Southern Africa, What the Marikana Mls us by Shawn Hattingh - ZACF

The sight of policemen brutally gunning down striking mineworkers at Marikana was truly
galling. At the very least 300 rounds of live ammunition were fired at workers (and not
only those seen on TV) by the police using automatic assault rifles in a military style
operation [1]: the infamous consequences being 34 workers killed and perhaps as many as 87
injured [2], with some workers still unaccounted for [3]. Most of the workers were also
reportedly shot in the back [4] and some executed [5]. To add insult to injury, and with
what was clearly some relish, the police arrested 260 workers in the aftermath [6]. This
often even involved policemen literally sticking the boot into injured workers.
Allegations have also subsequently emerged that 190 of these arrested workers were
tortured, some for up to 3 days, whilst being held in surrounding police stations [7].

One worker also claims that he was taken to a room on Lonmin?s property, who owns the mine
at Marikana, and handcuffed to a chair and beaten with a rubber pipe by police in a bid to
extract information about the ?leaders? of the wildcat strike [8]. Not to be outdone in
callousness, Lonmin issued an ultimatum that unless the rest of the striking workers
returned to work by 7am on the 21st of August disciplinary actions would be taken against
them [9]. The strikers though have ignored Lonmin?s threats, and at the time of writing,
most remained out on strike [10].

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. Rather, Marikana is the latest episode, even if an extremely violent one,
in a long running battle between ruthless mining companies and the state on the one hand;
and workers in South Africa?s platinum belt on the other. In fact, Marikana, and the
events surrounding it, not only cast light on the ongoing class warfare in the platinum
industry, but it brings the cruel exploitation of workers in general in South Africa into
the spotlight, it exposes the true face of class rule in the country, it lays bare the
role of the state in society, and it yet again reveals that the black working class not
only experiences exploitation but ongoing national oppression ? and accompanying racism ?
in South Africa. Indeed, this article explores these issues, including the context in
which the Marikana massacre took place, from an anarchist-communist perspective. Whilst
much of the article looks at the repugnant practices in the platinum sector, and the
equally repugnant nature of the ruling class and its state, an argument will also,
however, be made that out of the fires of Marikana, and other ongoing struggles in the
platinum sector, there is hope: they offer a possible way forward in terms of building a
working class counter-power and furthering the fight for genuine freedom and equality in
South Africa.

Life and Death in the Platinum Belt

The reality is that for platinum mineworkers, life is hard and often oppressive ? and it
is in this context that the struggles of Marikana must be seen. Working conditions for
platinum mine workers are riddled with dangers. Most workers are forced to work hundreds
of meters below ground, in very cramped conditions and in constant heat [11]. The
pneumatic drills used, each weighing 25 kilograms, make a constant and piercing noise -
along with rock breaking, sorting, and milling equipment ? and the result is that workers?
hearing is permanently damaged within a few years (even if they are wearing protective
gear). The drills in many of the mines are also cooled using brown water: partially
treated sewerage in other words. As a consequence many mineworkers suffer from skin
ailments from the spray. Dust is also a constant problem and contracting silicosis a real
danger. Many mine workers end up dying, and forgotten, in the rural areas of southern
Africa from silicosis. Along the tunnels in the platinum mines, rock fissures also occur
regularly signifying the real potential for rock falls. Coupled to this, rock blasting
occurs daily escalating the danger of cave-ins, but also increasing the prospect of
dangerous gases being released into the tunnels where workers have to work [12].
Accidents, therefore, are a constant possibility, with drillers ? the category of workers
that went on strike at Marikana ? being especially prone.

If truth be told, the dangers for mineworkers are of such an order that on average 2
miners a month died in accidents at AngloPlatinum alone throughout 2005 [13].
Unfortunately, AngloPlatinum was not the exception: deaths on the mines of Impala
Platinum, Lonmin, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and all the other players in the sector
have occurred frequently. For example, at Impala Platinum in 2011, 9 workers died due to
causes ranging from ground falls, being overcome by methane gas, and accidents involving
explosives [14]. These deaths show no sign of abating as fatal accidents on the platinum
mines were reported in June 2012 to have increased by 29% when compared to the previous
year [15]. In the drive to maximise profits, extracted via surplus value from workers,
human life for the mining companies means little.

Along with facing hazardous conditions, mineworkers are also routinely subjected to
domination and oppression at the hands of foreman, supervisors, security guards and
managers. They are ordered about, commanded and reprimanded for any infraction. On
surfacing and exiting the mines, workers are subjected to humiliation as a result of
routine body searches by security guards. Indeed, security on the mines is tight with
barbed wire and electric fences cordoning off sections of the mines; and heavily armed
security guards keep an almost constant watch over the movements and actions of workers.

The latest technology is also used in this, with many mines monitoring some of their
workers via CCTV. Even in order to gain access into the mines, workers have to pass
through various security checks, some even subjecting workers to iris and figure print
scans [16] Companies like G4S, who are often outsourced to undertake security by the
platinum mining houses, boast about offering trained armed guards and dog units for riot
control or labour ?unrest?, intelligence gathering operatives, and the ability to
undertake screenings of any employee [17]. Protea Coin Security, which is reportedly the
outsourced security at Marikana, offer similar services including ?targeted surveillance?
[18] Certainly, the anarchist Bakunin pointed out that workplaces under capitalism are
oppressive as once someone enters into work under the current system an
../../../../?employer will watch over him either directly or by means of a overseers;
every day during working hours and under controlled conditions, the employer will be the
owner of his actions and movements?when he is told: ?Do this?, the worker is obliged to do
it; or when he is told ?Go there?, he must go? [19].

But on the platinum mines, workers not only face such oppression based on their class, but
those who are black also face routine racism and paternalism at the hands of management.
Such attitudes are so pervasive that it is still quite common for managers to refer to
black mine workers as ?mine boys? [20]. Unfortunately, such discrimination is not even
limited to the mainly ? but not exclusively ? white management; even the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) General Secretary, Frans Baleni, derogatorily referred to the lowest
paid black workers at Lonmin as ../../../../?ignorant? [21]. Certainly it is no accident
that the vast majority of workers that do the lowest paid, and the most dangerous jobs,
tend to be almost exclusively black: it is the legacy of past and current systematic
racism in the sector.

Indeed, there are thousands upon thousands of mine workers that remain poorly paid. The
wildcat strike at Marikana began with the demand by 3 000 rock drillers to have their
salaries increased to R 12 500 a month. Many were earning as little as R 4 000 a month;
despite some of them having worked for decades on the mine (compared to the R 44.6 million
earned by the top 3 managers at Lonmin in one year [22]). As a matter of fact, the
platinum sector is well known for this type of situation. In other companies low wages are
also the norm, especially for rock drillers. Prior to a massive wildcat strike at Impala
Platinum, for instance, rock drillers at that company too were earning in the region of R
4 000 a month [23]. This is not surprising as the massive profits of the mining companies
have been, and are, based on the extremely low wages that are paid to workers, such as the
rock drillers, who are mostly black.

