Many people in South Africa were shocked by the death of at least 13 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops when rebels overran their base in the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). Amongst the public and within the media questions soon started arising around the possible reasons why troops were in CAR to begin with. When it emerged that troops were possibly partly deployed to protect businesses in CAR linked to top African National Congress (ANC) officials, there was widespread outrage. The fact that South African troops were involved in protecting the political and economic interests of wealthy people linked to the South African state in CAR, and other African countries, should perhaps, however, not come as a surprise. Throughout its history, whether during apartheid or post apartheid, the South African state – which is controlled by the ruling class and headed up by members of this class - has been most willing to deploy troops in parts of Africa to protect the political, economic and strategic interests of the South African ruling class.
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The series of strikes and protests that recently took place in and around farms in South Africa’s Western Cape Province was fuelled by the deep-seated anger and frustration that workers feel. On a daily basis, farm workers face not only appalling wages, bad living conditions and precarious work, but also widespread racism, intimidation and humiliation. The extent of the oppressive conditions run deep and it is not uncommon for workers to even be beaten by farm-owners and managers for perceived ‘transgressions’. Indeed, life for workers in the rural areas has always been harsh, but over the last two decades it has in many ways gotten even worse and poverty has in many cases grown. read full story / add a comment

This article explores, from an anarchist perspective, the sugar industry in southern Africa, and how the two dominant companies - Illovo and Tongaat-Hulett - exploit and oppress workers and communities surrounding their operations. read full story / add a comment

While any human being with any sense of justice should be appalled by what happened at Marikana it would, however, be a mistake to view it as an isolated incident that emerged out of the blue. read full story / add a comment

Καθώς η κρίση στην Ευρώπη έχει ενταθεί, ο ταξικός πόλεμος και ο ιμπεριαλισμός έχουν εμβαθύνει στην Ελλάδα. Πράγματι, η ελληνική εργατική τάξη έχει υποστεί περαιτέρω επιθέσεις σε βάρος της από την τοπική άρχουσα τάξη -που αποτελείται από τους καπιταλιστές και υψηλόβαθμους κρατικούς αξιωματούχους- και τις ιμπεριαλιστικές δυνάμεις. read full story / add a comment

For many people on the left, within and outside of Southern Africa, the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ is seen as a beacon of socialist hope in a sea of capitalist despair. The reason why many leftists feel so strongly attached to this project, and promote it as an alternative, is because they have come to view it as a move by the Venezuelan state towards creating a genuine, free form of socialism or at the very least an experiment that profoundly breaks with the tenets of neo-liberalism. This article, however, questions the assumption that the Venezuelan state is embarking upon a path to create a truly egalitarian and free socialist society. It will, therefore, be argued that Venezuela is not in a transitional phase to socialism; rather it is a capitalist country where the private sector and important state-owned companies seek to maximise profits. read full story / add a comment

Klassen oorlog en imperialisme hebben zich in Griekenland verdiept. De Griekse arbeidersklasse is onderworpen aan verdere aanvallen van de lokale - en imperialistische heersende klassen. Om de laatste 'bailout' van het IMF en de ECB te ontvangen werd de Griekse staat door de Duitse, Franse en Amerikaanse heersende klassen verteld dat de pensioenen opnieuw moesten worden verlaagd, de openbare nutsvoorzieningen volledig moesten worden geprivatiseerd, en sociale uitgaven en lonen opnieuw moesten worden verlaagd. [English] read full story / add a comment

Class war and imperialism have deepened in Greece. The Greek working class has been subjected to further attacks from the local and imperialist ruling classes. To receive the latest ‘bailout’ from the IMF and the ECB, the Greek state was told by the German, French and US ruling classes to again reduce pensions, to fully privatise public utilities, and to again cut social spending and wages. [Nederlands] read full story / add a comment

