On Thursday we continue our popular series of free Lunchtime Soapbox talks:

Walmart – how the world’s biggest corporation went deep green by Robert Zipplies

From being perceived as the major corporate villain, Walmart is now counted as an environmental leader. What brought about this profound change? This presentation offers a fascinating insight into why the world’s largest corporation decided to embark on the green journey and how they are going about it.
If Walmart were a country, it would be the 17th largest economy – roughly on par with Switzerland and Sweden. With more than 2 million employees and over 100,000 suppliers, Walmart’s progress is now setting a global benchmark for sustainability performance in the corporate sector and provides an indication of how profoundly corporate attitudes towards environmental issues have changed.

The case study, amongst other things, investigates:
• the reasons for Walmart’s profound change,
• how they developed their sustainability strategy and why they made it core to their business strategy,
• what activities they are undertaking to green their operations and supply chain,
• how they are working internally to change their culture, and
• how they are collaborating with other stakeholders to enable their progress.

“It’s beyond encouragement – my challenge to you is to move sustainability to the front burner if you don’t already have it there.”
Mike Duke, Walmart CEO, addressing employees and suppliers in 2009.

This presentation will provide valuable insights and ideas for your sustainability strategy and activities.

Robert Zipplies consults independently to corporations wishing to deepen their sustainability commitment. He is the editor of the recently released book, Bending the Curve – Your guide to tackling climate change in South Africa and has been made an Indalo Yethu (South Africa’s Environmental Campaign) Eco-ambassador for his environmental work. He is a regular speaker on a range of sustainability-related topics, and is a board member of the climate change NGO, Project 90 by 2030. He has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering (UCT), an MSc in Industrial Engineering (Wits) and an MBA (Rotterdam).

A delicious and affordable (from R35) brown bag lunch will be on sale at the venue.

Date: Thursday 29 July
Time: 12:45 for 13:00pm
Venue: Lobby Books, Cape Town Democracy Center, 6 Spin Street
Contact: Andreas Spath at aspath@idasa.org.za or 021 467 7606

Parking options:
Street parking in the area is safe and will cost you R4.50 per hour.

Parking garages open to the public in the area include:

• Plein Park (Plein Street; to get to the entrance, turn off Plein Street into Barrack Street and then into Corporation Street).
• Mandela Rhodes Place (entrance in Burg Street, off Wale Street)

The brilliant folks at Jacana Media have put together an amazing programme of literary events to coincide with the Cape Town Book Fair. We are very excited that no fewer than five of these events will be taking place at Idasa’s Cape Town Democracy Centre and Lobby Books. You are cordially invited to all of them!

The Jacana Jamboree is a Jacana Media, Book Lounge, Cape Times and Equal Education initiative.

Please bring high quality children’s and young adults’ books, in good condition, to donate to Equal Education’s book drive for school libraries. 10% of all Jacana Books sold at the event will also go to Equal Education for their library book drive.

Zimbabwe’s Exodus: Crisis, Migration and Survival edited by Jonathan Crush and Daniel Tevera

The editors will speak at the launch and Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala will perform The Crossing, his one-man play about his journey on foot from a dusty Zimbabwean Village to Cape Town.

The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe has led to an unprecedented exodus of over a million desperate people from all strata of Zimbabwean society. The Zimbabwean diaspora is now truly global in extent. Yet rather than turning their backs on Zimbabwe, most maintain very close links with the country, returning often and remitting billions of dollars each year. Zimbabwe’s Exodus is written by leading migration scholars, many from the Zimbabwean diaspora. The book explores the relationship between Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis and migration as a survival strategy. It includes personal stories of ordinary Zimbabweans living and working in other countries, who describe the hostility and xenophobia they often experience.

“This solo performance is … as thrilling as it is inspiring, as frightening as it is miraculous … and confronts South Africans with what it is like to live and survive in this country as a refugee.” – Marianne Thamm, Times Live, 10 April 2010.

Wine and snacks will be served.

Date: Wednesday 28 July
Time: 17h30 for 18h00
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Speakers: Jonathan Crush and Daniel Tevera, with a performance by Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala

RSVP: 021 467 7606; aspath@idasa.org.za; or book on www.strictlytickets.com

Soweto by Jodie Bieber

Acclaimed home-grown photographer, Jodi Bieber, has created an open-ended essay which is a celebration and a portrait of life in Soweto today.

The importance of Soweto in the collective consciousness is hard to overstate. It registers as a place born of resistance, perhaps even embodying the South African struggle for freedom. But the birth of Kwaito is attributed to Soweto too. And beyond the grand narratives, there is, and always was, a proliferation of dancing, art and fashion in this place defined by its energy and cosmopolitan nature. Labelling and un-labelling, claiming and discarding, Sowetans have created Soweto anew. This is a phenomenon that is celebrated in this photographic publication, which contemplates daily lived realities, where here, as elsewhere, South Africans are continually reinventing themselves and their urban space.

Jodi will be in conversation with Ismail Farouk, an artist and urban geographer. His work explores creative responses to racial, social, political and economic justice. He is currently employed as a researcher at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.

Wine and snacks will be served.

Date: Thursday 29 July
Time: 17h30 for 18h00
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Speakers: Jodi Bieber in conversation with Ismail Farouk

RSVP: 021 467 7606; aspath@idasa.org.za; or book on www.strictlytickets.com

Pop, Popular, Populist: examining the relationship between the ruling party and society

Join us for a fascinating evening as group of heavy-weight political analysts come together to look at the state of our democracy and ask: Where to from here?

