Organized Abandonment Talk by Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore The Forge 2023-03-29 | On 8 December 2022 The forge hosted a public talk and panel discussion on Organized Abandonment. Presenter: Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore Ruth Wilson Gilmore is Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is the author of Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation (Verso 2022); and Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (UC Press 2007); and she has co-edited, with Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall: Selected Writings on Race and Difference (Duke 2021). Discussants/panellists: Yvonne Phyllis is the Co-Director of Operations at The Forge. Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Director of both Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers.Professor Kelly Gillespie, from the University of the Western Cape, is a political and legal anthropologist, with a research focus on abolition in South Africa. Facilitator: Maneo Refiloe Mohale editor, feminist writer and poet.
Book Launch: Izimpabanga Zomhlaba (Wretched of the Earth), Translated by Prof. Makhosazana Xaba The Forge 2024-10-08 | On 27 July 2024, The Forge, in partnership with Inkani, launched the first IsiZulu translation of Frantz Fanon's book, "Wretched of the Earth." The translated edition, titled "Izimpabanga Zomhlaba," is by Prof. Makhosazana Xaba and published by Inkani Books.SpeakerMakhosazana ХabaAuthor and translator of the first ever isiZulu translation of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (Izimpabanga Zomhlaba).SpeakersTHE CHEEKY NATIVESDr. Alma-Nalisha Cele is a doctor, feminist, and former Mandela-Washington Fellow.Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane is a practising advocate and provides counsel at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.Poets:Diana FerrusDiana is a writer, poet, performance poet and storyteller. Her work has been published in various collections and some serve as prescribed texts for high school learners.Xolile Zion Vilakazi is an award-winning poet.
Claudia Jones: Black Marxist Feminist presented by Vashna Jagarnath The Forge 2024-09-19 | Pan-African Women's voices in a series of talks curated by Vashna Jagarnath.Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Historian, director of both Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers.
The Nyarha FarmWorkers Documentary The Forge 2024-09-14 | Meet Mam' Ntlane, a farmworker of over 20 years. In "The Nyarha FarmWorkers Documentary" on our YouTube Channel, she shares her insights into farmworkers' living conditions. Click the link in our bio to watch her story. Stay tuned for our upcoming series on land reparations and laws.
Marikana: 12 years of disruption, loss and denial since 2012 #justiceformarikana #shorts The Forge 2024-09-14 | Koketso Moeti, activist and Founding Executive Director of Amandla.mobi, speaks on the demands for justice for Marikana and other marginalised communities.
Marikana: 12 years of disruption, loss and denial since 2012 #JusticeForMarikana The Forge 2024-09-13 | On 10 August 2024, The Forge, in collaboration with the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), hosted an event titled “Marikana: 12 Years of Disruption, Loss, and Denial Since 2012” — a commemorative event to mourn, remember, and revive the collective call for #JusticeForMarikana. The event featured a panel discussion, as well as music and poetry.Panel:- Dr Julian Brown, University of the Witwatersrand and author ofMarikana: A people’s history;- Koketso Moeti, Activist and Founding Executive Director ofAmandla.mobi- Asenati Tukela, SERI attorney leading the case on behalf of thefamilies.Music & Poetry:- Yonela Mnana, singer and jazz pianist;- iPhupho L’ka Biko;- Poet(s).
Ida B Wells: Racism and the Suffragette Movement presented by Vashna Jagarnath The Forge 2024-06-05 | Pan-African Women's voices in a series of talks curated by Vashna Jagarnath.Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Historian, director of both Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers.
A sneak peek into the conversation between Veli Mbele and Lwanga in Episode 2 of Amanzi Session The Forge 2024-05-25 | ...
