Iaap newsletter 28 - The new Israeli Jungian society

feasibility of a distance-training programme to accommodate these individuals within
SAAJA and with the IAAP.
This is just an example of how through a creative dialogue within SAAJA, we hope to
use the challenges that confront us to transform and develop the organization. Theses
and other issues that have been raised as a result of the questionnaire will keep us
busy and creatively engaged for some time to come.
As a result of the xenophobic violence that ravaged our country earlier this year, one
of our Journal Clubs was dedicated to this issue. This resulted in several members
drafting a letter to the Cape Argus in which we articulated an understanding of the
causes of the violence and proposed possible solutions. We are very aware that rightly
or wrongly we are perceived as a group of privileged white professionals and as such,
need to be careful especially when we are seen to be dispensing advice to other
groupings. However, the publication of the letter has resulted in an ongoing debate
about SAAJA’s practical and constructive engagement in the broader community.
Meetings with Mamphele Rhamphele and John Gilmore of the LEAP School in Cape
Town followed, which are aimed at finding ways in which we as an organization might
be prepared to make a contribution to creating a healthier society.
In October this year, we invited and were visited by Robert Bosnak, as Australian and
now American analyst, whose work on embodied emotion particularly in dream work,
was very well received. In conjunction with Bosnak’s visit, SAAJA analysts held their
own series of seminars for local and visiting professionals. I hope that these Mantis
Week Seminars, as they have become known, will become an annual occurrence. They
are always well received and appreciated by those who attend and serve both to
promote Jungian thought in the professional community as well as stimulate creativity
within the organization.
The success of any organization is dependent on the quality and commitment of its
members. I have been heartened in the last year by how members of SAAJA have
come together in a spirit of Eros and relatedness to grapple with issues confronting us
and to find solutions to those problems
Submitted by:
Rod Anderson, President
IAAP Newsletter 28 || IAAP Society Reports || South Africa SAAJA
pg. 60