Why Durban?

I wrote this reflection while facilitation a workshop on sustainable urbanization in Durban last week:

Durban – origin of so many South African movements: John Dube, Inanda, 1920s – early years of the ANC; Albert Luthuli, ANC in the 1950s (won Nobel Prize in 1960); Biko and Black Consciousness in late 1960s; 1973 Durban strikes that triggered the trade union movement; radical white left associated with Rick Turner who was assassinated in 1978; urban social movements of the 1980s; role of Natal Indian Congress in the formation of UDF; homeless federation/shackdwellers international in the 1990s/2000s; Abahlale and the re-emergence of the radical left after 2000; and Groundwell – South Africa’s leading radical environmental grassroots movement. Durban is the epicenter of all this. Why? I don’t think anyone has asked this question. Worth thinking about.