“A LUTA CONTINUA - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES”: A CELEBRATION AND A CHALLENGE
“A Luta Continua-The Struggle Continues” is a symposium that will explore the impact of students from Southern Africa on the UCLA campus and the City of Los Angeles, and consider the ways in which their example can be followed in making a difference in Africa.
Saturday, May 18, 20131:00 PM - 5:00 PM
UCLA Fowler Museum & Terrace
675 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90024
1:00 - 5:00pm, Symposium
5:00 - 7:00pm, Public Reception
So come join us and enjoy the music, speakers, information tables and food.
So that we can plan for accommodating everyone who intends to participate please RSVP via: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6399580317/?ref=estw
Beginning in the late 1950’s and until the early 1990’s, many students from Africa and the Diaspora sought intellectual challenges and political refuge at UCLA. It could be argued that none had a greater impact than the students from Southern Africa. Through the life, work and ideas of Arthur Wina, Bernard Magubane, Mazisi Kunene, Thamsanqa “Tim” Ngubeni and others, our hope is to tell the story of how their contributions increased knowledge of Africa in the Greater Los Angeles Area, built African Studies and shaped Diversity and Campus Governance at UCLA.
Schedule:
1 pm Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (Lord Bless Africa)
Click song
1:15 pm Performance in Zulu and English of an extract from Mazisi Kunene’s epic poem King Shaka the Great
1:30 pm Welcome by Cyril Ndaba, Consul General of South Africa
1:35 pm PART 1—CELEBRATION: STUDENTS FROM SOUTHEN AFRICA AT UCLA: Arthur Wina, Ben Magubane, Mazisi Kunene, Tim Ngubeni
3–3:30 pm Break to view Ernest Cole Photographer. Refreshments.
3:30 pm PART 2—CHALLENGE: UCLA IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: Global Health, Law, Anderson Business, Engaged Social Sciences
4.30 pm Roundtable and Q&A: WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
Sharon Gelman, Artists for a New South Africa
5 pm Refrain, I won't give up. Feel Good by Lira
5–7 pm Reception with refreshments and music by DJ Nnamdi
At UCLA these students from Southern Africa found a long history of student interest and involvement in bringing about change in the subcontinent.
Ralph Bunche 1938 -- "South Africa is an entire country ridden by race prejudice -- unlike [the] U.S. in that there is absolutely no escape at all for these black and colored people."
Jackie Robinson 1960 -- "We must help to devise a program that can assist in mobilizing the people in the United States to stand behind their brothers in South Africa in their desire to establish a democracy that will not know the differences of race, just as we are attempting to establish such a democracy here."
Kareem Abdul Jabbar 1968 – “I am very privileged. I’ve been fortunate because of my basketball ability. But I’m only one of many black persons in this struggle. They identify with me and I identify with them.”
Arthur Ashe 1970 -- "If we isolate South Africa completely -- athletically, legally, culturally, physically -- will they change? Maybe they will say the world really hates us. Maybe they will change. We've tried everything else."
Barack Obama 1981 (at an Occidental rally featuring a UCLA student speaker, Tim Ngubeni)-- “We call this rally today to bring attention to Occidental’s investment in South Africa and Occidental’s lack of investment in multicultural education”
Tom Bradley 1986 – “The City of Los Angeles has sent a message to the business community: You can do business with our city or you can continue to prop up South Africa’s oppressive regime. But you cannot do both.”
Nelson Mandela 1990 -- "In our youth, Hollywood was the stuff of dreams ... In a sense, our youthful dreams, to some extent, are being realized ... We are particularly overjoyed to be in this city because Los Angeles is a staunch supporter of the anti-apartheid movement."
Through their scholarship and activism, Bruins not only helped shape the struggles to liberate Southern Africa from Colonialism and Apartheid, but in the process, they helped change Los Angeles and UCLA forever.
Much is being done at UCLA to improve the lives of people in Southern Africa. The Global Health Program undertakes academic and clinical work in South Africa and Malawi that has a direct impact on thousands of individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. The Law School educates Public Interest lawyers from Southern Africa. The Anderson Business School and the Division of Social Sciences send students to Southern Africa to work collaboratively with local scholars and students.
However today we still have a challenge. Now that the political struggle against Colonialism and Apartheid has been won, how do we channel the talents and passions of those struggles into collaborative endeavors to advance educational opportunities for young Americans and Southern Africans so that they can overcome the legacies of the past? This is a discussion in which we must all be involved and all voices heard.
In our endeavors we return to the inspiration of Ralph Bunche who spoke in 1969:
"UCLA is where it all began for me, where, in a sense, I began. College for me was the genesis and the catalyst."
The symposium is intended to be a celebration and a challenge, a continuation of well over half a century of international engagement, and the beginning of a new period of dialogue and collaboration across the Atlantic.
ALL ARE WELCOME
RSVP http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6399580317/?ref=estw
www.fowler.ucla.edu/events/symposium-and-reception-luta-continuathe-struggle-continues
Sponsor(s): , The Fowler Museum, Chancellor and Provost’s Office, Office of Student Affairs, International Institute, Division of Social Sciences, Coleman African Studies Center, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Sociology, Mazisi Kunene Foundation, Center for the Study of Political Graphics
