Today's Topics:
1. Czech, afed - Orgasm is more than a nation - Report of
feminist action against religious and nationalist obscurantism
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #271 - Walk for Justice
and Dignity: After success, keep moving forward (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. [Argentina] When libertarian women organize to transform
neighborhoods By Alejandro Maidana By ANA (ca, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Poland, Workers' Initiative Number 47: Against temporary
work in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. anarkismo.net - Dangerous times: authoritarianism and crisis
by Shawn Hattingh (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
On Saturday, April 22 passed through Prague "National March for Life and Family" on which
ad inviting for a long time. It was sponsored by the organization Movement for Life to
take the fight against the right to abortion in the streets. Not surprisingly, that this
bigoted platform cooperates with various ultrapravicáky, for example. DOST initiative for
the event came more than a thousand people, where n ejpocetnejší represented here have
families that have been imported to Prague from Moravia. With God's blessing, they went
around the other of Klar with a banner on which was written "Where are the children, there
is life." It's hard but it probably had in mind the "ungodly" the situation of refugee
children in the Hungarian concentration camps or in improvised camps in Greece, Serbia and
France. It's that life in the "March for Life" will be not so hot, they suggested
ecclesiastical big shots when he left to take pictures in front of the truck Klar
"Butchery" with a picture of Creations from the ground tissues of living creatures.
Arcicernoprdelník Duka then clearly expressed in the sense that it is necessary to ban
abortion, we hurry to our workforce, what's been born.
Youthful attraction and dynamism of the march was to give engagement a professional drum
group GrooveArmy which paradoxically last year supported the Prague Pride Prague. The
group then wrote on his FB profile: "They hired us on the phone and told us that it is an
event for families. Money sent us in advance and we have a decent contract cancellations.
Certainly we were kind of excited about the situation ... we were basically misled. "So
the authenticity of some aspects of the" national march "can have legitimate doubts. Nor
would dealt shirts "I'm creative, I am for life" because creativity so that there is one
pohledal.
Manes bridge on the followers of divine truth met first protidemonstranty who were part of
the counter-feminist and one could say even provocation. Now provocative passwords could
demolish the desired attention. On banners and signs feminists are great signs, "God is
watching, when masturbating, and he likes it," "The nuclear family is nationalist
horsemeat," "Safe sex is not a sin" or "Orgasm is more than a nation." A cardboard cross
complement the slogan "Jesus had two dads," "Klerofašisti crucified Christ," or "God is
trans." And there was also some the rainbow flag. Arrogant boys and girls but was soon out
of the way of the police. So at least they chanted "clerical fascism - dirt and filth."
The password for some participants melted into a living example for an elderly bearer who
answered "antifascists yuck" and then directly at the camera confessed his fascist
orientation.
After the hype on the bridge a few dozen protidemonstrantu, including several Christians
who combine their faith with love, not with exclusion because of ethnicity, religion or
sexual orientation shifted and reiterated his attempted blockade. For women the right to
control your life and body, against homophobia, nationalism and religious bigotry rallied
across the street on October 28, where he managed the "national march" timeless, chanting
slogans "they shall not pass' for about a half hour block. After the third call the police
and several acts of physical deflecting opponents of the march were driven to the entrance
of one of the buildings. They boarded and hooded riot that their heavily clad bodies
prevented them from obscurity into the world of light penetrated the world of love for
everyone. Through the crowd so he could at least hear the merry chant "Your kids will like
us", "our bodies are not your concern" or "Meat is murder, abortion no." Some
protidemonstranti then followed the march to Wenceslas Square, where demonstrators tried
to communicate and handed out flyers, in which, among other things said: "The family
should be built primarily on mutual love and understanding that goes beyond the
traditional forms of gender and family."
Counteraction undoubtedly served its purpose and let the conservatives who would like us
to dictate as to who we feel, who to love and how to deal with your life, come the day
with a single definition of family relationships. Feminists of collective NemrAFKy
summarized in a statement on his blog a sense counteraction succinctly: "Movement for Life
is perhaps a marginal organization, but people and organizations who want to restrict our
freedom, we can not just be abandoned public space."
