Youth
Lab Dialogue: “Justice for All? Youth Perspectives on Social Justice”
Defining Social Justice:
“Social Justice is a process, not an outcome,
which (1) seeks fair (re)distribution of resources, opportunities, and
responsibilities; (2) challenges the roots of oppression and injustice; (3)
empowers all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full
potential; (4) and builds social solidarity and community capacity for
collaborative action” –Social Justice Symposium, University of
California, Berkley
In South Africa, Social Cohesion has become a
buzz word, in 2012. The discourse of unity and integration was taken up by government,
through the Department of Arts and Culture’s Social Cohesion Summit. Upon
analysing the idea of social cohesion, the Youth Lab team realised that while
social cohesion is an end goal, there would need to be processes that leads us
to a more unified nation. In a country with steep inequalities (income, health,
educational), a history of institutional racism, high rates of violent crime
and a myriad of constitutional questions about cultural and ideological
differences. Various political and union
leaders have referred to a ‘socio-economic apartheid’, in which some aspects of
South Africa’s social and economic activity is reserved for the rich, and
substandard services are reserved for the poor. How then can people experience
social cohesion?
We at Youth Lab argue that before social
cohesion can be achieved we need to address the basis for social justice in the
new South Africa. As such Youth Lab believes that without taking seriously
youth experiences of social inclusion and exclusion on the basis of race,
class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and even geography, an important barometer
of social justice in contemporary South Africa might be missed.
The
Event: Social Justice Dialogue
In a commitment to creating platforms for
young people to add their voices to important public conversations, we host the
“Justice for All? Youth Perspectives on
Social Justice” dialogue. The dialogue will take the form of a plenary
debate and smaller group discussions.
Potential
discussion points:
·
What are the aspects or layers to social
justice (or, conversely, division)? Race, class, gender, ethnicity, language,
nationality, etc?
·
Is social justice a by-product of economic
development and growth, or does it require its own attendant processes?
·
Is social cohesion, by definition,
exclusionary? And, if so, what are the implications and what if anything should
be done about it?
·
Who owns the process of social justice (i.e.
top-down vs bottom-up vs organic development)?
·
What are the implications of the distinction
between the material (e.g. access to basic goods and services such as housing,
education and healthcare) and non-material (e.g. freedom of expression) aspects
of social cohesion?
The dialogue will take the form of a
moderated panel discussion, used to interrogate the idea of Social Justice.
Date: Thursday, 22 November 2012
Time: 18h00 for 18h30 – 21h00
Venue: Mandela Rhodes Hotel, Cape Town
Confirmed
Politics and Social Justice: COPE President, Honourable Mosiuoa Lekota MP
Education and Social Justice: Equal Education Deputy Secretary-General, Mr Doron Isaacs
Society and Social Justice: Social Justice Coalition Coordinator, Mr Gavin Silber
Please confirm attendance by sending an email
to info@youthlab.org.za
