DOHA: Nelson Mandela, Africa’s most recognised and celebrated international activist and statesman, was the focus of a recent Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) Faculty Research Colloquium.
The discussion ‘Nelson Mandela and Changing Agendas of Pan-Africanism: African Liberation Politics from 1950 to the Present’ featured GU-Q Professor Dr Harry Verhoeven.
It was moderated by Dr Afyare Abdi Elmi from Qatar University.
The speaker drew from a chapter he authored in the forthcoming book Nelson Mandela’s Decolonial Ethics of Liberation and Servant Leadership to be published in connection with Mandela’s the second death anniversary.
“The focus in analysing Mandela’s political thought, actions and legacy has mostly rested on his domestic achievements in South Africa — the mobilisation against Apartheid and his personal journey during imprisonment as a moral example for post-1994 national reconciliation in South Africa,” he said.
But instead, Dr Verhoeven went beyond South Africa’s borders, reviewing Mandela’s journey to mobilise African National Congress (ANC) support for South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, a campaign that took him across the African continent, to Ethiopia, Algeria, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and others.
Drawing on copious research and key points in the soon-to-be-published book chapter, he traced the trajectory of an accidental activist whose views on race, politics and power were formed throughout his rise to leadership in an ANC which did not always reflect his philosophies.
“Throughout his efforts with the ANC, Mandela tried to be a unifying figure. However, on closer inspection, he is actually a very polarising figure. But he had a fundamental pragmatism and willingness to disagree,” said Dr Verhoeven. “The big problem with the Pan-African movement today is the refusal of learning from Mandela. They have turned Mandela into a symbolic patriarch. This is maybe the most important lesson as we look back today.”
Published by Africa World Press, the commemorative book will also feature a chapter by former South African president and vice-president Kgalema Motlanthe, prominent ANC figures and other South African and non-South African academics. The colloquium meets every week or two during the spring and fall semesters with the central goal of furthering GU-Q faculty’s research by providing a platform to present their ideas and learn from others’.
The Peninsula
