violence is being unleashed on civilian populations across the world in a variety of guises, and citizens continue to bear the costs of what has effectively become institutionalized tyranny in many parts of the globe, the central question that we are all no doubt forced to deal with is, what can ordinary people do to address the challenges of such tyranny? More  Text of Sbu Zikode's Wolpe Lecture THE GREATEST THREAT TO FUTURE STABILITY IN OUR COUNTRY VS THE GREATEST STRENGTH OF ABAHLALI BASEMJONDOLO MOVEMENT S.A. (SHACK DWELLERS) Many things have been said. Many things have been seen. Many policies have been passed. Many people have voted. But what has been done has not been done for the poor. It has been done for the rich. The poor are outside. We have no country. This is not the democracy that the poor fought for. We must ask, are we citizens of this country? If we are not then who are we and where are we? AFRAID I am afraid. Every day is an emergency in the jondolos. I am afraid that the AIDS epidemic and poverty are the greatest threat to future stability in our country. Our people are dying. Our people are struggling just to survive. Our desperation and anger can go in many directions. I am afraid that it won’t always go the people who are getting richer while we suffer. S'bu brings Zulu to the lecture for the first time More  The power of critical Pedagogy A Review of Peter McLaren's Wolpe Lecture: Freire's Critical Pedagogy and Contemporary Liberation Struggles by Ntokozo Mthembu 26 May 2006 For most activists and educators who are familiar with critical literature, the term ‘pedagogy’ is immediately associated with the well known Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The relevance of this greatest of teachers to our time was brought out by the traveler, scholar, writer and thinker from the University of California – Los Angeles, Prof. Peter McLaren. He has written several books and also contributed articles in various journals and books; some of his works include Pedagogy (Hampton Press, 2005), Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory (with Dave Hill, Mike Cole, and Glenn Rikowski), Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), Revolutionary Multiculturalism: Pedagogies of Dissent for the New Millennium, (Westview Press, 1997); Counternarratives, (with Henry Giroux, Colin Lankshear and Mike Peters, Routledge, 1997), and Critical Pedagogy and Predatory Culture, (Routledge, 1995). He also authored Life in Schools: An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education (Allyn & Bacon), which is now in its fourth edition (2002). More  Talking to the Ancestors: National heritage, the Freedom Charter and nation-building in South Africa in 2005* Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, to be presented by Raymond Suttner in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, 1, 2 and 3 November 2005 Introduction I am honoured to deliver this lecture. I think of Harold Wolpe as having died very young. This is because like many others, I expected and hoped he would continue to contribute as he had done for over two decades towards enriching our public and academic debate. Although his academic career started relatively late in life, he made a substantial contribution, which evoked much controversy. Although often critical of the paradigms of the ANC-led liberation movement, his work enjoyed respect. It was recognised that he did not dabble but pursued research problems with rigour. Whether or not one agreed he had to be taken seriously. More  Slow Delivery in South Africa’s Land Reform Programme: “The property clause revisited Lungisile Ntsebeza's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 24 August 2005, Durban INTRODUCTION Except for hardboiled party loyalists there is wide acceptance today that the pace of land reform in South Africa is painfully slow. In the first 10 years of democracy, a mere three per cent of the land had been transferred to black hands. This criticism is not only made by government critics. Government officials and members of the Tri-partite Alliance also acknowledge this problem. At a `People’s Land Tribunal’ in December 2003, after listening to some witnesses describe the problems they had encountered in their attempts to access land through the land reform programme, the then Deputy Director-General of the Department of Land Affairs, now Director General in the same department, Mr. Glen Thomas, admitted that `I understand perfectly their frustration. I think sometimes it is justifiable … there are very difficult issues that we have to deal with’. In addition, Thomas made a statement that shocked those attending the Tribunal. He claimed that it was ‘a dream’ to think that 30 per cent of land would be transferred in the first five years of South Africa’s democracy. More  Regional labour solidarity and a new regional moment in post-apartheid Southern Africa: Retail workers in Mozambique and Zambia Darlene Miller's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 6 October 2005 Our investigation into the long-term dynamics of world labor will thus be on the lookout for…the struggles of newly emerging working classes that are successively made and strengthened as an unintended outcome of the