In order to keep wage bills low, the platinum mines also make extensive use of outsourcing
and labour brokers. Workers employed through labour brokers are usually paid much less
than ?permanent? workers and are excluded from receiving benefits such as healthcare and
housing. The practice has become extremely widespread, with AngloPlatinum alone employing
over 41% of its workforce through labour brokers. The picture at Lonmin?s Marikana mine is
similar with 30% of workers being employed through labour brokers [24]. Of course, labour
brokers are also used by these mining corporations in a bid to circumvent aspects of the
labour law, along with using it as a tactic to divide and rule the workers on the mines.
The labour brokers themselves mostly recruit migrant labour from the rural areas of
southern Africa; again dividing people not only on race, but on ethnic lines. Some of
these labour brokers are extremely large companies in their own right and include the
likes of Murray and Roberts.

For communities around the platinum mines, as has been well documented in a number of
studies by the Bench Marks Foundation, life is also harsh [25][26][27]. Most of these
communities live in tiny houses or shacks, often with no access to clean water or decent
sanitation. In Rustenburg alone, one of a number a towns in the platinum belt, an
estimated 250 000 people, including most mine workers, live in shacks. The Wonderkop
informal settlement at Marikana, therefore, is simply one example. The few services that
are provided by the state or by mining corporations, through so-called Corporate Social
Responsibility Programmes, are mostly of an appalling standard. The water sources
surrounding these townships and informal settlements are often heavily polluted from both
mining activities but also due to a lack of services. Dust from the tailing dams of these
corporations also regularly coats the townships and shacks in a layer of toxic material,
resulting in extremely high instances of respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis.
Constant blasting by the mines has also taken its toll, with many of the Reconstruction
and Development Programme (RDP) houses in the surrounding communities suffering structural
damage as a result.

The mining corporations too have been involved in massive land grabs, often colluding with
?traditional? chiefs and the state to do so. While a black elite linked to the ANC now
have shares in, and sit on the boards of, the massive mining companies; impoverished black
communities have simply seen their farming land stolen by the likes of Lonmin, Impala
Platinum, and AngloPlatinum. This has been done with the backing of state laws and the
compliance of the traditional authorities. The mining companies have gone as far as using
barbed wire and armed security patrols to ensure that surrounding communities do not
trespass or threaten the lucrative mining operations. Linked to this, the local state in
the Rustenburg region has reportedly effectively made it almost impossible for surrounding
communities to legally protest against this situation, with planned marches being
regularly banned [28].

The migrant labour system used by the mining corporations, including Lonmin, is also
directly associated with other ills such as a high levels HIV and AIDS and violence
against women in the communities that surround the mines [29].

Resistance has been heroic and furious

It would, however, be a complete mistake to view the mineworkers and communities as merely
victims with no hope. In fact, the struggles by mineworkers against corporations in the
sector have been going on for a while ? Marikana is simply the latest in a long line ? and
they have been inspiring, large, heroic and extremely promising. In fact, wildcat strikes
and sit-ins on the mines by workers have occurred regularly over the last few years across
corporations [30]. For instance, in 2008 at Aquarius Platinum?s Everest mine, 1 300
contract workers embarked on a wildcat strike due to bad working conditions [31]. Wildcat
strikes by workers have also occurred at Lonmin itself before. In 2011, 9 000 workers at
Lonmin?s Karee operations at Marikana went out on a wildcat strike [32], which both
shocked the management, but also NUM officials.

Along with wildcat strikes, a string of at least 6 underground sit-ins and occupations,
collectively involving thousands of mineworkers, occurred between July 2009 and July 2010
in the platinum sector. These included sit-ins at Eastern Platinum?s Crocodile River Mine
[33]; Aquarius Platinum?s Kroondal Mine [34]; Impala Platinum?s Rustenburg Mine [35];
Anooraq Resources' Bokoni Mine [36][37]; and Impala Platinum and ARM?s Two Rivers Mine
[38]. In each case, the workers involved were militant and the sit-ins were proceeded by
wildcat strikes. Many of the workers that undertook the sit-ins ? in the light of company
and police violence which will be discussed later ? undertook precautions, including
barricading themselves in and in one case rigging explosive booby-traps [39].

The reasons for these sit-ins, and the grievances of the workers involved, were
wide-ranging and depended on the mine involved. Nonetheless, some of the reasons and
demands of the workers included an end to labour brokering, the hiring of contract workers
permanently, the full payment of unpaid wages, the provision of benefits denied to
contract workers, the end to racism by management and foreman, the ending of unsafe
working conditions, the payment of Unemployment Insurance Funds (UIF), the restatement of
fired workers, and increased wages [40].

In 2012 such struggles continued and in some cases escalated. Early in the year, 17 000
workers at the AngloPlatinum and ARM?s Modikwa mine undertook a protected strike over
higher wages. However, as part of this the mineworkers also barricaded the roads leading
into the mine, in a move that surprised workers and evidently NUM officials [41]. This
followed on the heals of a 6 week wildcat strike at Impala Platinum where the action began
with rock drillers demanding a wage increase from R 4 000 to R 9 500. They were then
joined by other workers and eventually 17 000 workers at the company came out.

During the strike there were regular battles between mineworkers, and the forces of
repression in the form of the police and security guards. As part of the strike tactics,
workers also barricaded the road to the nearby informal settlement to stop any scabbing
workers from breaking the strike [42]. In the end, the workers won an increase from R 4
000 to R 9 500 a month [43], demonstrating just how effective mass direct action can be.
It is also in this context that the demands of the Marikana workers, for an increase from
R 4 000 to R 12 500 must be seen. As such, the demands of the Marikana workers were not
unrealistic, as some on the left have painted them [44], but rather quite sound given what
occurred at Impala. In early August 2012 there was also action at the Aquarius? Kroondal
Mine. There hundreds of mineworkers that had been fired for an earlier wildcat strike
embarked on a protest to reclaim their jobs. As part of this, they tried to gain access to
the mine during the protest, which saw them clashing with the company?s armed security. It
is, therefore, in this context of ongoing mass mobilisation that the struggle and events
of Marikana must be seen ? they are part of a longer process that has involved workers
mobilising to justly claim what should be theirs across the platinum sector.

What has been important and highly inspiring is that in all of these cases, whether
wildcat strikes and/or sit-ins, the workers involved have done them on the basis of
self-organisation. It has been clear that no union official or bureaucratic organiser has
been involved. Even at Marikana it is evident, for anyone who would wish to see, that the
workers themselves organised their action. An Associated Mineworkers and Construction
Union (AMCU) official, despite being blamed, acknowledge this [45]. In fact, anyone
familiar with wildcat strikes in South Africa knows that they are carried out on the basis
of self-organisation ? it is simply not in the union officials interests, which lie in
formalised collective bargaining, to organise wildcat strikes and sit-ins. Wildcat strikes
and sit-ins require a huge amount of bravery from the workers; not only can you lose your
job, but in the case of sit-ins criminal charged are likely to follow. In fact, it is the
self-organisation of workers in these cases that has been so promising: as will be
discussed later the very real potential for the revitalisation of workers? struggles and
possibility of building a counter-power rests on it.

