Invitation: Building tomorrow – opening spaces to imagine and live renewal

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Johannesburg (FES SA and FES TUCC) invites you to the official opening of our new conference facility: the Lindiwe Mabuza Space.
 
Join us to explore the many facets of renewal, what it would take to forge a new political culture and to celebrate the life of a feminist, cultural activist and internationalist – Lindiwe Mabuza.  

Date: Tuesday, 6 December 2022
Time: 14h30 – 18h00
Venue: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 34 Bompas, Dunkeld West
Click here to RSVP by 2 December 2022

‘Renewal’ is the word of the moment in South Africa today. We hear it when trade unions decry declining membership and challenges in recruiting the most vulnerable workers. With political parties, we use the word to talk about how they have been taken over by elites and contaminated by politics of money.

But, what if we were to stretch the word beyond these common understandings that imply a once-off event – a stop gap measure to ‘recover lost ground’? What if we stretched ‘renewal’ to imagine new possibilities – new analysis for changing conditions, new political agency and an open door to difficult questions and uncomfortable histories?  

What if ‘renewal’ meant going beyond cynicism and a world of pandemics and war? A direct challenge to patriarchy and a genuine interest in a new feminist politics? A renewed commitment to fight the intersectional inequalities of race, class, gender and sexuality and a renewal of progressive projects on an international scale? 

We have put together an exciting programme for this: 

14h30 – 15h00 Arrival and registration 
15h00 – 15h30 Signpost 1: Fresh analysis for changed and changing conditions 
15h30 – 16h30 Signpost 2: New energy, new agency 
16h30 – 16h45 Signpost 3: Performance: Challenging patriarchy and changing the political culture
16h45 – 17h15: Interactive break
17h15 – 18h00 Signpost 4: Photo essay: Lindiwe Mabuza Space (signpost will be streamed live)
18h00 - Closing and Walkabout to reveal the murals and poetry 

Please note that parking at the venue is limited.