tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28194213492827887322023-11-16T11:32:58.731+00:00BEVERLEY NAIDOOBEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-45629886551585505372018-08-10T22:48:00.001+01:002020-06-19T16:06:59.469+01:00Reflecting Realities will let “everyone breathe a lot better”! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently CLPE (Centre for Language in Primary
Education) published its report </span><a href="https://clpe.org.uk/library-and-resources/research/reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-children"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflecting Realities</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> into how children’s fiction and non-fiction books
published in 2017 for 3-11 year olds reflect the “wide world in which we live”.
I found myself torn. My initial response
was a sense of depression at our lack of progress. The survey shows how, 17
years into the 21<sup>st</sup> century, only a tiny proportion of new
children’s books in the UK reflected the array of experience of BAME (Black and
Minority Ethnic) children in our schools. Only 4% of all the books submitted by
publishers featured BAME characters and only 1% when featuring them as a main
character. In the words of a friend who was active in this area from the 1970s:
<i>“It seems very familiar - did all that
work years ago have no influence at all?” </i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Her words chimed with
me. However, when I read the report itself and listened to </span><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06f835v"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the Front Row discussion
with Farrah Serroukh and Patrice Lawrence</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, I felt more
heartened. Certainly, this ongoing work-in-progress is in very good hands.
Farrar, a former teacher and CLPE’s Learning Programmes Leader, leads the
project. The survey, to be repeated annually, was devised with support from the
pioneering </span><a href="https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cooperative
Children’s Book Center</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison in the USA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflecting Realities
aims to be in a nuanced and supportive conversation with the publishing
industry about broadening representation and quality. As Farrar writes in the
Project Foreword “we are all complex and multifaceted beings”. (Lionel Shriver,
with her sadly shallow mischaracterisation of the issues around diversity,
should read the report.) It’s almost 30 years since Professor Rudine Sims
Bishop wrote her seminal article “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors”
about the need for African American, and indeed all, children to see themselves
in books, as well as to be able to step into other worlds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">30 years ago in the UK
there was still some funding for awareness-raising of such issues amongst
teachers and librarians. For example, I was employed by Dorset Education
Authority to work part-time in its English Advisory Team with a specific
‘Cultural Diversity’ brief. That kind of vision went long ago with the
marketization of school services. Now we are all, publishers included, left
with the destructive effects of ‘Austerity’ on our libraries, schools and book
budgets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflecting Realities
hasn’t set out to name and shame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
wouldn’t be surprised if small courageous Indie publishers, like Tiny Owl, have
punched above their weight in providing books that offer the diversity that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> our children need to see in the
books around them. To quote Farrar Serroukh on Front Row, “If you improve the
quality of air in one corner, you’re going to make everyone breathe a lot
better.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I wrote this <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">blog originally for </span><a href="https://tinyowl.co.uk/cinderella-of-the-nile-for-tiny-owl-blog/">Tiny Owl</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">, wonderful indie publisher of </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/cinderella-nile.htm">Cinderella of the Nile</a></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;"> and other picture books crossing boundaries of time and place.</span></div>
BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-49723409056921351972018-07-10T22:10:00.002+01:002018-07-18T18:35:00.441+01:00Many cheers for a school literature festival, librarians, libraries and English teachers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week I enjoyed two special events. The first (arranged through <a href="https://authorsalouduk.co.uk/">Authors Aloud UK</a>) was Lytchett Minster School's Literature Festival. My day began in the theatre, buzzing with excited primary age children from surrounding feeder schools. Many of them had been reading <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/JtoJ.htm">Journey to Jo'burg</a> </i>which added depth to their questions as well as lots of children lining up afterwards for me to sign other books. (Thank you Gullivers Bookshop!)<br />
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My second session was with Year 8s who are currently reading <a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm"><i>The Other Side of Truth</i> </a>. It's a special pleasure when young people begin to emerge from the group with individual distinctive voices - and the design of the day facilitated this. I met some of the same students later as a class group and, over lunch, a few keen readers accompanied me and the school's librarian Clair Bossons to the 'Secret Garden'. Hidden behind high redbrick walls, the garden has existed from the days of the original manor house. Eating our sandwiches in the shade of an alcove, we chatted about favourite books, writing diaries, and this and that. Such a lovely interlude!<br />
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My final session included a rare treat. How often is it that an author gets to hear someone else reading their work aloud, keeping their audience gripped? Arriving in the library to be interviewed by one of the Year 8 classes, I found their English teacher Lesley Johnson deep into the chapter where my characters Sade and Femi are homeless and lost on the streets of south London. I loved her reading, especially the rendering of Video Man who hands the children over to the police.<br />
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Many years ago, as a newly-qualified teacher in London, I kept the last half-hour of each day as sacrosanct time for reading to my young teenage students. They lived challenging lives and often brought challenges into the classroom. But whatever we had faced earlier in the day, for this last half-hour, we put everything aside except the story. I chose books that would grip them and that gripped me too. (<i>The Silver Sword</i> by Ian Serailler was one.) It was a genuinely shared experience that I believe saved me as a teacher. <br />
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There's so much curriculum pressure these days that these kind of experiences get squeezed out. Yet these are experiences that enable us to grow; that help us see books as offering life-long learning and pleasure; that turn us into readers and writers. The Literature Festival also brought Marcus Alexander, Joffre White, Chris Priestley, Bali Rai and Steve Skidmore to Lytchett Minster to meet its young people. We all know how much planning and work goes into a week like this, with much praise due to the librarian and staff involved, as well as to the PTA who raised the funds to make it possible. <br />
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Finally, my second special event last week took place on Saturday morning at Southbourne Library where I shared with a wonderfully cross-age audience my new <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/cinderella-nile.htm">Cinderella of the Nile</a>, </i>splendidly illustrated by Marjan Vafaeian and published by <a href="http://tinyowl.co.uk/cinderella-of-the-nile-for-tiny-owl-blog/">Tiny Owl</a>. I dedicated my storytelling in memory of the late Connie Rothman, much-loved as a librarian in Southbourne, and also as a tribute to all our current librarians. I admire how valiantly they work to keep our libraries alive as welcoming places despite huge odds and the appalling cutbacks to our national treasure.<br />
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I shall meet Marjan for the first time in person next month at the Edinburgh International Book Festival where, with a Farsi-speaking translator, we shall present a couple of events, one for schools and <a href="https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/beverley-naidoo-marjan-vafaeian-cinderella-of-the-nile">one for the public</a>. Another of Tiny Owl's fabulous illustrators, Ehsan Abdollahi, who will also travel from Iran, has been appointed the <a href="http://tinyowl.co.uk/ehsan-abdollahi-named-illustrator-in-residence-at-edinburgh-book-festival/">Edinburgh International Book Festival's illustrator-in-residence</a>. How exciting is that? <br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-74036591700192976212018-06-15T18:55:00.000+01:002018-07-31T22:42:25.527+01:00Remaking Our Stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Like many children growing up after the Second World
War, I learned of the world’s great fairy tales, including that of Cinderella,
through the retellings of Andrew Lang. I still treasure my childhood copy of
his </span><i style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Blue Fairy Book</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> in a Longmans,
Green & Co first edition from 1949. It has a little orange label: People’s
Bookshop, 45 Kerk Street, Johannesburg. The postcard below gives a glimpse of the colonial town of my birth in the 1940s. The little bookshop would have been near here and it was unusual...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The directors of the 'People's Bookshop' were deeply
opposed to the apartheid government that came to power in 1948 with racist ideas close to Nazism. One of these directors was Bram Fischer QC. He was from an eminent white Afrikaner
family and went on to lead the legal team that defended Nelson Mandela and the 'Rivonia Trialists' who were accused of trying to overthrow the apartheid state. Instead of being sentenced to death, they were given 'life' sentences. T</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">wo years later, in 1966, Bram Fischer was himself sentenced to life imprisonment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Coming back to m</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">y </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Blue Fairy Book, </i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">I imagine that it</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> must have been shipped from England along with much weightier books intended to stir debate and political resistance. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">While the Foreword in my book says that Andrew Lang
and his helpers collected stories “from the four corners of the earth”, their
world was essentially confined to the northern hemisphere. They ranged widely across
Europe, occasionally straying eastwards to the Middle East and beyond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The pen and ink illustrations in my edition were by
Ben Kutcher, born in Kiev around 1895 but whose family emigrated to the USA in
1902. Here is his Cinderella - the image with which I grew up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My mother’s grandparents had also emigrated from the Russian Empire but