development of historical capitalism, even as old working class are being unmade (Silver: 20). More  Miscarriage of hope and aspirations: Zimbabwe Wilfred Mhanda 's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 29 September 2005 Introduction Zimbabwe was reduced to a colony in 1890 by Rhodes' invasion force dubbed the pioneer column and by the subsequent concomitant acts of brutal repression, dispossession and destruction of pre-colonial power structures, African religion and values. The people of Zimbabwe heroically resisted these unprovoked acts of aggression and desperately sought to restore sovereignty over their resources , their freedom and dignity. The resistance stretched over decades finally assuming the form of a national liberation war particularly in the 1970s. The purpose of the war was articulated as a struggle for self-determination, democracy, freedom, social justice, human dignity and peace. These encapsulated the hopes and aspirations of the indigenous African people of Zimbabwe. More  Waiting for Cosatu? Unions and New Social Movements A review of Dinga Sikwebu's Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture – 4th August 2005 By Ntokozo Mthembu Changes in South Africa’s social arena challenge activists and other community role players to raise new and different questions with a view toward tackling the problems they encounter. As Dinga Sikwebu pointed out in his Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, social actors have responded to the situation differently depending on the angle which they are coming from. Sikwebu’s lecture focused on this question of whether the two tracks of labour and social movements will ever meet. His lecture focused on Cosatu versus social movements and the challenges that come out of that and he spoke about the tripartite alliance of ANC, Cosatu, and SACP, changes in the workforce, changes in trade union membership, and people’s perception of ANC leadership. More  REVIEW OF LUNGISILE NTSEBEZA'S WOLPE LECTURE by Patrick Bond Durable Apartheid Land Relations: Is the Property Clause to Blame? According to the Landless People's Movement (LPM), during the decade after liberation, Pretoria failed to deliver on its promise to 'redistribute 30% of the country's agricultural land from 60,000 white farmers to more than 19 million poor and landless rural black people and more than 7-million poor and landless urban black people within five years. Studies show that just over 2.3% of the country's land has changed hands through land reform.' More  Review of Professor Amina Mama’s Wolpe Lecture by Sindisiwe Mbandlwa 26 September 2005 Africa is in the process of change in terms of leadership positions for women; Professor Amina Mama is a good example of this change, as a black feminist leader in Africa. She is in a leadership in the University of Cape Town, which, like all South African universities, still has racial and gender imbalance. She is a Chair in Gender Studies and a Director of the African Gender Institute. Not just a face in the boardroom, she is part of the decision-making which we need to clap for as women. Mama has written many books focusing on gender critique, power, race and subjectivity issues. More  Critical Capacities: Facing the Challenges of Intellectual Development in Africa Amina Mama's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 23 June 2005, Durban I Introduction Why intellectual development? Intellectual development is a key aspect of cultural development, one worthy of critical attention at the present time. This is especially so in view of the fact that Africa is not only one of the most underdeveloped continents, but it now also has the most fragile and under-capacitated higher education sector in the world. [1] More  The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Naomi Klein's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 14 June 2005, Durban Last summer, in the lull of the August media doze, the Bush Administration's doctrine of preventive war took a major leap forward. On August 5, 2004, the White House created the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, headed by former US Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual. Its mandate is to draw up elaborate "post-conflict" plans for up to twenty-five countries that are not, as of yet, in conflict. According to Pascual, it will also be able to coordinate three full-scale reconstruction operations in different countries "at the same time," each lasting "five to seven years." More  Is there any future in the past? A critique of the Freedom Charter in the era of neoliberalism. Console Tleane's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal May 26 2005 Introduction I would like to thank the CCS for inviting me to deliver this lecture tonight. It is my hope that I will do some justice to the legacy of Harold Wolpe and to the stature of the series itself. The title of my paper tonight suggests that I will first try to take the audience through the origins of the Freedom Charter. In so doing an attempt will be made to offer a critical examination of the evolution of the Charter in a given historical epoch. I will then trace the treatment of the Charter in the hands of different political players