Richard Goldstone on Writing South African History Books
Richard J. Goldstone is a justice of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa, which has been trusted with the
task of interpreting the new South African Constitution and supervising
the country's transition into democracy. He is a member of the
international panel established in August 1997 by the government of
Argentina to monitor the inquiry into Nazi activity in the republic
since 1938. Goldstone is also chairperson of the International
Independent Inquiry on Kosovo established in 1999; national president
of the National Institute of Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of
Offenders (NICRO); chairperson of the Bradlow Foundation, a charitable
educational trust; and head of the board of the Human Rights Institute
of South Africa (HURISA).
Before taking a seat on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation-later known as the Goldstone Commission. The Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections. From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In this clip from a talk he gave for Facing History, entitled "For Humanity, Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator," Justice Goldstone discusses how the government in South African is writing history textbooks that include the history of the country before white colonizers arrived in South Africa; a rich history that had not been previously explored in school textbooks.
Before taking a seat on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation-later known as the Goldstone Commission. The Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections. From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In this clip from a talk he gave for Facing History, entitled "For Humanity, Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator," Justice Goldstone discusses how the government in South African is writing history textbooks that include the history of the country before white colonizers arrived in South Africa; a rich history that had not been previously explored in school textbooks.
Transcript:
"The government has been
doing many things. It's been writing the history books generally in
South Africa. And I say writing advisedly, not re-writing. The history
books have never been written.
I remember not many months ago, we spent a day with the then recently appointed head of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy--Helena Kennedy--who is a great human rights worker in England. And we took her--Albie Sachs, a colleague of mine who many of you might have met, was with me--and we took Helena Kennedy to Groot Constantia, which is a lovely mansion outside Cape Town, where the first grapevines were planted in the 17th century by the Dutch governor, Simon van der Stel. And there was a very charming Afrikaner woman, who was the guide, and she started off our tour by saying ‘South Africa began in 1652.' And of course that reflected the sort of white attitude. Before whites came there wasn't a South Africa and there wasn't a history.
And from that point of view the history books have to be written, not re-written. Because again they were right-wing whites. They said, ‘you see, they are re-writing the history books. There is going to be biased teaching in our schools' - that sort of crazy, unjustified, inappropriate reaction."
I remember not many months ago, we spent a day with the then recently appointed head of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy--Helena Kennedy--who is a great human rights worker in England. And we took her--Albie Sachs, a colleague of mine who many of you might have met, was with me--and we took Helena Kennedy to Groot Constantia, which is a lovely mansion outside Cape Town, where the first grapevines were planted in the 17th century by the Dutch governor, Simon van der Stel. And there was a very charming Afrikaner woman, who was the guide, and she started off our tour by saying ‘South Africa began in 1652.' And of course that reflected the sort of white attitude. Before whites came there wasn't a South Africa and there wasn't a history.
And from that point of view the history books have to be written, not re-written. Because again they were right-wing whites. They said, ‘you see, they are re-writing the history books. There is going to be biased teaching in our schools' - that sort of crazy, unjustified, inappropriate reaction."
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Video length:
01 min 37 sec
Date filmed:
Jan 23 2001 
