[Peace] TODAY at noon: Billy Keniston on repression of white radicals influenced by Black Consciousness in 1970's in South Africa

[Susan Parenti]

Hi friends——sorry for the short notice. Billy is an excellent writer, and a thoughtful politicized person. 

Center for African Studies is located at 210 International Studies Bldg, 910 South Fifth Street, Champaign

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: billy keniston <kenisto2 at illinois.edu>
> Subject: I'm giving a talk, this Wednesday 1/25 at the Center for African Studies, at noon
> Date: January 20, 2017 at 1:02:28 PM CST
> To: Taylor Sparow <tfsparow at gmail.com>
> 
> Dear friends and colleagues,
> 
> This coming wednesday, I will be giving a talk at the Center for African Studies. There is more information below, but in more casual terms, I am going to be presenting my research that I have been doing, into the ways that the state repressed young white radicals that were influenced by Black Consciousness in the 1970s in South Africa. I have done a number of interviews with the friends of Rick Turner (www.morethanthinking.wordpress.com <http://www.morethanthinking.wordpress.com/>) and have been reading through a 1,200 page government report on these young activists and the organizations they were a part of.
> 
> I’m trying to understand more deeply the relationship between the “thinking” arm of the government, and the “violent” arm, which are forever connected to one another, and working side by side. 
> 
> And I’m trying to understand what people - especially people with privilege - are supposed to do in response to a repressive society.
> 
> In that sense, at least, I hope that the talk is timely, and not “merely” history.
> 
> Hope to see you there,
> billy
> 
> 
> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>> From: "Gitler, Terri" <tgitler at illinois.edu <mailto:tgitler at illinois.edu>>
>> Subject: CAS brown bag, 1/25
>> Date: January 18, 2017 at 1:09:23 PM CST
>> 
>> Hello everyone,
>> On Wednesday, January 25, we will have our first brown bag of the spring semester from noon to 1:00 in 101 ISB. It will feature Billy Keniston of the History Department speaking on "The Troubled Mind of Apartheid: Black Consciousness  and White Radicals Through the Eyes of the 1972 Schlebusch Commission." A full description of the talk follows. Below and attached is a flyer for the event.
>> We hope you will mark the opportunity on your calendars now to hear Mr. Keniston and add your comments after his talk.
>> Thank you!
>>  
>> Abstract:
>> In reading operatives of the state as themselves readers and writers, it is possible to begin entering into the troubled mind of apartheid.
>> The Schlebusch Commission (1972-1974) represents a pivotal moment in the struggle against apartheid. Initiated by the Minister of Justice, and supplied with “intelligence” by the Security Police and their informants, the Commission was convened in response to the growing momentum of the Black Consciousness Movement, and the corresponding radicalization of white university students. Using the Commission's six volume report as an archive, compared and contrasted against interviews I conducted with half a dozen people that were called to testify before the Commission, I have analyzed the apartheid state's capacity to understand these new political developments. In tracing the significance of the Schlebusch Commission, I am skeptical of any attempt to minimize the extent to which such an undertaking is dangerous. The state is always dangerous, and this remains true regardless of whether it acts through batons or bullets, surveillance or study.    
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> Terri L. Gitler
>> Center for African Studies
>> 910 S. Fifth Street
>> Champaign, IL 61820
>> (217) 265-5016
>> tgitler at illinois.edu <mailto:tgitler at illinois.edu>
>>  
>>  
>>  
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20170125/91a66bdb/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 33520 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20170125/91a66bdb/attachment-0002.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Keniston brown bag.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 32582 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20170125/91a66bdb/attachment-0003.jpeg>