Robben Island, South Africa
4-6 February 2005

Thursday, February 3: The Journey -- Arrival at Robben Island

“. . . journeying to Robben Island was like going to another country.
Its isolation made it not simply another prison, but a world of its own,
far removed from the one we had come from. In Pretoria we felt
connected to our supporters and our families; on the island, we felt
cut off, and indeed we were. We had the consolation of being with
each other, but that was the only consolation.” – Nelson Mandela

Friday, February 4: Banishment, Isolation, Resistance & Remembrance – Interacting With Robben Island’s History

Welcome
Introduction to the History of Robben Island – Robben Island Museum

“Robben Island’s notorious history as the place to which so-called undesirables of our society were banished . . . should be turned around
into a source of enlightenment and education on the danger of myopic philosophies, social and economic practices whose primary and sole objective is the oppression of one group by another.” – Robben Island Museum

Banishment: The Welfare of Society versus The Rights of Individual
Freedom
Chairs: Dr. Harriet Deacon & Anwei Law
Panel: Ryohei & Suiko Shibata, Sigurd Sandmo,
Jose Ramirez, Jr., Olivia Breitha

Isolation: The Experience of Isolation
Chairs: Dr. Jo Robertson & Clarence Kahilihiwa
Panel: Crescencio T. Rosello, Dr. Arturo Cunanan,
Miyoji & Mieko Morimoto, Keteng Feng, Clint Anabieza, Dr. Michael Chen

Resistance: Retaining Identity in the Face of Oppression
Chairs: Yasuji Hirasawa & Simonne Horwitz
Panel: Arega Kassa Zelelew, Artur C.M. De Sousa,
S.K. Jung, Rep. of Treatment Action Campaign
Remembrance: The Cemetery -- IDEA Banner of Honor
Dr. P.K. Gopal and Zilda Borges

Saturday, February 5: Stigma & Identity

9:00-9:30 Opening Address: Noerine Kaleeba, Partnerships Adviser, UN AIDS

“I struggled to understand this stigma that was related to HIV. Because for us, as a race, and I think this cuts across humanity, we always valued the fact that in times of strife we remained together and shared our sorrows . . . . When AIDS came on the horizon it was the first time I saw people being brought to hospital and being left there without the family returning at all . . . . And that was one of the most profound manifestations of the stigma . . .”

-- Noerine Kaleeba, who founded “The AIDS Support Organization” in Uganda in
1987, which was one of the very first community responses to AIDS in Africa

9:30-11:00 Culture, Identity & Stigma: The African Experience

Chairs: Professor Megan Vaughan and Arega Kassa Zelelew
Panel: Dr. Jean-Paul Bado, Linda Beer Kumwenda, Dr. John Manton, Jan Mahlangu

11:00-11:30 Morning Tea Break

11:30-12:45 The Effect of Stigma on Individuals and Families

“One person’s family history may not be very significant, except to his/her immediate family. However, when family history is taken away, that individual ceases to exist in the eyes of society. Collectively, when the identity is stripped away from millions of individuals diagnosed with leprosy, the end result is that stigma and prejudice take the place of their existence.” -- Jose Ramirez, Jr.

Chairs: Jose Ramirez, Jr. & Clement Mufuzi
Panel: Kofi Nyarko, Magdalena Ramirez, Dr. Harriet Deacon, Saruto Labbo, Amar Timilsina, Adi Yosep, Jaimie Tomas
Cabeto

12:45 – 2:00 Lunch

2:00-3:30 Breaking the Silence: Women & Stigma

Chairs: Zilda Borges and Noerine Kaleeba
Panel: Natalia Isabel da Graca Marcal, Zoica Bakirtzief, Tiruwork
Mengistu, Member of the Sinikithemba Choir, Birke Nigatu

3:30-4:00 -- Afternoon Tea Break

4:00- 5:30 Illuminating Ourselves: Redefining Traditional Images

Open discussion – The role of images in the formation of attitudes.

Achievements of people affected by leprosy or living with HIV/AIDS, past and present as a means of challenging stereotypes and the stigma that is perpetuated by them. From Ingeborg Grytten (Norway, 17th century) to Akashi Kaijin (Japan, early 20th century) to the Present.

Sunday, February 6 – Human Rights

9:00-9:15 Universal Human Rights -- Professor Bernardino Fantini

9:15-10:30 Ensuring the Rights of Humanity
Chairs: Professor Bernardino Fantini & Dr. P.K. Gopal
Panel: Alhaji Shehu Sarkin Fada, Chamada Abibo,Yasuji Hirasawa, Matthew Maury, Clement Mufuzi

10:30-11:00 Morning Tea

11:00-12:00 In Conclusion: History as an Agent for Social Change

Prof. Megan Vaughan, Noerine Kaleeba and Zilda Borges

12:00-12:30 Closing

“It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people . . . . We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender, and other discrimination . . . . to be free is not merely to cast off one’s
chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela

12:30-2:00 Lunch

2:00 Departure