Medical Complicity in Human Rights Abuses: A Case Study of District Surgeons in Apartheid South Africa

This article focuses on the #FeesMustFall (FMF) movement and the question of a human rights culture. It provides evidence from the specific context of FMF at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, which exposes human rights abuses and violence to the dignity of protesting students. To advance a human rights culture within the higher education sector in the context of FMF, the article highlights the role of theology – ‘indecent theology’ (as espoused by Marcella Althaus-Reid) – in revealing the problem and promise of higher education institutions in the quest for a more liberating and responsible society. It is only through interrogating the narratives that sustain the current university structures – and continue to oppress the poor and the marginalised – that South Africa will be able to begin to construct a society that is respective of the rights of all.

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Opposing abuse in religious high-demand groups in South Africa: the case study of the “prophet” of Hertzogville

Verbum et Ecclesia ◽

10.4102/ve.v28i2.1927 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 602-621

Author(s):

S. P. Pretorius

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Freedom Of Religion ◽

Religious Groups ◽

High Demand ◽

Human Right ◽

The Right

Since the new Constitution came into force, there has been an increase in the number of high-demand religious groups. The more accommodating and tolerant approach towards religions brought about by the Constitution has created a fertile environment for the development of alternative religious groups. In certain cases, unfortunately, this has resulted in the violation of other basic human rights within the confines of these groups. There is very little monitoring of the various religions in South Africa and these violations seem to be on the increase. A need arose to oppose the infringement of human rights in high-demand religious groups. The organisation RIGH (Rights of Individuals Grant Honour To) was established to address this need. This article aims, first, to point out how the exercising of one basic human right, in this particular case the right to freedom of religion as exercised in Hertzogville, led to the violation of other basic human rights. Secondly, it suggests ways of opposing the infringements on other basic human rights by high-demand religious groups.

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Moltmann’s theology in dialogue with liberation theologians revives the role of Black Theology in democratic South Africa

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v77i4.7127 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 77 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Kelebogile T. Resane

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Liberation Theology ◽

Black Theology ◽

Theological Method ◽

God Concept ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Economic Imbalances ◽

Theological Understanding

The theme for Liberation Theology has always been about concerns for the marginalised masses and socio-political liberation for the economically disadvantaged. Its mandate is to seek to guide towards the discovery of being human without references to historical divisions between the haves and have-nots created by socio-economic imbalances promoted by political regimes. Moltmann’s content of theology, its revision, its innovation rather than the theological method has marked his restless imagination. His method of exploration in doing theology has brought him into dialogue with philosophers and theologians of different persuasions. In this study, he is evaluated in his dialogue with the liberation theologians. The focus is on Moltmann’s theological approach to ecumenism, built around the Kingdom of God concept, and ecclesiastical analysis and political theology. These three areas are the transitional arguments on how Moltmann enters into dialogue with the liberation theologians. The argument moves on to point how Liberation Theology has exerted itself as Black Theology in South Africa during the apartheid time. Black Theology is a theology of liberation because of its resistance and endeavours of eradication of all forms of oppressive systems. The two injustices (socio-cultural misnomers) in the democratic South Africa are discussed as a calling for Black Theology’s voice. These are corruption and human rights abuses. Black Theology brings religion into the secular world as a way of aborting all forms of discrimination based on race, sex and economic class.Contribution: Black Theology is invited to revisit Moltmann’s ecumenical, ecclesiastical and political theological understanding, as a way of reviving itself back to the centre stage of prophetic role within the corrupt and human rights and dignity abuse society.

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HUMAN RIGHTS AND REGIONAL COOPERATION IN AFRICA: SADC AND THE CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE

Strategic Review for Southern Africa ◽

10.35293/srsa.v35i1.97 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Arrigo Pallotti

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Good Governance ◽

Regional Cooperation ◽

Active Role ◽

International Consensus ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Military Security ◽

History Of

Since the early 1990s African regional and continental organisations have been playing an active role in maintaining military security and promoting democracy, good governance and respect for human rights in Africa. However, their efforts have often proved ineffective. This article contributes to the analysis of the causes of the difficulties African multilateral organisations have been facing in promoting democracy and human rights on the continent through a case-study of SADC's policy towards the crisis in Zimbabwe. The article shows that SADC efforts aimed at restoring democracy and putting an end to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe were critically hampered by the history of political antagonism among the Southern African governments, and by SADC's inability to draw a clear distinction between respect for human rights and the promotion of a neoliberal strategy of regional development. In the end, SADC diplomatic efforts were caught between the demagogic rhetoric of the ZANU-PF regime as represented by President Mugabe, and the international consensus on development. SADC ultimately proved unable to both help redress the deep economic and social inequalities in Zimbabwe and uphold human rights in the country