Ancora una volta molto clamore è scoppiato sui media in seguito alla presentazione del bilancio dello Stato del Sud Africa. La finanziaria 2012, comunque, è una volta di più la dimostrazione del programma della classe al potere dell'ANC: liberalizzazioni, tagli alla spesa per i poveri e sussidi per i ricchi. Dalla legge di bilancio e da altre fonti risulta evidente che l'ANC, a dispetto dell'isteria dei media, non ha alcun interesse per le nazionalizzazioni. Lo Stato, dunque, cerca in gran parte di affrontare la crisi economica globale con il ricorso al mondo delle imprese, come al solito. [English] read full story / add a comment

Once again much media fanfare has broken out in aftermath of the South African state’s budget speech. The budget, however, is yet more proof of the ANC’s ruling class agenda: free markets, budget cuts for the poor and subsidies for the rich. From the budget and other utterances it is clear the ANC has, despite media hysteria, no interest in nationalisation. The state will, therefore, try and deal with the global economic crisis largely through business-as-usual.
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At the time of writing, ruling class scum (the rich, big bosses, politicians and state managers) from across the globe are hopping on fancy planes to descend, like fleas, onto the posh air conditioned Durban Convention Centre for the COP 17 meeting. In between living in luxury, posing for press pictures, attending cocktail parties, closing business deals, and flashing fake bleached smiles; we are told - by these very same ruling class parasites - that they are coming to Durban and COP 17 to solve global warming. To be sure, the ruling class scum want us to believe that they are Armani-clad superheroes who care about us and who are flying in to save us all. But hold the applause and cheers, because nothing could be further from the truth. read full story / add a comment

Πρέπει να μάθουμε από αυτά. Στην πραγματικότητα, αν θέλουμε να διασφαλίσουμε πως δεν θα υπάρξουν στο μέλλον άλλοι Άντριες Τατάνε, πρέπει να αναβιώσουμε τις καλύτερες πρακτικές της λαικής εξουσίας και να αρχίσουμε να χτίζουμε έναν ελεύθερο και ισότιμο κόσμο. Ένα κόσμο που θα βασίζεται στις αρχές που έχουν γίνει γνωστές, διαμέσου 150 χρόνων αγώνα για δικαιοσύνη, ως αναρχοκομμουνισμός. read full story / add a comment

It has become common knowledge that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. Only 41% of people of working age are employed, while half of the people employed earn less than R 2 500 a month. Worse still, inequality is growing with wages as a share of the national income dropping from 50% in 1994 to 45% in 2009; while profit as a share of national income has soared from 40% to 45%. In real terms this means that while a minority live well – and have luxurious houses, swimming pools, businesses, investments, and cushy positions in the state - the majority of people live in shacks or tiny breezeblock dwellings, are surrounded by squalor, and struggle on a daily basis to acquire the basics of life like food and water. Likewise, while bosses, state managers, and politicians – both black and white – get to strut around in fancy suits barking orders; the majority of people are expected to bow down, do as told, and swallow their pride. Despite being expected to be subservient, however, protests in working class areas are spreading. People have become fed up with being unemployed, having substandard housing, suffering humiliation, and having their water and electricity cut off. In fact, per person South Africa has the highest rate of protests in the world [3]. It is in this context of growing community direct action, even if still largely un-coordinated, that the state has felt it necessary, at least on a rhetorical level, to declare its intentions to lead a fight against unemployment and reduce inequality. To supposedly do so it unveiled a new economic framework, The New Growth Path (NGP), late in 2010 with the declared aim of creating 5 million jobs by 2020 [4]. read full story / add a comment

