"There is a new Apartheid in South Africa, and that Apartheid is between the rich and the poor"

Dear Mandela is a film produced by Christopher Nizza and Dara Kell -- film makers of Sleeping Giant -- about the struggles against displacement by South Africans living in shack settlements. Those of us whoparticipatedin last fall's round of video making classes with Our City Our Voices learned a lot from these film makers and the beauty of this particular film. Together, we also were able to reflect on the conditions in which the shackdwellers both live and struggle and how it relates to our lives in the US.
There are so many powerful stories in this 8 minute glimpse of the Shackdweller struggle, but most memorable to me is the clarity with which those in struggle see the attacks they face as being rooted in a great division and fight between wealth and humanity.
 
Below is a brief description of thedocumentaryby the film makers:
 
This is a work-in-progress of a feature length documentary film currently being shot in South Africa.

Almost 1 million people live in the shack settlements of Durban, South Africa. The city has promised to ‘eradicate the slums’ by 2010 in time for the Soccer World Cup and is evicting shack dwellers from their homes at gunpoint. The shack dwellers are resisting the evictions. They see Nelson Mandela as a second Jesus Christ, and want his promise of ‘a better life for all’ to be fulfilled. For the first time since apartheid was defeated, shack dwellers are organizing into a dynamic force that is transforming the political and social landscape of the country from below.

Few countries regard housing as a human right - South Africa is one of them. The shack dwellers embark on a journey from Durban to Johannesburg to ask the Constitutional Court to repeal the Slums Act and save their communities from bulldozers and chainsaws. 'Dear Mandela' portrays a group of people who are turning their anger and sense of betrayal into hope. Their struggle is difficult, but there are victories along the way that remind us that ordinary people coming together can do extraordinary things.

'Dear Mandela' centers on the lives of three young shack dwellers who are part of the Shack Dwellers Movement, as they try to make sense of what they call the 'New Apartheid'. Set against the backdrop of one of the most unequal societies in the world, 'Dear Mandela' is at once a coming-of-age tale and a revolutionary parable as cities around the world shut their doors to the poor. The United Nations predicts that by 2030, 2 billion people in the world will live in slums. We ignore them at our own peril.

Co-directed by Christopher Nizza and Dara Kell
Join the Dear Mandela Facebook group for updates form the film-makers.

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