Listen to Richard Calland in conversation with Judith February, Raymond Suttner and Ronnie Kasrils.

Wine and snacks will be served.

Date: Thursday 29 July
Time: 19h30 for 20h00
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Speakers: Richard Calland in conversation with Judith February, Raymond Suttner and Ronnie Kasrils

RSVP: 021 467 7606; aspath@idasa.org.za; or book on www.strictlytickets.com

In the Balance: South Africans Debate Reconciliation edited by Dr Fanie du Toit and Erik Doxtander

Editors Dr Fanie du Toit (Executive Director, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) and Erik Doxtader will be in conversation with Raenette Taljaard and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.

Reconciliation is an open and urgent question. We do not agree about what reconciliation means. We do not agree about how it works. We certainly do not agree about what it has done or the ways in which it can be brought to bear on the problems that confront South Africa today. In short, reconciliation keeps us off balance. A source of strength that sits at the very heart of South Africa’s remarkable transition to democracy, reconciliation is also a frustrating fault line and a yet unfulfilled promise.

There are no simple answers. As the leading voices in this book make clear, reconciliation is a question that must be debated – together – with a candid acknowledgement that the disagreements provoked by reconciliation are an opportunity to interact and learn from one another. Only by sharing our diverging accounts of reconciliation will we come to terms with its contested legacy, its contemporary meaning and its future possibilities. Direct and thought-provoking, the essays here offer staunch defences and pointed criticisms of reconciliation. Together, they challenge the conventional wisdom and sound an important call: once again, it is time to ask after reconciliation’s meaning, practice and value.

Wine and snacks will be served.

Date: Friday 30 July
Time: 17h30 for 18h00
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Speakers: Dr Fanie du Toit and Erik Doxtader in conversation with Raenette Taljaard and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.

RSVP: 021 467 7606; aspath@idasa.org.za; or book on www.strictlytickets.com

Sustainability: A voting issue?

Listen to Prof. Edgar Pieterse (African Centre for Cities) in conversation with Lance Greyling (MP and Chief Whip of ID Parliamentary Caucus), Muna Lakhani (Earthlife Africa), Richard Calland (Associate Professor, Department of Public Law, UCT) and Prof. Mark Swilling (Director, Sustainability Institute) on the topic of how to get sustainability on the political agenda for the upcoming local elections?

A delicious and affordable (from R35) brown bag lunch will be on sale at the venue.

Date: Saturday 31 July
Time: 12h30 for 13h00-14h00
Venue: Lobby Books, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Speakers: Prof. Edgar Pieterse in conversation with Lance Greyling, Muna Lakhani, Richard Calland and Prof. Mark Swilling

RSVP: 021 467 7606; aspath@idasa.org.za; or book on www.strictlytickets.com

New Arrival: Fighting for justice – A Lifetime of Political and Social Activism by Jay Naidoo

Jay Naidoo was a tireless anti-apartheid campaigner in the 1980s, serving as the first General Secretary of COSATU. In 1993, he stepped down to lead twenty leaders from COSATU into parliament on an ANC ticket and was asked by Nelson Mandela to work as the Minister responsible for the Reconstruction and Development Programme and then as the Minister of Communications. In 1999 Jay moved away from politics and entered the world of business, setting up the J&J Group, an investment and management company. Fighting for Justice is a gripping account of Jay's life, from his roots in a distant village in India to his fierce engagement with global issues of social justice. It tells the story of a man from a working class family living with the cruel realities of apartheid, his life-changing encounter with Steve Biko and his involvement in student, community and national politics. It is also a searingly honest account of the painful personal choices Jay has had to make and includes his intercontinental love affair with the French Canadian journalist and writer Lucie Page. Fighting for Justice weaves an enthralling tale of intrigue, pain and triumph as the issues of race, language and culture encounter the uncompromising terrain of political and social activism.

New Arrival: The Truth About Trade - The Real Impact of Liberalization by Clive George

Is it really true that international trade is vital for eliminating world poverty and achieving a sustainable future? Or is economic globalisation the villain of the piece? Clive George's provocative book examines the evidence, exposes the myths, and presents challenging new proposals for comprehensive reform of the global trading system. Based on ten years of in-depth research into the impacts of the trade agreements that are forged in the World Trade Organisation and through regional negotiations it reveals that few of the claims made by the major players stand up to scrutiny, while many of the counter-claims lack rigour in their analysis of key issues. It cuts through the rhetoric with illuminating anecdotes from the author's experience of working with trade negotiators, to present a more realistic view of their motives and the outcomes they achieve. Each of the components of the trade liberalisation agenda is examined in turn, to identify its most likely impacts on the interacting economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. In some cases the rhetoric approximates to the truth while in many others it does not. From its analysis of the relationships between trade, social transformation, economic growth and environmental sustainability, the book concludes with proposals for how the rules by which trade is governed might be reformed to help tackle the world's most pressing problems instead of making them worse.

New Arrival: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus "lovesick ghetto nerd" with zero game (except for Dungeons & Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I've read in a long time. My head is still buzzing with the memory of dozens of killer passages that I dog-eared throughout the book. The rope-a-dope narrative is funny, hip, tragic, soulful, and bursting with desire. Make some room for Oscar Wao on your bookshelf - you won't be disappointed. (Brad Thomas Parsons)