and how such treatment turned into a process on its own and greatly shaped the political landscape of the country, and the shape and texture of the liberation struggle, and the liberation movement, throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and all the way through to the beginning of the 1990s. More  Democracy and the importance of criticism, dissent and public dialogue William Mervin Gumede's Wolpe Lecture, University of KwaZulu Natal, 18 April 2005, Durban Amartya Sen , when making the case for democracy as a universal value, suggests three characteristics of the democratic process. One, an intrinsic value, in the form of social and political participation in decision-making. To be barred from such participation is a major deprivation. Secondly, he sees an instrumental value in democracy, as it offers people a hearing and helps direct political attention to their claims and needs. This is done through communicating people’s demands effectively to political leaders. Thirdly, he posits that democracy has a constructive value, where its necessary dialogue allows citizens to learn from each other and thus helps society to develop. The constructive impact of democracy depends on the quality of dialogue that citizens engage in among themselves and with the agencies of the state, and together form society’s values and priorities. More  Dalicebo's review of William Gumede's lecture By Dalicebo Mthiyane 17 February 2006 A month and a few days have passed since William Mervin Gumede presented a talk titled “Democracy and the importance of criticism, dissent and open public debate” at the third Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture of 2005 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The High Court recently stopped the publication of a story, which according to the Sunday Times “exposed how Imvume Management obtained an advance payment of R15-million from state oil company PetroSA in December 2003…the advance was meant for oil condensate Imvume supplied to PetoSA; however R11-million of it was then paid into ANC coffers.” The report said that “when Imvume later defaulted on payment to its foreign supplier, Glencore, PetroSA stepped in and paid up, meaning that state money was effectively used to fund the ANC.” More  Keeping it in their pants: Politicians, men and sexual assault in South Africa Charlene Smith's Wolpe Memorial Lecture Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal 17 March 2005 Sanbonani. Thank you to Professor Patrick Bond and his colleagues for inviting me; my great appreciation to Helen Poonen, Princess Nhlangulela, Mandisa Mbali, Mandisi Majavu and Amanda Alexander for your assistance. My thanks to the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust for making this and other reflections possible to interrogate and hopefully enrich our political democracy. At the launch of the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust in 1997, political scientist Dan O’Meara reflected that “the new South Africa cries out for the kind of rigorous critical analysis to which Harold subjected the old, apartheid South Africa.” More  Charlene Smith Disgraceful silences”: Charlene Smith’s challenge to the South African women’s movement A review of Charlene Smith's Wolpe Memorial Lecture by Mandisa Mbali South Africa has one of the highest proportions of female parliamentarians and cabinet ministers in the world. Gender equality is inscribed in the country’s constitution. South African feminists have been successful in campaigned for a number of pieces of important law reform. Yet, as Charlene Smith argued in her Wolpe lecture in March, the country’s levels of sexual assault, violence against women and HIV infection are some of the highest in the world. As Smith also argued in the same lecture, powerful men in government have many times tried to underplay the extent of violence against women or implicitly defend rapists and abusive men by criticising women such as Smith who speak out on the issue as motivated by racism. Perhaps even harder to comprehend is what Smith referred to in her lecture as “the disgraceful silence from women in power” in response to government’s inadequate response to violence against women. More  The Fires of Memory: A review of Tariq Ali's Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture by Amanda Alexander What does it take to resist an empire? It’s the kind of question that usually requires shrinking, re-phrasing before even the spunkiest militants among us can offer speculation. Yet in his Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, ‘Imperialism and Resistance’, Tariq Ali tackled the question in all its magnitude. He is well-positioned to do so; an activist, writer and filmmaker, Ali’s most recent books, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq, could be considered the textual battle cries of the contemporary anti-war movement. Still, though his talk hinted at a useful methodology for building global resistance, his prescriptions – for a resistance full of roles for nations, but requiring less of individuals and social movements – often suffered from problems of scale. More  Amanda Alexander Wolpe Review: Building and Sustaining....a Women's Movement in the Zimbabwean Crisis