Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Lindy & Francis Wilson.

When Francis and Lindy Wilson began to return to South Africa in 1966 after many years in the UK, friends discouraged them -- by returning, they’d be part of the problem, benefiting from the apartheid system and having “all the privileges of a white South African”. They saw it differently, feeling they could be an effective part of apartheid resistance despite racial privilege. This belief in using one’s privilege to work for change runs as a through-line in their nearly 60 years of activism in South Africa. As white anti-apartheid leaders, Francis and Lindy transformed their living room into a sanctuary where struggle leaders of all backgrounds gathered for robust conversation and wisdom. Using Francis’s research as an economist and Lindy’s work as a documentary filmmaker, they have spent their lives using their privilege to find ways to resist and work against racist and unequal systems and to give space and voice to those within them.

Below are some of the nuggets from the call that stood out for me ...

• The paradox of South Africa: there was a lot of space within the totalitarian system. Find the freedom amongst the constraints.
• True patriotism, as one’s love of country, is best expressed in service to its people. There is solidarity and empathy. You cannot just walk away from every tricky situation. We had the freedom to move, the privilege to do it. We knew we had to participate in change.
• Acknowledge your privilege—the color of your skin, education level, whatever else. Then use your privilege to eliminate privilege.
• The first step to becoming a “white ally,” for someone who might not have direct contact with people of color, is to become aware. Read half a dozen different black authors, men and women, to increase your sensitivity. For example, when Francis and Lindy were in the US in the 1960s, they read Malcolm X, and this helped them better understand black consciousness in South Africa. Then find ways to meet people different than yourself and learn about their cultures.
• Acknowledge your heritage, as well as embrace your present reality [country of residence, community, or other identity].
• Lindy’s inner evolution that paralleled the social movements: “I learned a tremendous amount every day. I learned about other cultures, and about how much I didn’t know.”
• We all have the gift of time. "The time we have in this moment,” Francis said, “is equal for everybody in the world. How do we use that time? Choose your topic. Get some friends.” He quoted Margaret Mead on a small group of committed citizens changing the world.
• Lindy on what she called “the new faith”: “We should be in awe of the planet and its miraculous uniqueness. Every child should be taught the remarkableness of the planet. Recently, we have become a global world. We must all work for it. To do everything possible to contain its absolute magic reality. It’s all we have.”

Even now, Lindy and Francis show no signs of slowing down. Lindy continues to make films, most recently For Which I am Prepared to Die, about her uncle Roger Bushell who, in spite of knowing he would be shot if he was caught escaping again, undertook to mastermind the famous ‘great escape' of World War 2, when 77 men tunneled out of a Nazi POW camp in 1944. Francis is working on 3 books, including The Road from Cathcart Station: An Autobiographical Excursion. 

Lots of gratitude to all the behind-the-scenes volunteers that made this call happen!