Over and above the self-organisation involved in the wildcat strikes and sit-ins, elements
of direct democracy have been evident in these struggles. Marikana specifically highlights
this, as the workers involved gathered on the now famous hill in what effectively was a
mass assembly. They had gathered there to discuss and formulate demands democratically.
They collectively also demanded to speak to Lonmin managers about their grievances.[46] A
similar case of using assemblies to organise existed in a number of the other wildcat
strikes and sit-ins that have occurred. In fact, it is the mass self-organisation and the
use of elements of direct democracy, along with the direct action and the large scale,
which makes the ongoing battles in the platinum sector so significant.

Certainly for the bureaucrats within the NUM, the wildcat strikes and sit-ins represent a
massive crisis. This is because, even if unconsciously, the workers involved are taking
their struggles into their own hands. It is for this reason that in almost every instance,
including Marikana, NUM officials have condemned the action of the workers ? many being
their own members. This has gone as far as calling for the police to arrest those
involved, calling on those involved to return to work, and calling on the companies to
fire those involved in sit-ins and wildcat strikes [47][48]. Indeed, the NUM officials?
reaction to the Marikana workers, where they called for the police to take strong action
against them, is a continuation of the reactionary role they have played for a number of
years now when it comes to self-organised worker struggles. This too is the reason why a
rival union, AMCU is starting to see an influx of members from the platinum mines. The
frustration felt with NUM bureaucrats is growing, especially amongst the contract and
labour broker workers. This is why workers heckled top NUM officials when they addressed
the gathering at Marikana; and it is why in 2009 the NUM officials, including the
President, were pelted with stones by striking workers when they told them to go back to
work [49]. Many workers are, consequently, looking around for a solution and a way to take
their struggles forward; and some are looking to initiatives like AMCU. This search opens
up the possibility for a truly self-managed workers? movement to evolve or emerge, but it
also opens up potential dangers in that populists ? with their own interests ? might step
into the void. Again, this is a theme that will be returned to.

The corporations and state?s reaction to platinum workers? struggles

Corporations have had a history of dealing harshly with wildcat strikes and sit-ins in the
platinum sector: they truly fear them and want to wipe them out. As such, the ground had
been set for an event like Marikana to occur. In most of the past wildcat strikes and
sit-ins, the companies involved have used the strategy of initially dismissing all of the
workers undertaking the actions. This has been a way to intimidate the workers involved
and to try and stop future actions. There are in fact numerous examples of this: at the
Impala Platinum 2012 strike the company dismissed 17 000 workers [50]; at the Crocodile
River Mine sit-in 560 workers involved were dismissed in 2009 [51]; at Lonmin?s Marikana
mine 9 000 workers were dismissed for a wildcat strike in 2011 [52]; at Platmin 500
workers were dismissed for an unprotected strike; and during a massive wildcat strike in
2009 at mines in Rustenburg over 5 000 people involved were sacked [53]. The companies
involved, in order not to further disrupt production, also tended to rehire many of the
fired workers once the action was over. However, they have re-hired the workers on a
selective basis with those who are seen as having been militant, ring-leaders, or
?trouble-makers? excluded. The 2011 wildcat strike at Lonmin highlighted this process
clearly: of the 9 000 workers initially fired for being involved, only 6 000 were rehired
[54] with the most militant being sidelined.

Bosses have also used underhanded tactics when dealing with workers involved in the
sit-ins and wildcat strikes. At the Crocodile River Mine sit-in, for instance, management
at the mine, in a bid to obviously end the sit-in and get the workers involved out of the
mine, announced that they and NUM officials had reached an agreement to look at the
possibility of hiring all contract workers on a permanent basis. As the sit-in hade been
undertaken around the demand that contract workers be hired on a permanent basis, the
workers saw this as a partial victory. On this basis the workers occupying the mine
decided to surface. Yet, as soon as they had exited the mine, the management once again
reneged on its promises and fired the workers that were involved in the sit-in [55].
Likewise, after a wildcat strike at the Aquarius mine, most of the workers were fired.

Many were then consequently re-hired. Nevertheless, as soon as the workers had returned to
work they discovered that the bosses had erased their employment histories and had
terminated some of their benefits. This then led to a second wildcat strike. Once again
the management fired the workers involved and refused to even issue them with their UIF
certificates [56]. At Australia Platinum?s mine in the Limpopo in 2011 a similar story of
deception by management took place. When a number of workers went out on an unprotected
strike; the company promised to look into their grievances if they returned to work. The
workers agreed to this. Upon doing so, however, disciplinary hearings were subsequently
called by management for some of the workers. Upon attending the hearing, the workers
involved were promptly arrested upon their appearance, in what was blatant intimidation by
management and the police [57]. Such tactics, as described above, are clearly used to try
and undermine workers? struggles and strike fear into anyone thinking of embarking on a
wildcat action.

Naturally in the case of all of the sit-ins and wildcat strikes the state and corporations
have colluded to try and crush the actions and severely punish any workers involved. For
example, when the workers surfaced in the aftermath of the Crocodile River Mine
occupation, not only were the promises made by management reneged upon, but the workers
involved were arrested and charged with trespassing and even kidnapping [58]. At the
Bokoni Mine sit-in in 2009 a large and well armed police contingent was sent down the mine
with the intention of forcing the workers out. Under the threat of violence, the workers
eventually elected to end the sit-in [59]. If workers have tried to hold out against the
threats of the police during sit-ins, this has inevitably led to clashes. For instance, at
the Aquarius Kroondal Mine in 2009, workers had barricaded themselves in and had
reportedly set explosive booby-traps to stop the police from violently evicting them.

This had occurred in the context where the police had recently used lethal force, along
with security guards during a strike (which will be discussed in more detail below). The
police must have been aware of the booby-traps as explosive experts from the Special Task
Force were sent down, followed by heavily armed members. Nonetheless, in the eagerness to
get to the workers some of the police members set off one of the booby-traps with the
result that 3 police were injured. All of the workers involved in the sit-in were
consequently forcefully arrested and were charged with offences ranging from malicious
damage to property, attempted murder and trespassing [60].

