Other Press
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southern africa / history Monday June 17, 2013 - 23:59 byZabalaza
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This year [2006] marks the 30th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa, which marked the start of the fall of apartheid, and inspired activists worldwide. African working youth played a leading role, and their sacrifices showed us that ordinary people can make a difference to the injustices of our world. Revolutionaries should commemorate this struggle, but also learn from its failings. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / community struggles Sunday June 16, 2013 - 01:26 byLekhetho Mtetwa
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It is clear that the rights of the working class and poor people on the ground are not recognised by those in power, and will never be. After the 1994 elections, ordinary people thought that they will feel and enjoy real democracy. But to their surprise, things didn’t work the way they thought. People are being demoralised, threatened and killed when they stand up. It is now difficult for people to exercise their democratic rights. It’s clear that voting won’t bring any change in people’s lives. The whole system is run by a small ruling class. Voting does not change the system. By voting we are just fooling ourselves about our rights. People voted in 1994 because they thought their votes will bring complete changes in their lives. No one thought of suffering after voting in the first elections. Promises were made by so-called leaders in order to be voted into power. Their promises were a big lie. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / miscellaneous Friday June 07, 2013 - 22:09 byTina Sizovuka
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Nelson Mandela has become a brand, “Brand Mandela,” his image, name and prison number used to generate cash and to promote the legend of Mandela. In July 2012, for example, the 46664 clothing line was launched (all “Made in China”). But “Brand Mandela” is more than just an opportunity to sell stupid trinkets to tourists and celebrities. It is also a dangerous myth, based on Mandela-worship, promoted daily in the public imagination to serve far more sinister interests. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / community struggles Wednesday June 05, 2013 - 22:11 byBongi Motahane
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On 22 August 2012, communities from in, and out, of Gauteng had a meeting at Khanya College, Johannesburg, on the Marikana massacre. More than half of the 50 people who participated, most of the delegates, came from the mine areas affected by the situation in the North West Province. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / community struggles Thursday March 28, 2013 - 16:05 byOliver Nathan
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South Africa is an extremely unequal society. The post-apartheid dispensation has seen the situation of the majority poor black working class worsening. On the other side of the coin, a few elites have ‘made it’ in capitalism and through the state, often through the elitist forms of ‘Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and corruption. Inequality in South Africa is easily illustrated when one observes the massive disparities in development, service delivery and wealth between townships and rural areas on the one hand, and suburban areas on the other. Should massive disparities in service delivery between wealthy and poor neighbourhoods be put down to corruption, mismanagement, administrative incapacity and a lack of consultation? Or is there something in how the state is structured and the way in which it rules which means that it can never give the majority of people what they need? ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / history Wednesday March 06, 2013 - 00:50 byTina Sizovuka and Lucien van der Walt
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This article aims to explain, from an anarchist / syndicalist perspective, the rapid rise and fall of Julius Malema, the controversial and corrupt multi-millionaire leader of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) “youth league” (ANCYL). It is demonstrated that Malema’s posturing as radical champion of the black poor was simply a means to an end: rising higher in the ranks of the ANC, in order to access bigger state tenders and higher paying political office.
The larger political implications of the Malema affair are also considered, especially the role of the ANC – as a vehicle for the accumulation of wealth and power by the rising black elite, which is centred on the state. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / workplace struggles Thursday February 28, 2013 - 19:13 byTina Sizovuka and Lucien van der Walt
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Privatisation – the transfer of functions and industry to the private sector – is widely and correctly rejected on the left and in the working class. Privatisation leads only to higher prices, less and worse jobs, and worse services. Given this, some view nationalisation – the transfer of economic resources (e.g. mines, banks, and factories) to state ownership and control – as a rallying cry for a socialist alternative.
This article argues that nationalisation has never removed capitalism, nor led to socialism, and it certainly does not have a demonstrable record of consistently improving wages, jobs, rights and safety. This article appeals to progressive working class forces to look instead to another way:collectivisation from below, where industry is placed under direct workers’ self-management, subject to worker-community participatory democratic planning and control to meet human needs and end oppression, in a universal human community.
... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / history of anarchism Tuesday February 19, 2013 - 06:30 byLucien van der Walt
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The first installation in the Zabalaza's new series on Black Stars of Anarchism:
The son of a Wesleyan minister, Thibedi William Thibedi was one of the most important black African revolutionary syndicalists in South African history. Thibedi was a leading figure in the International Socialist League (ISL) and in the Industrial Workers of Africa syndicalist union. Later he played an important role in the early Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), particularly its union work. He was active in all of the key black unions from the 1910s to the 1940s. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / workplace struggles Saturday February 09, 2013 - 23:28 byShawn Hattingh
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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 
southern africa / workplace struggles Tuesday September 04, 2012 - 16:19 byShawn Hattingh
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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 
África austral / a esquerda Thursday August 02, 2012 - 01:02 byBruno Lima Rocha
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Nem mesmo Mandela impediu o saque das elites sul-africanas durante a Copa do Mundo de 2010. Os 20% mais ricos ainda controlam 80% do PIB nacional. ... read full story / add a comment 
africa meridionale / economia Tuesday March 06, 2012 - 17:38 byShawn Hattingh
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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
southern africa / economy Friday March 02, 2012 - 02:01 byShawn Hattingh
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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. [Italiano] ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / the left Tuesday December 27, 2011 - 13:32 byJonathan Payn
1 comment (last - monday january 02, 2012 - 17:03) 1 image
Failures of democracy have been a big part of the history of the DLF. We in the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) have had to raise such challenges several times (see “DLF structure: concerns and proposals” by ZACF). We have long been troubled by the lack of proper democratic structures, by a leadership that consists far more of middle-class intellectuals than of grassroots militants, and by a programme that seems to be determined in advance by the academic and NGO interests of these intellectuals instead of by the immediate needs of the workers and the poor. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / miscellaneous Wednesday November 23, 2011 - 20:19 byJonathan Payn
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It was recently reported by various newspapers that ‘a “notorious gang of anarchists” with links to cash heists is attempting to destabilise the Gauteng ANC’. Newspaper articles [*] quoted ANC provincial secretary David Makhura as saying that an ANC investigation would ‘expose the hidden hand of business people who are fuelling and financing activities that seek to disrupt the functioning of the ANC’.
The claims came after a group of disgruntled party members allegedly held an unofficial parallel election to decide the party’s Tshwane leader. According to Makhura the parallel gathering ‘was organised by a notorious gang of anarchists, most of whom have disciplinary cases’. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / anarchist movement Sunday November 06, 2011 - 12:19 byJonathan Payn
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The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front, or ZACF – Zabalaza meaning ‘struggle’ in isiZulu and isiXhosa – is a specific anarchist political organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a unitary organisation – or federation of individuals, as opposed to a federation of collectives – whereby membership is on an individual basis, by invitation only. This is because we have seen – through our own experience, as well as that of global anarchism historically – that we can accomplish more as an organisation, and be more effective, when our members share a certain level of theoretical and strategic unity, and collective responsibility. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / workplace struggles Wednesday September 14, 2011 - 15:25 byJames Pendlebury
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Cleaning workers throughout South Africa have been on strike since Monday 8 August. They are demanding a living wage of R4 200 per month, as well as a 13th cheque and shorter hours. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / the left Friday September 02, 2011 - 23:48 byLucien van der Walt
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This article outlines the core features of the anarchist/ syndicalist vision, strategy and relevance to contemporary struggles. While of general interest, it is also directed to South African militants on the left, as part of the larger debate on the future of the left project. ... read full story / add a comment 
Νότια Αφρική (Περιφέρεια) / Καταστολή / Φυλακές Thursday August 11, 2011 - 07:49 byShawn Hattingh (ZACF)
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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
southern africa / repression / prisoners Tuesday July 26, 2011 - 17:52 byRichard Pithouse
A reflection on state repression of popular struggles in South Africa in the wake of the full aquittal of the Kennedy 12 (Abahlali baseMjondolo political prisoners). ... read full story / add a comment |
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