Apartheid

How Will South Africa Fare Without Nelson Mandela?

By Alex Gallafent ⋅ November 23, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

Nelson Mandela (Photo: South Africa The Good News/sagoodnews.co.za)

The World’s Alex Gallafent reports from Johannesburg that South Africans are thinking about how to move on after the former leader dies. Some say that currrent leaders need to draw more from Mandela’s political legacy and exemplary personal ethics. Others say it’s time to move on.

South African poet Lesego Rampolokeng

By The World ⋅ April 27, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Lesego Rampolokeng is a South African writer and poet who came out of the ‘Black Consciousness’ movement of the 1980s. A tough upbringing in Soweto informed his angry poetic voice during the final years of apartheid. More than 20 years later, he is still angry, and his written voice is still appealing to South African musicians who use his poems – and his own voice – on their tracks. The World’s Carol Hills has the story. Download MP3

Video: Lesego Rampolokeng’s poetry recitation

South African political cartoonist Zapiro

By Carol Hills ⋅ January 13, 2011 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

Jonathan Shapiro has been known as Zapiro since he was a teenager. South Africa’s best-known political cartoonist learned the power of visual expression in the 1980s as a propagandist for the anti-apartheid movement. Today, he’s regarded across South Africa’s diverse population as the moral compass of his country, trying to keep the still-developing democracy well, democratic.

Updating signs of South Africa’s troubled past

By The World ⋅ June 8, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

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Hundreds of thousands of soccer fans are heading to South Africa for the World Cup. Once there, they’ll have to find their way to stadiums in the nation’s nine host cities. There could be problems with many streets getting new names, as apartheid era symbols are replaced. Kyle G. Brown reports. Download MP3

World Cup coverage on The World
Life in Southern Africa

Controversy over ANC youth leader

By The World ⋅ April 19, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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The African National Congress is the party of Nelson Mandela and the “Rainbow Nation.” But the leader of the ANC’s Youth League doesn’t seem to be on board. Julius Malema is known for his fiery racial rhetoric. And it’s resonating with some black South Africans who feel not enough has changed since apartheid. Laura Lynch examines Malema’s past and future in South African politics. Her report begins on Robben Island. Download MP3(photo: Laura Lynch)

BBC coverage
ANC Youth League

Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom

By Michael Rass ⋅ February 11, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

It has been 20 years since the South African authorities agreed to free Nelson Mandela – the man who would lead the struggle to end the country’s policy of racial segregation, and create a multi-racial democracy. In this audio slideshow, using the BBC archives, you can see how he left behind his cell of 27 years, to become South Africa’s first black president.

“Skin”: a youth under apartheid

By The World ⋅ October 30, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

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Reporter Phillip Martin has the true story of Sandra Laing. She grew up in South Africa in the 1960s and ’70s as the black daughter of white Afrikaners. Her story is now the topic of a movie: Skin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and is released to a limited number of US theaters on Friday. Download MP3

Free speech around the world

By Patrick Cox ⋅ September 30, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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After Joe Wilson’s “you lie!”, after Kanye West at the MTV awards, after Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open, you may think: enough already with nasty speech. Well, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet. In this week’s World in Words podcast, a report on some really offensive Dutch cartoons. Also, a South African gadfly-journalist upsets just about everyone. And the Danish tourist bureau stages a faux one night stand.

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The Reunion: Release of Nelson Mandela

By Matthew Exell ⋅ September 15, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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The BBC reunites the core negotiators and key campaigners involved in the secret talks which ultimately led to the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. From Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the former head of South Africa’s National Intelligence Service, it’s an encounter which may seem unlikely. But a surprisingly easy-going discussion ensues, in this fascinating piece of radio originally produced for the BBC’s domestic UK audience.Download MP3

Ted Kennedy, Tracy Kidder, Polish Jews

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ August 28, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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kennedy150 On this week’s How We Got Here history podcast we look at Ted Kennedy’s contribution to the anti-apartheid movement, Tracy Kidder’s new book Strength in What Remains, and the construction of a new museum in Warsaw dedicated to the Jewish history of Poland. >>> Click here to join the “How We Got Here” Facebook Group Page.

Ted Kennedy’s fight against apartheid

By The World ⋅ August 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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kennedy150 Senator Edward Kennedy has died at 77 after a long battle with a brain tumor. The Massachusetts Democrat was a dominant force in American and foreign politics for almost 50 years. The Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa praised Kennedy for making “his voice heard in the struggle against apartheid at a time when the freedom struggle was not widely supported in the West.” Jeb Sharp looked at Kennedy’s role in ending apartheid.
>>> BBC obituary
>>>Read comments from around the world about Kennedy’s legacy
>>>A life in pictures

Entire program – August 26, 2009

By The World ⋅ August 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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The possible presidential implications of the CIA interrogations probe; also, the story of a former student democracy activist in China; plus, remembering Ted Kennedy’s fight against apartheid.

Ted Kennedy’s Legacy

By The World ⋅ August 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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kennedy100 Senator Ted Kennedy died last night at the age of 77 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. The World’s Jeb Sharp looks back on the legacy of the man called the “liberal lion of the Senate.”