Albie Sachs
Dee Alexander as part of Mbizo! (Photo by David Kindler courtesy of the Chicago Humanities Festival)
Meet Albie Sachs, a renowned South African freedom fighter, anti-apartheid activist, advocate, writer, and former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Justice Sachs’s career in human rights activism started at the age of 17 when, as a law student in Cape Town, he took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. The bulk of his work at the Cape Bar involved defending people charged under racist statutes and repressive security laws. After going into exile in 1966, he spent 11 years in England and 11 years in Mozambique as a law professor and legal researcher. During the 1980s, he helped draft the ANC’s Code of Conduct and statutes. In 1988, he was blown up by a bomb placed in his car in Maputo by South African security agents, losing an arm and the sight of one eye. In 1990, he returned home and as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC took an active part in the negotiations which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy.
After the first democratic election in 1994, he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly-established Constitutional Court, from which he retired in the fall of 2009. He has also been engaged in the sphere of art and architecture, and played an active role in the development of the Constitutional Court building and its art collection on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg. Justice Sachs will share his thoughts on art and justice.
Mbizo! Reprise for Johnny Dyani
A group of veteran improvisers will explore the music of South African musician Johnny “Mbizo” Dyani, who relentlessly sought freedom for over two decades. From the day he jumped on a stage in South Africa to jam on a borrowed bass with Chris McGregor’s Blue Notes, then exiled in Europe, and next through dozens of boundary-breaking collaborations, Dyani’s mission was to set the music free. Refusing to bow to apartheid and colonialism, Dyani was "jumping a bass-line like humping a landmine" (Lesego Rampolokeng). The group brings pieces prepared as part of South African-based Chimurenga's presentation, part of the sound of "Panafrica,” presented earlier this month to celebrate the life and legacy of Johnny Dyani.
8:00 pm -
Albie Sachs speaks
8:30 pm - Mbizo! Reprise for Johnny Dyani
Adam Zanolini - Bass, sax, flute, conga
Naydja Bruton - Drums
Fred Jackson - Sax, flute, percussion
Dee Alexander - vocals
Ivan Taylor - bass
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID -
Tickets Available at the Door
THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ELASTIC MEMBERS
Supported in part by the University of Chicago Pozen Center for Human Rights.