South Africa: The Unemployed Youth of Grahamstown Issue a Call to Students for Solidarity in Action

southern africa | miscellaneous | non-anarchist press Thursday March 18, 2010 14:48 by Ayanda Kota - Unemployed People’s Movement ayandakota at webmail dot co dot za 0786256462

The lives of the unemployed youth in Grahamstown may seem to be a world apart from those of the students. For us the only choices are to accept defeat and to sink into depression or to organise and fight for a place in this society. For you it seems that there is a clear path to a good life.

But capitalism is not a stable system. You may find yourself unemployed after you graduate. You may also find yourself sitting at home waiting for your life to begin. In fact some of you may find yourselves excluded from the university before you graduate if you cannot pay your fees

Right now we are poisoned by the same water from the Makana Municipality. Right now the same tenderpreneurs are poisoning the whole society for everyone.

No country can be stable or just when some young people are on the way to wealth and power while others remain stuck in unemployment. Join us and fight for a country where everyone has a future.

Together we can fight for:

· Free education for the poor and the working class. No one should be excluded from university because they do not come from a rich family. We are willing to fight together with students to ensure that the doors of learning and culture remain open to all
· Work for all. Unemployment in Grahamstown has reached crisis levels. Even people with matric or degrees are unemployed. A decent society must guarantee decent work for all.
· An end to corruption. Corruption is theft from the people. The tenderprenuers are a cancer that must be rooted out of our society. In Grahamstown our municipality has been engulfed by the most obscene forms of corruption. R26 million rand has disappeared and cannot be accounted for. This while the walls of RDP houses blow over in the wind, children die from diarrhoea and we are poisoned by the heavy metals in our water.
· Free political activity for all. Across South Africa social movements are facing increased repression at the hands of the police and local party goons. Our comrades in movements like Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Anti-Privatisation Forum have faced ongoing repression, including violence and the unlawful banning of marches, and we to have had to face police violence. We are demanding a democracy that is not just for the rich – a democracy for all.
· Immediate resolution of the water crisis. We are all, rich and poor, being poisoned by the water in this municipality. This situation will continue for as long as we do not organise on this issue. Let us unite on this issue and demand clean and safe water for all.

All around the world students are rebelling to demand an end to the commodification of education. These student rebellions are now moving outside of the universities to link up with social movements and demand a different kind of future. Here in South Africa the culture of student solidarity with social movements is being revived in Durban and in Cape Town. We are calling for it to also be revived here in Grahamstown.

We are marching on Friday 19th March. The march begins at extension 7 at 7:00 am and will continue to the Municipal Offices. Will raise all of these issue and we will keep raising them until they are addressed. All students are welcome to join the march and to work together with us for a society in which there is a place for everyone.