came to England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there, her parents
made the colonial journey to Johannesburg where my mother was born... and where I
would be born during the Second World War. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">6000 miles away from Europe, the word ‘Race’ appears
on my birth certificate, next to which someone wrote ‘European’. It was if a direct link whitewashed out
the rest of the continent of Africa and I should think of myself as 'a European'. Books were very much part of this process of mind-shaping and, l</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">ike children
in the ‘mother country’ Britain, I grew up with books in which the role of
black Africans were generally limited to being savages, comic buffoons or
faithful servants.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, at university, I was fortunate to have my
colonial ways of seeing challenged. I began the life-long process of questioning
‘truths’, whether presented by governments, political parties or individuals. I
began to understand how our perceptions, feelings and indeed fears are shaped. People like Nelson Mandela and Bram Fischer helped in this process. But removing
blinkers and widening vision is an ongoing journey and one, for me, in which literature
has played an important role. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/cinderella-nile.htm">Cinderella of the Nile,</a> </i>I retell our earliest known version of the tale, recorded by
ancient Greek historians. A girl called Rhodopis, in 6<sup>th</sup> century BC,
is captured in northern Greece and sold into slavery. Herodotus writes about her
friendship with a fellow slave Aesop in Samos. I feel sure this great African
storyteller’s wisdom would have helped develop her resilience for when she is sold
again in Egypt... before her rose-red slipper leads her to the Pharaoh. </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/cinderella-nile.htm">Cinderella of the Nile</a> </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">is stunningly illustrated by Marjan
Vafaeian, an artist who lives in Iran. I have my publisher <a href="http://tinyowl.co.uk/cinderella-of-the-nile-for-tiny-owl-blog/">Tiny Owl to thank for bringing us together</a>. How fascinating, I think, that the
illustrator, Ben Kutcher, who first introduced me to Cinderella was born on one side of the
Caucasus Mountains and now Marjan has worked her magic on the other! </span></div>
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-24360951027330840432018-03-02T19:05:00.001+00:002018-03-03T20:45:28.528+00:00Snowy World Book Days <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love it when negatives turn to positives. By the time I reached Queen's College yesterday, for a World Book Day visit there was enough snow on London's pavements to reach the leather of my boots. With more snow coming, the school had just been officially closed. So instead of giving a talk to an audience of two hundred, I had the pleasure of sitting around a table in the library with a small intrepid group who remained. It was a treat to listen to their voices and views in a wide ranging discussion on literature and whether books can alter our ways of seeing, especially in matters of Othering when it comes to 'race', gender and class.<br />
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One student asked whether I'd read Chimamanda Adichie's <i>Purple Hibiscus. </i>An avid reader, she had made some links to the same period in Nigeria in <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth</a>. </i>As we shared suggestions of authors to read, it was lovely to find at least four of Mildred D Taylor's novels (including one of my all time favourites <i>Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry) </i>on a nearby shelf. World literature should be the inheritance of all our children and not just for World Book Day.<br />
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With problems on the trains, I thank the Polish cab driver who drove me 16 miles the next day to Pinner High School. It wasn't snowing early in the morning when he collected me but he said he was used to driving through snow. He also offered to wait until I'd checked that the school was really open. It was. Many students had braved the weather and we had time for a talk, writing workshop and book signing before I set off home. My journey had its adventures but thankfully I returned safely home before a subsequent train that was stuck all night - because of ice on the tracks - just a few miles from my home station. I gather some of those poor souls took to dancing in the aisles to Madonna, trying to keep warm.<br />
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Today, I have been snugly at home thanks to a postponed WBD visit. I have also been reading of the latest unprecedented cuts to Local Authority library services, this time in Northamptonshire. Figures from the House of Commons Library show the total book stock in libraries, nationally, has been reduced by almost a fifth since 2010. How shocking is this? The number of libraries along with professional librarians being 'lost' across the country is a devastating own goal for us as a society, especially our future generations. Unless there is a massive national wake-up, I fear it will be impossible to turn this huge negative into a positive.<br />
BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-72899866358066690692017-08-17T17:54:00.000+01:002017-08-17T18:17:49.046+01:00Children's Literature about Refugees : A Catalyst in the Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Those who have read Mary Hoffman's <i><a href="https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9780711219915/The-Colour-of-Home.html">The Colour of Home</a>,</i> illustrated by Karin Littlewood, may recognise the above image. It comes from a double page spread showing the terrifying night when soldiers arrive at young Hassan's house to take his uncle away and the family decide to flee. Any child who has read this book will probably remember Hassan being distraught at having to leave his cat Musa behind... as well as much else.<br />
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In her recently published <i><a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/language-and-literacy/refugees-in-childrens-literature/">Children's Literature about Refugees: A Catalyst in the Classroom</a></i>, Dr Julia Hope explores ways in which teachers can engage children with profoundly important questions about refugees. Her book is based on doctoral research which included observing <i>The Colour of Home</i> being shared in classrooms with 6-9 year olds and <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth </a> </i>being shared with 10 year olds (the younger end of where the book is often read in schools). <br />
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As well as observing lessons, Julia spent time talking with children in small groups, analysing what they wrote, drew and dramatised. She interviewed their teachers and considered their planning. She also organised an author visit for me to speak with the Year 5 children and give them the opportunity to question me. The younger children spoke with Mary Hoffman via Skype. To research how the books came about, Julia separately interviewed Mary, Karen (also illustrator of <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/baba.htm">Baba's Gift</a> ) </i>and myself.<br />
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It's obviously fascinating for me as a writer to gain insights into how my book is received. Many years ago, I conducted doctoral research into white UK teenagers reading novels that challenged perceptions around 'race' and racism, which I published as <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/nonfiction.htm#eyes">Through Whose Eyes</a>. </i>Although my conclusions were sobering, I still believe that literature can make a difference and I continued to write fiction. I am my first reader and there is no better way for me to explore pressing matters in our world than to imagine myself as a young person caught up in the thick of things. <br />
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<i>Children's Literature about Refugees</i> highlights the importance of listening to children's voices in response to what they are reading. It highlights the importance of the teacher's role in creating the spaces that enable young people to respond, explore perspectives and deepen understanding of a global issue in which ordinary people's lives are disrupted in extraordinary ways. I admired examples of the teachers' ingenuity in incorporating national literacy objectives (often constricting) while engaging the children in creative responses and critical thinking.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">By a happy coincidence, the biography of </span>Harry <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rée</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> - </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">my professor of education at the University of York in the mid 1960s -</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> has just been published by the same Institute of Education Press. Entitled <i><a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/history-of-education/educator-most-extraordinary/">Educator Most Extraordinary: The life and achievements of Harry </a></i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;"><i><a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/history-of-education/educator-most-extraordinary/">Rée, 1914 - 1991</a>, </i>it's the dedicated work of Jonathan Daube who must have contacted at least a couple of hundred people whose lives were touched by this extraordinary educator.<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Harry, who fought with the French Resistance in the Second World War, was a humanitarian with deep respect for the importance of literature. I think that he would have thought highly of the approaches described by Julia Hope in </span><i>Children's Literature about Refugees.</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-91758515625416850772017-08-07T22:28:00.000+01:002017-08-07T22:47:43.505+01:00'Death of an Idealist: In Search of Neil Aggett' papers on their way to University of Sussex<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's a big day when your child leaves home. Of course it's not really the same with a book but the audiotape interviews (inside a shoebox) and some of the papers in assorted files, boxes, and bags stacked here on my sitting room table, have lived with me for 22 years. I should have pulled them out of their drawers, nooks and crannies five years ago when my biography of Neil Aggett, <em><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/death_of_an_idealist.htm">Death of an Idealist</a>, </em>was launched in South Africa. But I felt the book's journey wasn't finished and I wasn't ready to let go. <br />
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However, at last, they are on their way to their new home at the <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/history/research/resistancestudies/archive">Archive of Resistance Testimony at the University of Sussex</a>. For the vision that lies behind this relatively new archive, linked to a <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/history/research/resistancestudies">Centre of Resistance Studies</a>, I am grateful to the vision of Professor Emeritus Rod Kedward and its director Dr Chris Warne. I photographed them today before they set off with my papers and tapes in the boot of Chris's car. <br />
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I'm excited that the archive is part of a department of history where, in the future, students as well as researchers may be encouraged to engage with the story of Neil Aggett and his activist comrades in their struggle for social justice. Resistance to injustice is an ongoing story, not just in South Africa. But, like Papa in my novel <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth</a>, </i>I believe in the ultimate power of words that aim to speak truth to power. </div>