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Using classification to convict the Khmer Rouge

Journal of Documentation ◽

10.1108/00220411211209177 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 68 (2) ◽

pp. 162-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Michelle Caswell

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Khmer Rouge ◽

Content Type ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Strategic Essentialism ◽

Definition Of ◽

Key Participants ◽

Legal Consequences

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of classification structures to efforts at holding perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable using one archival repository in Cambodia as a case study.Design/methodology/approachThe primary methodology of this paper is a textual analysis of the Documentation Center of Cambodia's classification scheme, as well as a conceptual analysis using the theoretical framework originally posited by Bowker and Star and further developed by Harris and Duff. These analyses were supplemented by interviews with key participants.FindingsThe Documentation Center of Cambodia's classification of Khmer Rouge records by ethnic identity has had a major impact on charging former officials of the regime with genocide in the ongoing human rights tribunal.Social implicationsAs this exploration of the DC‐Cam database shows, archival description can be used as a tool to promote accountability in societies coming to terms with difficult histories.Originality/valueThis paper expands and revises Harris and Duff's definition of liberatory description to include Spivak's concept of strategic essentialism, arguing that archivists’ classification choices have important ethical and legal consequences.

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Zimbabwe in Ruins: Mediation Prospects in a Conflict Not Yet Ripe for Resolution

International Negotiation ◽

10.1163/138234007x240727 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 415-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mark Anstey

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Necessary Conditions ◽

International Community ◽

Political Repression ◽

Failed State ◽

Humanitarian Crisis ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Robust Approach ◽

The Face

AbstractA confluence of conditions made the Rhodesian civil war ripe for resolution in 1979. However a 'despotic democracy' took early root in the new Zimbabwe, largely accepted by the international community in its first phase, but now condemned by many for its human rights abuses and political repression. Zimbabwe is a failed state with a massive humanitarian crisis. In the face of pressures to adopt a more robust approach, South Africa has stuck to an approach of 'quiet diplomacy' in relations with its neighbor. In March 2007, SADC states appointed South Africa's President Mbeki to mediate between parties to Zimbabwe's conflict. This article analyzes the prospects for this mediation in terms of 'ripeness' theory. It concludes that complex internal conditions and a divided international community do not yet make the crisis ripe for resolution. However, a shift from quiet diplomacy to an approach of principled mediation might assist in inducing the necessary conditions in a manner which limits continuation of the crisis.

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While We Were Sleeping: From Dystopia to Global Awakening

Perspectives on Global Development and Technology ◽

10.1163/15691497-12341244 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 12 (1-2) ◽

pp. 80-97

Author(s):

Karen Abney-Korn ◽

Shawn Cassiman ◽

Dana Fleetham

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Rights ◽

Media Consumption ◽

Occupy Wall Street ◽

Wall Street ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

The Real ◽

The Arab Spring ◽

Global And Local

Abstract Activists and academics have been sounding the alarms for years: climate change, globalization, capitalism, human rights abuses, and more. The alarms appeared to fall upon the deaf ears of the slumbering “multitude.” The Arab Spring, European movements, global and local attacks upon labor, and the Occupy Wall Street movement have awakened us from a slumber reliant upon vacuous media, consumption, alienation and isolationism. In shattering this spell, Occupy Wall Street has called us into the streets in record numbers, opening space for a new opportunity to imagine. Some scholars argue, “. . . we need Marxism to understand the structure of society and anarchism to prefigure or anticipate a new society” (Lynd and Grubacic 2008:xiii). We agree. In this article, we employ a local Occupy case study to briefly discuss 1) the historical contributions to Occupy Wall Street, 2) and to argue that it is precisely the opportunity to imagine, to anticipate, to challenge the “real” that holds the most promise for the development, and future, of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

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Framing Harm: Legal, Local and Anthropological Knowledge in the Context of Forced Migration

Anthropology Matters ◽

10.22582/am.v13i1.221 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shannon Morreira

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Knowledge Creation ◽

African State ◽

Forced Migration ◽

Moral Knowledge ◽

Legal Evidence ◽

Objective Evidence ◽

Similarities And Differences

The southern African state of Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa, has undergone a decade of severe political and economic instability. Migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa has been extensive, and continues even with the slight improvements that Zimbabwe has seen since 2009. In this paper I use migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa as a case study through which to explore knowledge creation within the field of forced migration and human rights, and within the field of anthropology. What are the similarities and differences between local, legal and anthropological knowledge of rights violations in the context of crisis? How do individual, subjective tales of suffering and violation become, or fail to become, supposedly objective ‘evidence’, and how might legal evidence differ from Zimbabwean moral knowledge of harm? In this paper I consider the difficulties of translating experiences of violation into legal and anthropological language and knowledge.

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