by Mavuso Dingani Everjoice Win (EJ), comes from a land of stolen elections, repressive media laws, truncheon welding ‘green bombers’, spiralling inflation and petrol shortages. A land where a very dubiously ‘elected’ government makes war on the majority of its population. A blinding darkness has descended on a nation once bright with hope. Many would argue that specific “women’s struggles” should take a back seat whilst the broader fight for democracy becomes the overarching rallying point for Zimbabwean civil society? Not so, said EJ when she presented a speech at the Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture series on the 26th of August. It’s not a surprising view to hear from Zimbabwe’s leading feminist, a seasoned activist and columnist. More  Everjoice Win Review: Sexuality as the theatre for post-apartheid political battles? A critical review of Deborah Posel’s Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture The politics of sexuality in post-apartheid South Africa by Mandisa Mbali Sexuality is the main theatre of post-apartheid political and cultural battles. Or so Deborah Posel tried to convince us at the Wolpe Memorial Lecture on the 29th August in Durban. Her arguments on why the politics of sexuality have become so heated were eloquently phrased, but her media-based methodology could not sustain many of the claims she tried to make. Moreover, in her use of Foucault’s theories around the history of sexuality, she tried to reduce the politicisation of sexuality to discourse. She thus, overlooked the complex interplay between discourse and material factors in shaping the politicisation of sexuality. More  From Liberation to reconstruction: Theory and practice in the life of Harold Wolpe by Michael Burawoy A year after Harold Wolpe’s death in 1996, the newly established Wolpe Trust convened in his honor an international conference on “The Political Economy of Social Change in South Africa.” It took place at the University of Western Cape where Wolpe had worked for the previous 5 years. Staged three years after the inauguration of the Government of National Unity, it brought ministers, members of parliament, party leaders, activists together with engaged intellectuals from universities and non-governmental organizations. Former comrades, who had taken very different trajectories after apartheid, were reknotted in an exciting confrontation. Intellectuals from the universities and NGOs flexed their critical muscles, suggesting the betrayal of the ANC’s original program, only to be harangued by the political leadership for not appreciating the rapid and progressive transformation of South Africa. The drama of the New South Africa was played out in this academic setting. More  A shift in Gear: A review of Ferial Haffajee’s lecture on the state of the media ten years into democracy Deidre Donnelly Ferial Haffajee, editor of the Mail and Guardian, spoke on ‘The state of the media ten years into democracy’ at the fourth lecture in the Harold Wolpe memorial lecture series, hosted by the Centre for Civil Society and the School of Development Studies. It seemed appropriate that the May lecture should deal with the subject of the media, given that the month began with the Culture, Communication and Media Studies third Political Economy of the Media Seminar, which had made use of the same Howard College venue. More  Review of Mark Gevisser’s “Are We Living the Dream Deferred?” by Jean Kudla Much audience interest was displayed in the animated discussion time following Mark Gevisser’s lecture on a reflection on ten years of democracy in South Africa, the 5th in the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 2004 Wolpe Lecture series. Gevisser provided a fascinating insight into the conundrum that is Thabo Mbeki, tackling the issue of Mbeki from the perspective of the personal man, not the president. More  An Incomplete Freedom Ferial Haffajee I've rather enjoyed telling my mum (and everybody else who will listen) that I am to deliver the Harold Wolpe lecture tonight. It's got rather a nice tone to it - quite erudite, I thought, not one I know in my cut and thrust world of deadlines, chasing scoops, editing pages – all that is the business of putting newspapers to bed. More  Talking is Walking: A Critical Review of Patrick Bond’s Wolpe Lecture by Kerry Chance and Mandisa Mbali To a packed auditorium, Patrick Bond opened his Wolpe lecture on 22 April with an enlarged projection of a striking image from George W. Bush’s recent visit to South Africa: Mbeki walking down a red carpet, shoulder-to-shoulder with the American President. Above the photo of these cheerfully be-suited presidents, Bond had written, “Talk Left, Walk Right.” For Bond, this image offers insight into how we might critically reflect on ten years of South African democracy, and in particular the often-contradictory relationship between the South African government and corporate globalization. More  Patrick Bond Ten Years of Democracy: From Racial to Class Apartheid Patrick Bond Free South Africa turns 10 years old on 11 May 2004, the anniversary of the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. Yet looking back, it is abundantly clear that the society suffered the replacement of racial