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Neil Aggett lost his life in John Vorster Square, police headquarters in Johannesburg early in 1982. Ten years earlier, the young teacher Ahmed Timol 'fell' to his death from the 10th floor of the same notorious building. After a campaign by his family, and a book by his nephew Imtiaz Cajee, the inquest into Timol's death was recently re-opened in Johannesburg, after 46 years. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bizos">George Bizos</a>, the wonderful human rights lawyer was there, having represented the Timol and Aggett families (as well as many political defendants, including his friend Nelson Mandela). I was extremely touched when I saw this photo of him in the courtroom on the first day of the re-opened Timol inquest. On the desk in front of him are two books: his own <i>No One to Blame </i>and my biography of Neil, for which he wrote the Foreword, beginning with Milan Kundera's words:</div>
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<i>"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."</i></div>
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Books continue to make journeys long after they are written. Even though I have finally let go of my papers for <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/death_of_an_idealist.htm">Death of an Idealist</a></i>, this is a new beginning for them too, not an end. </div>
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BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-57965806854038251352017-06-20T23:41:00.000+01:002017-06-21T09:22:05.317+01:00Refugee stories and a new generation of writers <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's Refugee Week. Indeed every week throughout the year is another week with hundreds of thousands of refugees struggling to find somewhere safe enough to call home. But in the UK, this is a week of special events to stop and remind those of us lucky enough to have homes.<br />
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Monday 19th June also happened to be the 80th Carnegie Medal event and the 60th anniversary of the Kate Greenaway Awards. The ceremony now also celebrates the Amnesty CILIP Honour Awards for a book chosen from each shortlist that engages young readers with human rights. As a former Carnegie winner, I was delighted to be invited and have the chance to meet Zana Fraillon, author of <i>The Bone Sparrow</i>. It is an extraordinary novel about a boy whose young life has been spent inside an immigration detention camp. In this bleakest of settings, we experience the human spirit, freedom of imagination and the power of story. I ended reading <i>The Bone Sparrow</i> in angry tears. Zana lives in Australia but came to London to receive this hugely deserved Amnesty CILIP Honour Award. <br />
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I was also delighted to meet Francesca Sanna, creator of <i>The Journey </i>which also received an Amnesty CILIP Honour Award. It's<i> </i>about a mother and two children seeking safety after war takes their father. The story is vividly told in the voice of one of the children while the illustrations convey a dramatic and often frightening journey. However, the images and words reflect the children ensconced by their mother's love, determination and hope for their future.<br />
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It's seventeen years since an earlier refugee story won the Carnegie. <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth</a> </i>is soon to be released 'A Puffin Book' and I couldn't resist holding my advance copy alongside Francesca's <i>The Journey.</i> Tonight, before writing this blog, I watched the news and heard Lord Dubs, who arrived in Britain with the Kindertransport in 1938 (the year after the first Carnegie Medal was awarded) reiterate his plea for the UK to offer a home to today's young refugees. "We can't step aside." Thank goodness there is also a new generation of writers for young people whose books reflect that same spirit. <br />
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This year's Carnegie Medal goes to Ruta Sepetys for her historical novel <i>Salt to the Sea, </i>with refugees and a maritime tragedy at its heart. To read more about it and the other award-winning books and their authors, click <a href="http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2017-winners-announced.php">here </a>.<i> </i>BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-21274047325023477052017-06-16T16:03:00.001+01:002017-06-18T18:46:09.647+01:00The power of reading... and re-reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Down Second Avenue </i>was one of the books that had a huge impact on me as a student in South Africa in the early 1960s. In his memoir of growing up not too far from where I had grown up in Jo'burg, Es'kia Mphahlele could have been writing about another planet. Until my university years, I had been completely blinkered within apartheid's 'white bubble'. This book, along with Peter Abrahams's <i>Tell Freedom, </i>introduced me to life beyond my blinkers. I was also lucky to have fellow students who helped to slash the bubble. But the invitation of these two fine writers to enter their lives - to see through their eyes and hear their inner voices - exerted a particularly intimate power and a necessary shock.<br />
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Es'kia Mphahlele and Peter Abrahams are sadly no longer with us but their work lives on for new generations. My friend Mma-tshepo Grobler recently wrote that she'd bought a copy of <i>Down Second Avenue </i>on a recent trip home to South Africa. (We first met when her brilliant educator mother, Martha Mokgoko, ran an extraordinary workshop on <i>Journey to Jo'burg </i>shortly after it had been 'unbanned' in 1991.)<i> </i>I was keen to know Mma-tshepo's thoughts: <br />
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Down Second Avenue </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">was a completely
different read the second time around. I read the book when I was about 10
years old I think but my memory of the book was nothing like what I have just
read recently. Mphahlele’s retelling of his time growing up in the rural areas
and then his subsequent move to Marabastad is the part of his story that I
think my childhood self connected with the most. His description of the uncles,
Aunt Dora, his gran, his surroundings and everyday life in Marabastad, the
police and the neighbours are all elements that were present in my childhood.
Two things that struck me whilst reading the book now as an adult are</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"> 1) how
like Mphahlele, sustained poverty, difficult working conditions, neighbourhood
politics were accepted as normal to me as a child and </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">2) my mind as a 10 year
old was definitely not developed enough to understand the gravity and depth of
this book. My adult self was completely blown away by the broadness of this
book. Mphahlele skillfully addresses, questions and recounts so many themes and
issues that we still face as South Africans. What saddened me most after
reading was the thought that the politics of poverty still prevail with a vice
grip on our people – nothing has changed. </span><br />
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What an indictment in that last line. It is time for me to re-read <i>Down Second Avenue </i>too.<br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span>BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-9173899874954909732017-03-21T17:43:00.002+00:002017-03-21T17:45:07.094+00:00The artist with his work at the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVA2E8X2LwJpv8C-sfIaTF5vYVu7TSY8sHoaElO4aQNKW_F_4SNm0Clf5eqXPx97Tu6nCdb4iFaviGwN0f7r-uoUSQgeemIDy34UaYxKNghXVVz6Ca_hgafOje2kF5GB1t3kzV1uU1E1oh/s1600/Piet+%2526+mural+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVA2E8X2LwJpv8C-sfIaTF5vYVu7TSY8sHoaElO4aQNKW_F_4SNm0Clf5eqXPx97Tu6nCdb4iFaviGwN0f7r-uoUSQgeemIDy34UaYxKNghXVVz6Ca_hgafOje2kF5GB1t3kzV1uU1E1oh/s320/Piet+%2526+mural+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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In my last post, I wrote that Piet Grobler and I were delighted to have our stories - in words and pictures - on display as murals in the new Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in Johannesburg. Piet has now visited the hospital and says he was thrilled to see that they look really lovely. Here he is in front of a setting sun, while being investigated by one of his cheeky birds! In the picture below he looks relaxed yet, if you ask me, dangerously close to Lion.<br />
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May the children who come to the hospital have lots of fun imagining....BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-8748386725984620602017-01-12T21:03:00.004+00:002017-01-12T21:08:51.495+00:00Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital opens in Johannesburg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUR4KKK5f4nHMz70agEb0PkdA1CJF82cmgrkMY3Yx1uxg0zX3wFsFvKmskK4IGBTrw2jyhmakse9N3U2S26wE_uaY6mcazNQi17ORTgicS1Sy4BHmdd8oAWGWuRZeW5rOcdA4csNtwcJ6S/s1600/SW_The+Farmer+and+His+Children_Diagnostic+Unit_Level+0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUR4KKK5f4nHMz70agEb0PkdA1CJF82cmgrkMY3Yx1uxg0zX3wFsFvKmskK4IGBTrw2jyhmakse9N3U2S26wE_uaY6mcazNQi17ORTgicS1Sy4BHmdd8oAWGWuRZeW5rOcdA4csNtwcJ6S/s400/SW_The+Farmer+and+His+Children_Diagnostic+Unit_Level+0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Last month, the <a href="http://www.nelsonmandelachildrenshospital.org/">Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital</a> opened in Johannesburg. Piet Grobler and I are absolutely delighted that some of Piet's illustrations and the stories I retold in our<a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/aesop.htm"> </a><i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/aesop.htm">Aesop's Fables</a> </i>and <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/king.htm">Who is King? Ten Magical Tales from Africa</a> </i>appear as murals on some of the hospital's walls. I feel sure that Madiba would have loved the wisdom and wit in these ancient tales. I think he would have enjoyed our South African setting for Aesop's tales. I'm also sure that he would have endorsed the moral of The Farmer and his Children (above): "<i>Work is the real treasure"!</i><br />
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Making this new hospital a reality has involved not only vision but a huge amount of work. Aesop's story of The Grasshopper and the Ants (below) might well ring a few bells...<br />
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In 2005, Madiba expressed his wish that the Nelson Mandela Children's Trust should help improve medical care for children. The idea of a specialist hospital in Johannesburg was born. The only other children's hospital in South Africa was nearly 900 miles away in Cape Town.<br />
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In 2009, my old university, Wits, donated the land. It happens to be only a fifteen minute walk from the old Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital where I was born. The Queen Vic hasn't been in use for many years but this picture of it (below) was taken in the 1960s when hospitals in apartheid South Africa were segregated. That knowledge will always be a terrible part of our history.<br />
