‘Interrupting the Present’

A sense of repetition pervades contemporary South African political and cultural debate. Several recent studies have drawn attention to the fact that the renewed student protests since March 2015 parallel several features of the resistance and liberation movements of the 1970s and 1980s. At a pivotal position between the two moments of political struggle stands the ‘miracle’ of the peaceful transition in 1994. Within this set of circumstances a group of curators, artists, and writers, Gabi Ngcobo and Kemang Wa Lehulere, amongst others, formed a collective under the name CHR (Center for Historical Reenactments) in Johannesburg in 2010. The CHR has pursued several questions that interrogate the complexity of a shared memory bridging segregated Apartheid legacy: how do readings of the past inform contemporary urgencies, and what are the political potentials of artistic interpretations of histories? How do they participate in the formation of new subjectivities?

Non-Violence, Armed Struggle and Politics: A Conversation with Ronnie Kasrils

Based on interviews with Ronnie Kasrils, a former anc military commander and former intelligence minister in South Africa, this article examines that country’s struggle against apartheid. It looks at the interplay between violent and non-violent forms of resistance, explains the reasons for the anc and other South African liberation movements adopting the armed struggle after almost half a century of commitment to non-violence, and discusses the dilemmas within the movement in trying to ensure that the military component of the struggle always remained subservient to the political. The article also looks at the development of the political underground in South Africa, and its role, together with the armed struggle, in effecting the end of apartheid. Kasrils also discusses the period of political negotiations in South Africa, from 1990 to 1994, and the relationship between that and on-the-ground struggles – both armed and unarmed.