Along with the gung-ho attitude of police storming mines to evict workers involved in
sit-ins or to break wildcat strikes, as part of protecting private property, they have
used high levels of violence and even lethal force. On numerous occasions police have
fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades at workers involved in wildcat strikes,
protected strikes and sit-ins. Along with this, police have also regularly used armoured
vehicles and helicopters, reportedly at times filled with armed soldiers, against striking
workers. Indeed, using rubber bullets and other forms of violence has been undertaken to
intimidate workers, with the result that many have been injured [61][62][63]. Communities
protesting against pollution, land grabs and a lack of jobs at platinum mines have also
not been spared, as police have regularly fired on such protests with rubber bullets
[64][65]. Indeed, the use of violence by the South African police across the country is
standard practice when it comes to protests that they have deemed to be ?illegal?.

Police and security guards too on a number of occasions have used lethal force against
striking workers, sit-ins and community protests in the platinum sector. In 2009 during a
widespread strike, police and security guards used a massive amount of force in an attempt
to break it. Along with firing rubber bullets, dogs were also set upon striking workers.
Live ammunition too was part of the arsenal used. At least 3 strikers as a result were
reported as being killed at the hands of the police and security guards, while several
went ?missing? [66]. This, however, was not an isolated incident.

In December 2011 a protestor died when people from Bapong protested at Lonmin?s operations
demanding employment. Police, at the very least, fired rubber bullets at the protestors.
On being fired at the crowd retreated. In the wake, however, one of the protestors lay
dead at the scene ? he had been shot with live ammunition. The police spokesperson said in
response to questions about the incident that ../../../../?it was not immediately clear
how he (the protestor) had been killed? [67].

More recently, on the 1st of August 2012, 3 more workers were killed at the hands of
security guards, and 20 more were wounded, at the Aquarius Kroondal mine. In the build up
to this shooting, 200 contract workers, who had been fired by the sub-contractor Murray
and Roberts for a wildcat strike, protested against this. They reportedly tried to get
onto the mines? property and some allegedly were armed with petrol bombs. Security guards
at the mine moved in against them and opened fire with shotguns, in the process killing
and wounding the protestors [68]. It is in this wider context of supreme oppression and
police and security guard violence that Marikana must be seen.

In fact, in the days preceding the run up to the massacre at Marikana, 6 workers, 2
security guards, and 2 policemen had died. It has been reported, in an excellent piece ?
by the generally pro-business Daily Maverick ? that the violence began when 3 of the
strikers had been gunned down by men wearing NUM T-shirts. Now it is not clear whether
these men were in fact NUM members. They may have been, but they could also ? given
history and subsequent events ? have been policemen or security guards employed by the
mine to break the strike. Whatever the case, management used the incident to promote the
idea that all the strike was about was inter-union rivalry and the media lapped it up.
This was very convenient for the management: it distracted attention from the very real
grievances of the workers. For their part, the workers themselves on strike actually deny
that the deaths have been about inter-union rivalry ? pointing towards the fact that the
workers had self-organised the strike and, at least formally, that many belonged to both
the NUM and AMCU, and some were non-unionised [69]. It is also in this light of violence
directed at the strikers that they, rightfully and fully justifiably, armed themselves
with knobkerries, spears and pangas.

On the 13th of August more violence occurred, again starting out as violence direct at the
strikers. On that day a delegation of striking workers was sent by the strikers? assembly
to cross over to Lonmin?s other operation, the Karee mine, in order to talk to workers
their to try and see if they would also come out on strike. In 2011, the workers at Karee
had also undertaken a wildcat strike, many had been fired, and discontent was rife. Mine
security, however, turned the workers? delegation back. On the way back to Marikana, the
workers? delegation was stopped by a group of heavily armed police. They were told to lay
down their knobkerries and other weapons. The delegation refused, saying the weapons they
had were needed for self-defense as strikers had already been attacked and killed. The
police line parted and initially allowed the workers through, on the face of it appearing
to have accepted the explanation. Nonetheless, after the workers had got 10 meters, police
opened fire. The miners in the delegation, correctly and justifiably, turned to defend
themselves and took police chasing them. The police, with the support of a helicopter,
shot dead 2 of the workers, and severely wounded another. The workers also, as part of
defending themselves, killed 2 policemen. A number of the workers were arrested on the
scene, and charged with murder, despite having been fired on first [70].

In fact, a number of people, from different ideological backgrounds, have also reported
that the actions of the police on the infamous day of 16th of August were extremely
sinister and exceptionally brutal. What is now becoming clear is that the workers who were
captured on TV were not storming the police, but fleeing Nyalas that were running over
people and firing tear gas. This is why they were heading in the direction of the
policemen that gunned them down. But the workers who were shot in front of the TV cameras
were a minority. Other workers had fled the police heading towards the Wonderkop
settlement. Some too were ridden over by Nyalas, others shot at from helicopters. Some
tried to flee into a boulder field to hide ? the bolder field was 400 metres in the
opposite direction to where the TV cameras were. They were then systematically persuade by
police task force members into the boulder field and some executed. As part of this, some
workers were reportedly shot at almost point blank range. [71]. What is exceptionally
interesting is also that not a single policemen was in anyway wounded during the action.
Workers did have knobkerries and spears, but appear not to have used them on the day. In
other words, the policemen murdered workers who were actually not even posing a threat at
the time [72]. This all takes place in the context where the head of the police openly
stated on the day of the massacre that it was ../../../../?D-day? for the strikers [73].
Reportedly, one of the policemen had also warned one of the striking workers who he knew,
before the massacre, that orders had been signed instructing the police to fire on workers
with live ammunition to end the wildcat strike [74]. In fact, the orders for such an
action, involving police using live ammunition, must have come ? or have been approved ?
by someone very high up in the state; and not just the police commissioner.

The lessons of Marikana and the events in the platinum sector

The outright violence of the state in the platinum sector and at Marikana lays bare the
true nature of the state; and the role it plays in protecting the ruling class. It is not
an unfortunate accident that the state was protecting the mines of huge corporations, like
Lonmin, and that it was willing to use such violence to do so. It is rather one of the
main functions of the state: it is what it is designed for. For capitalism to function,
and for class rule to be maintained, a state is vital. It is central to protecting and
maintaining the very material basis on which the power of the elite is derived. Without a
state, which claims a monopoly on violence within a given territory, an elite could not
rule nor could it claim or hold onto the ownership of wealth and the means of production.
In fact, the state as an entity is the ../../../../?defender of the class system and a
centralised body that necessarily concentrates power in the hands of the ruling classes;
in both respects, it is the means through which a minority rules a majority? [75]. Through
its executive, legislative, judiciary and policing arms the state always protects the
minority ownership of property (whether private or state-owned property), and tries to
squash any threat posed to the continuing exploitation and oppression of the working class.
All states, wherever and whenever they have existed, also have always intervened in the
economy in favour of a ruling class of some sort. As noted by Kropotkin, under capitalism:

../../../../?the state has always interfered in the economic life in favour of the
capitalist exploiter. It has always granted protection in robbery, given aid and support
for further enrichment. And it could not be otherwise. To do so was one of the functions ?
the chief mission ? of the state.?
This is why the South African state has legalised the land grabs of platinum companies,
like Lonmin. It is also why it does little or nothing to stop the massive pollution they
are causing ? to do so would not economically favour these corporations.
State managers, who comprise a section of the ruling class, based on their control of the
means of coercion, administration and sometimes production, also have their own reasons
for wanting to protect the minority ownership of property ? which includes private and
state-owned property ? because their own privileged positions rest on exploitation. As
such, all states maintain capitalism and minority rule through hierarchies and a chain of
command [76]. Thus, it is wrong to believe that the South African state was ever going to
be a neutral entity in the struggles in the platinum sector and at Marikana. Its role is
not that of a protector of the workers? interests, it is rather that of a protector of
corporate interests, and when the need arises, it is to kill for these interests.
Certainly we must raise demands from the state, and mobilise to have these met, but we
must realise that the state is part of the problem, it is inherently in opposition to the
working class. As such, we must make demands, but we need to fight and mobilise for those
outside of and against the state.

