The role of religious leaders in anti-Apartheid mobilisation: implications for violence prevention in contemporary South Africa |
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| Authors: | Naiema Taliep Sandy Lazarus Mohamed Seedat James R. Cochrane |
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| Affiliation: | 1. South African Medical Research Council - University of South Africa (SAMRC-UNISA), Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit (VIPRU), Cape Town, South Africa;2. Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa;3. Department of Education, University of the Western Cape;4. Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Town, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | This study examines how South African religious leaders mobilised spiritual capacity and religious assets to resist and fight against state and structural violence during the 1970s and 1980s. Document analysis and qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with six key informants who were directly or indirectly involved in an interfaith Peace March in 1989 in Cape Town. Our analysis was aimed at identifying and understanding the factors, which enabled individuals from diverse religious backgrounds to work together to combat the Apartheid state and structural violence, drawing out possible roles for interfaith leadership within the prevention of direct violence in South Africa. The analysis shows that interfaith leadership was enacted as five kinds of performances: of safety in sacred spaces, solidarity and community, non-violence, voice and representation, and humanitarian relief and healing. These performances relied on specific religious assets, spiritual capacity and psychological and interpersonal qualities characteristic of transformative leaders. In conclusion, we offer some suggestions for how interfaith leadership alongside other social actors may contribute to the prevention of interpersonal violence. |
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| Keywords: | Apartheid violence peace march religious leaders religious assets |
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