Rubin Phillip (born ) is bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Natal The Diocese of Natal is in the region of Natal, South Africa, the diocese has its northern boundary at the Tugela River. The episcopal leader of the diocese is the bishop of Natal. History The history of the Diocese in the Colony of Nata ...

. The great-grandchild of

indentured labour Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or serv ...

ers from

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, Phillip is the first person of Indian heritage in South Africa to hold the position of

Bishop of Natal The Diocese of Natal is in the region of Natal, South Africa, the diocese has its northern boundary at the Tugela River. The episcopal leader of the diocese is the bishop of Natal. History The history of the Diocese in the Colony of Nata ...

. He grew up in Clairwood, a suburb of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

with a large concentration of people of Indian descent, in a non-religious household, but converted to Christianity. He was a noted anti-apartheid activist and spent three years under house arrest in the 1970s and was banned in 1973. He was enthroned as bishop in February 2000. He continues to take political positions and remains connected to grassroots struggles.Unfreedom Day Rally: Freedom a figment of elite imagination, say 50,000 shack dwellers
Dennis Webster, ''The Daily Maverick'', 24 April 2018

Black Consciousness Movement

Phillip was involved in the

Black Consciousness Movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Af ...

, was a close friend to

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalism, African nationalist and ...

and was the Deputy President of the

South African Students' Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney Pi ...

in 1972 when Steve Biko was President. He was banned - legally excluded from public life - in 1973.Paulo Freire and Popular Struggle in South Africa
Zamalotshwa Sefatsa, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Dossier No. 31, 2020

Zimbabwe

In 2008, Phillip, working with the dockworkers' union, successfully obtained a court order preventing arms shipments destined for

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

from being transported through South Africa. He is chair of the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum in South Africa.

Abahlali baseMjondolo

Phillip has been, and remains, a strong supporter of the shack dwellers' movement

Abahlali baseMjondolo Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which primarily campaigns for land, housing and dignity, to democratise society from below and against xenophobia. ...

. He has attended meetings, memorials, mass ecumenical prayers, marches and UnFreedom Day rallied hosted by Abahlali baseMjondolo and supported the organisation's successful battle to have the KZN Slums Act declared unconstitutional. In September 2009, he condemned the violent expulsion of Abahlali baseMjondolo from the

Kennedy Road informal settlement Kennedy Road is an informal settlement in Durban (eThekwini), in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Formed in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the settlement was mentioned by the African National Congress (ANC) after the end of apar ...

blaming political interference and stating that "this militia has acted with the support of the local ANC structures". He supported the movement through the case that followed the attack. He was critical of the 2010 Football World Cup saying that: "If we can successfully host a massive event like the World Cup, spending billions, then why can't we provide water, electricity and housing for a handful of shack dwellers?" In 2013 he expressed solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo after the movement was subject to assassinations, a police killing, shootings and arrests.

Marikana Massacre

Phillip was very critical of the police massacre of striking mine workers at Marikana in 2012. At the time he declared that "And so again, the truth of our country is in dead black bodies littering the ground. The truth of our time is that people asserting their rights and dignity have been brought down in a hail of bullets."

Other activism

He has taken a strong stand against gender based violence.

Awards and recognition

Bremen International Peace award

In 2009 Phillip was given the Bremen International Peace award on the grounds of his work in the struggle against apartheid and his ongoing work "to offer solidarity to the displaced people, victims of persecutions and detainees".

Diakonia award

In August 2010 Phillip was given the Diakonia award in recognition of "his involvement with the anti apartheid movement as far back as the 1960s, through his advocacy and involvement in the Zimbabwe crisis to his solidarity with the shack dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo." He dedicated the award to "shack dwellers, especially those from Kennedy Road and all those who have stood in solidarity with them."

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillip, Rubin 1948 births Anglican bishops of Natal Converts to Christianity South African housing rights activists Liberation theologians Living people People from Durban South African activists 21st-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops 20th-century South African Anglican priests South African people of Indian descent