apartheid with what can be accurately considered to be class apartheid: systemic underdevelopment and segregation of the oppressed majority, through structured economic, political, environmental, legal, medical and cultural practices largely organised or codified by Pretoria politicians and bureaucrats. Patriarchy and racism remained largely intact in many areas of daily life, even if a small elite of women and black people were incorporated into state management and the accumulation of capital. Although slightly more expansive fiscal policies were adopted after 2000, Pretoria’s neoliberal orientation has never been in doubt. There are many areas where evidence of class apartheid is irrefutable, not only locally but in South Africa’s relations to its neighbors and the wider world. But where there is oppression, so too does resistance inexorably emerge. More  Review of Giovanni Arrighi’s Lecture, “The Rough Road to Empire” by Claire Vermaak The well-attended second lecture in the Wolpe Public Lecture Series for 2004 was delivered by Italian sociologist Giovanni Arrighi, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Global Studies in Culture, Power and History at Johns Hopkins University. Giovanni Arrighi (left) & Bill Freund More  Review of Zackie Achmat’s Wolpe Memorial Lecture Ten Years of South Africa’s Democratic Constitution by Annie Devenish and Mandisa Mbali Zackie Achmat (centre) with Fazel Khan (left) and Mandla Majola (right) (Please note that a video of this Wolpe Lecture, filmed by Matthew Durington, is available from the CCS Resource Centre) Introduction Zackie Achmat, the leader of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), spoke at the Centre for Civil Society’s first Harold Wolpe Memorial lecture for 2004. Achmat is famous for his passionate advocacy for wider access to HIV treatment in South Africa and globally. In 2003, the American Society of Friends nominated both TAC and Achmat for the Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, TAC scored a major political victory when the South African Cabinet acceded to one of the social movements’ key demands and instructed the Ministry of Health to develop a Comprehensive National HIV and AIDS, Prevention, Treatment and Care Plan. More  Review of Stephen Friedman’s “Why South African Democracy has not Reduced Inequality” by Claire Vermaak An audience member remarked that the Centre for Civil Society had “saved the best for last” with their final lecture in the 2003 Harold Wolpe Memorial Series. A compelling speaker, Friedman provided an insightful, absorbing argument for why South African democracy has not reduced inequality. Stephen Friedman is a well-known social and political analyst. He is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, is currently involved in two projects at the Centre for Civil Society and writes regularly for the Business Day, the Mail and Guardian and the Sunday Independent. In introducing his topic, Friedman stated that it is not relevant whether poverty has increased or not. While many speakers use controversial statements to capture an audience’s attention, without substantiating or linking them with the subject matter, Friedman explained that, while changes in poverty have important human consequences, it is rather the levels of poverty that he is concerned with. The quality of data in South Africa is notoriously poor, thus Friedman wisely hedged his bets by saying that it appears that poverty has remained more or less static over the last 10 years, while inequality has increased slightly. Although not all researchers would agree with such statements, there is no credible study suggesting that South Africa’s poverty and inequality indices are defensible. Many observers may have expected that 10 years of democracy would have significantly decreased poverty and inequality by enabling the voices of the poor to be heard in policy-making. The fact that this has not happened leads Friedman to think seriously about democracy, and to pose the question “What has been the effect of extending the vote to the whole population?” Since South Africa is not dealing adequately with the poverty and inequality faced by a large proportion of the population, there must be something wrong with how people’s voices are being heard. Friedman believes that most of the reasons put forward for why the poor are not being heard are flawed, and the goal of his lecture was therefore to think about this issue in another way. Although many other analysts see South Africa as an isolated case where democratic gains have not produced progress in the fight against poverty and inequality, Friedman sees this rather as being a typical situation. While democratisation in Europe resulted, over time, in policies that reduced poverty and inequality, this has not occurred in the current wave of democratisation. The argument often raised to explain this is that globalisation prevents democratically-elected governments from listening to their citizens’ voices as previous labour-led governments were able to do. However, Friedman finds no strong evidence that the unequal global economic power relations blamed on globalisation are a new phenomenon. In the past, governments were nonetheless able to enact successful