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Just behind the old Queen Vic (although not visible in the photo) stands <a href="https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/">Constitution Hill</a>. This is the site of our wonderful Constitutional Court next to three of apartheid's prisons of terror: The Old Fort, 'Number Four' and The Women's Jail. The Constitutional Court includes the original bricks from the destroyed Awaiting Trial Block. You can read more about this extraordinary site, embodying the best and the worst of SA's history <a href="https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/">here</a>. <br />
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A sick child lies at the heart of <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/JtoJ.htm">Journey to Jo'burg</a>. </i>When 13 year old Naledi eventually gets to a hospital with Mma carrying the children's very ill baby sister, she sees a young mother being handed a plastic bag. It contains her dead child. Such things happened time and again under apartheid. Madiba was among the many political prisoners, black and white, who spent time incarcerated in those brutal cells on what is now Constitution Hill. For the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital (NMCH) to be built less than a mile away carries a special meaning. A vision of humanity can survive inhumanity.<br />
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The NMCH Trust, under its chairperson Graca Machel, set out to raise 1 billion rand (around 70 million pounds) to make the vision a reality. Young people too have been involved in fundraising via <a href="http://www.nelsonmandelachildrenshospital.org/for-kids-by-kids/">'For Kids By Kids' </a>. The Trust declares that "No child in need of care at this hospital will be turned away." Beds are limited and needs are great but let us hope that this ideal will always be the hospital's guide.<br />
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Piet and I will be happy if our murals give both pleasure and food for thought. Every time that I tell Aesop's story of The Lion and the Warthog, in which a vulture waits for the spoils of the fight, I always speak of South Africa's good fortune to have had the humane wisdom of someone like Nelson Mandela. It is indeed safer to be friends than enemies. But the challenges of inequality and poverty remain great. These are challenges for everyone. Just as for the ants and the children of the farmer in those tales from over 2500 years, there's still much work ahead.<br />
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BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-23986554551701050212016-12-04T22:20:00.001+00:002016-12-04T22:23:01.718+00:00A Wisp of Wisdom - Animal tales from Cameroon <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 17px;">Earlier this year, I was invited to join an unusual project of retelling animal stories from the Korup region of Cameroon that might otherwise be lost. The project was started by author Tom Moorhouse who is also a wildlife conservationist. Tom and all the authors who have worked on <i>A Wisp of Wisdom</i>, as well as the artist Emmie van Biervliet, have given their time free of charge. This is so that 2000 copies of the book can be sent to children in the Korup region. In this part of Cameroon most children speak English as a second (maybe even third) language - and books are scarce. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17px;">We think you will find the stories are full of fun as well as wisdom. There are tricky tortoises, cunning monkeys, blue-bottomed drills, flies stronger than elephants, hungry crocodiles and animals who gather for meetings in the sky. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17px;">You can find out more about the project, the storytellers (I think you will know some of them!) and how you can buy the book <a href="https://www.lantanapublishing.com/shop/special-project/cameroon-stories/">here</a> .</span><br />
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BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-21352419146731628362016-11-30T20:24:00.000+00:002016-11-30T20:24:03.052+00:00The Other Side of Truth - journey to a musical play<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last month <a href="http://www.graftonschool.co.uk/">Grafton Primary School</a>, near Holloway Road in North London, invited me to their Year Six Black History Month musical production based on my novel <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth</a></i>. The audience was the entire school, children and staff, family members and friends... or, in the words of Grafton's head teacher Nitsa Sergides, the 'Grafton Family'. Nitsa is a remarkable headteacher with creativity and commitment to every child at the very heart of the school. Grafton employs a part-time writer-in-residence (<a href="http://www.dianesamuels.com/">Diane Samuels</a>), artist-in-residence (<a href="http://www.tessagarland.com/">Tessa Garland</a>) and musician-in-residence (<a href="http://www.juwonogungbe.com/">Juwon Ogungbe</a>), each of whom works with the children on a weekly basis. How remarkable is that? I also recently learned that Nitsa was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to education. In my dreams I would make her Secretary of State for Education with her teachers leading the whole department!<br />
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I have been in touch with musician Juwon ever since he composed the music for Trestle Theatre's production of <a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/burnplay.htm" style="font-style: italic;">Burn My Heart</a><i> .</i> We have been talking for some time about how we would love to try out <i>The Other Side of Truth</i> as musical theatre. Some years ago I adapted the novel for BBC Radio 4's 'Afternoon Play' so I already had a play script, although one based on sound. But it gave us a starting point. Juwon needed time and space to create music and songs. Funding research and development is always tricky. I knew about his work at Grafton, but the penny only really dropped when by good chance this summer I was invited to meet children from the school who had read <i>Journey to Jo'burg. </i>We met at the amazing little <a href="http://www.19princeletstreet.org.uk/">Museum of Immigration and Diversity</a> in Spitalfields' Princelet Street. That's another story but you can get a glimpse here...<br />
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Well, one thing led to another and a couple of weeks into the autumn term all of Year Six at Grafton were working on a cross-curricular <i>The Other Side of Truth</i> project, culminating in their production before half-term. It was quite a feat... and I take my hat off to Juwon, and dedicated teachers Anna Sutton, Bea Symes, Justin Ward and others. With two classes, each presented one half of the story, hence two different actors for each main role, involving every child. I'll paste a few pictures below, with thanks to Tessa Garland. I wish you could hear the music too.<br />
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Mourners gather in the family house in Lagos to lament what has happened to Mama...<br />
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Sade and Femi learn that, to remain safe, they will have to be smuggled out of the country...<br />
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In her new school in London, the bullies get to work on Sade...<br />
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and then tighten the screws...<br />
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At last, Sade and Femi reunited with Papa - but in prison?<br />
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Outside...<br />
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Mr Seven O'Clock News with Uncle Dele...<br />
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Finally, headteacher Nitsa Sergides commends the actors and everyone who has worked so hard...<br />
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not forgetting the musicians...<br />
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The night before the production, I received a most moving message from Deputy Head Anna Sutton:<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Some
of the children will shine tomorrow and some, less confident at acting, will do
their best at this stage in their young lives. However, more importantly
every single one of them without exception, has learned a great deal from your
story and every single child and adult has been moved to tears at some stage in
the rehearsals. Personally, I can't watch the end without holding back the sobs
and not always very successfully either! So touching 60 young lives and several
old lives - this is success!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Thank you, Grafton School! Your production was an amazing gift and I'm delighted to be counted part of the Grafton Family. Moreover, I still find myself humming some of Juwon's songs. May the journey continue.BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-32376725868032172312015-09-15T15:20:00.000+01:002015-09-15T15:29:32.428+01:00Save Barnet Libraries!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As soon as this picture popped into my inbox, I knew I had to share it. Both my children were born in Barnet. For some years I also worked in the London Borough of Barnet with children who found reading difficult. That was about forty years ago and I took it for granted that there were local libraries across Barnet containing treasure troves of books for children. For young readers who struggled with squiggles on a page, it was only a matter of time before we found the keys that opened the doors for them into the exciting world of books.<br />
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But in this picture, taken by a friend just a few days ago, here are children and families demonstrating to SAVE BARNET LIBRARIES. The man on the right, doing a jig to the drums, is none other than the children's author Alan Gibbons. For the last few years Alan has been speaking out, loudly and clearly, against the dangers of libraries being closed and of professional librarians losing their jobs. This is what he wrote last year in a campaign to save eleven local libraries in Liverpool:<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #2f353b; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Books open doors of the imagination, doors of
opportunity - but not everybody can buy books. Figures show that one in three
children in the UK do not own a book - if you close libraries those children
cannot borrow books either. Young families, schoolchildren, students, the
elderly, disabled, unemployed and many more people use and love the threatened
Liverpool libraries - what will they do once they are gone?" </span></span><br />
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I agree with every word. Libraries are not a luxury. Or are we to go back to the age when literacy and literature were only for the wealthy? Go to any National Trust or English Heritage great house and you will find it contains a large library. Andrew Carnegie (after whom the Carnegie Medal for Children's Literature is named) was born in a humble cottage in Scotland and, having made a fortune as an industrialist in America , gave much of this to develop educational and cultural institutions, including public libraries. Why? Because he understood that <i>books open doors of the imagination, doors of opportunity - but not everybody can buy books.</i><br />
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Let's hope that Barnet's councillors will hold on to their senses and recognise the true value of their precious libraries. To quote Alan again, <i>what will they do once they are gone?</i><br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-42204664951503786092015-06-09T22:30:00.000+01:002017-11-17T16:37:11.123+00:00A celebration...30 years on!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you <a href="http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/">Seven Stories</a> and <a href="http://www.shottonhallschool.co.uk/">Shotton Hall</a> students and teachers! Two weeks ago, I wrote about the project launched by Debbie Beeks at Seven Stories in partnership with The Academy at Shotton Hall in Peterlee. Since then, I've driven 800 miles and every mile was made worthwhile by a wonderful day on 4th June, the highlight being the Drama Club's play to celebrate <i>Journey to Jo'burg</i>'s 30th year and the arrival of my archive at Seven Stories in Newcastle.<br />
