Forums
The IFAA Forum is an open platform that hosts speakers or panel discussions about pressing current social issues or political developments. Our aim is to facilitate the democratization and dissemination of progressive alternative ideas and practices; and to create opportunities for the public to engage with the ‘expert knowledge’ of intellectuals, academics, and policymakers.
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The Institute for African Alternatives and The Institute for Social Development at the University of the Western Cape, are proud to invite you to attend the annual Ben Turok Memorial Lecture. Please see the attached invitation and registration link. The 4th Ben Turok Memorial Lecture will be delivered in Cape Town on... -
Join Us for A Day of Reflection on the Refugee/Migrant Experience Date: 30th November 2024Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pmVenue: Community House, 41 Salt River Rd, Salt River, Cape Town In light of recent events, including the controversial police operations sealing off illegal underground mines and the food poisoning scare at... -
Join us for the online launch of “The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism” on Monday, 25th November 2024, at 3 pm SAST (UTC+2). This essential new book reveals how the global push for sustainability often perpetuates colonial exploitation under a “green” guise, as wealthier nations extract critical resources from the Global... -
Calling for a Justice-Centred approach to Sustainability “The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism” dives into a critical, thought-provoking issue: how today’s global push for environmental sustainability, instead of reversing colonial and capitalist injustices, often intensifies them. Edited by Miriam Lang, Mary Ann Manahan, and Breno Bringel, the book asserts that the current... -
Download The Living Rights Festival Programme at this link. -
Award=winning filmmaker Nadine Cloete presents her documentary Action Kommandant at the Liviing Rights Festival -
The Living Rights Festival, screens 'Pathways to Light', and episode from Enver Samuel's gound breaking new series 'Truth Be Told' at Bertha House Cinema, on 30th October 2024 -
A selection of John Adam Barrow's work from his series "Space-Time: A Meta-narrative for the Metacrisis" will be on view at the Living Rights Exhibition at Bertha House on 25th and 26th October 2024. -
Living Sounds- a concert for solidarity and unity. Organised by the Cape Cultural Collective (CCC) and Jazz in the Native Yards(JNY) as part of the Living Rights Festival. -
FRIDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2024 VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION 09:00 – 19:00 ZARA NEWMAN * JOHN BARROW * VELILE SOHA * SONGEZO ZANTSI Get an intimate look at the exhibition with a guided walkabout led by the artists themselves. This is your chance to hear directly from Zara Newman, John Barrow, Velile Soha, and... -
You’re Invited to the Living Rights Festival: Bertha House Weekend! Step into a world where art and activism collide! Join us on Friday, 25 October, and Saturday, 26 October 2024, for an unforgettable weekend at Bertha House, Cape Town. Over two days, we’ll celebrate the powerful voices and creative energy of... -
Analyzing Africa’s Just Transition: Charting a New Path for Economic and Climate Transformation The Tunisian economist Dr. Fadhel Kaboub presented a thought-provoking webinar based on the 2023 report “Just Transition: A Climate, Energy, and Development Vision for Africa” of which he is a co-author. The report calls for a comprehensive transition... -
The Institute for African Alternatives is pleased to host Fadhel Kaboub on Monday, 16th September 2024, at 6 pm. Dr Kaboub will give an overview of the report “Just Transition: A Climate, Energy and Development Vision for Africa,” in which he is a co-author. This is an online IFAA... -
Sadly, the Youth Speak event that IFAA co-hosted with the Peace Centre became the last event to be organized by the founding director of the latter organization, Rommel Roberts, who tragically passed away in a motor accident the day before the event. Rommel Roberts (1949–2024) was a South African human rights... -
As the South African Elections approached, and with June also being South African Youth Month, IFAA engaged in discussions with several partners to host a large youth event, in which young people would take center stage and express their collective vision, concerns, and expectations for the future of the country.... -
IFAA and Surplus hosted Professor Josephine Noward, the daughter of legendary investigative journalist Henry “Mr Drum” Nxumalo. Now resident in the USA, Norward’s body of work is described as ‘grounded in issues of social inequality in education, health care, and housing.’ Amongst her achievements, is an interdisciplinary documentary on... -
The Writers’ Workshop, a co-project of IFAA, Surplus Books, and the Cape Cultural Collective, continues to attract a dedicated group of budding writers, young, published or unpublished, from across the community, who come to meet and interact in the space. This initiative shows great potential for consistently engaging a diverse... -
Our first official forum was the book launch of “An Uncomfortable Paradise: A History of Dispossession and Slavery in Simon’s Town,” by Joline Young. This was successfully co-hosted by IFAA, Surplus Radical Books, and The Peace Centre on Saturday, 09 March, at the Peace Centre. This forum was attended by... -
Surplus Books, IFAA, Project 90 by 2030, the PHA Food and Farming Campaign, and the Baha’i Faith Community invite you to a celebration of World Food Day. This event will feature a film screening of the acclaimed documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper” and a presentation, focusing on Climate Change... -
The Institute for African Alternatives and Surplus Radical Books are pleased to invite you to a film screening of “Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense” by Göran Hugo Olsson. This event forms part of our African Film Series in which we explore the life and times of important African... -
