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Independent and progressive publishers’ network meetingKhanya College Winter School 2009‘Crisis and Resistance’
Date: 6 – 7 August 2009Venue: Board Room of Museum Africa, Newtown, JohannesburgAims and objectives of the network meetingThe Khanya College network meeting of independent and progressive publishers in southern Africancountries is inspired by Khanya College’s Winter School theme ‘Crisis and Resistance’. Independentpublishers today face a number of difficulties, and the biggest obstacle is the limited possibilities of physical distribution of publications in southern Africa and the rest of the continent. At the same time, whilemore young and vibrant writers emerge, independent and non-commercial publishers cannot access theservices of commercial international distribution services. As a response, independent publishers choosedifferent ways to gain visibility and to reach a larger audience, mainly through internet publishing anddistribution. However, while these informal and individually crafted approaches can be very successful, acollective approach towards distribution, which is based on principles of solidarity and support of smaller alternative publishers, still needs to be established. In this context, publishers invited to the KhanyaNetwork meeting of independent publishers will be presented with the question ‘What can be done?’ andinvited to share their knowledge and experiences as a starting point for the creation of a publisher’snetwork.The network meeting will examine conditions of local distribution and representation, as well as thepossible collaboration of independent publishers. Participants are invited to engage in a forum to discussappropriate responses and strategies to the situation locally and internationally. These include linking thenetwork with the National Library services, as well as the education system in South Africa, the explorationof possible access to a wider Anglophone audience in the global South (India, Indonesia, Australia, NewZealand, and elsewhere) through book fairs, literary festivals, literary awards as well as digital publishinginitiatives, such as CMS-based internet publications (see for instance: Chimurenga Library, documenta 12magazines).Building a wider network for independent publishersPublishers of local and indigenous language literature, critical and cutting edge writing, ranging from smalland self-funded publishing projects, magazines and journals to NGOs, social justice organisations andresource centres are invited to network and link with each other. The meeting will invite writers and culturalactivists as well as governmental and civil society cultural institutions, such as writing centres and
 
independently organised libraries. Through networking and exchange, other ways of distribution will beexplored, for instance through creating links to local libraries and departments of literature at South Africanand international universities. This way, the network also intends to offer access of young scholars to non-academic journals, in order to facilitate an exchange about information related to upcoming publications,workshops, reading events and other forms of literature-related activity. Additionally, a discussion of digitalforms of publishing and editing, for instance through Content Management Systems, will give editorsaccess to information about digital publishing and the facilitation of exchange of texts and articles.Moreover, economic and technical questions will be discussed and different forms of publishing presented.Target audienceThere is a range of independent publishers in African countries who produce new and progressive writingin the fields of fiction, social sciences and philosophy. Their resources for distribution to other Africancountries is limited, and often it is difficult to even set up consistent points of sale in the countries of publication. In an attempt to strategise around this issue, Khanya College invites independent andprogressive publishers from Sub-Saharan Africa to a series of workshops and network meetings whichtake place in the framework of the annual Khanya College Winter School and the first Jozi Book Fair.
Khanya College Winter School 2009
Khanya College Winter School will take place from 30 July to 9 August 2009 in the form of an educationfestival in Johannesburg, South Africa. The annual Winter School was launched in July 1999 andrepresents an important step in Khanya College’s response to the changing political and economicenvironment within which social movements and broader civil society organisations have to work. In manydifferent ways, Khanya College programmes seek to assist communities in the difficult task of developingtheir responses to globalisation and its various manifestations. Over the last ten years, the school hasbeen an important point of convergence for organisations as a platform for debate, discussion, politicaltheory, practical skills, networking and solidarity building.This year, the Winter School will bring together 600 social justice activists and development practitioners,and over 1000 members of the public from South and southern Africa for a period of ten days for a rangeof different events. For the first time, the school will be located in the Johannesburg city centre, therebygiving more activists the possibility to participate in the school. At the same time, the cultural programmefeatures an art exhibition, a spoken word and theatre festival, thus hoping to extend the school’sprogramme to a larger audience. This way, the college realises the opportunity to firmly profile theinstitution in the public domain. Khanya College hopes that the annual Winter School will contribute toregional responses that continue to emphasise social solidarity, popular democracy, organisation andmobilisation.The theme of the Winter School 2009 is ‘Crisis and Resistance’, and will focus on the current worldeconomic crisis which is probably the single most important development of the last 40, or even 80 years.The crisis has dealt a devastating blow to the international capitalist system, and should be identified asan event that will shape the fate of millions around the world. However, it has become clear that withoutfighting against the resulting socio-economic conditions, the poor will not realize the promise of changethat the crisis has opened up. The Winter School 2009 aims at developing political strategies of resistance
 
and to provide a platform for the analysis of the current context, as well as to elaborate appropriatestrategies to build and strengthen mass organisations of the working class, and therefore the realization of social justice by social movements.Brief note on Khanya CollegeKhanya College is an independent non-governmental organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa.Established in 1986, the primary aim of Khanya College is to assist various constituencies within workingclass and poor communities to respond to the challenges posed by the forces of economic and politicalorganisation. Khanya College offers assistance through providing educational and training workshops,publications and research to organisations and individuals in these communities. Khanya Collegecontributes to these challenges by emphasising solutions based on social solidarity, popular democracyand participation, organisation and mobilisation.The mission of Khanya College is to:- Provide education which is relevant for the needs of historically oppressed communities;- Contribute to the strengthening of community based organisations, trade unions and non-governmentalorganisations;- Contribute to a process of social change and development; and to- Operate democratically, accountable and efficiently.The college is committed to serving organisations and individuals from working class and poor communities. The college is politically non-sectarian in its relationships with the various organisations fromthe communities it serves.Over the many years of its work with mass organisations the college's main constituencies are theemerging social movements in town and country, trade unions, community based organisations, studentand youth organisations, churches and ecumenical organisations, cooperatives, and non-governmentalorganisations.Whereas the college works mainly with organised constituencies, some of the programmes do providespace for participation by individual activists and development practitioners. Khanya College servicesconstituencies and organisations all over South Africa, in Southern Africa as well as other parts of theworld.
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