Amanzi Session Part 2: Veli Mbele in conversation with Bwanika Lwanga The Forge 2024-05-23 | Amanzi session, a partnership between The Forge and iPhupho L'ka Biko.Guest: Veli Mbele ka-Sompisi: Essayist, Black History buff, Coltranean and cofounder of Mutapa Afrocentric DialoguesFacilitator:Bwanika Lwanga is an attorney based in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He advises government and private entities on regulatory compliance and aspects of governance. Bwanika is also a columnist who writes on, amongst others, trade in Africa and land issues.More about Amanzi Sessions: “The intention of the programme is to extend The Forge and iPhupho L’ka Biko to the various parts of our society through collaborations with different artists and members of the community. To build a cultural space to reflect, commune, build, heal, cry, and experience the highest form of joyful militancy through art. Through these cultural sessions we will be promoting sobriety, this means the main drink in these sessions should be “Amanzi” and have no alcohol in sight. We can have 15-20-minutes intro political section in the beginning of each session, where we read from a book or commentary from socio-political activists, and these political sections should be around the themes of love, healing, and resistance. The intention is to build a space for healing through the art and hold these sessions religiously every Monday"
Amanzi Session Part 1: Veli Mbele in conversation with Bwanika Lwanga The Forge 2024-05-23 | Amanzi session, a partnership between The Forge and iPhupho L'ka BikoGuest: Veli Mbele ka-Sompisi: Essayist, Black History buff, Coltranean and cofounder of Mutapa Afrocentric DialoguesFacilitator:Bwanika Lwanga is an attorney based in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He advises government and private entities on regulatory compliance and aspects of governance. Bwanika is also a columnist who writes on, amongst others, trade in Africa and land issues.More about Amanzi Sessions: “The intention of the programme is to extend The Forge and iPhupho L’ka Biko to the various parts of our society through collaborations with different artists and members of the community. To build a cultural space to reflect, commune, build, heal, cry, and experience the highest form of joyful militancy through art. Through these cultural sessions we will be promoting sobriety, this means the main drink in these sessions should be “Amanzi” and have no alcohol in sight. We can have 15-20-minutes intro political section in the beginning of each session, where we read from a book or commentary from socio-political activists, and these political sections should be around the themes of love, healing, and resistance. The intention is to build a space for healing through the art and hold these sessions religiously every Monday"
Political Revival: Stories and Strategies—Performances The Forge 2024-04-12 | On March 23, 2024, The Forge hosted a political revival titled "Stories and Strategies," featuring performances by Shari Maluleke, Busisiwe Mahlangu, and Khokho Madlala.Poetry:Shari Maluleke is a 24 year old genderfluid intersectional activist and published writer. She is also the co- founder of the Menstrual Project.Busisiwe Mahlangu poet, author of Surviving Loss, a poetry collection adapted for theatre.Music:Khokho Madlala is the hidden face behind the lone powerful voice on Diep city, a South African Songwriter, recording artist and soundtracks lyrical composer who hails from Port Shepstone KZN a town situated 120km from Durban. Khokho Madlala’s sound is imbedded in ancestral African Jazz, expanding when necessary.
Domestic Workers: Challenging Injustice Through the Law with Pinky Mashiane The Forge 2024-04-11 | On March 23, 2024, The Forge hosted a political revival titled "Stories and Strategies," featuring Pinky Mashiane's presentation on "Challenging Injustice Through the Law."Speaker: Pinky Mashiane is an Activist, Founder and President of United DomesticWorkers Of South Africa (UDWOSA). A woman human rights defender. A labourrights Activist, advocating for Domestic workers rights.
Race, Gender, & Class in the Abolitionist Movement - Ruth Wilson Gilmore & Victoria Collis-Buthelezi The Forge 2024-04-05 | On March 12, 2024, The Forge hosted a public talk titled "Race, Gender, and Class in the Abolitionist Movement," presented by Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender & Class at the University of Johannesburg.Speaker:Ruth Wilson Gilmore is Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Director ofthe Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New YorkGraduate Center. Co-founder of many grassroots organizations, including CaliforniaPrison Moratorium Project, Critical Resistance, and Central California EnvironmentalJustice Network, Gilmore is author of Abolition Geography: Essays TowardsLiberation (Verso 2022), and Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Oppositionin Globalizing California (University of California Press 2007). Other recentpublications include an Introduction to V.I. Lenin Imperialism and the NationalQuestion (Verso 2024). With Paul Gilroy she edited Stuart Hall: Selected Writings onRace and Difference (Duke 2021). The Antipode documentary Racial Capitalism withRuth Wilson Gilmore (dir. Kenton Card. 2021) features her internationalist work.Change Everything is forthcoming from Haymarket Press. She has lectured in Africa,Asia, Europe, and North America. Honors include The Association of AmericanGeographers Lifetime Achievement Award (2020); the 2020 Lannan FoundationLifetime Cultural Freedom Prize (with Mike Davis and Angela Y. Davis); and the2022 Marguerite Casey Freedom Scholar Prize.Speaker:Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi is Interim Director of the Johannesburg Institute forAdvanced Study (JIAS) and Director of UJ’s Centre for the Study of Race, Genderand Class. She is an Associate Professor in English at the University ofJohannesburg and a research associate at the Institute for Research in AfricanAmerican Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University. Prof Collis-Buthelezi’s researchcenters Black intellectual and literary histories and has appeared in SmallAxe, Callaloo, boundary2 and the UK Journal of Arts and the Humanities. Hercurrent book project explores global frames for understanding Blackness in earlytwentieth century Cape Town. She is co-editor of the first edited collection of primarysources and thought on race in the Caribbean, entitled The Caribbean Race Reader,set for release later this year. Prof Collis-Buthelezi is on the editorial committeefor Small Axe and an editor of the Polity Critical South book series as well as PeterLang’sRace and Resistance in the Long Twentieth Century.