Related Links:
God is watching while masturbating, and he likes it
Photoreport: "Jesus had two dads"
2.https://www.afed.cz/text/6663/orgasmus-je-vic-nez-narod
------------------------------
Message: 2
Sunday March 19 took place the March for Justice and Dignity at the call of families of
victims of police violence. Other slogans were added: against racism, against the hogra,
against the hunt for immigrants ... If very diverse organizations joined, it also makes it
possible to trace the contours of antiracism Policies and strategies. ---- The families of
Lahoucine Ait Omghar, Amine Bentounsi, Hocine Bouras, Abdoulaye Camara, Lamine Dieng,
Wissam El Yamni, Amadou Koumé, Mourad Touat, Ali Ziri, Jean-Pierre Ferrara, Rémi Fraisse,
Babacar Gueye, Théo Luhaka and Vital Michalon (all victims of police violence) gathered
10,000 to 15,000 people in Paris on Sunday 19 March, and there were probably even more in
the evening Even on the Place de la Republique for the concert that followed. Several
coaches have been chartered from the North, Loiret, Brittany, Alsace, Lyon, and other
regions to facilitate the arrival of all. This success shows that awareness is growing,
not only around issues of police violence, but also about state racism and support for
migrants. In short,
A convergence strategy
The strategy of the organizers was clear: to bring about a convergence between the
components of the social movement on the issue of police violence. Thus, not only support
groups for families of victims, anti-racist associations and migrant organizations have
signed the appeal of families, but also many associations, unions and political
organizations, sometimes Their own bases.
Omar Slaouti, antiracist activist collective " Truth and Justice Ali Ziri " and
spokesman of the march, explained in an interview with online magazine Contretemps [1]: "
What is new is worn look By some demonstrators on the habits and customs of cops ... Some,
between two projectiles of LBD, realized how popular neighborhoods have been the
laboratory and the crucible of a legitimation of the violence of State. What is new is the
encounter of two fronts of resistance against police violence, one built in the
working-class neighborhoods and one that emanates from these social mobilisations. It's
hard to know if these two fronts really meet.
It was also with this objective that the family of Rémi Fraisse [3]was invited to join the
appeal. It is a matter of showing that the problem of police violence can affect everyone,
even if, as Omar Slaouti adds in the same interview: " The motto " Everybody hates the
police! ", Chanted both In the labor law and at the last demonstration for Adama Traoré in
Paris, translates a possible convergence and I think desirable. However, the mechanisms of
this state violence remain different. If there is a junction, there can not be fusion. "
A distinction must clearly be drawn between violence committed in people's neighborhoods
(generally poor and non-white) and in various struggles. Both are unacceptable and reveal
the violence of the state, used in the first case on victims for what they are, and in the
second for what they do. This distinction was taken into account in the organization of
the march: if the head square was logically occupied by the families who signed the
appeal, then came the support groups for these families, then the migrants, migrants and
sans- Papers as well as immigration associations. Only then did the other associations,
unions, political organizations, and autonomous ones come.
Seeking such a convergence is beneficial in many ways: to give visibility to the event, of
course, and to the strength of families who are still fighting for justice today. Another
benefit to be stated is that of initiating the debate in support organizations. As a
result, union activists published an appeal titled " Trade unionists, we will march on
March 19 ". While the CGT had signed with the LDH, the Mrap and the FSU a different
appeal from the families, recognizing the police a " difficult job " and " paying
dearly for the price ", the text of these trade unionists Including CGT) makes it
possible to expose a much more contrasted view on police violence:
It seems to have been decided by the organization of the march not to comment on the calls
made by certain organizations on their own bases, sometimes remote, such as Lutte Ouvrière
or the Left Party, which takes advantage of this to talk about the Program of Mélenchon.
There is no doubt opportunism here, but if everybody wanted to go there from his
signature, from his text, it marks that this date of March 19 was a passage impossible to
circumvent in this period when so many eyes Are more concerned with the choice or
non-choice of a ballot.
Where were the popular districts ?
This opening has been the subject of criticism, and one can speak of it without playing
the game of the World on the eve of the march - and when he had hardly spoken of it
before - published an article on The dissensions of the anti-racist movement. Some of
these criticisms, issued by activists from lower-income neighborhoods, draw an
embarrassment, an opposition, a political divergence even, which could be accentuated in
the coming years.
