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04 August 2020 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
Apart from its devastating impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the nature and quality of our democracies – democracy read in its widest sense here as collective and individual self-determination. Formal, institutional democracy has beencurtailed through the imposition of states of emergency or disaster and the logistical difficulties associated with social distancing. Extra-institutional democratic work, such as protest and social-movement activity, has suffered from prohibitions imposed by law and through state suppression related to ‘lockdown’. The nature (and perhaps democratic quality) of public conversation has changed – for better or worse – from increasing reliance on ‘science’ and ‘scientists’ to justify public choices. The crisis has brought to the fore already existing characteristics of our democracies, such as the prevalence and power of special-interest bargaining, the extreme inequality of our societies, and chauvinist nationalisms that force us to ask whether we have ever had democracy at all. What will be the long-term effects of these impacts of the crisis on our democracies? What will democracy look like post-COVID? What does the crisis teach us about what our democracies have always been?

Join us for a discussion of these and other democracy-related issues in these troubled times by a panel of four hailing from Colombia, India, South Africa, and the USA.

Date: Thursday, 13 August
Time: 14:00-16:00 (South African Standard Time – GMT +2)

 

Please RSVP to Mamello Serasengwe at serasengwemsm@ufs.ac.za no later than 12 August 2020 upon which you will receive a Skype for Business meeting invite and link to access the webinar

Panel

Prof Natalia Angel Cabo (University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia)

Dr Quaraysha Ismail-Sooliman (University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)

Dr Usha Ramanathan  Independent Law Researcher  (Delhi, India)

Prof Katie Young (Boston College, Boston, USA) 

Moderator

Prof Danie Brand (Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)   




News Archive

Public lecture and book launch by Prof Adam Habib
2014-07-29

The Department of Philosophy in association with Wits University Press and The Southern African Trust invites you to a public lecture and book launch on Wednesday 30 July at 15:00 in the Albert Wessels Auditorium by one of South Africa’s leading political commentators, Prof Adam Habib (see biography below). Prof Habib will discuss questions such as whether the ANC has betrayed the ideals of the struggle, and whether social democracy offers an alternative for South Africa’s future.

After the lecture the English, Afrikaans, Sesotho and isiZulu editions of his latest book, South Africa’s Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects, will be for sale and light refreshments will be offered.

Translation services into Afrikaans and Sesotho will be available during his lecture and question time.

RSVP to Dirnel Casaleggio, casaleggiod@ufs.ac.za  

Short biography:
Prof Adam Habib is Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits). He has held leadership and academic appointments at the University of Durban-Westville, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (where he was founding director of the Centre for Civil Society), the University of Johannesburg and the Human Sciences Research Council. Habib is widely recognised as one of the authoritative commentators on South Africa’s democracy and its prospects for inclusive development and social democracy. His latest book, South Africa’s Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects has already made huge waves both locally and internationally. The book focuses on South Africa’s transition into democracy and its prospects for inclusive development.

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