poverty and inequality policies. More  Another journalism is possible : Critical challenges for the media in South Africa Jane Duncan Freedom of Expression Institute. Harold Wolpe Lecture Series, 30 October 2003 On October 10, 2003, the Media Workers' Association of South Africa (Mwasa) called off its threatened strike at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The strike was to have started on that day, and concerned a dispute about wage increases between SABC management, and the two recognised unions at the Corporation, namely Mwasa and the Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers' Union (Bemawu). Management had offered an 8.55% increase, while the unions demanded 11%. The matter went to arbitration, and after failing to agree the unions were issued with a certificate to engage in industrial action. More  The African Renaissance and the Neo-Liberal World Order: A review by Peter Dwyer A dinosaur in the lecture theatre or “the muffled sounds of the foghorn of hope”? A review of the Harold Wolpe lecture ‘The African Renaissance and the Neo-Liberal World Order’ by Professor Neville Alexander 28 August 2003. Some might say that a dinosaur gave a lecture at the University of Natal recently. For since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the subsequent collapse of ‘bureaucratic state -socialism’ (‘Communism’) and the euphoric wave of optimism for liberal capitalism that accompanied its collapse, any talk of the political importance of the 1917 Russian Revolution, class struggle and socialism is considered a relic from a prehistoric era by many in academia, politics and the media. More  Review of David Theo Godlberg’s lecture The Death of Race by Richard Ballard Paradoxically, many studies of racism are focusing on the absence of race in the language of contemporary western society rather than its presence (e.g. Frankenberg 2003, van Dijk 1993). The post-WW2, post-civil rights, post-colonial and – more recently – post-apartheid periods have forced societies to re-evaluate and adjust their formerly brazen use of race to divide and organise society. We tend to think of racism as typified by slavery, the holocaust, colonialism and apartheid, and the renunciation of these by the west leads many to conclude racism is dead. But is this the case, and is it correct to conflate racism with these historical periods? More  Review of Stephen Clingman’s “Bram Fischer and the Question of Identity” Julian Brown The story of Bram Fischer’s life is one of overlapping loyalties and conflicting commitments. Stephen Clingman’s Wolpe Lecture, “Bram Fischer and the Question of Identity,” sought to ground Clingman’s questioning of identity – both of Fischer’s personal identity and of a general model of identity – within the context of that life story More  Land: Critical Choices for South Africa: A review by Peter Dwyer Land: Critical Choices for South Africa: A review of the Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture given by Professor Gillian Hart, University of Natal & California, Berkley, and Andile Mngxitama, Landless Peoples Movement (LPM). The Harold Wolpe lecture series is different not least because it is unusual for activists to be given a public and unrestricted platform in a university to discuss the challenges facing South Africans. As Andile Mngxitama noted, the Centre for Civil Society has been at the forefront of creating an exciting public space where activists, progressive academics and members of the public can genuinely debate. This acknowledgement that there is an interdependent relationship between theory and practice and that everyone is an ‘intellectual’ (although not everyone is employed as one) was captured well through the theoretical and strategic questions posed and raised through the dialogue with an audience that is now consistently a mix of academics, students and ‘working class’ people from local townships. More  Passageways: Revisiting Self, The Society of the Spectacle and Moby-Dick by Darryl Accone Good afternoon/evening distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honour to be delivering the fourth Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture for 2003. The title of my talk is Passageways: Revisiting Self, The Society of the Spectacle and Moby-Dick in the Wake of September 11. Recent events in the Middle East sadly necessitate an extension of the subject to include the war on Iraq. Darryl Accone (Right) & Adam Habib More  Pravasan Pillay's Review of Darryl Accone's Wolpe Lecture In retrospect Darryl Accone’s thoughtful Harold Wolpe lecture, “Passageways: Revisiting Self, The Society of the Spectacle, and Moby-Dick in the wake of September 11”, deserved the intimacy and attentiveness normally reserved for a late-night conversation between friends. This is mentioned not to cast doubt on the suitability of his talk as a public lecture but merely to point out that some of its reflection and insight may have been lost in a forum that, by its nature, tends to favour brashness over nuance. More  A South African architecture: what is it, where is it? Presented by Alan Lipman This address was prefaced by a number of personal expressions of remembrance; recollections of Harold Wolpe and his wife Anne-Marie that