I’ve published my first blog post for the South Africa Project!

(And I’m writing a blog post about a blog post! Go me!)

I’m really excited about this because I’ve been working for the South Africa Project for something like a month now and have really only used Twitter, Facebook, and to a degree worked on the MySpace and Flickr pages. This has been an opportunity for me to really write.

The South Africa Project is a campaign built by the non-profit organization Ubuntu Now, aimed at bringing attention to social issues in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. The five areas of focus for the South Africa project are promoting gender equality, rape prevention and female empowerment, post-rape care for victims, orphan support, and providing access to financial independence. We have just become a certified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.

As for my first blog post, I wrote about the legacy of Olof Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister who was assassinated in 1986 outside of a cinema. Palme’s name is probably forgotten to most people nowadays, especially in this part of the world, but his death sent shockwaves through Sweden and Europe, as it was unfathomable to the Swedish people that one of their public officials could be murdered in such a callous manner. To this day, many Swedish officials are able to live without round-the-clock protection from a bodyguard, but more are choosing to travel with protection; Sweden revisited the shock of losing a public official in 2003 with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, was murdered while shopping in a Stockholm department store.

Palme was known around the world for his committment to peace, justice, and equality, shown in part by his stance against apartheid. I had written about media coverage during the investigation of Palme’s death for an international media course several years ago, so I am rather familiar with Palme’s story and was able to connect his involvement with South Africa when I began working on the South Africa Project. I believe that it’s important to remember how Palme contributed to the struggle against apartheid when considering the ways in which we should approach the push for change in South Africa’s current climate; despite the political freedoms granted in 1994 when all-race elections broke racial barriers, there are still serious issues regarding equality and justice that require worldwide attention. Although I have certain opinions when it comes to interfering with another nation’s democratic process, I feel that these are very important issues that are relevant to the rest of the world, much in the way apartheid was; especially now that South Africa is hosting the World Cup in 2010, it would show a lack of responsibility to let these injustices go without being addressed. Palme serves as an example for how the international community should come together for such issues, and it is a shame that he is not here today to help the cause.

I’d greatly appreciate it if anyone who reads this goes and takes the time to visit the blog for the South Africa Project. I’d be great to get some traffic to the site, but I’d also love to see any comments — not just on my post, but on other posts, as well. Please go check it out!