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July 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York Center For Conflict Dialogue to Celebrate Mandela Day with
Screening of New Documentary on the Anti-Apartheid Divestment Movement.

NYC Event Part of Global Project

The New York Center For Conflict Dialogue, together with the American
Friends Services Committee, Street Corner Resources Inc. in Harlem and
the Harlem Clergy and Community Leaders Coalition with campaign support
from Active Voice, Clarity Films and major funding from the Ford
Foundation, will host an exclusive screening of Have You Heard from
Johannesburg: Bottom Line at The Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building
163 W 125th Street, 8th Floor on Friday, July 16, 2010 at 5:30pm. The
documentary will be followed by a panel discussion featuring:  David
Wildman- Executive Secretary, Human Rights & Racial Justice, United
Methodist Church, Board of Global Ministries, Donna Katzin- who appears
in the film and is Founding Executive Director of Shared Interest, a
social investment fund that directs resources to South Africa’s lowest
income of color, Pastor Vernon Williams- Harlem Community Leaders and
Clergy Coalition, Sister Ivory Ann Black II Wolleta Sellassie- Executive
Director, Afrikan Unity of Harlem, Dr. Delois Blakely- Ambassador of
Goodwill, Africa, Ebrahim Ndure- Columbia University Pan African Student
Movement, Vincent Booys- A South African Activist whose nephew was
killed by a stray bullet in the 1976 uprising during the apartheid era.
The Panel Discussion will be moderated by Spencer Chiimbwe- Coordinating
Chairman, New York Center For Conflict Dialogue. The film is part of a
new seven-part documentary series that tells the story of the global
movement to end apartheid. The screening and related activites
celebrating Nelson Mandela Day come at a particular relevant time as the
United States District Court for Southern District of New York considers
a crucial decision about the liability of companies for apartheid era
crimes.

The Bottom Line tells the dramatic story of people around the world who
refused to let business with apartheid South Africa go on as usual and
shows how international grassroots economic boycotts against Polaroid,
Shell, Barclay’s, General Motors and others doing business in South Africa
helped bring one of the world’s most brutally repressive governments to
its knees. “A clear and rousing study of how economic sanctions, initiated
by grassroots protests, can have a significant political effect –
especially when the boards of corporations find themselves in a forced
position of embarrassment” –Time Out London. The Have You Heard from
Johannesburg series is produced and directed by two-time Academy Award®
nominee Connie Field, an American filmmaker whose previous work includes
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter and Freedom On My Mind. The series
is the first attempt in any medium to pull together the many threads of
global anti-apartheid action that formed the international movement.

With a story that spans 12 countries and three decades, the dramatic
series is being broadcast around the world in 2010 and is the basis of a
global campaign Field hopes will inspire audiences to think about the
legacies of the movement today and help groups reflect on long-term
activism and boost current social justice efforts. This global project
around the Have You Heard from Johannesburg series is funded by the Ford
Foundation. The organizers of the Project are working with NGOs,
community-based groups, and others in the U.S., South Africa and
internationally to bring these untold stories to communities around the
globe.

The Center for Conflict Dialogue is one of these groups and ties this
screening to the 67 minutes campaign, symbolizing the 67 years since the
former president first started fighting for human rights and the abolition
of apartheid. Different community groups including the Harlem Streen
Corner Resources, American Friends Services Committee, Harlem Clergy and
Community Leaders Coalition and student groups  will  go into  selected
places and streets in Harlem and do community service earlier in the day,
before the documentary screening. The participating groups will gather at
the State Building to participate in making symbolic hand imprints, which
is emblematic of Mandela’s commitment to positively impact people for
generations. The event calls upon each of us to give 67 minutes of our
time to help others, rooted in the idea that, like Mandela, each
individual has the ability to make an imprint and change the world around
them for the better.

The Mission of the New York Center For Conflict Dialogue is to facilitate
and coordinate platforms on which thematic areas of dialogue are addressed
with a view to educating the communities and resolve conflict.

CONTACT:
•    SNEAK PREVIEW EVENT: Spencer Chiimbwe spencer@ccdny.org or + 1 646 730 0500
•    CAMPAIGN: Sahar Driver sahar@activevoice.net or 1.415.487.2000 (U.S.A.);
campaign information at http://www.activevoice.net/haveyouheard
•    DOCUMENTARY SERIES: Connie Field at info@clarityfilms.org; information
and trailers about the series at http://www.clarityfilms.org/.