spanned over more than a half-century. These included political and, above all, fond memories of a close-knit, four-way friendship. They were added to a brief, pained reference to contemporary events in the Anglo-American attack on the Republic of Iraq. More  A South African architecture: what is it, where is it? :A review by Derek van Heerden Let me say from the outset that I lack objectivity when it comes to Professor Alan Lipman or the content of his lecture ‘A SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE: WHAT IS IT? WHERE IS IT? To explain - for the past few years he has been acting as a design consultant/mentor to the architectural practice that I am associated with, and the building that he used to illustrate the issues raised in his lecture, is one recently completed by the practice – the CMDA building, Intuthuko Junction, at the corner of Francois and Cato Manor Roads. More  Review of the Gerima lecture: By Annsilla Nyar Reclaiming Africa’s Cultural Agenda with Haile Gerima There is an unfortunate tendency within academia to subject almost everything to a relentless analytical interrogation that often kills the object of study of any passion or affirmatory potential. Such bone-dry dissections of subject matter tends to end up as lectures or presentations or conference papers, which do not really extend beyond pedantic intellectual confines to the broader society for whom such musings are presumably intended. And then there are the moments when an original and creative voice takes hold of the academic podium and really makes a connection to other people’s souls. Haile Gerima’s presentation to the Wolpe lecture forum represented such a rare moment. More  AIDS: Crisis and Resistance A review by Mandisa Mbali By Alan Whiteside (HEARD) and Mark Heywood (TAC and AIDS Law Project) AIDS in South Africa is widely recognised as representing an enormous crisis for South Africa. According to the government’s own statistics 200 000 people are projected to die of AIDS in 2003: which the TAC claim translates into an average of 600 people dying of AIDS per day. However, in the upper echelons of government it appears that the urgency of the situation is less well recognised. Assertions of AIDS denial by senior members of the South African government and its withdrawal from the NEDLAC negotiations for a National Treatment Plan have placed government on a firm collision course with civil society and in particular the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). More  Professor Sampie Terreblanche’s Lecture on Inequality in South Africa: A Review by Claire Vermaak The timing of the first lecture in the 2003 Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Series couldn’t have been better, coming the day after the National Budget was delivered in Parliament. With issues of poverty, inequality and economic development foremost in many people’s minds, Professor Sampie Terreblanche took to the stage to speak on inequality in South Africa, with special reference to unequal power structures. More  The (Self-Imposed) Crisis of the Black Intellectual: Jonathan Jansen's Wolpe lecture Last week the unthinkable happened. The Minister of Education in our young democracy instructed major newspapers to sign an undertaking as to the ways in which they will report the matriculation results at the end of 2002. Had this occurred during under the draconian “emergency” legislation of the apartheid regime, it would have provoked public outrage and widespread debate. That it could happen under a post-apartheid democracy is one thing; that it could pass without sustained protest and outrage from public in general, and public intellectuals in particular, is what I intend to address this evening. More  A Report by Pravasan Pillay on Jonathan Jansen's Wolpe lecture on The (Self-Imposed) Crisis of the Black Intellectual There is a debilitating confusion between the idea of the university academic and the idea of the intellectual. They are not the same. The suggestions Jansen offers for the development of intellectuals are geared towards the production of academics rather than intellectuals. But academics, unlike intellectuals, are unlikely to change the world. Indeed, as Ivan Illich has pointed out the problem with the university academic is that he has been schooled to serve the rich. The university is an environment where ideas generally follow money. More  Open Discussion Window  Organising for Second Freedom - Ela R. Bhatt's Wolpe Lecture The most sustained experience of my life since India’s Independence has been the search for the Second Freedom, the economic empowerment of the poor, toiling women of India. For me, this half a century has seen constantly renewed fulfillments, in spite of failures, disappointments, and even opposition, in my public life. More  The Basic Income Grant: Poverty, Politics and Policy-making: Ravi Naidoo's Wolpe lecture The concept of a Basic Income Grant is at the heart of an intense debate in our society, a debate that is revealing much about South Africa’s post-1994 class transformation. This is a debate that increasingly reflects the balance of forces for and against redistribution in what remains one of the most economically unjust countries in the world. More  