This week, I started my internship
at the Economic Justice Network (EJN). The Network is one of 12 across the
continental region of Southern Africa and works to act as a catalyst for poor
an marginalized people to advocate for themselves, become politically engaged,
and establish mechanisms to help them combat issues including, but not limited
to economic injustice, food injustice, environmental injustice. I really want
to work on a project they have going on right now that addresses the roots of
inequality in South Africa from a sociocultural and economic perspective, but
right now they are preparing for the seventh annual Alternative Mining Indaba
(AMI), which will be going on from Monday to Thursday next week.
This indaba, or conference, is a forum for people who are affected by
extractive industries, but not given a platform to voice their concerns or
affect the policies that impact their quality of life so extremely. The
conference will conclude with a forum where government officials will respond
to a list of demands created during the conference in front of the media. This
is the first time that AMI has been able to bring officials in and so everyone
around the office is excited and anxious trying to make sure nothing goes wrong
to make sure that the conference goes smoothly and they have an effectual list
to hand over at the end. I have been working on revising and adding to the
“peer educational material”. Because the conference is for common people, it is
crucial that they have a clear understanding of their legal rights and history
so that they can use that to create internal pressure on the government to
fulfill its promises and create new legislation that doesn’t exploit them to
benefit the powerful and rich extractive corporations. Therefore, it’s crucial
for EJN, and the other civil society organizations helping to put on the
Indaba, to make comprehensive and easy to understand reports that people can
actually use. I’ve always hated economics, based on the courses I’ve taken.
Capitalist economics never made sense to me because I’ve never understood how a
theory can require everything to keep growing on a world with finite resources.
However, seeing economics applied to history and human rights made so much
sense. I’ve learned so much about the history of South Africa and the economic
exploitation of minorities. As boring as this is going to sound (and I never
thought I would say it) but tax equity is actually really exciting. I can’t even
imagine how much I’ll be learning once I get to pick a project after the Indaba
is over. Needless to say, I’m so excited for what’s to come.
On Thursday, we had a double session
of our third class, The History and Politics of South Africa. I still can’t
get over how beautiful the University of Cape Town Campus is. I don’t think
I’ll ever get sick of it. I was worried for the long day, but it flew by. I can
barely believe what we were able to fit into four hours—the lecture was
literally called “200 years in four hours”.
On Friday, Alex, Libby, Emily,
Elizabeth and I headed to Muizenberg to go to the beach. This time, the train
actually came and we had a wonderful day relaxing, reading, and even swimming.
Honestly, it was really nice to go in, despite the freezing water. You
could tell that people thought we were kind of weird for swimming around in
bikinis while all the surfers were dressed up in wet suits. I feel like I’m
constantly hot in Cape Town.
On Saturday, Trista, Abby, Libby and
I hiked Table Mountain. It was breath taking. Hiking is one of my favorite
things to do. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment when you’re
looking over the landscape from thousands of meters up. Unfortunately, we got a
little lost on the way down. Instead of crossing the peak and going down, we
ended up circling the entire peak of the mountain. Finally, we found a tourist
guide who directed us to the path, which was just a hop, skip, and a leap over
a couple of sheer cliffs. The hike ended up being almost thirteen miles long.
We came home, ate dinner and passed out. We all agreed that even though it was
one of the physically hardest things we’ve ever done, it was worth it. The
entire hike is so beautiful and the weather was perfect.
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| Abby, Becca, Trista hiking Table Mountain |
Today, I’ve just been hanging
around, getting caught up on work, cleaning, and relaxing my aching body. Tomorrow is
the Alternative Mining Indaba and as I have to be there bright and early so I
will be heading to bed fairly soon.
Even though my week was hectic, I’m
feeling better because I’m back in a routine. Every morning I wake
up excited for what’s to come. I’m loving Cape Town.
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