Of course, the state can?t simply rule by force alone ? force is ultimately the last
pillar upon which its power rests ? but for its own stability and that of capital, it also
tries to rule through consent. To do so, it pretends to be a benefactor of all. Certainly,
most states today do have laws protecting basic rights, and some provide welfare ?
including the South African state. However, such laws and welfare have been won through
massive struggles by the oppressed, and that should not be forgotten; states simply did
not hand out these rights. But even where such laws exist, and sometimes they merely exist
on paper, the state tries to make propaganda mileage out of them; as if it is a benevolent
messiah; while in reality facilitating, entrenching and perpetrating exploitation and
oppression. It is this duplicity that led Malatesta to argue that the state:
../../../../?cannot maintain itself for long without hiding its true nature behind a
pretence of general usefulness; it cannot impose respect for the lives of the privileged
people if it does not appear to demand respect for human life, it cannot impose acceptance
of the privileges of the few if it does not pretend to be the guardian of the rights of
all.? [77] It is in this context that the South African state?s announcement that it is
setting up a Commission of Inquiry into what happened at Marikana must be seen. Even
within this, however, it must be recognised that the Commission of Inquiry will not be
neutral; within it ? as it will itself be part of the state, it will be centralised, and
its functioning will be based on laws which are against the majority ? there will be a
bias towards the state and the company.

What the events at Marikana and on the platinum mines also reveal is the nature and form
capitalism has taken in South Africa. Ever since capitalism emerged it has been based on
the exploitation of both black and white workers. However, in South Africa, black workers
have also been subjected to national oppression; and this has meant that they were
systematically turned into a source of extremely cheap labour and subjected to
institutionalised racism. Indeed, the history of very cheap black labour enabled white
capitalists ? traditionally centred around the mineowners ? to make super profits, and it
is on this basis that they became very wealthy [78]. Without extremely cheap black labour,
mining in South Africa would have never been as profitable and the riches of the white
capitalists would have been much less.

Today, as seen by the situation on platinum mines, this continues: the wealth of the
ruling class still rests mainly on extremely cheap black labour: it is the reason why
certain sections of the economy, like platinum mining, are so profitable. Certainly, since
1994 the entire working class has fallen deeper into poverty, including sections of the
white working class, as inequality has grown between the ruling class and working class as
a whole. However, the black working class ? due to mostly holding the lowest paid jobs and
thus facing continued racism ? remains both subject to exploitation and national
oppression. Until this is ended, along with the capitalist system on which it is based and
which it serves, true freedom and equality for both the black and white working class will
not be achieved in South Africa. As was vividly highlighted by Marikana, therefore,
central to the struggle to end capitalism has to be the ending of the national oppression,
and accompanying racism, that the black working class is subjected to. As anarchists have
long pointed out, however, if a just society is to be achieved the means and the ends in
struggle have to be as similar as possible. Hence, if we want a future genuinely equal and
non-racist society, our struggle to end the national oppression of the black working
class, and the accompanying capitalist and state systems in South Africa, must be based
firmly on the ideals of non-racialism. This too is highly important to ensure that
populists, amongst them Julius Malema, using racist rhetoric to benefit themselves do not
make gains out of struggles such as Marikana.

While it is clear that the black working class remains nationally oppressed, the situation
for the small black elite, however, is very different. Some, through their high positions
in the state ? and hence having control over the means of coercion and administration ?
have joined the old white capitalists in the ruling class. They themselves have used their
positions in the state to amass wealth and power. Others, have also joined the ruling
class, but through the route of Black Economic Empowerment. Indeed, all of the top ANC
linked black families ? the Mandelas, Thambos, Ramaposas, Zumas, Moosas ? have shares in
or sit on the boards of the platinum mining companies [79]. In fact, Ramaphosa not only
owns shares in, and is on the board of, Lonmin; but a number of functions at Marikana are
outsourced to various companies he has interests in, like Minorex [80]. The wealth and
power of this black section of the ruling class in South Africa too rests on the
exploitation of the working class as a whole, but mostly and specifically on the
exploitation and national oppression of the black working class. Hence, this is the reason
why the black section of the ruling class has been so willing to take action ? whether
during platinum strikes, Marikana, other strikes in general, or community protests ?
against the black working class.

Of course, Bakunin foresaw the possibility of such a situation arising in cases where
national liberation was based upon the strategy of capturing state power. Bakunin said
that the ../../../../?statist path? was ../../../../?entirely ruinous for the great masses
of the people? because it did not abolish class power but simply changed the make-up of
the ruling class [81]. Due to the centralised nature of states, only a few can rule ? a
majority of people can never be involved in decision making under a state system. As a
result, he stated that if the national liberation struggle was carried out with "ambitious
intent to set up a powerful state", or if "it is carried out without the people and must
therefore depend for success on a privileged class" it would become a "retrogressive,
disastrous, counter-revolutionary movement? [82]. He also noted that when former
liberation heroes enter into the state, because of its top down structure, they become
rulers and get used to the privileges their new positions carry, and they come to
../../../../?no longer represent the people but themselves and their own pretensions to
govern the people? [83]. History has proven his insights to be correct; former liberation
heroes in South Africa rule in their own interests, they wallow in the privileges of their
positions, and they exploit and oppress the vast majority of the people in the country to
do so.

What is to be done?

