If this country could speak, I wonder what it would say of its battle scars and singed surfaces. Of its many children it has had to weep over and those it has lost to empty stomachs that know there’s only so much sustenance to be sucked out of the desolate promises made by those who were meant to be our Beautyful Ones. But now who we know, are not yet born. Of iron scented scarlet rivers flowing through dusty streets where Black life was once being manjieked into existence in the most hostile of (non)conditions. What would it say of CODESA, Sharpeville, Boipatong, Marikana and Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika. 2021 marks the 61st anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre — where Apartheid police officers unleashed submachine gun fire on an estimate of 7000 Black people gathered in front of the Sharpeville police station to protest against the government’s Pass Laws — thus resulting in the largest number of people killed in a protest under the Apartheid regime. This 61st anniversary of The Sharpeville Massacre becomes a complicated and bitter pill to swallow when one thinks of South Africa’s current socio-political reality, or rather, the varying realities of your socio-political circumstances depending on how much access to human rights you are afforded, even on the most basic level. From the current Asinamali Protest to the ways in which Femicide continues to be a choking hold around the necks of femme people living in this country.
It is within this H/historical and H/history-in-the-making context that Constitution Hill brings us their annual Human Rights Festival — presenting us with a poignant moment to acknowledge the immense sacrifices that have been made by countless South Africans in the struggle for freedom and equality. While human rights are enshrined in South Africa’s constitution, the lived experience of many South African’s does not reflect this and just last year the country was named amongst the most unequal societies in the world with poverty still manifesting in racialised ways. These facts of our society are recognised by Con Hill and the planners of the festival who state “it is democracy and activism that provides us with the space to reflect on the gains made, the challenges we still face and the future we want to build”. Taking place from March 21 – 31, the Human Rights Festival is adapting to our new normal and will be held entirely as an online event culminating in 10 days of virtual events, free and open to all. Researchers and scientists tracking the virus have reported that COVID-19 disproportionally effects Black people and while the pandemic affects all of us — its impact is particularly dire on the most vulnerable among our society. Historically marginalised communities, those living in poverty in highly congested areas and often with no access to water and sanitation. People working in the informal sector, people with disabilities, asylum seekers, older people, healthcare workers, teachers and people with underlying conditions, children and femme individuals — both young and old — have been hit especially hard. Not just in South Africa but globally too, and this year’s festival will focus on the effects COVID-19 has had on human rights and on the rule of law and the direction South Africa and the world could and should be taking post the global crisis. A seemingly fitting focus, especially when we have witnessed for ourselves the different ways our government and police force have taken to “maintaining order” and enforcing COVID-19 protocol within different enclaves of our society. As Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres states:
Covid-19 has deepened pre-existing divides, vulnerabilities and inequalities, and opened up new fractures, including fault lines in human rights. The pandemic has revealed the interconnectedness of our human family – and of the full spectrum of human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political and social. When any one of these rights is under attack, others are at risk. The virus has thrived because poverty, discrimination, the destruction of our natural environment and other human rights failures have created enormous fragilities in our societies. The lives of hundreds of millions of families have been turned upside down – with lost jobs, crushing debt and steep falls in income.
This year’s Con Hill Human Rights Festival is a stimulating series of online events bringing together key thinkers, academics and civil society organisations — to engage a wide public audience using a variety of formats designed to stimulate thought and debate. This year, they unpack 10 themes over the 10 day festival period through virtual events. With partners including the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Tshimong Academy, Greenpeace South Africa, The Thami Dish Foundation and CORMSA — to name a few — the festival will be organised around and engage with a specific key themes on each day, for instance the topic marking the beginning of the festival on March 21st is Gender Based Violence in South Africa – Where are we going wrong? And Judge Albie Sachs joins as a guest speaker discussing The Politics of the Rule of Law on March 25th amongst other stimulating happenings. The festival lineup and explored themes are far reaching and show that the organisers were thinking across communities, subjectivities, H/histories and experiences when planning it and when thinking of the “human’ in human rights.
The full festival programme and tickets to join live online via Zoom are available here!
