Happy anniversary, Madiba

Just before midnight rolls around and brings an end to this red letter day, I would like to just mark the fact that 11 February 2010 is the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison.

A very important day in the history of South Africa and - arguably - the world.

On being knocked off kilter... by Hitler

Be informed that comment moderation is in place on this blog and I will not allow this post to be the springboard for the expression of anti-semetism, neo-nazism or holocaust denialism. Any such comments will not be published.

This post has been very hard to write. This has been an uncomfortable learning experience for me, and I am assailed with uncertainty as to the reactions it will garner. I implore you not to misinterpret it.

Last night I watched a documentary called Hitler's Private World (see part 1 here). It made me horribly uncomfortable. Not because it revealed what a monster he was. I already knew that bit, and was enormously comfortable with it. I was happy to think of Adolf Hitler as a terse, inconsiderate man. If I thought about his personal relationships at all, it was to assume that he was cold and distant. Unfeeling. A psychopath, even.

I was not prepared to see him as warm and affectionate. I was not prepared to see him as someone who adored children. I was not prepared to see him as someone who cared about the environment. Someone who saw the potential for user-generated content.

I was happy only to know that he was responsible for the mass slaughter of umpteen million so-called undesirables (Jews, Soviet PoWs, Gypsies/Romanies, Poles, left wing political prisoners, homosexuals, the disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholic clergy, eastern European intellectuals, etc.) and then to welsh out of facing up to the consequences of his appalling actions by taking his own life.

Don't get me wrong... the documentary was not a pro-Hitler rant, and I am not about to join the ranks of those who think he was 'just misunderstood'.

The documentary was made using home movie material overdubbed with dialogue as ascertained by automated lipreading technology. It showed Hitler flirting with Eva Braun, gossipping about the likes of Goering and Himmler, playing happily with children, affectionately commending young soldiers.

It forced me to see additional dimensions to a man I prefer to think of in only one dimension... and it made me very squirm because, as the narrator pointed out, if this man had the capacity to care about the things I care about, to interact with people as I do, then perhaps he is not as different from me as I would prefer to think. On some subconscious level, I think I had ascribed him to a different species, but material such as was shown last night forces me to acknowledge that this is not the case.

Here was a man who grieved to see trees being chopped down. A man who wanted every German family to have a cine camera to record history from their own perspective. A man who could not bring himself to eat the flesh of a living creature. A man who adored children... something which showed plainly on his face as he interacted with them. A man who patted the young members of the Hitler youth with what seemed to be genuine affection as he inspected their ranks. A man frustrated by the effects of Parkinson's disease.

In some of the footage, perhaps with the help of the suggestive voice of the narrator, it was possible to see him psyching himself up, putting on the role of the orator at the hands of a (Jewish, as irony would have it) spin doctor.

Where was the monster?

Of course, his monstrous legacy remains and speaks for itself, but in his private life, he was disturbingly ordinary. I am struggling to find space in my mind for this new information.

I encourage you to watch the footage yourself. I'd be interested to hear how you respond to it.

Twenty years ago today

It was on this day in 1990 that President FW de Klerk announced the decision to release Nelson Mandela from prison. His actual release date was 11 February 1990. So, once the decision had been announced, the wheels of bureaucracy moved comparatively quickly.

During the next few years, the apartheid regime was systematically dismantled in South Africa and, in 1993, Mandela and de Klerk jointly received the Noble Peace Prize in recognition of the role they had played in this process.

On 27 April 1994, the first fully democratic election took place in the country. For the first time, every adult in the country had the right to vote. 20 million South Africans exercised this right. Many of them standing patiently for hours due to the logistical delays in rural areas.

Not a drop of blood was shed.

It is poignant to realise that Nelson Mandela was voting for the very first time in the election that saw him become President.

Another one for the history teachers and history geeks

The British Library has produced another interesting resource. This time it's an interactive timeline. It starts with the signing of the Magna Carta in the 1210s. I'm not sure why they haven't gone further back than that.

You have the option to select what sort of events you're interested in learning about. So, for example, you can look at the core, or central timeline. Or you can explore politics, power and rebellion; art and literature; sacred texts; everyday life or medicine, science and technology. The container for the timeline options is not full, so one assumes they plan to add more at some point.

Once you have selected your timeline, you can scroll left and right through the events listed, and select one of your choosing. In the medicine, science and technology timeline, for example, I chose an event dated c. 1300 called 'examining urine'. There is a brief blurb and an image. The blurb ends with the library's shelfmark, while the there is an option on the image to zoom in. There is also a link to a page about medieval times on the library's website.

One option I found very interesting was being able to draw comparisons between key events in two of the timelines. For example, I chose literature, art and entertainment, and compared it with medicine, science and technology. This is a great way to see how developments in one field influenced another. At the moment, I am playing with medicine, science and technology vs everyday life. Very interesting.

Best of all, you can create your own timeline. Unlike the historical objects database I posted about a few days ago, you can't add your own items to the list. But you can 'favourite' objects from any of the timelines to create a customised one of your own.

One small point worth mentioning, there are a few options to manage the display - 2D and 3D, a choice of four backgrounds, and the option to view full screen.

There is such a wealth of exciting material out there at the moment, that I can't decide whether it would make being a teacher more interesting or more frustrating. More interesting because it provides a wealth of support materials to bring into the classroom, or more frustrating because the national curriculum restricts the extent to which one can explore such resources with students.

I certainly intend to introduce my sons to the timeline, particularly the younger one who, as I have mentioned before, is about to start studying history with the disadvantage of no prior exposure to the subject (other than endless museum trips with his geeky parents, that is!).