In this article, using an anarchist analysis, it will be argued that this lopsided trade, expansive investment and projection of state power by the South African ruling class are signs of the imperialist role they play in southern Africa. In undertaking this, it will be outlined how the South African ruling class, as an integral part of their imperialist role, are conducting a class war against the workers and the poor across sub-Saharan Africa. Through examining this class war, it will hopefully become clear that the South African state is being used as a key instrument by the ruling class – made up of capitalists and high-ranking state officials – to further their own interests in southern Africa. The consequence of highlighting the imperialist nature of the South African state also has implications for the strategies and tactics that should be used in struggle. It will be strongly argued that due to its hierarchical centralising and expansionist ambitions, the state cannot be used as a tool for liberation in South Africa or in the region.
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On the 13th April, people in South Africa were stunned. On the evening news the sight of six police force members brutally beating a man, Andries Tatane, to death was aired. The images of the police smashing his body with batons and repeatedly firing rubber bullets into his chest struck a cord; people were simply shocked and appalled. Literally hundreds of articles followed in the press, politicians of all stripes also hopped on the bandwagon and said they lamented his death; and most called for the police to receive appropriate training to deal with ‘crowd control’ – after all, elections are a month away. Andries Tatane’s death was the culmination of a protest march in the Free State town of Ficksburg. The march involved over 4,000 people, who undertook the action to demand the very basics of life - decent housing, access to water and electricity, and jobs. read full story / add a comment

The economic crisis in South Africa has seen inequalities, and the forced misery of the working class, grow. While the rich and politicians have continued to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth, workers and the poor have been forced to suffer. It is in this context that the majority of the leaders of the largest trade unions have, unfortunately, elected to once again place their faith in a social dialogue and partnerships with big business and the state. So while the state and bosses have been on the offensive against workers and the poor, union officials have been appealing to them to save jobs during the crisis. Not surprisingly, this strategy has largely failed. While union leaders and technocrats have been debating about the policies that should or should not be taken to overcome the crisis, bosses and the state have retrenched over 1 million workers in a bid to increase profits. It is, therefore, sheer folly for union leaders to believe that the state and bosses are interested in compromise – without being forced into it. As seen by their actions, the elite are only interested in maintaining their power, wealth and lifestyles by making the workers and the poor pay for the crisis. For the elite, social dialogue is simply a tool to tie the unions up and limit their real strength – direct action by members. In fact, even before the crisis, social dialogue had been a disaster for the unions contributing towards their bureaucratisation and having abysmal results in terms of them trying to influence the state away from its pro-rich macro-economic policies. read full story / add a comment

Negli anni recenti, molti a sinistra hanno cercato di formulare una visione del socialismo fondato sulla democrazia. Ne è nata una pletora di giornali e di dibattiti a livello internazionale su quanto sia necessario che il socialismo debba essere di natura partecipativa se si vuole conseguire la vera libertà. Alcuni hanno dato a questa ricerca nomi evocativi di una sorta di socialismo democratico, quali "Socialismo del 21° secolo", "socialismo-dal-basso" ed anche "ecosocialismo". In Sud Africa la voglia di socialismo democratico ha suscitato iniziative quali la Conferenza per una Sinistra Democratica (CSL); e persino il Partito Comunista del Sud Africa ha sottolineato la necessità di un programma socialista più partecipativo. [English] read full story / add a comment

Over the last few years, many on the left have been trying to formulate a vision of socialism based on democracy. As a consequence countless papers and talks have been produced internationally about how socialism needs to be participatory if true freedom is to be achieved. Some have given this search for a form of democratic socialism evocative names, such as ‘Twenty-First Century socialism’, ‘socialism-from-below’ and ‘ecosocialism’. In South Africa the desire for a democratic socialism has also inspired initiatives such as the Conference for a Democratic Left (CDL); while even the South African Communist Party has outlined a need for a more participatory socialist agenda. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

The article looks at how the state and the rich are using Eskom to subsidise giant corporations with cheap electricty in South Africa and are making the working class pay for this. The impact of this on people has been devastating, cut-offs have risen, prices have sky-rocketed and jobs have been slashed. The article goes on to argue that only direct action by the working class can reverse this. It then provides some thoughts on how struggles for immediate gains, like electricity, could be used to build a movement that could fight to replace the state and capitalism with an anarchist communist society . read full story / add a comment

This article looks at the recent protests in Greece, including the challenges that have been faced like the bureaucratised unions. read full story / add a comment