The Basic Income Grant: The Most Effective Means of Alleviating Poverty in South Africa? A review by Nina Hunter Francie Lund and Ravi Naidoo discussed the Basic Income Grant BIG at the 5th Harold Wolpe Lecture. The 5th Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture saw a representative of the labour movement and a prominent academic called upon to talk on a topic that is currently receiving much public attention. Their task was to respond to the question of whether a Basic Income Grant is the most effective means of alleviating poverty in the current South African context. Nina Hunter More  Open Discussion Window  A review of Anton Harber's Harold Wolpe Lecture on Journalism in the Age of the Market By Mandisa Mbali We live in an era in which a handful of mass-media multinational corporations control much of the global media. Twenty four hour news has meant that facts are checked less before stories are released. Scandal and the cult of celebrity often supersede serious political news. All of this affects the political culture of debate in the public sphere, the strength of democracy and the strength of civil society. In the light of all this, the role of the media in the ‘age of the market’ is a highly relevant issue with regard to the state of South African society and democracy. More  Anton Harber's Harold Wolpe Lecture on Journalism in the Age of the Market In South Africa, we have an awful irony – that much of the journalism and the public debate (even when it had to be conducted secretly) was richer under the repressive conditions of apartheid than it is in a free South Africa. We have fought long and hard to enjoy a rich and open public debate; now we have to fight as hard to make sure that we do not squander what we have won. More  The Extraordinary Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture with Naomi Klein and Ashwin Desai: A review by Annsilla Nyar Naomi Klein at the Extraordinary Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture How does the woman once named, “probably the most influential person under the age of 35 in the world” possibly live up to such a formidable reputation in person? The Wolpe lecture on Friday night provided the opportunity for Durban audiences to see why Naomi Klein, Canadian journalist and intellectual phenomenon of the radical left, has earned herself such sweeping accolades. At Klein’s request, local flavour was lent to her presentation by Durban sociologist and public intellectual Ashwin Desai, author of We are the Poors of South Africa. This made for an extraordinary lecture quite unlike any experienced on the Wolpe series thus far. Annsilla Nayar More  Open Discussion Window  David McDonald's Wolpe Lecture on cost recovery and the crisis of service delibery in South Africa A critical analysis of the devastating impact of cost recovery policies on poor communities in South Africa. More  The 3rd Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture - David McDonald on Cost Recovery: A review by Annsilla Nyar Cost recovery seems like an obscure term. It even sounds quite benign. Yet what Dr. David McDonald calls, the “dry-sounding technical term” of cost recovery, is actually one of the most potentially destabilising issues confronting South Africa right now. The third Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture cut to the heart of this highly contentious and politically significant issue in a way that was intelligent, direct and above all, refreshingly free of politicking. More  Open Discussion Window  The 2nd Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture - Stephen Gelb and Roger Southall on NEPAD: A review by Annsilla Nyar One is left with the feeling that, in searching for the answer to Africa’s problems (which NEPAD clearly is not), maybe the most damning thing we may find ourselves guilty of is the idea that development is value-free. Certainly mild-mannered technocrats benignly wielding Powerpoint slides will not provide the kinds of answers Africa should be looking for, nor smartly besuited statesmen with impressive utterances of 'rebirth' for the continent. More  Open Discussion Window  The Inaugural Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture with Sipho Seepe and Pallo Jordan: A review by Annsilla Nyar It could be seen as yet another posthumous tribute to intellectual luminary Harold Wolpe that six years after his death, the veteran ANC/ SACP activist still managed to draw a crowd of more than 400 people on a winter’s evening in Durban.The occasion was the inauguration of the Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Series, the place Howard College Theatre at Natal University, and the mood jubilant in anticipation of such prominent minds as Dr. Pallo Jordan and Professor Sipho Seepe, crossing intellectual swords over the ‘the State of the Nation’ at the same table More  Open Discussion Window

Tribute to Harold Wolpe plus links to selected seminar programmes  A Tribute to Harold Wolpe   The Wolpe Trust   UND History Seminar Series   Articulations: A Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture Collection   WISER Seminar Series   RAU Sociology Seminar Series   Online Audio and Video Recordings: UC Berkeley Lectures and Events     Philosophy Seminars