Beyond Today: To Keep Stepping Up & Walking Forward...

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. - Nelson Mandela

Keeping calm about inequality is corruption.- Rev. Alan Storey

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This past week has seen many challenges and raised many questions we need to be asking ourselves and others. Questions like: what kind of society do we want; how can we better understand the issues that plague our society and ourselves in relation to them; how can we support and be led by the people most affected by the issues that face us; how do we genuinely show up and get involved beyond today? There can be much to say about the problems of how this campaign against the president and corruption was organised and embraced, and we have the responsibility to try understand these critiques and do better. Yet we also choose to believe that this is a moment where we can encourage each other to begin to forge or deepen our involvement and commitment to building a socially just society.

So, out of all the questions that need to be asked and roads that need to be walked, this document is an open hand offered to anyone asking the pressing question of “what we can do?”

Below is some information on campaigns to support, discussions spaces to join, media to follow, and daily actions we can take. This is a working document.

Email beyond7april@gmail.com with contributions for us to add.

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Daily Actions: Small ways to work towards a better South africa

These ideas can perhaps offer something to anyone, yet they are largely written from whites to whites as ideas of how we can engage with our society and our position in it

Accept that no matter how much we might know, there’s a lot we all still need to learn and unlearn
Accept that we each have a responsibility to seek out learning ourselves, that authentic learning is uncomfortable, and that learning should lead to action (if not be inseparable from it)
Challenge racism, sexism and homophobia in your own home, workplace and online - Not supporting bigotry changes nothing unless we’re actively against it as well
At the same time, let people who are most affected by the issue lead the fight
Engage people. Make Social Justice issues a topic at the dinner table.
Ditch the rainbow lie of not seeing colour, everyone knows that it isn’t true. But worse than that, it’s damaging to our ability to understand the problems. Colour was never a problem.

Change what you read or listen to. Start informing yourself with voices that challenge the way you think or do not look like you. So whether it’s reading blogs/books, listening to podcasts, watching movies/documentaries, start inviting people of colour, women, other faiths or thought perspectives into your life of ideas to inform you
Volunteer. Find a group near you that is serving justice and not simply degrading charity, and volunteer some of your time, money or skills.
Learn a South African language not English or Afrikaans. This may not be an act of anti-racism itself, yet the importance of language cannot be stated enough. Ubuntu Bridge, Xhosa Fundis, Funda Isifundo are all great groups, even apps are available. Organise to do courses with a group of friends to stay committed and make practice easier.
If you are involved in a ZMF, SaveSA, or SA1st group or the like, work to both genuinely challenge issues of racism that can sit in some people’s engagement, and work to build holistic long-term focuses on our social problems
Find a helpful group on places like Facebook that invites you to dialogue or listening regarding relevant issues we face today (some such groups are listed below).
Actively support and learn more about the decolonized curriculum that we are working towards in primary and tertiary education.
Create or find physical spaces to dialogue and debate these things around meals or activities where you can intentionally spend a lot of time diving deeply into these topics with a variety of people.
Delve into the place you live, find out its history and its unexplored present.
If you employ folks, work towards paying a living wage where possible and not merely a minimum, this translates directly into improving people’s ability to survive and advance themselves and their family.
If you are privileged to have spare money every month, or can save, use your money to directly benefit those who have not had the privilege you have had. And commit to paying for studies, even if it is just a small course until a higher earnings gap is reached. Common Change provides a good platform for getting involved in different ways.
….And don’t stop, don’t do whatever is needed to make you feel good and call it a day. Keep going, keep growing, keep pushing yourself and others.

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Organisations and Campaigns in Your Area

The struggles for social justice are many, and support and involvement are required by all. Find groups or campaigns in your area committed to sustained efforts against injustice that relate to your skills, interests or what should be your interests. Give a monthly donation, follow them on social media, help amplify their voices in your spaces, show up when they ask, contact and find out how to get actively involved.

Here’s a small collection of groups.

Cape Town:

Interested in Food Activism? The PHA Food & Farming Campaign is fighting to protect the Philippi Horticulture Area for food, water, and soil security for benefit of all citizens of Cpt against incredibly unwise development plans.
Or challenging apartheid spatial planning? Reclaim the City is currently pushing for affordable housing development in the inner city against continued segregation, unregulated rising rent and property prices, and the uncritical sale of public land for private development.
Member of a church? The Warehouse is an organisation that exists to serve the South African church network in its response to poverty, injustice, and division. Contact them to find out how to introduce justice into your faith community.
For gender equality? Sonke Gender Justice works promoting gender equality, prevention of domestic and sexual violence, and reduction of the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.
Or believe in the importance of education? Equal Education is a national group tirelessly advocating for quality and equality in the South African education system.
More legally-inclined? Ndifuna Ukwazi is a non-profit organisation and legal clinic that promotes the realisation of constitutional rights and Social Justice.
Or the Social Justice Coalition is a group that works for dignity, equality and justice for all in SA, focusing primarily on informal settlements

KwaZulu-Natal:

Abahlali baseMjondolo is the largest of grassroot organising for land, housing and dignity based on constitutional rights.
For those who can lend legal assistance, Access to Justice is voluntary association of professionals engaged in all aspect of legal and social justice; working around alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice peacemaking, economic empowerment, access to education, human rights activism, etc.
Equal Education [see above]

Johannesburg:

Section 27 is a public interest law centre working through law, advocacy, legal literacy, research and community mobilisation for better quality and access to affordable public and private health systems and basic education.

Interested in running or supporting campaigns? Amandla (Action for Mzansi) is an independent community advocacy organisation that seeks to build a more just and people-powered Mzansi.
Sonke Gender Justice [see above]
Equal Education [see above]

There is a large number of genuine organisations working towards social justice, and this is a small slice. Reach out and ask to find an organisation near you and find ways to support. We need far more than charity, and we need to be far more than observers in the journey. Feel free to email more organisations/campaigns to list here in these locations and other uncovered ones.

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Digital Spaces to Engage With

Journalism & Websites worth following:

We should always strive to find sources of views and news that offer critical, progressive and challenging material to us. These are some of the voices relevant to SA that we can add to our daily learning to perhaps better understand the place we live.

South African History

The Enwhitenment Project

No-Name Initiative

Consciousness Cafe

Facebook groups to look up for conversation, learning, and action around racism

Dr. McIntosh famously said, “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” It’s time we unpack and learn about these issues. These are a collection of spaces that tackle these issues, each space with different purposes and guidelines.

This Dialogue Thing

Anti-Racist Education and Allyship

Rainbow Racist Rehab

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THE FIGHT FOR A BETTER SOUTH AFRICA DOESN’T STOP AFTER TODAY, IT STARTS WITH YOU NOW!