International Womxns Day Feature with Sam Moodley The Forge 2024-03-13 | Yvonne Phyllis in conversation with Sam Moodley.Sumboornam (Sam ) Moodley was born in Dundee in Northern Natal, matriculated at the Dundee Secondary School, and qualified with a Masters Degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Kwazulu Natal. As a cultural activist she was involved in Theatre for Consciousness Raising through the Theatre Council Of Natal (TECON). Her political involvement in the Black Consciousness movement and the Black Community Programmes resulted in a 5 year banning order and house arrest. She became involved in the Disability Sector, enriching the lives of persons with Disability through the Arts. Her gender activism found her forming the Women in Action ,South Africa(WIASA) and Women for Awareness (WOFA).She lectured on Social Justice Issues and in Language and Communication. She also contributed to various publications such as Research on Curries Fountain (Rocs), Foreword to Prodigal Daughters(Lauretta Ngcobo), Reflections of Women from the BC Movement.
Post-Apartheid Solidarity: Uniting African Artists Against Apartheid The Forge 2024-02-13 | The Forge, in collaboration with artists, hosted a gathering in support of Palestine in a post-apartheid context.'Post-'apartheid is a gathering of African artists against apartheid. To sound out our relation to the oppressed Palestinians. To articulate our shared struggle for self realisation. To ask what self realisation means. And to ask about post-apartheid: if such a thing exists and what it means for where we are now and the freedom we're seeking?
Political Revival: Gender - Fede Symphonic Live at The Forge The Forge 2024-02-06 | The Forge hosted an impactful political revival event titled "Gender," featuring a remarkable performance by Fede Symphonic.The Fede Symphonic: presented by Mawethu Nkosana and Athi Ngcaba.Mawethu Nkosana, a multidisciplinary creative, human rights defender and campaigner based in Johannesburg. Born Athamacwera Ngcaba, Athi is a musician, composer, arranger, educator and curator.
Book Launch: Good Jew, Bad Jew: Racism, Anti-Semitism and the Assault on Meaning by Steven Friedman The Forge 2023-12-05 | On the 28 November 2023, The Commune hosted the launch of Good Jew, Bad Jew: Racism, Anti-Semitism, and the Assault on Meaning by Steven Friedman.Author: Steven Friedman is Research Professor associated with the Department of Politicsat the University of Johannesburg. He is a political scientist who specialises in the study of democracy; a public commentator; newspaper columnist and a former trade unionist. Discussant: Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a historian and labour activist.
Workshop: Gender What What: the Revolution Will be Intersectional or it Wont Be By Kneo Mokgopa The Forge 2023-08-15 | On the 27th July 2023, The Forge hosted a Political Revival. Theme: Gender Workshop: Gender What What: the Revolution Will be Intersectional or it Won't Be By Kneo Mokgopa (They/Them), an artist and writer living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Heritage Month Talk: UKUZILANDA AS POLITICAL WORK by Dr Athambile Masola The Forge 2023-07-04 | In September 2022, The Forge hosted a Heritage Month talk. The talk theme: Re-memorializing, Retelling Histories and Historical Trajectories: Ukuzilanda Nokuzichaza Kabutsha. Presentation title: 'UKUZILANDA AS POLITICAL WORK' by Dr Athambile MasolaDr Athambile Masola is a teacher, writer and poet. She is the founder of Asinakuthula Collective (www. asinakuthula.org), a collective of teachers and researchers interested in women’s history. She is a lecturer in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town.
