I refer to your excellent editorial regarding Grahamstown's 200 years. We need a celebration of this special event that will embrace our history and our diversity. As you mentioned, deciding how to observe this significant landmark is tricky because residents come from a critically divided past. The proposal, however, to drag the celebrations on with monthly themes will not sustain interest. What we need is a grand bash over a week or 10 days that will not only publicise our city, but attract descendants of early pioneers from throughout the country.
It can be done with the help of the whole community. There will be those who remember the International Convention of Women held at the Monument in December 1975. It was during the height of apartheid. We had no money. No sponsorship. We were threatened with boycotts: criticised for choice of honoured guests: harassed by security police. But the very criticism generated so much publicity that long before the closing date the Convention was oversubscribed. A galaxy of women from all over the world accepted our invitation.
There were conflicting views. Heated debates. But by the end the spirit of goodwill triumphed over early differences. It was more than a convention. It was a victory of understanding witnessed by 800 women who lived and worked together oblivious to racial, language, religious and geographical barriers. All the potential was there for "the healing of a nation".
The overwhelming success was due mainly to the united effort of all the people in Grahamstown. And that's what we need to celebrate the Grahamstown 200-year mark.
Thelma Neville
I refer to your excellent editorial regarding Grahamstown's 200 years. We need a celebration of this special event that will embrace our history and our diversity. As you mentioned, deciding how to observe this significant landmark is tricky because residents come from a critically divided past. The proposal, however, to drag the celebrations on with monthly themes will not sustain interest. What we need is a grand bash over a week or 10 days that will not only publicise our city, but attract descendants of early pioneers from throughout the country.
It can be done with the help of the whole community. There will be those who remember the International Convention of Women held at the Monument in December 1975. It was during the height of apartheid. We had no money. No sponsorship. We were threatened with boycotts: criticised for choice of honoured guests: harassed by security police. But the very criticism generated so much publicity that long before the closing date the Convention was oversubscribed. A galaxy of women from all over the world accepted our invitation.
There were conflicting views. Heated debates. But by the end the spirit of goodwill triumphed over early differences. It was more than a convention. It was a victory of understanding witnessed by 800 women who lived and worked together oblivious to racial, language, religious and geographical barriers. All the potential was there for "the healing of a nation".
The overwhelming success was due mainly to the united effort of all the people in Grahamstown. And that's what we need to celebrate the Grahamstown 200-year mark.
Thelma Neville
