Venue
Holding the Assembly in South Africa provided an opportunity to highlight both the progress that has been made in advancing democracy in that country, and on the African continent more generally, as well as the tremendous challenges pro-democracy efforts face.
Assembly Venue
 |
| International Convention Center (Courtesy of ICC Durban) |
International Convention Centre (ICC) Durban (www.icc.co.za) is a highly functional space in an aesthetic environment. The building is centered around three interlinking halls of immense area. A combined capacity of over 7,000 square meters (75,400 square feet).
History of South Africa
The earliest inhabitants of the territory now called South Africa were the San, or Bushmen. Over time new groups arrived in the area and pushed out the previous dwellers. The Bantu peoples arrived in the area, then Europeans from Portugal, Holland and England. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company founded Cape Colony. Once England purchased the colony in 1814, the Dutch, known as Boers or Afrikaners, made a mass exodus north, establishing several independent republics. The British and the Afrikaners fought a war from 1899 to 1902, which the British won. The Union of South Africa was created in 1910, and in 1912 the African National Congress was founded in South Africa as a political organization to promote the rights of disenfranchised blacks. This organization remained key in the movement to protect the rights of black people in a regime that became increasingly cruel and unjust.
White-dominated government in South Africa enacted apartheid legislation to preserve their hegemony and maintain social and economic control over the population. An all-white apartheid government lasted for most of the 20th century. Among the provisions of the race laws were segregation in housing, the outlaw of mixed-race marriage, the requirement that blacks carry pass books so the government could regulate their travel, and that public facilities would be separate for blacks and whites. The 1950s marked the rise of black resistance, mainly through the African National Congress (ANC), which resorted to violent opposition. Early 1960 saw the killing of 69 unarmed protesters in Sharpeville, as well as the criminalization of any government opposition group.
Opposition was extremely difficult within the system, where blacks did not even have the right to vote. But through the work of both resistance leaders in South Africa and the enormous pressure that the international community brought to bear upon the South African government, apartheid finally came to an end in 1991 when, over a period of months, the country repealed the remainder of its racist laws. The resistance movement in South Africa finally culminated in the destruction of apartheid. Free election in 1994, in which the black majority of South Africa first exercised its right to vote, marked the transition to a multi-party democracy and resulted in a decisive victory for the ANC and Nelson Mandela became president. This success story is a truly inspiring part of the history of South Africa, and can show the world that with true determination and the support of the international community, organizations and individuals, people fighting for freedom are able to establish free, democratic, and just regimes.
For more information about South Africa, visit:
Historical Information about Durban
The vibrant harbor-city of Durban is located in South Africa in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, on the Indian Ocean. Durban is the second-largest city in South Africa, and has seen a remarkable history as a meeting place of cultures. KwaZulu-Natal province is located within the traditional homeland of the Zulu people. Over time, settlers from the Netherlands and England also arrived in the region. The British settlers, however, quickly came to dominate the young town of Durban and to control the non-white population through influx laws and segregation policies.
 |
| Durban City Hall |
In the late 19th century, poverty and unrest in Zululand drove Africans to migrate from rural areas into the rapidly developing and thriving city. At the same time, the planting and harvesting of sugar cane became an important industry and labor was recruited from across the ocean. Zulu men were resistant to doing such "women's work" as farming, so the European settlers, searching for cheap labor, brought indentured workers from India. As a result, to this day there is a large Indian population that has deeply influenced the culture.
It was in Durban that Mahatma Gandhi led a nonviolent struggle against apartheid, and where the African National Congress (ANC) held its first national convention in South Africa. The ANC was un-banned only in the early 1990s, a result of a campaign of resistance that spanned decades. Influx laws were finally abolished in 1984. In recent years the specter of apartheid has been destroyed as an institution but its lessons and shadows remain. Though there are still many challenges to the achievement of a peaceful society among the people in KwaZulu-Natal province, the success seen so far has been near-miraculous, and there is a sense of pride among its inhabitants today for the progress they have made down the road of reconciliation.
For more information about Durban, visit:
|