Workshop for Activists presented by Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore The Forge 2023-04-06 | On 9 December 2022, The forge hosted a Workshop for Activists presented by Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore and facilitated by Dr Vashna Jagarnath. Ruth Wilson Gilmore is a Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She co-founded grassroots organizations including California Prison Moratorium Project, Critical Resistance, and the Central California Environmental Justice Network. Her work on labour and social movements arises from the urgencies of organized violence; organized abandonment; and building abolition as a green, red, and internationalist project of liberation. She is the author of Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation (Verso 2022); and Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (UC Press 2007).Facilitator: Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Director of Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers.
The Nyarha FarmWorkers Documentary The Forge 2023-03-21 | In South Africa, the land crisis is not only an emotive issue because of historical inequities but also as a result of the current racial and class distribution of land in the country. The land discussion from a human-centred/ human-rights based perspective allows for an understanding of land from the perspective of “the personal as the political” and that the design of systemic socio-political experiences affects people, which is to say that it affects how people live, work and struggle. There is an intricate interplay between the home, the state and the economy. This documentary seeks to focus on the theme of “the personal as the political” with a focus on farmworkers in Bedford, Eastern Cape. It seeks to document the lived experiences and struggles of farm workers and how farm workers, as people who work the land, articulate their relationship to the land as farm workers and as farm dwellers. The documentary also seeks to speak to the cultural aspects related to land from the farmworkers’ perspective. For many farm workers, the farm is where they establish ancestral homes due to the fact that several generations of each family work, live and are buried on these farms. Lastly, the documentary seeks to show the systemic intergenerational poverty which is produced in the farm environment and is experienced by farm workers.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and the apartheid legal system The Forge 2023-03-10 | On the 27th February 2023 The Forge invited the public to share in the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the death of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. Theme: Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and the apartheid legal system Presenter: Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi Ngcukaitobi has written on matters related to land, the history of black intellectual thought, and constitutional thought: he is interested in the life of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, focussing on Sobukwe’s impact on the apartheid legal system, and the impact of this system on the course of his own life. Discussant: Professor Gordon Ndodomzi Zide, Chairperson of the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust, and Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Facilitator: Dr Vashna Jagarnath Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a director of Pan Africa Today. She works in the office of General Secretary of Numsa. She is also Deputy General Secretary of the Socialists Revolutionary Workers' Party and Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg.
Overthrowing Eco-Apartheid - Dr Alex Lenferna The Forge 2022-12-02 | on 23 November 2022, The Forge hosted an in-person talk on climate justice titled ‘Overthrowing Eco-Apartheid’ to be presented by Dr Alex Lenferna. Dr Alex Lenferna is General Secretary of the Climate Justice Coalition and a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Development Studies at Nelson Mandela University.
Exhibition Opening and Community Practice Note Launch The Forge 2022-11-26 | On Thursday 17 November 2022, Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Forge and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) hosted an event to launch a new photo exhibition and a new publication. The photo exhibition, entitled Socialism or Death: Abahlali baseMjondolo on the frontlines of struggle is a collection of images taken by Nomfundo Xolo and Siyabonga Mbhele.The new publication is a Community Practice Note by the SERI entitled Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living Politics documenting Abahlali baseMjondolo’s 17-year history since its formation, its strategies and tactics for advancing their objectives of accessing land, housing and basic services and how it has responded to evictions and repression in a highly charged political context and how it has survived repeated and varied forms of state violence, costing the movement 24 lives since 2009.The exhibition launch was followed by a viewing and then a panel discussion on Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living Politics facilitated by Lauren Royston, director of research and advocacy at SERI.Panellists:Thapelo Mohale General Secretary Abahlali baseMjondoloMelita Ngcobo Chairperson Vusumuzi Abahlali baseMjodondolo (Thembisa).Professor Richard Pithouse Scholar Activist and JournalistThato Masiangoako Researcher SERIClosing: Bonolo George
Heritage Month Talk: The Archive as a place of erasure by Dr Thozama April The Forge 2022-11-26 | In September 2022, The Forge hosted a Heritage Month talk. The talk theme: Re-memorializing, Retelling Histories and Historical Trajectories: Ukuzilanda Nokuzichaza Kabutsha Presentation title: “The Archive as a place of erasure” by Dr Thozama AprilDr Thozama April is Senior Curator at the National Heritage and Cultural Studies Centre (NAHECS) at the University of Fort Hare. Her research covers Contemporary themes in African History, Women and Gender Studies, Public and Visual History, Black Aesthetical Productions as well as themes in Liberation Struggles.