The Institute for African Alternatives and Surplus Radical Bookshop are pleased to invite you to a film screening of “Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man” by Robin Shuffield. This event forms part of our African Film Series in which we explore the life and times of important African revolutionaries and events... -
This Forum is hosted by IFAA and Surplus Radical Books and will be held at the Ashley Kriel Hall, Community House, Salt River Cape Town, on Tuesday 9th May 2023 at 6 pm. Launched at the Rocklands Community Hall, in Cape Town on 20th August 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was... -
Please don’t forget to join IFAA and Surplus Radical Books for our Chris Hani commemorative event on Monday 17th April 2023, at 5.30 pm, at the Cinema, Bertha House, 67-69 Main Road, Mowbray. The program consists of the screening of the SABC-made documentary ‘The Life and Times of Chris Hani’, followed... -
The Institute for African Alternatives and Surplus Radical Books invites you to our Chris Hani commemorative event, on the 30th anniversary of his assassination. The evening includes the screening of the rare SABC-made documentary, ‘The Life and Times of Chris Hani,’ followed by two reflections from former Minister of Arts... -
The Institute for African Alternatives and Surplus Radical Books is pleased to invite you to a Public Lecture by Dr. Freedom Mazwi of the Department of African Studies and Linguistics at UCT, entitled “Zimbabwe at 43: Challenges and Contradictions of a Postcolonial State.” This is the fourth in a series... -
This online discussion forum is brought to you by IFAA and Surplus Books, featuring Jonathan Jacobs, Entrepreneur, and small business owner, and discussant Patrick Kadalie, CEO of Social Business Advisory Services. In this critical discussion, we seek to acknowledge the crucial role SMEs play in improving the business environment at the... -
The Institute for African Alternatives invites you to a seminar on Energy Options for South Africa to be presented by Mr Viv Crone on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 2:30 pm Zoom Registration: https://cutt.ly/K1PwZi3 Our Presenter: Viv Crone is an electrical engineer with 50 years of experience in high-technology product design and project management. He... -
Venue: Bertha House, 67 & 69 Main Rd, Mowbray, Cape Town Date: 23rd November 2022 Time: 4.30 pm for 5 pm (Snacks and Drinks in Dining Area) RSVP to: https://cutt.ly/UMAaEPh Press Statement The “Niger Delta Command”, a work of fiction will be launched at Bertha House in Mowbray, Cape Town on Wednesday the 23rd of... -
Unpacking the unfolding of the current social and political crisis in India -
Surplus Books, Inkani Books, The Tri-Continental Institute for Social Research, and The Institute for African Alternatives, invite you to the launch of the riveting new book by Christopher McMichael Shoot to Kill: Police and Power in South Africa. From the slave-driver’s whip in the 18th century Cape Colony to the... -
The Surplus Books Reading Incubator Project and The Institute for African Alternatives invite you to join us for this unique panel discussion entitled ‘Reflections on Sport and Physical Culture in South African Society’. This session will be led by Dr. Francois Cleophas, a Sports and Social Historian based at the... -
Surplus Books, InsideOut and the Institute for African Alternatives invite you to Surplus Radical Books Store for the first in a series of Men’s cafes. This first meeting anticipates International Women’s Day in the same week. The gatherings will provide participants with a platform to share ideas, strategies, and tactics... -
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IFAA, in partnership with Surplus and Shack Dwellers International invites you to a public forum entitled ‘How South Africa and Corporates are fueling the crisis in Cabo Delgado (Mozambique)’, presented by Ilham Rawoot of Justica Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique. For IFAA this will be our first live event/online since... -
What is happening in Ethiopia? Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Crises of Society and State in Africa Jointly organised by the Socialist Students and Workers Network (SSWN), International Socialist Organisation Ghana (ISO Gh) and the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) In the early 1990s, a wave of democratisation ended dictatorships and led to... -
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), if successfully implemented, holds the prospect of lifting 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boosting the continent’s income by $450 billion by 2035, amongst many other touted benefits. There is a clear global consensus that creating a single, continent-wide market for... -
The Institute for African Alternatives will mark Youth Day by inviting you to attend a public discussion on the critical challenge of Youth Unemployment on Tuesday 15th June 2021 at 3pm. Youth Unemployment is one of South Africa’s most formidable challenges and now even more exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite... -
On Wednesday 28th April 2021, 3 pm The Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) marks the forthcoming Workers’ Day with a Public Forum that draws attention to the impact of Covid-19 on the future of work and social justice. The disruptions created by the pandemic have radically altered the way we see how... -
Topic: Institute for African Alternatives’ COVID 19 AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Time: Mar 31, 2021 03:00 PM Harare, Pretoria Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83863360229?pwd=NVowVEpaYWJHd1FIaSswTk85eGZWQT09 Meeting ID: 838 6336 0229 Passcode: 414155 The Institute for African Alternatives invites you to an online discussion forum on Wednesday 31st March 2021 entitled “Covid-19 and the Creative Industries”. We invited a number... -
The Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) would like to invite you to our public online discussion forum on the issue of Affordable Housing and Spatial Justice, on Tuesday 30th March at 3 pm. Twenty-five years into our democracy, the struggle for affordable housing in urban spaces continues, and it signals one of...
