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The Southern Africa Media Center 1980 A Project of California Newsreel A Message What Is the Southern The from the Reverend Africa Media Center? Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker Secretary General The Southern Africa Media Cen Southem International ter has provided invaluable assis Freedom Mobilization tance to this effort. The Center Africa brings together media special Initiated at the time of the his ists, educators, religious leaders, toric Soweto uprisings, the researchers, and concerned citi Media Southern Africa Media Center is zens to develop innovative ways entering its fourth year. In South to use films to inform and involve Center Africa. 67years have passed since our communities in the south the African was abruptly deprived ern African situation. of his land and, in the words of The Center's films have emerged Pixley ka Seme, a founder of the as a relatively simple and effec African National Congress, "found tive vehicle for translating new himself a pariah in the land of programs, conference resolutions, his birth:' and organizational commitments Now it is more urgent than to raise the issues of southern ever that all Americans involve Africa into a form where they can themselves in the shaping of reach and involve an organiza government and corporate pol tion's far-flung constituency. icy towards this embattled land. As part of its commitment to We can and we must make our encouraging the broadest pos voices heard. sible public involvement in these issues, the Center has always made its films available on a 'what you can afford' basis to needy groups. Coupled with an - ~"-·-- active outreach program, this has Activation Kits Advisory Board* resulted in the Center's becom Harry Belafonte ing the most widely used source The effectiveness of films-even The Honorable Julian Bond the best films-is limited by the The Honorable Wllllam Booth of films on southern Africa in the Bishop H. Hartford Brookins country. Its films are being used means employed in their presen Dennis Brutus, Northwestern tation. In order to help you place University not just in universities, but in The Honorable Ronald V. Dellums churches, neighborhood groups the films in a context where they George Hauser, Director. will not only inform but involve American Committee on Africa and unions from the rural com Edward Hawley, Editor, Afrtca Today munities of the deep South to groups in new areas of social The Reverend M. Wllllam Howard, Jr. action, the Center is producing President. National Council of Churches the impoverished ghettos of our Paul Irish, Associate, cities. 'Activation Kits: The first one, American Committee on Africa Investing in Apartheid, provides Robert van Lierop, F1lmmaker Sister Janice McLaugblln, New Films a complete set oflearning activi Maiyknoll Sisters ties that can help a group develop Prezy Nesbitt, Program to Combat I am particularly pleased to an Racism, World Council of Churches a sense ofitself as investors work Randall Robinson, Executive Director, nounce that the Center's major ing together to take responsibility TransAfrica new release this year is Genera Belvie Rooks, Associate Director, for the social consequences of Third World Fund tions of Resistance which tells their investment dollars. Christine Root, Associate, Washington the dramatic story of the fight Office on Africa The Reverend Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, waged by black South Africans I hope you will all join me in tak President, National Conference to rid themselves of the yoke of of Black Churchmen ing every opportunity to rouse 11mothy Smith, Director, Interfaith apartheid. It will fill an impor the conscience of our respective Committee on Corporate Responsibility tant gap in Americans' under Steve Talbot, Journalist communities about southern Dr. James Turner, Director, Africana standing and provide a rich his Africa. It is past time that Amer Center, Cornell University torical context for Six Days in The Reverend Dr. W)'att Tee Walker, ica takes a stand, a forceful stand, Secretary General, International Soweto which presents, in my a stand for freedom and against Freedom Mobilization opinion, the most powerful and tyranny. Dr. David Wiley, Director, African dramatic look at the present Studies, Michigan State University •organizations listed for identification struggle now raging in South purposes only. Africa In 1906, the African chief Bambata construction of apartheid, Nelson led a guerilla uprising in opposition and Winnie Mandela. Oliver Tambo, to the hut tax imposed by the Brit theWomen'scampaignsofthe 1950s, ish colonial power. But the Africans Roberto Sobukwe and the founding were no match for the Gatling gun. of the Pan African Congress (PAC), The revolt was savagely suppressed. the Sharpeville massacre, the Pondo The