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Weaving their own contemporary story around Naledi's and Tiro's challenging journey in apartheid South Africa, the Shotton Hall students created an imaginative piece about how stories are passed on - both within and across generations. At the heart of their work was a strong empathy with Naledi and Tiro and a rejection of injustice. I loved the freshness and vitality of the students' work and, judging from audience response, so did 200 Year 6 primary school children attending the performance at East Durham College. Watch a short video <a href="https://vimeo.com/130851327">here</a>! You can also read more about the project in <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/13315655.Journey_to_Jo_burg_is_inspiration_to_students_at_The_Academy_at_Shotton_Hall/">The Northern Echo</a>.<br />
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It was also lovely to see Arts Award work created by Year 7s in response to the book. Kate Edwards, Chief Executive of Seven Stories, and I are pictured here admiring some of it. Some pieces were 3D, including one that involved two doors, making a point about segregation and inequality. </div>
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Earlier in the day, Seven Stories' archivists showed me how my materials are being stored and currently being catalogued. Fascinating! Here I am with archivist Kris McKie and collections assistant Danielle McAloon with some of the special cardboard boxes containing papers that not long ago were kept haphazardly in boxes under beds. </div>
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My work will have some very wonderful companions in the <a href="http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/collection">Seven Stories' Collection</a>, including some of my all time favourites. Elizabeth Laird is one of them. The archivists had laid out on a table a few items that they thought would be of particular interest. These included a small box of photographs Liz had taken when researching <i><a href="http://www.elizabethlaird.co.uk/books/a-little-piece-of-ground/">A Little Piece of Ground</a>, </i>a poignant novel about football-loving Karim, trapped by tanks and curfews in the Palestinian town of Ramallah under Israeli occupation. There was much delight when Jehan Helou, President of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Palestine, also visiting the Collection, was able to point out in a photo Samar Qutob - translator of <i>Journey to Jo'burg </i>and <i>Chain of Fire</i> into Arabic. What a small world! </div>
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If any sharp-eyed detectives spot on the table (bottom left in our picture) the tell-tale shape of Judith Kerr's much loved <i>Tiger Who Came to Tea, </i>you are right. There he is with the little girl Sophie in Judith Kerr's original illustration... and you will be glad to know that we all washed our hands very well before handling anything!</div>
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-71380750038429549432015-05-26T19:20:00.004+01:002015-05-26T22:51:06.230+01:00Preparing for a journey down memory lane... and preparing to be surprisedNext week I shall travel north to <a href="http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/">Seven Stories</a> where my papers are currently being catalogued. Wonderfully, some <i>Journey to Jo'burg </i>papers in the archive have already gone 'into action' through a Theatre-in-Education project celebrating the little book's 30th anniversary. Students in The Academy at Shotton Hall's Year 8 Drama Club have been exploring my archive material and creating their own theatre piece in response. The project was launched at the school a few weeks ago by Debbie Beeks from Seven Stories.<br />
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I am intrigued by the process and hugely looking forward to seeing the students' play next week at the Lubetkin Theatre at East Durham College. As part of their research, the Drama Club have interviewed a former Durham miner, Dave Temple, who was very active with other union members in supporting South African miners during the apartheid years.<br />
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Dave Temple told the students the story of his friend France, a South African miner whose real life story reminded them of the young boy who works in the orange farm in Chapter 3 of <i>Journey to Jo'burg. </i> So I expect there may be some questions about links between fiction and reality - and hopefully lots of other questions from Shotton Hall students as well as from local primary Year 6 children who will also be in the audience.<br />
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I've also heard that some Year 7 students are creating a graphic novel based on the story. So Naledi and Tiro, who set off on a life-saving journey to the big city all those years ago, are still touching hearts and minds. Isn't that the wonder of stories, taking us across time and place?<br />
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Finally, good luck Shotton Hall Drama Club - I am excited about seeing your play and I can't think of a better way to celebrate <i>Journey to Jo'burg</i>'s 30th year!BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-81549108220143451402015-03-28T18:32:00.000+00:002015-03-29T18:22:45.996+01:00Breaking an arm... and all the way from RouenThree weeks ago I broke my left arm. It was the end of a glorious spring walk through countryside near Thomas Hardy's cottage, not far from Dorchester. Glorious... until a bramble noose tripped me up and sent me flying.<br />
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The result could have been worse. Nevertheless, I completely fractured the top of my left humerus and the arm remains fragile - or so it feels - in a sling. Having been grounded, I had to send some 'sorry and hope to see you later' messages. I won't be jumping onto trains for a while.<br />
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However, there was one group of students whom I was determined not to disappoint. Two classes of French students from J B de la Salle in Rouen have been studying <i>The Other Side of Truth</i> and <i>Journey to Jo'burg </i>for their English course and were coming on a 3-day trip to England. Their English teacher, Julie Bertholle - 'Mrs B' to her students - had booked them in to a hotel in Bournemouth, just a couple of miles from where I live. The plan was for us to meet there and spend the evening together.<br />
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Thanks to painkillers and plenty of TLC, our evening took place and both I and my husband Nandha enjoyed it immensely. Many of the students' questions were on the context of my writing and the origin of themes within the two novels. It was clear they had been doing their research and that's enough to please any writer!<br />
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Afterwards, I was also delighted when two students, Lena and Sacha, presented me with a symbolic drawing they had designed of a South African map with a peace symbol and a touching message. I decided to teach the SA handshake to a few students, asking them to pass it on.<br />
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Before dinner, I took on the challenge of signing some 40 books with my right hand. I began a bit shakily scrawl but this is how my signature looked at the end. Not TOO bad I thought and maybe even a little neater than my usual left-handed scrawl!<br />
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After dinner, one of the students, Manon, asked if I had any favourite songs and singers. I replied, "When I think of France, Edith Piaf for sure!" Manon began to sing 'La vie en rose' - and soon she was joined by her friend Eugenie in an impromptu medley. Some of their favourite songs were mine too, including from 'West Side Story'. It was a lovely ending to our evening. <br />
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Mrs B has since sent me a short video of her students hard at work as they write about our meeting and their trip to England which also included a visit to The Globe in London and to Canterbury Cathedral. With music from Bach playing quietly in the background, their concentration is intense. They are in the world of their journey. How lucky students are when they have such dedicated teachers as Mrs B and Jean-Francois Pezot (the school's deputy director). Thank you J B de la Salle students and teachers for cheering me up after being brought down by my fall!BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-26976126285658857632015-02-18T00:24:00.001+00:002015-02-18T11:34:20.606+00:00Parting from papersFor a long time I've known that I must do something about my papers. Over 40 years, files and folders spread through our house. They filled up drawers, boxes under beds and shelves in the 'linen' cupboard. At one time, I stored stacks of papers in our loft until cracks appeared in our ceiling.<br />
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Early files, from the mid-1970s, contained papers dealing with bias in children's books. I remember my shock - and anger - at discovering that so many 'non-fiction' books about South Africa, in British schools and libraries, displayed the same narrow viewpoints and racist attitudes that I had experienced as a white child growing up under apartheid. Where were writers who showed what it might be like to be a black child in that society? I began closely examining these books and writing reviews. Why should children in Britain be so misinformed?<br />
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Discussions in our anti-apartheid group led to a campaign for local teachers and librarians against "Racism in Educational Media". Correspondence with the Council on Interracial Books For Children in the USA led to sharing guidelines on selecting bias-free books. At the end of the campaign, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the material I had collected. Instead, I embarked on my first non-fiction book <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/i/CensoringReality.pdf">Censoring Reality</a>. </i><br />
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By now, I had a growing collection of press cuttings about South African children, as well as drafts for a novel that would become <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/JtoJ.htm">Journey to Jo'burg</a></i>.<br />
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There was also an expanding file of minutes of meetings of the British Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa's education group. Under its dedicated director Ethel de Keyser, the group encouraged me during the writing of my first novel<i>.</i><i> </i>Ethel valiantly sought a publisher. She persisted despite the rejections (interesting to read now). Finally successful, she and the group organised the book's launch at London's Africa Centre on 18 March 1985. Supporting the birth of my first novel was just one of the education group's projects. The minutes reflect the spirit of the era as we challenged complacency about racism and, in particular, about apartheid. Even when I no longer needed these minutes for reference, I couldn't bring myself to shred them.<br />
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Soon after <i>Journey to Jo'burg's</i> publication, letters began to arrive from children. Was the story true? Were Naledi and Tiro real? Why, how, could this happen? The letters revealed a much wider age range of readers than the publishers originally envisaged. Within a year, the book had crossed the Atlantic and letters began arriving from young Americans.<br />