The Forge Youth Month Series - Unemployment by Vuyolwethu Toli The Forge 2022-07-27 | The Forge Youth Month Series In recognition of the unremitting struggles facing the youth, and in commemoration of the Class of 1976, The Forge held a series of Youth Month talks, which focussed on living socialism, youth unemployment in Africa and youth in the economy.
The Forge Youth Month Series - Living Socialism by Lindokuhle Mnguni The Forge 2022-07-19 | The Forge Youth Month Series In recognition of the unremitting struggles facing the youth, and in commemoration of the Class of 1976, The Forge held a series of Youth Month talks, which focussed on living socialism, youth unemployment in Africa and youth in the economy.
Violent Political Repression of the eKhanana Commune in Cato Manor, Durban The Forge 2022-07-09 | On the 15th of June 2022 The Forge hosted a panel discussion on Violent Political Repression of the eKhanana Commune in Cato Manor, Durban The eKhanana Commune began as a land occupation in Cato Manor, Durban and was then developed into a working commune. The residents created a food sovereignty project: they have a poultry farm and a vegetable garden. Earlier there was a tuck shop which was destroyed. The residents are known for their practice of cooking and eating together. They also have a political school named in honour of Frantz Fanon and ran cultural projects including poetry and theatre work. In short, together they have built social solidarity and social responsibility. On 8 March Ayanda Ngila, Deputy Chairperson of eKhanana Commune, was brutally murdered. On 5 May Nokuthula Mabaso was also brutally murdered eKhanana: she was shot six times – four bullets into her back – in front of her children. Several leaders of eKhanana have been in and out of jail, sometimes for months at a time, under false accusations. Residents have also had their homes burnt and been subject to severe assault. Members of eKhanana community live in a state of perpetual violent political repression. Facilitator:Thato Masiangoako a researcher at SERI. Panellists:Nomfundo Xolo a journalist at New FrameLindokuhle Mnguni Chairperson of eKhanana Commune (Abahlali baseMjondolo, Shack Dwellers’ Movement) Mbali Kubheka from Kubheka and Associates Law Inc.
Political Revival - Youth Activism in a Time of Crisis by Simamkele Dlakavu The Forge 2022-07-04 | The forge hosted a Political Revival in June 2022. 'Youth Activism in a Time of Crisis' by Simamkele Dlakavu, who is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pretoria. Her area of focus encompasses gender studies, social movements, and the ways in which African feminist activists make claims on the state and organise politically. Simamkele Dlakavu is currently registered for a PhD in the Department of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch: the title of her thesis is ‘Fighting Against Erasure: The One in Nine Campaign and Feminist Movement Building against Sexual Violence’.
The Forge Land Series: The Law and Land - The Prospects of Distribution by Advocate Stuart Wilson The Forge 2022-06-09 | The Forge hosted a Land Series in May 2022, every Wednesday at 18:00. The Land Series was intended to encourage ongoing public conversations on land redistribution in South Africa. The series took place at The Commune bookshop https://thecommune.org.za which is part of The Forge project. Our last Series talk was delivered on the 25th of May 2022 by Advocate Stuart Wilson.
The Forge Land Series: Grave Matters by Dr Dineo Skosana The Forge 2022-05-27 | The Forge is hosting a Land Series in May 2022, every Wednesday at 18:00. The Land Series is intended to encourage ongoing public conversations on land redistribution in South Africa. The series takes place at The Commune bookshop https://thecommune.org.za which is part of The Forge project. Our third Land Series talk was delivered on the 18th of May 2022 by Dr Dineo Skosana.