I made history. And so can you.

The BBC's Radio 4 and the British Museum have joined forces on a series called 'The History of the World in 100 Objects".

What's really nifty about it, is that you can add your own objects to it. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may recognise the object I added, since it has appeared here before.

I really like the folksy, common man feel of this project.

Of course, while the radio series is in 100 parts, the website is going to wind up with a whole lot more than 100 objects on it. This got me to thinking... if I were to name 100 objects that summed up my perception of the history of the world, what would make that list? The wheel would definitely have to be there, of course, as would the internal combustion engine. But then what about the intangibles that have changed history so much more than any object. Does fire count, for example? And what about the Internet? It's quite an interesting challenge.

Then I thought, if I were to personalise that project and make it my life (thus far) in 100 objects... what would make that list, then? My first car. My wedding ring. My Bible. A cryptic crossword puzzle. My laptop. Photos of my kids. That sort of thing. Would I be allowed to include a geographical feature, like Table Mountain?

And what if someone were to take on such a project after my death? What 98 objects would they place between my cradle and my grave? How different would those two lists look?

My mind is churning with this idea, now, and for a fleeting moment, I wished I were a history teacher to set my students the task of creating a history of their own family in 100 objects... but it was just a moment before I remembered that the national curriculum would put paid to any such ideas.

What about you? Is it an idea that has appeal for you? What sort of objects would make your list?

pic of the day - 900 years

I took this photo this evening on the way to the athletics track with my elder son. I have two reactions to this image.

First, I am in awe of a place with a recorded history that goes back 900 years. Coming from a so-called 'young' country like South Africa, it seems incredible that there are buildings that go back that far (mind you, if you come from an even older country like Greece or Egypt, where there are structures that go back thousands of years, this must seem pretty paltry).

My second reaction is more cynical. 'Living' history? What other kind is there? Responses on a postcard...

A lesson in micro history from a living legend

Last night I met a genuine living legend. I met John Kani. You may not have heard of him, but to me, meeting him was second only to meeting Nelson Mandela.

Let me just say that I don't do starstruck. I have rubbed shoulders with some pretty famous people in my life. Heck, I have even had a brief and inconsequential brush with celebrity myself, and I know for a fact that famous people use loo paper like for the same purpose as everyone else. I am not impressed by overpaid footballers or platinum disk singers or oscar winning actors or even royalty. I am impressed by people who make a difference.

John Kani is such a man.

Last night my husband took me to see Sizwe Bansi is Dead which Kani co-wrote with his fellow cast member Winston Ntshona and Athol Fugard. Courtesy of the University of Cape Town alumni association, we got to attend a reception after the show with John Kani.

Hang on... Kani is an actor/playwright, so why am I impressed by him if I'm not the starstruck type? To quote from an article written by the South African journalist and activist Donald Woods:

"One day, if a historic assessment is made of the most effective opponents of the apartheid system in South Africa, two remarkable actors will be well to the forefront of the heroes of that era. John Kani and Winston Ntshona, through their art and passion as well as the great courage it took to do what they did in that time, broke new ground politically as well as artistically in defiance of the most vicious of all the apartheid regime's Security Police - those of the Eastern Cape."

Ntshona and Kani are more than institutions of South African theatre, and they have been performing this piece together since 1972 - interspersed with other work, of course. This is its last run. Not having seen the piece before I could not pass up this opportunity.

It was a history lesson. In fact, it was a history lesson of my own era.

If history tells the story of the victor, art tells the story of everyman. Kani, Fugard and Ntshona are all native to the part of South Africa where I lived from 1973 to 1987. This play tells the story of black people in the Eastern Cape at around that time - the era of the pass laws (see the Sharpeville massacre). It was a life ordinary white people never got to see or hear about. The personae of the story are not notable characters, not leaders of the struggle. They are just ordinary men trying to provide for their families within a system that seemed designed to make this impossible. Of course, there was plenty of wry humour - especially when the benefit of hindsight illustrated to an increasingly enlightened public how ridiculous many of the rules and processes were. It broke my heart - all the more because I realised that these two great men had been subjected to the indignities portrayed on stage.

When John Kani arrived at the reception, I walked up to this complete stranger and tearfully hugged him. I couldn't have explained why, but fortunately, I didn't need to. He hugged me right back and kissed me on the head. Not one of those pretentious theatrical air kisses, but a genuine gesture of affection for a woman caught in the clutches of emotions she couldn't explain. His response gave me a sense of peace that just sounds trite when I try to explain it, so I won't. I suspect he has been hugged by many white South Africans of my vintage over the years, and has dispensed that peace many times over. Someone took our picture shortly afterwards and has promised to email it to me. When it comes, I will proudly add it to this post, even though I know it will not be flattering to me - my eyes were swollen from weeping and my make-up was long gone (and I'm not a pretty sight without it these days!) [Edit: as promised - the picture]

In my teens I was a very minor political activist and was ejected from more than one place for my views on equality. Increasingly, however, I realise that I was a romantic idealist who knew nothing of the reality of daily life that faced the people whose cause I thought I was championing. Adulthood and the passage of time have brought comprehension. Last night gave it perspective. This is a blog about learning. Last night I learnt a lot!

On the train journey home after the reception, I was exhausted and kept dozing off, rousing myself occasionally to turn to my husband and say contentedly, "I met John Kani." To which my understanding husband replied squeezing my hand, "You did. You even hugged him, and he hugged you right back and kissed you."

Now if only someone from the Alumni association would make it possible for me to meet Madiba (Nelson Mandela)... ;-)