Teologi Pembebasan: Gerakan Feminisme Kristen dan Pendekatan Dialog Martin Buber

It cannot be denied that the presence of feminist liberation movements and theology has left such a profound influence on the history of the paradigm shift of the church even more into the wider scope. The theology of feminism has also correctly demonstrated the general failure of men in fulfilling God's plan regarding the purpose of his creation, since love in a husband-wife life is described as Christ loves to His church. The next positive contribution of the theology of liberation of feminism has also stood against the practice of oppression, humiliation, manipulation and even the exploitation of women. It should be noted, however, that in addition to the great contributions that can even trigger a paradigm shift, feminist movements and theology also leave problematic traces. This Christian feminist flow moves in a Christian framework but their method of feminism and theology approach generally entirely uses a liberal perspective. On the one hand they assume that this developed theology comes from the inspired word of God, but on the other hand they step out of the orthodoxy of traditional Christian faith. One of the terms used to respond to feminist movements and theology is that they apply "hermeneutic of suspicion". This means that systematically they assume that the writers of books of the Bible that are generally men, as well as their interpreters deliberately cover the role of women in the era of early Christianity. Also they attempted to abolish the cultural system which is the hallmark of society in the time of writing holy books, the patriarchy that can be matched by the demythologization of Bultmann. This method of exegesis is characterized by Heidegger's existential understanding that is firmly attached to the spirit of feminists in their struggle for rights and ideals. Strictly speaking such a view is certainly far from the biblical truth. If feminists believe that the Bible contains many mistakes but why then they also use them as the basis of authority for their theological principles. It is unfortunate that, on the other hand, this feminist movement must take extreme measures such as sacrificing orthodox Christian principles and tend to be liberal. Martin Buber's view on the importance of dialogue between the sexes proved to provide a way out of the danger of the continued practice of male domination over women; but also preventing women from the risk of extreme feminist liberation movements. === Abstrak Tidak dapat dipungkiri bahwa kehadiran gerakan pembebasan feminis dan teologi telah meninggalkan pengaruh yang begitu besar pada sejarah pergeseran paradigma gereja bahkan lebih ke dalam cakupan yang lebih luas. Teologi feminisme juga telah dengan tepat menunjukkan kegagalan umum pria dalam memenuhi rencana Allah mengenai tujuan ciptaan-Nya, karena cinta dalam kehidupan suami-istri digambarkan sebagai Kristus mengasihi gereja-Nya. Kontribusi positif berikutnya dari teologi pembebasan feminisme juga telah menentang praktik penindasan, penghinaan, manipulasi, dan bahkan eksploitasi perempuan. Namun perlu dicatat bahwa selain kontribusi besar yang bahkan dapat memicu perubahan paradigma, gerakan dan teologi feminis juga meninggalkan jejak yang bermasalah. Aliran feminis Kristen ini bergerak dalam kerangka Kristen, tetapi metode feminisme dan pendekatan teologi mereka pada umumnya seluruhnya menggunakan perspektif liberal. Di satu sisi mereka menganggap bahwa teologi yang dikembangkan ini berasal dari firman Allah yang diilhami, tetapi di sisi lain mereka melangkah keluar dari ortodoksi iman Kristen tradisional. Salah satu istilah yang digunakan untuk menanggapi gerakan dan teologi feminis adalah bahwa mereka menerapkan "hermeneutik kecurigaan". Ini berarti bahwa secara sistematis mereka berasumsi bahwa para penulis buku-buku Alkitab yang umumnya pria, serta penafsir mereka sengaja meliput peran wanita di era awal kekristenan. Mereka juga berusaha menghapuskan sistem budaya yang menjadi ciri khas masyarakat pada saat penulisan kitab suci, patriarki yang dapat ditandingi oleh demitologisasi Bultmann. Metode penafsiran ini ditandai dengan pemahaman eksistensial Heidegger yang melekat erat pada semangat kaum feminis dalam perjuangan mereka untuk hak dan cita-cita. Berbicara dengan tegas pandangan seperti itu tentu jauh dari kebenaran alkitabiah. Jika kaum feminis percaya bahwa Alkitab mengandung banyak kesalahan tetapi mengapa mereka juga menggunakannya sebagai dasar otoritas untuk prinsip-prinsip teologis mereka. Sangat disayangkan bahwa, di sisi lain, gerakan feminis ini harus mengambil langkah-langkah ekstrim seperti mengorbankan prinsip-prinsip Kristen ortodoks dan cenderung liberal. Pandangan Martin Buber tentang pentingnya dialog antar jenis kelamin terbukti memberikan jalan keluar dari bahaya praktik lanjutan dominasi laki-laki terhadap perempuan; tetapi juga mencegah wanita dari risiko gerakan pembebasan feminis ekstrim.

Margaret A. Simons, Rebel at Heart

In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her struggles in the male-dominated field in the 1960s and 1970s, and her political activism in the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. She also discusses her encounters with Simone de Beauvoir and Beauvoir’s refusal to own her philosophical originality, suggesting that Beauvoir may have adopted a more conventional narrative of a female intellectual to circumvent the public’s resistance to her radical ideas in the 1950s.

National Liberation Movements and Their Vocation for Party Politics in Southern Africa. The Case of the African National Congress and Zimbabwe African National Union

"The paper aims to shed light on the particularities of two national liberation movements - turned political parties and how they embraced their new role after the liberation struggle had ended and majority rule had been obtained. South Africa’s ANC and Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF are analyzed in an attempt to ultimately underline why democracy was approached distinctively by the too. We also bring some arguments as to why South Africa failed to stop ZANU-PF’s descent into autocracy, amidst internal and international pressures to intervene. After a short historical background of the two NLMs, we discuss the links between them, the particular political and social conditions which shaped their behaviours and the commonalities and differences in said behaviours. We argue that, as long as the democratic principles identified with ZANU-PF’s struggle for the empowerment of a new elite, the former were pursued; when the two no longer overlapped, stronghold politics and policies took primacy. We also argue that faced with similar contestation as ZANU-PF, the ANC might chose to sacrifice democracy for the sake of regime survival. Keywords: party-politics, international relations, regional influence, democracy, colonialism, discourse "