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worth repeating |
| Winston P. Nagan, Dell
Research Scholar Professor of Law at the University of Florida, delivered
the opening address for the Center for Humanities and Arts International
Symposium on globalization and human rights in Africa. An excerpt: “The future of Africa today is more completely in African hands than it has been for the past 300 years. In fact, I am willing to say that the change in South Africa, only since 1994, has had a dramatic impact not only on the political and economic and social development of South Africans but an impact on the continent as a whole. . . . A particular sense of hope and expectation seems to permeate the discourse, the political and social discourse, of the continent’s opinion leaders. That symbol is represented in the phrase ‘African Renaissance.’ It is a symbol for a better future, based on the African principle of human dignity. This principle holds that people express themselves and realize themselves as people, through people. It is a principle of shared humanity, a single principle which animates the global community, ascribed to human rights and human dignity. . . . The symbol of an African Renaissance based on shared humanity has now been given concrete institutional expression in the creation of a new constitution for the continent of Africa. Its institutional incarnation is the African Union. The creation of the AU emerged from an initiative of the Organization of African Unity in the summer of 1999. The AU constitution indicates a continuing commitment to group values, peace, and security, based on responsibility, transparency, and accountability rooted in and supported by democratic principles.” |
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—Beth Roberts |