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Some readers revealed aspects of their own identity and experiences, saying whether they were white or black and how they were affected by the story. Years later, when the book reached an international school in Karachi, students wrote about thinking, for the first time, about the maids from Bangladesh who worked in their homes. Some of these women only saw their own children every couple of years. What must it be like to be their children, living without their mothers?<br />
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Fascinated by the intensity of many responses, I decided to keep the letters, putting them away in folders. 30 years on, some continue to arrive. They offer a window onto a multitude of classrooms and children in different places and times, all responding to the same little book and the courage of two children. When it was first published in 1985, Nelson Mandela was locked away, his name largely unknown to young people around the world. Today, it would be hard to imagine a classroom in which <i>Journey to Jo'burg </i>is read where he is not a central reference. <br />
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Other books and projects followed, each with its own trail. <i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/truth.htm">The Other Side of Truth</a> </i>has also led to some particularly interesting letters from a fairly wide age range. Correspondence with my editors from around 2000 shifted more to email. When I lost a year's correspondence with my wonderful editor Jane Nissen in a computer crash in 2004, I realised that I should save key correspondence to a file for printing. Unfortunately, good intentions don't always get carried out.<br />
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Nevertheless, research, drafts, proofs and other writing matters continued to fill up more folders and files. For a long time, I didn't think about what I would eventually do with them. In 1990, my American publishers, with my permission, had passed on their <i>Jo'burg </i>proofs to the University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. More than 20 years later, a professor friend offered an introduction to a well-endowed US university known for buying the papers of African writers.<br />
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But I held back. My work was created here in Britain. This is where I came into exile 50 years ago. This is where I was fortunate to join writers from other diasporas, celebrating our international voices, challenging narrow notions of a 'mono-cultural' literary canon. As Michael Rosen used to remind us at NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English) conferences, Shakespeare drew on sources far and wide.<br />
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In 1996, Elizabeth Hammill and Mary Briggs bravely set up <a href="http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/about/our-story">Seven Stories</a> as a charity. They recognised the need for an institution in Britain that would 'collect, champion and celebrate its children's literature'. Their vision was bold and their project faced great challenges, especially funding. Of one thing I was sure: I wanted a home for my work that would accommodate its different 'legs' - creative, activist, academic. The work forms an integral whole.<br />
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It is almost 9 years since my first visit to Seven Stories in Newcastle. I spoke with Sarah Lawrance, their Collections Director, about the possibility of placing my papers there. Afterwards, the matter returned to the back of my head. Then last summer I visited Seven Stories again, spending some time in their archive section, now across the water in Gateshead. We arranged for Sarah and archivist Kris McKie to visit me in Bournemouth a couple of months later. Would they hesitate, I wondered, when they saw the extent of potential papers? Their view, however, was that my collection would provide a solid foundation on which to develop their material around diversity. That settled it.<br />
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Preparing for their next visit to Bournemouth was daunting. They would come with a van! I now needed to sort and sift. I had to decide which items I wanted to keep, even if only until a later date. Were there items my children might want? I would be parting from papers that had been a significant part of my life. I told myself I must complete the task by Christmas. I began the process but there were interruptions. In the new year, I gave myself a new deadline: mid February 2015. I wrote to Kris and we agreed a date.<br />
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I took myself in hand and set to work...<br />
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By the morning of 12th February, it was over to Kris and Sarah.<br />
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By evening...<br />
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and the next morning, Friday 13th...<br />
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After Sarah and Kris left, the sky unleashed itself, rain pouring down. It rained for most of the day. In the village in South Africa where Naledi and Tiro begin their journey to Jo'burg,<i> </i>rain is a good sign. <br />
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Soon after 5.30pm, an email from Sarah popped into my inbox:<br />
'<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Just to let you know that we got back safely in
good time! Your archive is now safely stored - and awaiting unpacking!'</span><br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-71123047828356907912014-06-23T11:13:00.002+01:002014-06-23T11:13:43.113+01:00Free your mind...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This lovely poster lights up an old Victorian stairway in St Matthew's Primary School, a stone's throw away from Westminster Abbey in London. I immediately felt at home!<br />
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Celebrating reading as a way of freeing your mind makes perfect sense to me. Books have been hugely important in enabling my mind to travel freely. As a student when I first read Es'kia Mphahlele's autobiography <i>Down Second Avenue </i>and Peter Abrahams's <i>Tell Freedom</i> (banned at the time), these books blew my mind.<br />
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The two writers took me to places I had never entered before as a white South African. They could have been describing another planet - but they weren't. They were talking about the country of my birth, their birth, our birth. Most amazing of all, they invited me to listen to - and to hear - not only their voices, but their <i>inner</i> voices and innermost thoughts. What an extraordinary privilege in a society of barriers, imprisoning black people and imprisoning white minds.<br />
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The first book that had ever opened this almost secret door for me into someone else's inner thoughts was <i>The Diary of Anne Frank. </i>I've <a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/new/palestine.htm">written elsewhere</a> about the lasting power of her strong young voice, speaking out against injustice. Yet when I'd first read her diary, crying many tears, I still did not see the injustice all around me.<br />
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That would only come some years later. Being given books to read, like <i>Down Second Avenue </i>and <i>Tell Freedom</i>,was an important part of the process of taking the blinkers away from my eyes. I didn't attend a school like St Matthew's where children are encouraged to read widely and to 'free your mind'. Nor was there an organisation like <a href="http://www.authorsalouduk.co.uk/">Authors Aloud UK</a> encouraging schools to bring writers into school!<br />
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Meeting children like those at St Matthew's is always a delight for me, encountering young minds that are brimming with curiosity and questions. I shall not forget this poster of butterflies flitting from flower to flower. Some people say butterflies are not as swift and efficient as bees in pollinating. But they do their share and what pleasure they give us. Moreover, they linger long in the mind, like certain books.<br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-42850745482892459362014-06-01T19:47:00.000+01:002014-06-01T19:49:59.572+01:00Read, read, read!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From this bird's eye view, I seem like Mother Hen here, with young ones ready to fly! Anna, Lucy, Donya and Matthew are 2014 North East England regional winners for <i>Read for My School</i>'s national competition. We are actually looking up into the dizzy heights of Newcastle's splendid new City Library where we met to celebrate the pleasures of reading and writing. <br />
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I enjoyed the 'buzz' at this gathering in Newcastle of participants, parents, teachers, librarians and Sophie Hallam from Booktrust. In <i>Read for My School, </i>Booktrust and the Pearson Foundation challenge young people in schools across England to read as many books as they can in two months. This year, at least 100,000 books will be donated to Book Aid International's Library in a Box programme.<br />
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A further element this year has been for participants to write a letter to children in Tanzania reflecting their love of reading and why it's important to them. The results will be announced soon and published on the <i>Read for My School</i> website <a href="http://www.readformyschool.co.uk/">here</a>.<br />
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My message, as ever, is 'Read the world'. What better form of mind-travel? What better way to fly... BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-47101872585949924682014-05-08T23:23:00.000+01:002014-05-10T17:47:57.403+01:00Rhodes University honours Neil AggettA month has passed since Rhodes University launched its Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU), but the events remain etched in my mind. I feel hugely privileged to have been invited to Grahamstown to take part in this important 'struggle of memory against forgetting'. This was not about creating an 'icon' out of Neil. He would have hated that.<br />
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At the heart of the events from 2-4 April was concern for South Africa today. What can we learn by reflecting on Neil's life and the values for which he lived and died? As his biographer, I was asked to give the opening lecture. Wonderfully, a number of people who had been close to Neil were present and were, of course, able to answer some audience questions much more directly than I could. These ranged from political to personal.<br />
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When a questioner enquired about possible personal sources of Neil's deep sense of ethics, I spoke of what I had learned by reading his youthful diaries and journal. His sister Jill Burger (who had also travelled from England) added how their mother used to include with their nursery rhymes Shakespeare's<i> 'The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven..</i>.'<br />
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What a profound nursery rhyme! It was also the first time I was hearing this. A lesson for the biographer... there is always more. Don't kid yourself you know all.<br />
