August 30, 2010 – Acclaimed author and human rights activist Ariel Dorfman delivered the Eighth Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on July 31, 2010, at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg.
His talk entitled: “Whose Memory? Whose Justice? A Meditation on How and When and If to Reconcile”, drew on his own experiences during times of unrest, oppression and reconciliation in Chile. Dorfman drew parallels with experiences shared by Nelson Mandela and South Africa as a whole during and after apartheid.
Prior to the lecture he conducted a series of interviews with SABC radio journalist Angie Kapelianis that were aired on SABC Radio’s Current Affairs programme. The interviews and touched on the importance of the Mandela Day initiative, why the world is complacent about the fate of others and how diminishing fear and encouraging citizen participation will encourage the growth of robust democracies.