Words from Cape Town

Words from Cape Town

In which Cape Town speaks for itself.

“[Apartheid] was a society where we didn’t listen to one another. This stunts the growth of not only the oppressed but also the oppressor.”—Stan Henkeman, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, on the necessity for dialogue in healing

“The sexy thing is to pick up a stone and throw it. The easy thing is to yell and swear. This is about the healing. This is hard because you have to open wounds.”—Stan Henkeman, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, on the pain and patience of peace

“We were psychologically brainwashed to believe this is where we belong.”—Joe, guide at District Six Museum and former District Six resident, on the power of apartheid to create a mental ghetto

After explaining that she sometimes sees women in settlements planting flowers by their shanties: “Flowers are a sign of consciousness, like ‘I’m trying to do the best I can with what I have.’”—Bernadette Muthien, activist and director of EnGender, on maintaining self and pride in the midst of violence

“If you can conquer the mind of the oppressed you can control them.”—Bernadette Muthien, activist and director of EnGender, on consciousness

“Anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” —Bernadette Muthien, activist and director of EnGender, on constructive response to violence

“I think the world thinks South Africa has arrived.”—Shirley Gunn, veteran freedom fighter and director of Human Rights Media Center, on diminished attention to human rights violations

“Part of our negotiated settlement is that we live with our past whether we like it or not.” —Shirley Gunn, veteran freedom fighter and director of Human Rights Media Center, on memorializing memory and monuments

“Why do we prescribe forgiveness? We should forgive because we are good Africans? Because this is what we are supposed to do?”—Shirley Gunn, veteran freedom fighter and director of Human Rights Media Center, on strain of forgiveness in healing and progress

“It was irresponsible to lead people with placards when at the end of the line there were bullets.” —Shirley Gunn, veteran freedom fighter and director of Human Rights Media Center, on the necessity of armed struggle

“The logic of equality negates the knowledge of difference.”—Mary Hames, director of Center for Gender Equity, while discussing the tension between the South Africa constitution and the legal reality for many citizens

“We classify everything down to boxes. It’s the legacy of apartheid.”—Mike Zuma, Langa township resident and tour guide

“There are a lot of aspirations here but there is also a lot of hope…when people think of townships, they don’t think of aspirational spaces.” —Mike Zuma, Langa township resident and tour guide, while at the township pool, on creating a new narrative

Unlike many others, “when I went home at night I didn’t have to take it all with me.”—Mary Burton, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member, on participating in hearings and maintaining self

“The first person and the last person I heard that day deserved the same amount of listening and compassion…part of the job was to hear all of that poison and misery and despair and not feed it back into society.” Mary Burton, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member, on being present during hearings

“Some things have been done, but nowhere near enough to shop people that they are appreciated and valued.”-- Mary Burton, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member, on progress

“If you want to help a woman you need to know where she comes from. You need to be subjective.”—Hoodah Fayker, attorney at Women’s Legal Centre, on importance of lived reality in litigating for policy change

“It is a terrible, terrible indictment of how you can control people, and what’s so surprising is how long it took people to revolt.”— Amy Thornton, member of ANC and South Africa Communist Party, on resistance

“You almost feel guilty to think it’s so beautiful.”—Amy Thornton, member of ANC and South Africa Communist Party, on the contrasts and contradictions of Cape Town

“I was banned for fourteen years. I can’t tell you what that does to a person, especially when you’re young and you can’t be around people.”— Amy Thornton, member of ANC and South Africa Communist Party, on her banning order during the 1960s

“[I was] so isolated from the ordinary people of the country. Some of my family wouldn’t talk to me.” Amy Thornton, member of ANC and South Africa Communist Party, on being white and fighting for freedom with the ANC and SACP

“We have to fix things. No. We have to replace things.”—Lucy Campbell, cultural heritage educator and founder of Transcending History Tourism, on progress and restoration

“Loss of identity. We don’t know who we are. We don’t know where we come from.” —Lucy Campbell, cultural heritage educator and founder of Transcending History Tourism, on rediscovering self, particularly in Cape Town

“How can you have democracy if you don’t have social and economic justice? You cannot have freedom if you are poor.” —Lucy Campbell, cultural heritage educator and founder of Transcending History Tourism, on freedom

“Democracy is so far out there. I can’t touch it. I can’t feel it.” —Lucy Campbell, cultural heritage educator and founder of Transcending History Tourism

“It is not only enough to collect our history. We must engage with it to move forward, heal the dysfunctional legacy of our past and work toward a brighter future.”—Institute for Justice and Reconciliation healer, on role of history in future progress

“We like to think that we are so exclusive. We are so similar. It might be my voice, but it’s our story.”—Eleanor Swartz, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, on a common past and a common future

Jessie