Human Rights day in South Africa is commemorated on the 21st of March.This day pays homage to all those who lost their lives in the fight for democracy, particularly the Sharpeville Massacre of 21st March 1960, when police opened fire on a group of peaceful protestors against the Apartheid regime in Sharpeville, a small town in the Vaal Triangle, outside Johannesburg.
There are some non-fiction books which can be read on this day highlighting local and international human rights aspects such as justice, freedom and peace. Below are some of them.
Justice (Faces of the human rights revolution)
This book brings to the fore faces of the human rights revolution who share their insights into the nature and importance of human rights, and their reasons for devoting themselves to that cause. Through them we are reminded of the power of a single individual–one face, one voice–to transform the world. These human rights pioneers seek no personal gain: their rewards are the benefits that we all enjoy when the rule of democratic law protects us.
I Am Malala
I Am Malala is a book about a Pakistani girl who paid the ultimate price and refused to be silenced in fighting for her right to education. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. Malala has since become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The right to the city
Blending historical and geographical analysis, this book examines the vital relationship between struggles over public space and movements for social justice in the United States. Don Mitchell explores how political dissent gains meaning and momentum–and is regulated and policed–in the real, physical spaces of the city. A series of linked cases provides in-depth analysis of early twentieth-century labor demonstrations, the Free Speech Movement and the history of People’s Park in Berkeley, contemporary anti-abortion protests, and efforts to remove homeless people from urban streets.
Biko
This book examines the life of a young South African and his struggle to raise black consciousness. Subjected to 22 hours of interrogation, torture and beating by South African police on September 6, 1977, Steve Biko died six days later at the age of 30.
Long walk to freedom
Nelson Mandela is one of the greatest moral and political leaders in the world. Long walk to freedom is his moving and exhilarating autobiography which digs deeper into his lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa.
The books listed above should provide broader insights about the subject of human rights.
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