Miners Shot Down - commemorating the Marikana massacre

 

Remembering Marikana - Friday 14 August 2015

On 16 August 2012 South African police opened fire with live ammunition on thousands of striking platinum miners at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West Province of South Africa. One hundred and twelve miners were shot and of those 34 died. The actions of police at Marikana were reminiscent of the apartheid era - Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976 - where black people were shot for protesting. The Farlam Commission of Enquiry which was set up to investigate these killings ...largely absolved the police, the state, and Lonmin of any responsibility for this event. To date the families of the miners killed at Marikana have received no compensation.

What made the events at Marikana so shocking is that these killings took place under the auspices of a democratic, post-apartheid state with one of the most progressive constitution and bill of rights in the world. These killings are part of a growing trend of violence by the state toward non-violent protest and dissent in South Africa. The increasingly authoritarian tendencies of the South African state are retrogressive. These tendencies are undemocratic and threaten the right to free expression and legitimate protest.

The struggle to end Apartheid was long and hard. Many people gave their lives to this struggle. Don’t let the deaths of the Marikana mine workers be in vain. Join War on Want to remember the miners and their families

Programme:

• 19:00 Opening Address by War on Want and representative from UNITE the Union
• 19:10 Screening of Miners Shot Down
• 20:10 Marikana: The Aftermath by James Nichol
• 20:30 Q&A with film maker, Rehad Desai

Book your tickets here

Read Ken Olende's piece about the cover up of the South African state here