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What delighted me most was the interest from young people wanting to understand, and connect with, a previous generation's passion for social justice. Among those who came to talk to me after the lecture were three students of the historian Richard Pithouse. I was reminded of his superb article <i><a href="http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1496">Even the Dead</a></i> where he relates the lives of Steve Biko and Neil Aggett to Walter Benjamin's famous interpretation of Paul Klee's painting of the 'Angel of History'.<i> </i>Pithouse also notes how both Steve Biko and Neil Aggett, 'in their different ways, sought to organise in a manner that enabled the oppressed to assume their own agency.'<br />
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The question of 'agency' was vitally present during the all-day Colloquium held at Makana City Hall where participants included trade unionists who had travelled by bus from Port Elizabeth and East London. The Food and Allied Workers' Union (FAWU), with its General Secretary Katishi Masemola, has been active in reminding today's members of Neil's commitment as an unpaid organiser and the spirit of those who helped build their union three decades ago.<br />
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The cross-generation discussion included a vibrant panel on 'Neil Aggett and the SA labour movement today: what can we learn from his example?'. In summing up, Prof Edward Webster (nicknamed the 'grandfather of labour studies'!) concluded with Neil's words on challenging corruption and being totally accountable:<br />
<i>'Even if I, Neil, eat the workers' money, I must be disciplined.' </i><br />
In today's South Africa, and world, the quotation was telling.<br />
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While the day's focus was on Neil the labour activist, Roy Jobson, professor of pharmacology at Rhodes, also reminded us of Neil the medical worker. Roy, who had been at school with Neil and later worked with him in Soweto's Baragwanath hospital, warmly recalled Neil's skill and dedication as a doctor in A&E. Marje Jobson,who also worked at 'Bara', was unfortunately not able to be present. The Khulumani Support Group, the social justice movement of which she is director, has been contributing its significant voice to the Neil Aggett Support Group (more below).<br />
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The most poignant day for me was the final. Neil's sister, Jill had been invited to 'open' Neil Aggett House. NALSU's home is a simple single-storey building behind the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER).<br />
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Jill spoke very movingly about seeing her 'beloved little brother' for the last time inside the notorious John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg. She and her mother (my cousin) had been allowed a brief visit to him on New Year's Eve 1981. The torture had not yet begun.<br />
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Inside Neil Aggett House, with its books and posters, NALSU feels unpretentious and a good place to work. Extraordinarily, one of the posters - a photo by Gideon Mendel of a young boy clutching the wire inside a police van - is the same one that I see daily in my sitting room. I can see it from my desk. Imagine my surprise when ISER's director, Prof Robbie van Niekerk, told me that he had witnessed this child's arrest in Athlone, Cape Town, in 1987. The image can be glimpsed here in my photo of Sipho Kubeka.<br />
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You can watch a short video of the opening events for NALSU via a link at the end of this blog. I want to pay special tribute to the imagination of Prof Robbie van Niekerk, and Dr John Reynolds, Head of NALSU, in bringing together Neil's comrades, friends and family to celebrate his ongoing spirit as they officially embark on their work dedicated to social justice. Thanks are also due to the great team who worked 'backstage'. Assisted with funding from the Eastern Cape provincial government, NALSU has been strongly supported by Vice-Chancellor Dr Saleem Badat. 'Neil Aggett personified good,' said Dr Badat. Their challenge at the university was to cultivate students who are 'deeply sensitive to the needs of our people and society'. You can read his talk <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/vice-chancellor/speechespresentations/name_107968_en.html">here</a>.<br />
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The three days were filled with memorable encounters and moments. I took this picture of Neil's union comrade Mam'Lydia Kompe with Jane Barrett from COSATU. Jane's long letter, begun 6 February 1982, to Neil's comrade Gavin, written in the waves of emotion that followed the news of Neil's death, still makes my skin tingle with her vivid descriptions of the 'purging of grief through activity'.<br />
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32 years before this photo of Jane and Mam'Lydia together at Rhodes, they had been together the night after Neil died. Spontaneously, with other comrades and friends, they had gathered in the old canteen at Wits to share their grief and anger. In her letter, Jane wrote: 'Then Ma Lydia - equally moving, simple. She spoke of him as a son - with a deep deep love & respect. She described their relationship - Neil with theoretical insights & expertise & she with experience of the factory floor - How they learned from each other - how they needed each other...'<br />
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The Rhodes's events enabled another memorable encounter - between Mam'Lydia and Jill. They had not met before. Staying in the same guesthouse allowed them special time.<br />
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But there is a further poignant aspect to the three days. In 1964, Neil and Jill (fresh from Kenya) had come to boarding schools in Grahamstown. At Kingswood College, Neil became friends with a boy from the then-Rhodesia, Brian Sandberg. Their lives would take them on very different paths. But Neil's death in detention had a major impact on Brian.<br />
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He was initially, in his words, a 'quiet bystander' to <a href="http://www.kingswoodcollege.com/index.php?pid=221">honouring Neil's memory at Kingswood</a>. However, after the publication of <a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/death_of_an_idealist.htm" style="font-style: italic;">Death of an Idealist </a>and the <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-09-00-neil-aggetts-tormentor-does-work-for-state">Mail & Guardian's revelation </a>that Neil's chief interrogator-cum-torturer was receiving government contracts as a private security operator, Brian bravely took on the role of co-ordinator/spokesperson for the Neil Aggett Support Group (NASG), calling for a prosecution, albeit it 30 years later. You can read more <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-28-history-stalks-the-torturers-who-drove-neil-aggett-to-suicide">here</a>.<br />
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Brian was not at all well when attending the Rhodes' events. Yet he gave a passionate short talk about Neil (video link at the end of this blog) and the work of NASG at the Naming Ceremony. Tragically, he died some ten days after returning to his home in Durban. He was a good, kind human being who, like his friend Neil, was also 'a new South African'. To know more about this remarkable man who evolved into a fine social justice activist who has made a difference, read <a href="http://www.dispatchlive.co.za/opinion/passing-of-a-transcender/">my tribute in the eastern Cape's Daily Dispatch</a>.<br />
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Finally, a few last photos. Here are Neil's closest comrades, Gavin Andersson and Sipho Kubeka inside Neil Aggett House...<br />
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Nandha (inevitably!) reading...<br />
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Then outside Neil Aggett House, waiting for proceedings to begin, Jill with Robbie van Niekerk. I think this was one of Brian's last photos.<br />
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Last of all, in Van Schaik bookshop in Grahamstown, a rare sighting! <i>Death of an Idealist</i> at No 1!<br />
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How could the author resist a picture?<br />
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<b>Two video links made in memory of Neil (1953-1982) and Brian (1953-2014)</b><br />
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launching the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit, 2-4 April 2014, watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1JwoGIAQ4">here</a> </span></div>
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BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-7774508372535884862014-05-08T01:09:00.001+01:002015-04-19T20:45:28.906+01:00Our children, our future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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While adult South Africans were voting yesterday for their next government, I was thinking about young people whose futures will be shaped by the MPs who will sit in SA's next parliament.<br />
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My thoughts went to the four young women in the picture above. From left to right, they are Lelethu Sobekwa, Sinovuyo Nikelwa, Thulethu Nomtshatso and Ntandokazi Baxana and came with Kathy Barr, their volunteer tutor from New York. They were truly the stars of last month's 'Meet the Author' session that the Reading Association of South Africa (RASA) organised at Exclusive Books in Walmer, Port Elizabeth. <br />
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They had read some of my novels and were brimming with questions and comments. When I asked what else they were reading, I was blown away by their excitement over the journeys they were making through books.<br />
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It hasn't always been this way. Only three years ago, near the end of their primary schooling in Joe Slovo township, like many others in their class, they were still struggling to read.<br />
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That began to change significantly when they joined the after-school Artworks for Youth programme. They live in the eastern Cape, one of the poorest regions in South Africa. You can glimpse life in Joe Slovo township through photos and drawings by young people <a href="http://weblog.packer.edu/shengalleryapha/">here</a>.<br />
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Artworks for Youth has been creating its own library through the help of its volunteers. The schools in which they work don't have libraries - and their learners are hungry for books. What a contrast to the schools I had visited just a few weeks earlier for World Book Day in the UK. <br />
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At Reading School (good name!), I was interviewed by Sushrut Royyuru and Michael Li (good interviewers!) in a magnificent library. My visit was part of a Book Festival in a week devoted to the value of reading, highlighting the pleasures and benefits that will last a life time.<br />
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Young South Africans, like the four stars whose vitality sparkled so brightly at my 'Meet the Author' session in Port Elizabeth, equally deserve the very best that can nourish their minds and spirits. They are inheriting huge challenges that will require all their intelligence and courage.<br />
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Dr Nick Taylor, head of the National Education, Evaluation and Development Unit in South Africa, has spoken openly of the literacy level of Grade 5 pupils being a "national catastrophe". This is despite billions of rand spent on teacher training. Something is drastically wrong with the teaching of reading in the majority of state schools.<br />
