Religion, Liberation and Transformation
through the South African Experience

Introduction1

The Parliament of the World's Religions met in Cape Town from December 1-8, 1999. At the last Parliament, held in Chicago in 1993, some 8,000 delegates from around the world attended, representing all the major world religions. The Parliament is thus an important meeting place for people of different faiths, to learn from the experiences of others in different contexts.

Following the Multi-Event, which took place in February 1999,2 the Parliament approached ME99 director Prof. James Cochrane to extend the debates there to the Parliament. What took place was a series of four seminars, which linked to a larger project co-sponsored with the World Conference on Religion and Peace and the Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Cape Town to share the insights of South Africans with representatives of religious groups from across the globe. Each seminar featured input from two or three scholars or representatives working in the field of concern, followed by a lead-in response which served to focus the issues under discussion. An open discussion followed.

The sessions were entitled, "From resistance to reconstruction: analysing the South African 'miracle'", "Tolerance and democracy: human rights across the chasms"; "The two-thirds world has Aids: deconstructing the politics of health" and "Magicians of the marketplace". What follows is a report covering each of the four sessions, constructed from tracker's notes and audiotapes of the discussions.

1. From Resistance to Reconstruction: Analysing the South African "Miracle"

2. Tolerance and Democracy: Human Rights Across the Chasms

3. The Two-Thirds World has Aids: Deconstructing the Politics of Health and Medicine

4. Magicians of the Marketplace

5. Overall Assessment

1 Report compiled and edited by Stephen Martin, with inputs from Juan Garces, Gillian Walters, Yusif Mataar, Sam Silungwe and Eliza Getman.

2 See Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 104 (July 1999) for representative articles. The ME99 Proceedings are also available from RICSA, Dept of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X01, Rondebosch 7701, RSA. Also available at www.ricsa.org.za/confer/me99/procs/proindex.htm.