The Forge Land Series: Land Occupations as a Political Contestation by Thapelo Mohapi The Forge 2022-05-17 | The Forge is hosting a Land Series in May 2022, every Wednesday at 18:00. The Land Series is intended to encourage ongoing public conversations on land redistribution in South Africa. The series takes place at The Commune bookshop https://thecommune.org.za which is part of The Forge project. Our second Land Series talk was delivered on the 11th of May 2022 by Thapelo Mohapi.
The Forge Land Series: Defining and Critiquing Private Property by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi The Forge 2022-05-10 | The Forge is hosting a Land Series in May 2022, every Wednesday at 18:00. The Land Series is intended to encourage ongoing public conversations on land redistribution in South Africa. The series takes place at The Commune bookshop https://thecommune.org.za which is part of The Forge project. Our inaugural Land Series talk was delivered on the 4th of May 2022 by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
A discussion on Police Violence The Forge 2022-05-10 | A conversation on police violence and brutality between Gacheke Gachihi, Melita Ngcobo and Chris McMichael.About the speakers: Gacheke Gachihi: Social justice and human rights defender, community organizer and co—founder of the Mathare Social Justice Center, in Kenya.Melita Ngcobo: Chairperson, Abahlali baseMjondolo Social Movement of South Africa, Vus'muzi Branch, Tembisa, Gauteng.Christopher McMichael: Writer based in Johannesburg. His book " Shoot to Kill: Police and Power in South Africa" will be released by Inkani Books in 202
World Health Day Talk by Dr Yogesh Jain: Unequal Healthcare In The World. The Forge 2022-04-30 | World Health Day, The Forge hosted a talk delivered by Dr Yogesh Jain on the topic Unequal Healthcare In The World. About Dr Yogesh Jain:Yogesh Jain has an MD in Paediatrics from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi where he also served as a faculty member for a few years, but is a public health physician in practice. He has been primarily involved in " primary health care'- through founding and running a community health programme - Jan Swasthya Sahyog (People's health Support group) in rural Bilaspur in central India with like- minded health professionals since 1999. People from over 2500 of the most marginalised villages that are home to the indigenous people access these services for their major health care needs. He has been involved in addressing the issues - be they technical, operational, economic or political that determine the health care for the rural poor through clinical care, careful documentation, observational research studies, developing appropriate health related technology, training, and lobbying, all based on the continual learning from this community health programme. Observing Health and illnesses through the lens of Hunger and extreme poverty, he has been a strident believer in the continued role of the state as the primary provider of social services and also that unbridled privatization is not the way forward in an unequal world in which we live.
Ubomi Bethu, Nemizamo Yethu: When we lose our fear! They lose their power! with Juliet Wanjira The Forge 2022-03-25 | Juliet Wanjira is the Co-Founder of Mathare Social Justice Centre in Kenya. Ubomi Bethu, Nemizamo Yethu has a focus on how women have and continue to shape histories, on how they mold the present and influence our futures in remarkable ways. It features women who are engaged in struggles against social injustices where they find themselves. We honour these women by archiving their daily lived experiences and struggles, as narrated by them and we salute their acts of resistance wherever they find themselves.
Clover Strike: What kind of support would the workers/strikers want from the public? The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Forge spoke to John Appolis, the General Secretary of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), on the ongoing Clover Strike. Please watch our 5 part feature on the Clover Strike.
Clover Strike: What has been the involvement of the department of Employment and Labour? The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Forge spoke to John Appolis, the General Secretary of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), on the ongoing Clover Strike. Please watch our 5 part feature on the Clover Strike.
Clover Strike: What has been the response from Clover to the demands made by the workers? The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Forge spoke to John Appolis, the General Secretary of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), on the ongoing Clover Strike. Please watch our 5 part feature on the Clover Strike.
Clover Strike: What are the demands made by the workers? The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Forge spoke to John Appolis, the General Secretary of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), on the ongoing Clover Strike. Please watch our 5 part feature on the Clover Strike.
Clover Strike: What is the strike about? The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Forge spoke to John Appolis, the General Secretary of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), on the ongoing Clover Strike. Please watch our 5 part feature on the Clover Strike.