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Following a visit to eastern Cape schools organised by the NGO Equal Education, that included visiting the toilets, the writer Sindiwe Magona was reported to say:<br />
<i>"We are sitting on a volcano and it will explode. What will happen when the children realise they have been conned?"</i><br />
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Elections are a time for taking stock - and it is a time of promises. Now it's time the promises concerning ALL our children are met.<br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-10319336205939009252014-02-03T15:04:00.001+00:002014-02-04T13:57:26.185+00:00The power of libraries<br />
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Saturday 8th February is <a href="http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/2013/08/national-libraries-day-to-take-place-on-saturday-8-february-2014/">National Libraries' Day</a> in the UK, thanks to a grassroots campaign initiated by Alan Gibbons over three years ago. Up and down the country, cutbacks lay waste to our public libraries and the professional librarians who run them. Heartening though it is to see volunteers step in to keep a library open, don't let's kid ourselves. Professional knowledge, accumulated over years, is a public resource that is being rapidly eroded.<br />
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The recent story about <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/05/tripoli-library-burned_n_4543928.html">the burning of a library in the Lebanese city of Tripoli</a> should stir us to reflect... including on the message conveyed by the community's response that you can read <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/01/dispatch-lebanon">here</a>.<br />
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The extremists who set alight to Father Surouj's books - so lovingly collected - never expected hundreds of local people to come together to replenish, restore, repair and offer whatever help they could. Instead of sowing division, the arsonists unwittingly incited a demonstration of communal unity. Young Muslims headed the clean-up, expressing outrage at this attack on a Greek Orthodox Christian priest devoted to his diverse community - and who freely shared ideas from past to present through his library.<br />
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In the BBC World Service report (Weekend, 2 February), I was especially struck by two phrases: "Together we can change"... and Father Surouj's reflection: "The harm done to me turned to be a grace."<br />
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I hope we don't need the dramatic burning of books to alert us to what libraries mean and what their loss means. <br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-53227837587096641692014-01-13T21:31:00.000+00:002014-01-13T21:50:39.300+00:00Madiba's Message for the Future<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;">Nelson Rolihlala Mandela 18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt;">Madiba has been
a presence for me for over 50 years. I first heard about him when I was a
student at the University of Witwatersrand and my narrow ‘white’ perceptions
were being challenged. When the Special Branch banged on my door early one
morning in July 1964, three weeks after life sentences were handed down at the
Rivonia Trial, I knew that whatever I had to face under ‘90 days’ detention
could never be compared with what Mandela and his comrades were undergoing. But
knowing that this was a shared struggle helped me stay focused in solitary
confinement. Later, in exile, I witnessed Nelson Mandela’s name come to
represent much more than just one man.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">His name became associated with the values of non-racism,
equality and justice that were regarded as the core of the struggle against
apartheid. His words - banned in South Africa - were spoken, repeated and
multiplied around the world thanks to organisations like the Anti-Apartheid
Movement (AAM) and those founded by Canon Collins, including the International
Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF) and British Defence and Aid
Fund for Southern Africa (BDAF). Many will have forgotten the seminal work of
the SATIS (South Africa The Imprisoned Society) committee, originally initiated
by Ethel de Keyser (then at AAM) and former political prisoner Hugh Lewin (then
at IDAF).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">In time, Madiba’s image before he went to prison – like his words, banned in South Africa
– began to appear on posters, placards, and on T-shirts to tea-mugs. In 1985,
BDAF and Inner London’s Centre for Anti-Racist Education published my
examination of non-fiction books on South Africa for young people</span><i style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> <a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/i/CensoringReality.pdf">Censoring Reality</a>.
</i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> It was done on a typewriter and a cut-and-paste job with the assistance
of Dawn Gill from ILEA's Anti-Racist Education team. We devoted a page to
displaying Nelson Mandela’s words from the Rivonia Trial. They offered a stark
contrast to the censored material being presented to young people in most
British publications which offered little, if any, accurate information about
apartheid.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">While writing</span><i style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> Journey</i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><i style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">to Jo’burg</i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> and my other
South African youth fiction, those values that Nelson Mandela had upheld as a
beacon were a constant presence. When BDAF helped to launch </span><i style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">Journey to
Jo’burg</i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> and </span><i style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">Censoring Reality</i><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;"> at the Africa Centre in London in
1985, in our wildest dreams we could never have imagined that within five years
Madiba would be released from prison. How could we have possibly imagined the
huge attention and global tributes at his passing in 2013?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt;">We still have great need of that beacon. Denis Goldberg, also
sentenced to life imprisonment at Rivonia, recently wrote:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">My memory of Nelson Mandela
is his comment on being released from prison, that he and we are not yet free,
we are only free to become free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">He went on to say that to be
free it is not enough to cast off our chains; we must so live our lives that we
enhance and advance the freedom of others....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">He also said that when one
has climbed a mountain one sees that there are more mountains to climb. It is
we who must progress from where we are to a more egalitarian world order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 11.0pt;">It is up to us.
That is Madiba’s message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-62015686359301057042013-11-07T11:42:00.000+00:002013-11-07T11:42:39.918+00:00Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A few months ago, the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) of the Society of Authors included me in their nominations for ALMA 2014. It was lovely news and amazing to be in the company of the other nominees: Allan Ahlberg, Morris Gleitzman and Jan Pienkowski. I have loved and respected their work for years. Thank you, CWIG!<br />
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Last week I received ALMA's booklet with its intriguing cover by last year's winner, Isol, creator of children's books from Argentine. Who is looking at who here?<br />
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ALMA, founded by the Swedish government, regards the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as the foundation for their work. Besides authors and illustrators, oral storytellers and promoters of reading across the world are acknowledged. <br />
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Although CWIG is a UK organisation, we are listed under our countries of origin. So Allan is under UK, Morris under Australia, Jan under Poland and I am under South Africa, where I am delighted to see Piet Grobler! Piet illustrated my little stories about the little trickster hare in <em>The Great Tug of War</em> and my retellings of <em>Aesop's Fables. </em>He is currently working on our new book <em>Who is King? Folktales from Africa</em>. <br />
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This year, 238 candidates from 68 countries have been nominated for ALMA. The laureate or laureates will be announced in Sweden and at Bologna Children's Book Fair on 25 March, 2014. <br />
With many wonderful nominees, I am just very happy to have been included in a process that promotes reading globally. Imagine a world where books, not bombs, were delivered. Wouldn't that be a world more fit for children? <br />
<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2819421349282788732.post-62731907783119896752013-09-23T23:08:00.001+01:002013-09-23T23:19:53.390+01:00The Long Walk to Freedom continues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Wednesday afternoon last week, I sat behind the plate glass window of the Festival Hall, on London's Southbank. I drank my coffee inside, looking out to see how many of the people hurrying by would look up at Nelson Mandela's great bronze head. Would anyone approach the plinth to read the inscription? But apart from one lady who stopped for at least a minute, lost in serious thought, even passing glances were rare.<br />
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Three hours later, I found myself outside, beneath the statue with fellow artists. We raised our fists in tribute to the dreams of the man above us. A small crowd quickly gathered like bees around the camera folk.<br />
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In the evening, each writer/artist had just three minutes on stage to make a personal offering for <i><a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/nelson-mandela-the-long-walk-78347">Nelson Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom</a>. </i>As a reminder of 27 years in jail, 27 readings from Madiba's autobiography interspersed our pieces. The shared energy felt good.<br />
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I spoke about the generation who followed after Nelson Mandela and the Rivonia Trialists when all resistance to apartheid was burnt out in South Africa's mid-1960s. Within ten years, new resistant shoots were emerging. I spoke about one young man in that new generation, Neil Aggett.<br />
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Nelson Mandela represents for me the capacity to imagine change and transformation - and Neil's life reflected both of these. He changed and transformed himself - to live his principles. He paid the highest price. <br />
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<i><a href="http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/death_of_an_idealist.htm">Death of an Idealist: In Search of Neil Aggett</a> </i>will soon be launched in the UK. I hope readers will warm to him and discover a part-forgotten, part-hidden history with a legacy for today. We urgently need the deep change and transformation for which Madiba raised his shining beacon.<br />
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<br />BEVERLEY NAIDOOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01152987617515287056noreply@blogger.com0