Hi, Sisonke Msimang here from the new ABC Rewind series Boycott!
I was seventeen years old on the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
I sat in the lounge room next to my aunty and the two of us wept as we watched him emerge, smiling and waving at the world — and so alive!
I was born in exile and raised by a community of freedom fighters who had fled South Africa to join the underground movement and challenge the apartheid regime.
So when I was asked to present a show about the anti-apartheid movement and the role Australia played in it, I grabbed it with both hands.
In the series, I talk to South Africans who risked their lives and meet the Australians who used sport, culture, boycotts and sanctions to bring South Africa to its knees.
It's a story of hope in unsettled times and a story about the power of collective struggle to change the course of history.
I have spent most of my life thinking and writing about racism, injustice and what it means for a country to try to forge a future together.
It's been an incredible honour to talk to the ordinary people who made our freedom possible.
I hope you enjoy the series.
