Other Press
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southern africa / community struggles Thursday March 28, 2013 - 16:05 by Oliver 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 by Tina 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 by Tina Sizovuka and Lucien van der Walt
 1 comment (last - sunday march 03, 2013 - 02:14) 1 image
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 by Lucien 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 by Shawn 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 by Shawn 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 by Bruno 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 by Shawn 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 by Shawn 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 by Jonathan 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 by Jonathan 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 by Jonathan 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 by James 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 by Lucien 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 by Shawn 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 by Richard 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 
southern africa / history of anarchism Sunday July 17, 2011 - 22:48 by Lucien van der Walt
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The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, the Wobblies) was the main influence on the radical left in South Africa in the early twentieth century. But who were the South African Wobblies? This article looks at three key figures. From Industrial Worker, May 2011, no. 1735.
... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / workplace struggles Monday July 11, 2011 - 19:22 by Lucien van der Walt and Ian Bekker
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The biggest single strike since the 1994 parliamentary transition in South Africa showed the unions’ power. It won some wage gains, but it threw away some precious opportunities. We need to celebrate the strike, while learning some lessons:
• the need for more union democracy
• the need to use strikes to link workers and communities
• the need for working class autonomy
• the need to act outside and against the state
• the need to review our positions: against the Tripartite Alliance, for anarcho-syndicalism ... read full story / add a comment
southern africa / imperialism / war Friday June 10, 2011 - 01:12 by Shawn Hattingh
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. ... read full story / add a comment 
southern africa / repression / prisoners Thursday April 21, 2011 - 22:28 by Shawn Hattingh
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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 |
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