It is vital that a revolutionary working class counter-power emerges in South Africa,
based on self-organisation, direct democracy, direct action, appropriate tactics and a
vision. If it does not, the exploitation and oppression that defines companies like
Lonmin, the economy, and society as a whole will continue. Linked to this, the national
oppression of the black working class will continue. Freedom is, therefore, not going to
drop from heaven; unless a counter-power emerges the working class will continue to
suffer. Certainly, history has proven that true freedom won?t be given by the current
state; but ? as will be touched upon later ? it will also in all likelihood not be granted
by a workers? party, of whatever variety, heading up a state, even if it is called a
workers? state. Indeed, if the working class truly seizes power, there would be no need
for a state (which as an institution has throughout history protected minority rule);
rather society would probably be run via organs such as federated assemblies and councils
based on direct democracy. But building a revolutionary counter-power capable of creating
and winning a new society based on genuine freedom and equality, via revolution, will not
be easy. In all likelihood ? as Marikana gives us an insight into ? it will also not be
peaceful. Rather a working class counter-power is going to have to be built brick by brick
by the workers and unemployed; and it is going to have to be built in opposition to
capitalism and the state system. The problem, if one is sober and honest, is that at the
moment, community movements remain small, the unions highly bureaucratised, the ?service
delivery? protests promising but not yet galvanising into durable structures or a movement.
But Marikana and the other struggles in the platinum sector offer a possible catalyst to
change this all. The importance of the struggles in the platinum sector, and massive
potential, are due to several reasons. The platinum sector is a strategic industry within
South Africa, employing a large number of people and it is central to the economy, meaning
a well organised militant force in the sector could have a massive impact. Not only could
such a movement cause economic damage to its class enemies, but because of its strategic
nature, real gains could be won. Added to this, the confidence amongst the workers to win
battles is already there: this can be seen most clearly in the events around the Impala
Platinum 2012 wildcat strike. If a movement that is militant and strong can galvanise and
sustain itself in the platinum sector, it could easily inspire workers in other sectors ?
where militancy in recent years has been far less ? but also activists involved in
community struggles elsewhere in the country. In fact, Marikana is one of the few cases
since 1994 where communities and workers have joined up in struggle. In terms of this, and
despite some tensions having existed in the past, it was truly significant that women from
the community joined and united with the male strikers at certain times during the
on-going protest. Added to this, and again despite some tensions, the platinum belt is
also one area where the struggles of workers and wider communities overlap: both starkly
face the same enemies and as a result working class unity there could be built.

Indeed, out of the wildcat strikes and sit-ins it is very likely a movement could emerge
in the next few years in the platinum belt, but what form and the politics it might take
up are unclear [84]. As such, it could end up being progressive and even revolutionary; or
it could end up being purely reformist or populist. Out of the struggles in the platinum
sector though a real potential lies for building a mass movement controlled by the
workers? themselves based around the principles of self-organisation, direct democracy,
and direct action. Certainly a foundation does exist, but whether such a mass movement
will arise is not guaranteed; if it is to do so, a vision is going to be vital along with
greater co-ordination and the adoption of appropriate and consistent strategies and tactics.

It is possible, but very unlikely, that a radical movement may grow out of the wildcat
strikes and sit-ins inside NUM. However, the NUM bureaucracy has treated the most militant
workers in the sector ? those undertaking sit-ins, wildcat strikes, and the strike at
Marikana ? appallingly. At times, this has even seen NUM officials working with bosses in
the aftermath of wildcat strikes or sit-ins to have the most militant workers involved
sidelined during rehiring processes (and hence also pushed out of the union). In the
aftermath of Marikana, and out of future struggles in the platinum sector, the only way
NUM will be revived, is if workers decide to take control of it, but such a battle would
be immense and nasty. The officials, some of whom earn up to R77 000 a month, will fight
tooth and nail to stop this. Perhaps a more realistic scenario is that a movement might
emerge around AMCU, but whether it will be revolutionary, unless AMCU changes, is highly
debatable. AMCU?s structures are still reportedly weak, its President and General
Secretary have held the same offices ever since it began more than a decade ago, it is not
yet based on direct democracy, and it does not see itself ? at least openly ? as being
linked to a revolutionary vision. Although the AMCU officials appear better than the NUM
ones, if a counter-power is to emerge around it, AMCU too would have to be transformed
into a bottom-up, directly democratic, and militant union by the members themselves.

What has been extremely interesting, and potentially the most promising way forward for
workers struggles, and the possibility of building a revolutionary working class
counter-power, has been the mass assemblies that have been self-organised at Marikana and
around other wildcat strikes and sit-ins in the platinum sector. The potential of these
becoming the basis of a counter-power could possibly be realised, in the future, if the
workers involved in them could, at some point, turn them into more durable assemblies, in
which workers regularly met. The struggles in the platinum sector are not going to end
anytime soon, more sit-ins and wildcat strike assemblies will emerge, these are the only
way such actions can be organised. If some of them could become more permanent in the
future they could be used by the workers involved to systematically entrench a culture of
direct democracy, militancy and self-organisation across the platinum sector. It also
means workers across the different unions, as has happened in the sit-ins and wildcat
strikes, could participate in these together. Consequently, they could also be a way of
circumventing the union bureaucracies, and they could be the basis of building solidarity
and mutual aid on the ground amongst workers, which will be vital for militant struggles
going forward. However, if such assemblies do ever emerge in different workplaces, they
would also have to be federated. To co-ordinate joint actions and contact, a system of
mandated recallable delegates in federated councils could be established ? but power would
have to remain in the assemblies themselves if genuine control by the workers is to be
maintained. In order to foster working class unity, and link worker and community
struggles, community members could also participate in the assemblies. Thus, through
extending current initiatives, federated working class organs, controlled directly by the
working class could be created, initially in the platinum sector, but by example extended
to other sectors and communities. Through this, and a revolutionary practice, culture and
vision, a counter-power could be built. If the workers involved too felt that it was
necessary to fight to transform the existing unions, this could be co-ordinated through
the assemblies and councils.

For this to happen, the workers involved in future wildcat strikes and sit-in assemblies
would have to consciously transform their current experiments with direct democracy,
direct action, and mutual aid into a revolutionary vision and a revolutionary practice. It
is here that socialists who are truly for working class power, especially anarchists,
could play a role. Firstly, anarchists ? despite the movement being small ? could offer
solidarity and through this share ideas about how worker assemblies and councils, based on
direct democracy, have been used in the past in struggles and revolutionary situations.
This would not involve anarchists imposing ideas or looking to lead through force, but
rather sharing our knowledge and vision of a genuine working class power. Indeed, the very
foundations of anarchism as a revolutionary practice are built around working class power,
direct democracy, self-oganisation and direct action. These are principles the workers are
already, even if unconsciously, using in their struggles. As anarchism arose out of the
struggles of the working class; it has much to offer to existing struggles in South
Africa, including workers struggles in the platinum sector. The real problem for the
moment though is that socialist organisations who are for genuine working class power, not
least the anarchist ones, are currently very small in South Africa ? this also needs to
change if a working class revolutionary counter-power is to be built.

