Activities

A Nation in Dire Straits: Law, Politics and the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Speaker: Dr Alex Tawanda Magaisa

The Inaugural Annual Basker Vashee Memorial Lecture
8 June 2006, 20h00 – 22h00
De Balie, Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam

Developing a new 'constitutional culture' in response to the crisis in Zimbabwe is the theme for the inaugural Basker Vashee Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by Dr Alex Magaisa at de Balie, Amsterdam on 8 June.

The lecture will look not only at the visible damage done by hyperinflation, material shortages and the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, but also at the invisible damage the country's current crisis is having on the culture, behaviour and attitude of citizens towards each other, the state and other institutions. Dr Magaisa will argue that, in addition to insisting on a new government and Constitution, the Zimbabwe opposition movement needs to closely scrutinise its own practices and work to develop a more democratic culture.

Dr Alex Magaisa (1975-) is an erudite new generation Zimbabwean intellectual. He is a practising lawyer, as well as a prolific legal, political and economic commentator and columnist for the Zimbabwe Independent, one of the country's few remaining independent newspapers.

The lecture is held to commemorate the life of Basker Vashee (1944-2005), a Zimbabwean activist and scholar who was director of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) from 1977 to 1987, and a TNI Fellow until the end of his life.

Vashee was exiled in London in the early 1970s for his activities in the liberation movement in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), serving as its representative in London. He later served on the board of the Transnational Information Exchange (TIE), and worked closely with the Dutch Institute for Southern Africa (NIZA) and as an advisor to the Dutch Development Co-operation Ministry. A tribute to Vashee's life from his many friends and comrades across the globe can be found at www.tni.org/basker

The lecture is organised by TNI, an international network of activist-scholars founded in 1974. It exists to address the global problems of today and tomorrow, ranging from corporate-driven globalisation and militarism to environmental and social injustice, and aims to provide intellectual support to those movements seeking a more democratic, equitable and environmentally sustainable world.

Dr Alex Magaisa will be available for interview. Please contact Andrea Sturkenboom with requests:
email andrea@tni.org
tel. +31 (0)20 662 6608.