British cut offBambata's head, revolt, the building of the under 16mm color, 52 minutes then placed its picture on a post ground resistance, the hunger strikes Produced by: Peter Davis tr the U.N. card that British troops sent home at Robben Island prison, Bantus Rental: $70 to their sweethearts. Today, when tans, Steve Biko and the Black Con Sale: $675 Africans are again taking up arms sciousness Movement. "An indispensable aid to to re-claim their country, it is in the We feel that Generations of Re name of Bambata. sistance is the most important film cultivating understand So begins Generations of Resis release about South Africa since Six ing of the long and tance, the dramatic story of the rise Days in Soweto. More than a chron arduous path traveled ofblack nationalism in South Africa ology ofevents, this film provides an Using rare and illuminating archi historical framework for under by Africans in their fight val footage and the insightful tes standing the meaning and direc for freedom and human timony of those who led and par tion of contemporary South African dignity." ticipated in the events depicted, developments. Generations of Re Generations of Resistance sweeps sistance fills a glaring gap by por E. I. Reddy Director, U.N. Centre Against Apartheid through the hidden history of South traying blacks as makers of their Africa own history and not merely victims Among the people and events the of an inhumane system. In so doing, film brings to life are Pixley ka Seme it provides a positive counterpoint and the founding of the African to the grim mood of Last Grave at National Congress (ANC ), the Native Dimbaza. Land Act and disinheritance, the NEW RELEASE! I saw as a child a small white boy sitting in a car and I never knew why when my home was so far and his so near I had to walk I saw as a child a tall building beautiful and empty and I never knew why when my home was so small and this so big we were overcrowded I saw as a child a tarred road clean and lonely and I never knew why when our street was so busy and this so alone Ours was so uncared for Zindzi Mandela Lanford Ganyile, a leader of the Pondo revolt The Soweto rebellion of June 1976 their parents ... and which it is the Six Days marked a turning point in South function of the system's schools to African history. This remarkable, reproduce. The students were award-winning film is the only in sparked by refusal to accept con In Soweto depth look at the uprisings them tinued instruction only in the most 16mm color, 55 minutes selves, their causes and their after menial tasks such as mending and Produced by: Antony Thomas for ATV (Britain), 1978 math. What conditions led unarmed doing laundry. and classes taught Rental: $75 youths into confrontation with the exclusively in Afrikaans-the lan guns, dogs, and tanks of the South guage of the white ruling minority. "Antony Thomas's in African government? The filmmakers spoke with many tensely moving mm ... "The children are young, but in of the original participants in the experience they are very old;' agon uprisings. Their angry and eloquent will, I think, I pray, effect izes one father. With both parents voices have not been silenced. such a catharsis in this working, in many instances having Through these people's stories-cut country that it will rever to commute long hours from the with news footage and photos-the all isolated townships. it is the child six days are recreated in full. berate the way to ren who must cook, clean, and bring Six Days in Soweto is a cinemati Johannesburg." up younger brothers and sisters. callystunningand emotionallypower The Observer Though interviews and verite foot ful film-not merely a record of re age, the camera provides a unique bellion against the violence of apar and intimate look at the dynamics theid, but an insight into the daily of black family life against the back lives and consciousness of the peo drop of the South African apartheid ple of Soweto. system. The Soweto uprisings were a re bellion against the conditions of slave labor and marginalism that black youths have seen imposed on "Six Days in Soweto is the most powerful film in current distribution on South Africa." Guide to Africa-Related Audio Visuals ''Nothing is more persua sive than the story told in films. How can we ever forget the searing mes sage of Six Days in Soweto?" Rev. Dr. \V}ratt Tee Walker International Freedom Mobilization ~efilmallowedSoweto, cradle and battleground for the savage riots, to speak for itself . .. Enor mously effective." The Daily Mail Though there have been some without minerals, arid, unable to Last recent changes in the methods support its population. Already in employed by apartheid to control towns like Dimbaza the graves of South Africa's black population, children who have died from mal Grave this classic documentruyremains nutrition outnumber the living.