The one thing though in building a counter-power in South Africa, if it is to emerge, is
that any illusions in a state, of whatever kind and as alluded to earlier, need to be
countered by socialists that are for genuine working class power, in the battle of ideas
that will take place in building a counter-power (whether in the unions or an assembly
type movement). Many leftists before and in the aftermath of Marikana have called for
mines to be nationalised by the state [85]. Those calling for nationalisation of the
mines, even though they are well-meaning, make the mistake of completely misreading the
nature of all states. Some people calling for nationalisation of the mines sometimes
acknowledge that states exist for one class to rule over another. Nonetheless, if one uses
a genuinely historical materialist perspective, it is evident that states are more than
this. All states, whether they claim to be capitalist or ?socialist?, have existed so that
a minority can rule over a majority. As such, state ownership, which nationalisation is,
does not equate to ownership by the working class, but rather a state bureaucracy. It is
this that led Emma Goldman to argue that when property or a company is nationalised:

../../../../?it belongs to the state; this is, the government has control of it and can
dispose of it according to its wishes and views?such a condition of affairs is called
state capitalism but it would be fantastic to consider it in any sense communistic [86].?
Of course, some leftist groups try address some of the problems around nationalisation by
stating it must be under workers? control [87]. In fact, many calls have been made in left
pamphlets for Marikana to the nationalised under workers? control. The comrades making
these calls do believe it is a genuine solution; but again their analysis is fundamentally
flawed. To begin with, it is inconsistent with building a truly working class
revolutionary counter-power, as it places faith in a higher institution, the state, and
not in the working class itself. This is because in the end the state, even if it ever
nationalised the mines (which is questionable today) will still own such mines; not the
working class. Added to this, it is illogical to believe an instrument of repression,
which has gunned down working class people so ruthlessly, whether at Marikana or
elsewhere, would allow workers to run the factories or mines it owned.
In fact, there are ample examples from history that demonstrate that the interests of
workers? self-management (genuine workers? control and not simply ?oversight? over
managers) and state-ownership, including ownership under a so-called workers? state, are
incompatible. States have shown to have almost no interest in allowing workers to run
their own affairs or to allow democracy in the workplace. The Soviet Union itself is a
prime example of this. It was the Soviet state, under the dictatorship of the Bolshevik
Party, which unfortunately crushed worker self-management. This happened shortly after the
October Revolution when the interests of the working class began to openly clash with
those of the elite within the Bolshevik Party. As such, it was in 1918, before the civil
war, that Lenin ended worker self-management within Russia through decreeing the
implementation of one-man management [88][89]. This saw the Soviet state appoint new
managers, often from the ranks of the old elite, and forcefully end any pretence of
democracy in the workplace. The fact that the Soviet state had nationalised most of the
factories, which had originally been seized by workers from the capitalists, contributed
to this ? it gave the Soviet state immense power which it then wielded against the
workers. In fact, the Soviet state accepted no independent initiative from workers and
state rule proved itself incompatible with workers? self-management and direct democracy.
As workers were not, and could never be the state (due to its oppressive and hierarchical
nature it was designed for a minority to rule over a majority), state ownership never
translated into the socialisation of property and wealth, it never led to an end to
capitalism, and it smothered workers? control. As such, nationalisation also never broke
the relations of production that defined capitalism; it rather re-instituted it and
entrenched it [90]. As such, nationalisation under workers? control has proved to be a
historical oxymoron: a tactical and ideological dead end that undermines true workers?
control and self-management.

While being sober, and recognising we are a long way off from any movement being a strong
revolutionary counter-power (whether union based or through workers? assemblies); it is
vital our visions, our actions, and our practices are consistent with extending working
class power. The struggles in the platinum mines offer a potential catalyst for building
such a power. But that requires working class power to be extended today and in the
future. Certainly, reforms must be won, and they are already in the platinum sector, but
if workers are to build a counter power they need to be won in a way that extends working
class power. Battles have to be fought to win higher wages, to end to racism, to win safe
working conditions, to end outsourcing, to end labour broking, and to get better services
not only in the platinum sector, but eventually everywhere. Our goal as the broader
working class, however, should not be for nationalisation and state ownership in the
future ? it is inconsistent with building a working class controlled power in the long
run. Thus, a much better and more consistent option for the working class is to fight to
seize the mines, factories and farms through their own organs in the long run (whether
future revolutionary unions and/or councils). In other words, the long term goal, if we
are consistent, is for workers to fight to take over the mines, factories, farms and run
them on the basis of worker self-management in order to meet everyone?s needs. This too
would allow for the relations within production to be changed into ones based on equality
and direct democracy ? which is so desperately needed at workplaces, including Lonmin. The
economy and wider society, including local, city-wide, regional and international affairs,
could be run by the working class, once the state is smashed, through federated assemblies
and councils, using mandated and recallable delegates where the power remains at the base.
In other words, the society could be run by assemblies, similar in sprit to, and perhaps
even coming out of such structures as the ones seen in the sit-ins and wildcats strikes in
the platinum sector ? only on a vastly larger scale. Such a vision is far from utopian, in
every single revolution, worthy of the name, elements of this have been implemented. Even
in South Africa workplaces have been occupied too in the past and, at its best, people?s
power was based on elements of direct democracy. To defend a revolution, armed militia ?
made up of workers and the poor and controlled by them through direct democracy ? could be
used. In fact, self-defence for the working class is needed, as Marikana casts light on,
but it needs to be based on direct democracy (otherwise it will become a power apart from
the working class and probably will in the long run try and crush the working class). If
we want such a society, based on working class power, we have to start building towards it
today and the means and ends have to be as similar as possible ? hopefully Marikana and
the struggles in the platinum sector are the start.

Notes:

1. http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/300-bullets-in-1-minute-1.1365467 19th
August 2012
2. http//rustenburgmonitors.blogspot.com/2012/demand-r12.html?spref=fb
3. http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-marikana-massacre-turning-point.html
27th August 2012
4. http://news.iafrica.com/sa/813307.html 27th August 2012
5. http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-30-the-murder-fields-ofmarikana 30th August 2012
6. http://www.thepost.co.za/police-stations-too-small-for-miners-1.1369735 26th August 2012
7. http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Cops-torture-miners-20120825 27th August 2012
8. http://ewn.co.za/en/2012/08/27/I-was-handcuffed-and-beaten---Lonmin-worker 27th August 2012
9. http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/D-Day-for-Lonmin-workers-20120820
10. http://abahlali.org/node/9084
11. http://www.peherald.com/news/article/8034 23rd August 2012
12. Hermanus, M, 2007. Occupational health and safety in mines: status, new developments
and concerns. The Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Vol 107:
pp. 531-538.
13. Hermanus, M, 2007. Occupational health and safety in mines: status, new developments
and concerns. The Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Vol 107:
pp. 531-538. 14. The Bench Marks Foundation. 2012. Communities in the Platinum Minefields.
Bench Marks Foundation: South Africa
15
http://www.miningsafety.co.za/newscontent/399/South-Africa-Platinum-mine-deaths-raise-alarm
16 Nasiorowska, N. 2010. Improving safety and security in platinum mining using the newest
facial recognition technology.
http://www.saimm.co.za/Conferences/Pt2010/129-136_Nasiorowska.pdf
17 http://www.g4s.co.za/en-ZA/What%20we%20do/Services/Mine%20security/
18 http://www.coin.co.za/mining_security.php
19 Bakunin, M. The Capitalist System
20 van Wyk, D. 2011. The Policy Gap: A Review of the Corporate Social Responsibility
Programmes of the Platinum Mining Industry in the North West Province. Bench Marks
Foundation: South Africa
21
http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/special-features/markikana--lonmin-massacre/1557-the-massacre-of-our-illusions-and-the-seeds-of-something-new--by-lenny-gentle

