The Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture

The Steve Biko Foundation launched the Steve Biko Memorial Lecture in 2000.[1]

The 11th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture

12 September 2010 marked the 33rd anniversary of the murder of Steve Biko. In commemoration, the Steve Biko Foundation hosted Professor Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, in South Africa for a series of events to celebrate the life and works of Steve Biko.

The 33rd anniversary commemoration consisted of two events. The first. "An Evening with Alice Walker", took place on 7 September at the State Theatre in Pretoria. Along with readings by Professor Walker, the event featured South African artists. The second component was the 11th Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, held at Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town on Thursday 9 September.

Past speakers

Since the year 2000 the lecture has been delivered by luminaries such as Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Professor Zakes Mda and former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.

Year Delivered by Title
2000 Professor S. Ndebele "Iph'Indlela? Finding Our Way into The Future"
2001 Professor Zakes Mda "Biko's Children"
2002 Professor Chinua Achebe "Fighting Apartheid with Words"
2003 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o "Recovering our Memory: South Africa in the Black Imagination"
2004 Former President Nelson Mandela "Ten Years of Democracy:1994-2004"
2005 Dr Mamphela Ramphele "Citizenship as Stewardship"
2006 Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu "South Africa: A Scintillating Success Waiting to Happen"
2007 Former President Thabo Mbeki "30th Commemoration of Steve Biko's Death"
2008 Trevor Manuel "Energising Democracy:Rights and Responsibilities"
2009 Tito Mboweni "Reflections on Some Economic & Social Development in South Africa in the Past 15 Years"
2010 Professor Alice Walker "Coming to See You Since I was Five:An American Poet's Connection to the South African Soul"
2011 Sir Sydney Kentridge "Evil Under The Sun"
2012 Professor Ben Okri "Biko and the Tough Alchemy of Africa"
2013 Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma "Pan Africanism and African Renaissance"

Excerpts from the Steve Biko Memorial Lectures Book

"A young man with a sharp intellect and flair for organisation and leadership, Biko realised the need to raise the sagging morale of black people, to raise their consciousness and self-esteem; in his own words to 'overcome the psychological oppression of black people by whites'." -Chinua Achebe[2]

"Steve Biko, whom we have come to honour, is among this great gallery of people whose work and devotion have impacted those beyond the native shores, and which make it possible for us even to talk about the possibilities of a new Africa out of the colonial ashes of latter-day empires." - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o[3]

"History from time to time, brings to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment,who cohere the wishes and inspirations of the oppressed.Such was Steve Biko,a fitting product of his time;a proud representative of the reawakening of a people."- Nelson Mandela[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Steve Biko Memorial Lectures 2000-2008, The Steve Biko Foundation and Macmillan
  2. ↑ Professor Chinua Achebe, "Fighting Apartheid with Words" delivered on 12 September 2002, published in The Steve Biko Memorial Lectures 2000–2008, Macmillan, 2009, pp. 41–51.
  3. ↑ Ngugi wa Thiong'o "Recovering our Memory: South Africa in the Black Imagination", delivered 12 September 2003, published in The Steve Biko Memorial Lectures 2000–2008, Macmillan, 2009, pp. 51–73.
  4. ↑ Nelson Mandela "Ten Years of Democracy:1994-2004" delivered 10 September 2004, also published in The Steve Biko Memorial Lectures 2000–2008, Macmillan, 2009, pp. 73–79.

External links

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