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Featuring speakers: Chwaita Mtsewu, Duma Nqulube and Morris Masutha According to the findings of the Auditor-General, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has incurred R5 billion in irregular expenditure for the 2019/2020 period, while the figure for 2018/2019 is R3.2bn. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology has described... -
What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated ‘new normal’ had on the teaching and learning environment? In this IFAA Forum we invite, parents, teachers and students from a cross-section of high schools to reflect on the challenges that they have faced over the last year. Topic: Institute for African... -
Urban farming is not a new phenomenon but it has proliferated rapidly in recent years. This has been driven by advances in technology and global challenges that include food insecurity, energy shortage, urban migration, poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization urban farming is currently... -
Equality in access to education is critical to the socio-economic transformation of our country and a cornerstone of the South African constitution. Yet, since the dawn of democracy, our government has consistently presented budgets that slash funding for schools and universities. It is for this reason that students took to the... -
South Africa’s strong independent media institutions have been credited as one of the great strengths of its 25yr old constitutional democracy. But there have recently been insidious instances of harassment, intimidation, assault and incitement to violence against the media. In this public forum our lead question is whether the independence...
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Our rationale for this event is to bring the growing national discourse on the complex subject of Coloured Identity and Coloured Identity Politics into public focus. The South African population census has, since 1994, continued to categorise a demographic group ‘Coloured’, as distinct from’ Black African’, ‘Asian’ and ‘White.’ While...
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The Institute for African Alternatives invites you to join our online discussion forum: Reflections on Trotsky, on Thursday 29th October 2020, 3pm. Please read the brief and find the webinar link information below: Brief As we mark the 80th anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination we find ourselves in the midst of intense and escalating... -
The new R4-billion River Club Development, which will house the headquarters of Amazon in Africa, has encountered vociferous opposition from several civic organisations, Khoi and San groups, including a 20 000 signed petition. The developers though are pushing ahead with their plans, supported by the First Nations Collective, a breakaway... -
After protests in November 2017 saw the end of Robert Mugabe’s rule with the intervention of the military, there was a rise of optimism of the future for Zimbabwe. Emmerson Mangagwa on his inauguration promised ‘radical economic reforms’. In spite of this, the economic crisis has continued to deepen with...
Previous Events
2020
Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival, partnered with other organisations
2019
Coloured Identity: Discussions on Belonging and Identity in South Africa
Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival, partnered with other organisations
2018
Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival, partnered with other organisations
2017
‘Confronting Inequality’ conference brought together academics, activists, students, business and members of government to discuss how to resolve the country’s large and widening inequality.
IFAA partnered with the Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) and Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education to host Vivek Chibber, Professor of Sociology at NYU, to give a public lecture on ‘Nationalism: Lessons from India’ focused on the historical trajectory of nationalism.
2015
“Colloquium on China’s relations with Africa” co-hosted with the University of Cape Town and the Confucius Institute. The colloquium featured discussions on China’s role in Africa with many distinguished policymakers, politicians and academics contributing as participants and panellists.
IFAA, ‘Is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a desirable model of transitional justice?’ in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), hosted a panel discussion on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The panellists offered varying perspectives in response to the question.
2013
Interface between Mining and Minerals organised in collaboration with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
Read The Report
2012
Experts Consultation on Minerals Beneficiation in collaboration with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
Read The Report
Before relaunching in 2012, IFAA hosted several international conferences and events:
1993
Grassroots Power: from Protest to Development, Johannesburg
1991
The IMF, World Bank and Economic Development in Africa, Johannesburg
Transcending the Politics of Structural Adjustment, Addis Ababa
1988
Transcending the Politics of Structural Adjustment, Addis Ababa
African Women in Cooperatives, Addis Ababa