22 http://abahlali.org/node/9084
23 http://www.iol.co.za/news/beyond-the-chaos-at-marikana-1.1364787 17th August 2012
24 The Bench Marks Foundation. 2012. Communities in the Platinum Minefields. Bench Marks
Foundation: South Africa
25 The Bench Marks Foundation. 2012. Communities in the Platinum Minefields. Bench Marks
Foundation: South Africa
26 van Wyk, D. 2011. The Policy Gap: A Review of the Corporate Social Responsibility
Programmes of the Platinum Mining Industry in the North West Province. Bench Marks
Foundation: South Africa
27 The Bench Marks Foundation. 2011. Rustenburg Community Report: Defending Our Land,
Environment, and Human Rights. Bench Marks Foundation: South Africa
28 The Bench Marks Foundation. 2011. Action Voices. Bench Marks Foundation: South Africa
29 Van Wyk, D. Speaking at a public meeting in Cape Town, Community House 28th August 2012
30 Hattingh, S. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250.
31 http://www.miningweekly.com/topic/aquarius-platinums-everest-mine 3rd June 2008
32 http://www.miningreview.com/node/19469 24th May 2011
33 www.groups.google.com/group/cosatu-daily-news/msg/16c4c01e2acd8969 7th October 2009
34 www.iol.co.za/widgets/rss_redirect.php?artid...setid 21st November 2009
35 Hattingh, S. 2010. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250.
36 www.af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE60L07G20100122 22nd January 2010
37http://www.bdlive.co.za/articles/2012/08/01/three-dead-in-aquarius-platinum-mine-invasion 1st
August 2012
38 Pringle, C. Illegal sit-in halts production at SA Platinum Mine.
www.miningweekly.com/.../illegal-sit-in-halts-production-at-two-rivers-2009-10-19 19th
October 2009
39 Hattingh, S. 2010. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250
40 Hattingh, S. 2010. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250
41 http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mineworkers-barricade-roads-in-Limpopo 15 March 2012
42 http://mg.co.za/tag/impala-platinum-strike
43 http://www.iol.co.za/news/beyond-the-chaos-at-marikana-1.1364787 17th August 2012
44
http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/home-page/1522-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happened
18th August
45 Comments made by the AMCU General Secretary at a public meeting at Community House,
Cape Town 28th August
46 One of the striking workers speaking at a public meeting in Cape Town, Community House
on the 28th August made this clear
47 http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5138987 29th August 2009
48
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/aquarius-kroondal-mine-reopened-after-protest-action-2009-11-23
23rd November 2009
49 http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Miners-attack-union-leaders-20090904 4th
September 2009
50 http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/content/en/moneyweb-mining?oid=562168&sn=2009+Detail 16th
February 2012
51 http://www.miningmx.com/pls/cms/iac.page?p_t1=3085&p_t2=7933&p_t3=0&p_t4=0&p_dynamic =
YP&p_content_id=199965&p_site_id=83
52 http://www.miningreview.com/node/19469 24th May 2011
53 http://www.socialistworld.net/mob/doc/3804 6 December 2009
54 http://www.iol.co.za/business/lonmin-rehires-6-000-workers-1.1075493 30th May 2011
55 Hattingh, S. 2010. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250
56 www.sundayindependent.co.za/?fSectionId=1087&fArticleId 21st November 2009
57 http://amabhungane.co.za/article/2011-03-04-striking-gupta-mine-workers-held 4th May 2011
58 Hattingh, S. 2010. Mineworkers direct Action: occupations and sit-ins in South Africa.
WorkingUSA Vol 13 Issue 3, pp. 243-250
59 www.af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE60L07G20100122 22nd January 2010
60 http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/explosion-hits-during-mine-sit-in-1.465341 29th
November 2009
61 http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-16-police-called-in-to-cope-with-rioting-miners 16th
February
62 http://amabhungane.co.za/article/2011-03-04-striking-gupta-mine-workers-held 4th May 2011
63 http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=1221 17th February 2007
64
http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Man-killed-in-North-West-mine-protest-20111216
16th December 2011
65 The Bench Marks Foundation. 2011. Action Voices. Bench Marks Foundation: South Africa
66 http://www.socialistworld.net/mob/doc/3804 6 December 2009
67
http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Man-killed-in-North-West-mine-protest-20111216
16th December 2011
68 Van Wyk, D. Speaking at a public meeting in Cape Town, Community House 28th August 2012
69 One of the striking workers speaking at a public meeting in Cape Town, Community House
on the 28th August made this clear
70 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-30-the-murder-fields-ofmarikana 30th August
2012
71 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-30-the-murder-fields-ofmarikana
72 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-30-the-murder-fields-ofmarikana
73 http://abahlali.org/node/9084
74 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-30-the-murder-fields-ofmarikana
75 Schmidt, M. & van der Walt, L. 2009. Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of
Anarchism and Syndicalism. AK Press: United States, pp. 52
76 Rocker, R. 2004. Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice. AK Press: United States, pp. 11.
77 Malatesta. E. 1891. Anarchy.
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Errico_Malatesta__Anarchy.html , p. 3
78 Callincos, L. 1980. A People?s History of South Africa: Gold and Workers 1886-1924.
Ravan Press: Johannesburg.
79 Van Wyk, D.
80 http://www.minopex.co.za/overview-of-operations.html
81 Bakunin, "Statism and Anarchy", p. 343
82 Bakunin, "Federalism, Socialism, Anti-Theologism", p. 99
83 Bakunin, M. 1990. Statism and Anarchy. Cambridge University Press: United Kingdom, p. 178
84
http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/special-features/markikana--lonmin-massacre/1557-the-massacre-of-our-illusions-and-the-seeds-of-something-new--by-lenny-gentle
85 http://amandlapublishers.co.za/special-features/nationalisation-of-mines
86 Shulman, A. 1998. Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader. AK Press: United States, pp.
406.
87 Revolutionary Marxist Group. 2012. Massacre at Marikana: A Turning Point in the Class
Struggle! RMG: South Africa
88 Lenin, V. 1920. Speech Delivered to the Third All-Russian Trade Union Congress.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/apr/07.htm (In it Lenin reflects upon the
Soviet states? imposition of one-man management in 1918.
89 Brinton, M. 1970. The Bolsheviks and Workers? Control. Black Rose Books: Canada
90 Brown, T. 1995. Lenin and Workers? Control. AK Press: United States

Related Link: http://zabalaza.net

Bron : A-infos-en@ainfos.ca