00:00Well, this building behind us was the headquarters of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela's
00:07African National Congress, whilst he was in prison for 27 years. And of course, in 1982,
00:14it was firebombed by the apartheid security police. They were never caught. Nobody ever
00:19really looked for them. But it was a terrible attack that could have killed people. Fortunately,
00:26only injured people, but that was bad enough. This building is now being restored and it
00:30will become a cultural centre, which will be useful for anyone of any background to
00:39come to learn about the anti-apartheid movement, to learn about the history of South Africa,
00:46and also to probably, you know, take its place amongst the broader fight against social injustice.
00:54I hope that this new centre of memory and learning, an anti-apartheid centre of memory
01:00and learning, will not only allow people to learn about the past and the most institutionalised
01:06system of racism the world has ever seen, but also to apply some of the lessons of that
01:13to today. We still face terrible problems of racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and
01:21all sorts of other forms of discrimination. And it's really important that the values
01:25of the anti-apartheid struggle are remembered through this centre, whether by children or
01:30other visitors, and then applied to modern day.
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