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Learning from Robben Island

Govan Mbeki’s Prison Writings

Govan Mbeki author Colin Bundy editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Ohio University Press

Published:1st Nov '91

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Learning from Robben Island cover

In the late fifties and early sixties, Govan Mbeki was a central figure in the African National Congress and director of the ANC campaigns from underground. Born of a chief and the daughter of a Methodist minister in the Transkei of South Africa in 1910, he worked as a teacher, journalist, and tireless labor organizer in a lifetime of protest against the government policy of apartheid. Over two decades of imprisonment on Robben Island did not consign him to obscurity. Along with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, his name has become a symbol of resistance, not only to the oppressed people of South Africa, but also to the international community who have conferred on him many honors and awards.

Learning From Robben Island is an extraordinary selection of Mbeki’s essays written, for the most part, between the late 1970s and mid 1980s…. [It] bears testimony to the endurance of the human spirit, and, in Colin Bundy’s words, ‘marks a victory in the continuing contest between the pen and the sword.’” * The International Journal of African Historical Studies *
“Students of history and politics will find this book a valuable reference…. On top of that, it gives better insight into life on Robben Island, showing that the struggle continued even within prison boundaries.”

ISBN: 9780821410073

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

232 pages