Launch: Children of Sugarcane by Joanne Joseph The Forge 2022-03-15 | The Commune hosted the launch of Children of Sugarcane by Joanne Joseph. Vividly set against the backdrop of 19th century India and the British-owned sugar plantations of Natal, written with great tenderness and lyricism, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and heart-wrenching picture of indenture told from a woman’s perspective.Author: Joanne Joseph is an established South African media personality and bestselling author. Over the last 20 years she has hosted a range of popular and hard-hitting radio and television shows. Discussant: Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Director of both Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers. She is also Deputy General Secretary of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party
Nokutela Mdima-Dube Event The Forge 2022-02-12 | Join us for the screening of Legacy Creates’ short film, Amagama ka Nokutela and the launch of their print publication, Nokutela Mdima-Dube 1873–1917, the journey of a pioneering woman, told in essays, fashion, music, art, poetry and interviews. This ongoing project is produced by editor and creative consultant, Asanda Sizani, actor and producer Florence Masebe, actor Masasa Mbangeni, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategist and Filmmaker, Busi Sizani and writer, poet and performer, Siphokazi Jonas. Musical performance to be presented by Monthati Masebe (composer, classical pianist, vocalist and archivist of indigenous music).
A Black Gaze - Tina Campt & Friends The Forge 2021-11-24 | A curated gathering with Tina Campt and friends, celebrating her recent publication, A Black Gaze – Artists Changing How We See. The event featured video works by artists Simone Leigh and Arthur Jafa, and sound work from Zara Julius -- a brief excerpt of this sound performance is featured in this recording. Joining Tina in conversation were South African-based Black Feminist writers and curators Danielle Bowler, Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, Nomusa Makhubu, and artist Zara Julius. In A Black Gaze, Tina Campt examines Black contemporary artists who are shifting the very nature of our interactions with the visual through their creation and curation of a distinctively Black gaze. Looking to the work of artists such as Simone Leigh, Arthur Jafa and Okwui Okpokwasili, she shows how this new way of seeing shifts viewers from the passive optics of looking at to the active struggle of looking with, through, and alongside the suffering – and joy – of Black life in the present. Drawing together key local voices and practitioners, this curated gathering will explore the transformative possibilities of this Black gaze, in relation to lived experiences and art practices in South Africa, the African continent, and across the Black diaspora. A Black Gaze – Tina Campt & Friends is collaboratively presented by the Forge, New Frame and Race:Gender:Class, University of Johannesburg.
The State of the Judiciary in South Africa The Forge 2021-11-16 | A discussion with Nomzamo Zondo, Mbekezeli Benjamin, Niren Tolsi and facilitate by Kelly Kropman about the state of the judiciary in South Africa, how we got here and where they would like to see us go.
Launch: Red Road to Freedom by Tom Lodge The Forge 2021-10-29 | The Forge and Tricontinental Institute for Social Research invite you to attend the book launch of Red Road to Freedom: A History of the South African Communist Party 1921-2021 by renowned Historian Tom Lodge – currently Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Limerick, formerly Professor of Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Tom Lodge is the author of several books on South African history, including Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 Mandela: A Critical Biography Sharpeville: An Apartheid Massacre and its Consequences. Discussant: Dr Vashna Jagarnath is a Director of both Pan Africa Today and Friends of the Workers. She is also Deputy General Secretary of the Socialists Revolutionary Workers’ Party “Tom Lodge’s Red Road to Freedom takes us into the rich world of communism in South Africa, a political force that continues to try to deepen democracy and build humanity.” Vijay Prashad
Nation Building Launch The Forge 2021-10-09 | The Aggrey Klaaste Trust (AKT), Voice Wits and The Forge invite you to the launchof Nation Building: Reviving Aggrey Klaaste’s Moral Vision of Nation Building inSouth Africa. Date: Saturday 9 October 2021Time: 11:00 to 13:30 Discussion panellists: • Jerome Klaaste (Executive Director of the Aggrey Klaaste Trust (AKT))• Anna Majavu (Trade Unionist and Journalist: New Frame)• Anton Harber (Caxton Professor of Journalism [Adjunct] at the University of the Witwatersrand)• S’thembiso Msomi (Editor: Sunday Times) • Dr Joe Thloloe (Veteran Journalist and Chairperson of the Aggrey Klaaste Trust [AKT]) Facilitator:Tsepiso Makwetla (News and Current Affairs anchor at the SouthAfrican Broadcasting Corporation (SABC))
