Secret Thread: Personal Journeys Beyond Apartheid

The Secret Thread is a human history connecting people across apartheid, using travel as a transforming experience to question indoctrination and highlight global injustices. It explores the value of solidarity and the need to know our common history for justice and reconciliation.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 356 pages
\n Publication date: 30 September 2018
\n Publisher: Unisa Press
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The Secret Thread is a profound and intricate tapestry of human history, weaving together individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures, transcending the barriers imposed by apartheid. It is a thread that has bound people together, compelling them to confront harsh realities and confront the injustices of the world. This thread spans across the informal settlements, townships, suburbs, and bantustans of South Africa, traversing the arid deserts and remote villages of Namibia, and reaching into the rural towns and bustling inner cities of Europe.

Co-founded in 1964 by Beyers Naudé, the Christian Fellowship Trust emerged as a "legally subversive organization," playing a pivotal role in challenging the prevailing theology of apartheid. At its core, the Trust sought to introduce a transformative concept—the idea of travel—as a more potent means of indoctrination than traditional methods. Through their experiences, ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church and other individuals were exposed to a world that questioned their deeply held beliefs about skin color as a determinant of human worth. They encountered profound contradictions that illuminated the inequalities and conflicts inherent in global injustices.

The Secret Thread serves as a profound reflection on the enduring challenges of being human in relation to others. It delves into the invaluable essence of solidarity and the redemptive power of taking responsibility for our participation in systems that perpetuate the suffering of the many, regardless of the consequences for the few. It affirms the innate human need to travel and to understand our shared history, recognizing that this knowledge is essential in the pursuit of justice and reconciliation.

Through the stories of individuals who have traversed the Secret Thread, we witness the power of human connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity. We are reminded of the importance of empathy, compassion, and the pursuit of a more equitable and just world. The Secret Thread serves as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the unwavering belief in the potential for positive change.

\n Weight: 724g\n
Dimension: 174 x 260 x 28 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781868889044\n \n