A text entitled " They started indigenous, they are now indigestible, they will end up
unworthy " published shortly before the march on the blog Quartiers libre explains that
"to see in the presence of this left a political victory and to claim it as such results
from 'A political blindness '. The text also criticizes the organizers - and above all,
in fact, the Party of the Natives of the Republic - for giving easy communication, with
great strokes of hip-hop stars, rather than Neighborhoods. If we can regret that this
criticism (which is not isolated) arrives so late, it was found during the march that the
processions seemed very militant.
The March for Justice and Dignity was, however, a success, but one that will allow us to
continue building the anti-racist movement. We can only rejoice, at least, that this
battle is being waged today by the main and main concerned, not by satellites of the
government parties like SOS Racism.
Adele (AL Montreuil)
[1] " It's time to walk with our political compass - Interview with Omar Slaouti ", on
www.contretemps.eu .
[2] See the article that Alternative libertarian had devoted to the rally of February 11
in Bobigny (93): " Manif for Theo in Bobigny: another narrative ", on
www.alternativelibertaire.org .
[3] Rémi Fraisse is an environmental activist killed by the police during a demonstration
on October 26, 2014.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Marche-pour-la-justice-et-la-dignite-Apres-le-succes-continuer-a-avancer
------------------------------
Message: 3
"Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. In fact, that
alone can do it, " Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist. ---- The advance of the
so-called progress is unaware in its untiring walk of those who always remain by the
wayside. Generations that could never join the opportunities, and not exactly because they
had not sought it. ---- The reality of neighborhoods that knew how to be workers, or
perhaps porters, are now trapped by the inexistence of labor insertion, school drop-out,
and by this ruthless monster like the drug. ---- Faced with this dismal and gloomy
picture, different groups of women organized in the FOB (Federation of Grassroots
Organizations) struggle to transform reality through the force of courage, social
commitment and libertarian sentiment.
Conclusion spoke with some members of the social organization in order to know the
details about the territorial work.
Soledad lives in the 27 de Fevereiro neighborhood and participates actively in the
workshops. "In my case, I joined the FOB interested in gender issues, as I was suffering
from violence from my former partner. I was accompanied by a friend who was already part
of them, and thanks to that I was able to escape from a violent one . "
Each neighborhood has its assembly, and it debates and makes decisions in a horizontal
way, respecting the points of view of each resident. "Adding to the neighborhood
assemblies, during the week we have working groups that take the form of a cooperative.
Cleaning the neighborhood, lawnmowers and seams are some of the activities, joining school
support, the vegetable garden and the glass of milk, " said Iris.
The schoolhouse of Cabin 9 is a symbol for the neighborhood children and a wonderful host
place. About the work that is done, Karla said: "The glass of milk and school support are
priorities. The children found help and love in this place. We celebrate birthdays and pay
close attention to the gender workshops, where we make the boys understand the importance
and the place that the girls occupy. "
The depth and emotional burden of the stories runs through the empowerment of women
through the conversations that take place in the meetings. Ignorance, fear and the
naturalization of sexist violence are cultural themes which are fought with information
and containment.
Another strong point of the organization's work is the anti-repressive theme. What for
many means security, for teens in weakened neighborhoods is a nightmare in which to live.
"I've been 34 years old in the 27th of February neighborhood, and during all this time we
never let a bunker settle. Today with the police they found the protection that they did
not have with the neighbors. It's very hard and sad what I have to say, but this is the
reality that embraces us. Before the arrival of the police, there were no bunkers in our
neighborhood, " said Otilia, a neighbor and social leader.
The scourge of the drug attacks the minors in an odious way. Today, the highest
consumption occurs among children between 8 and 14 years of age. A real blow to hope in
the new generations. "Our children are adrift. They have to battle not only against their
vices, but also against the abuse of the police towards people. It is systematic to
trigger this force. When they find more than two boys together, whether to drink a drink
or just to speak, they submit to every humiliation one can not even imagine. After that,
they close at home, do not want to leave and begin to generate a constant hatred for what
they have to live, just because they wear a cap, be black and live in a popular
neighborhood. It hurts, "emphasized a grandmother, tired of her stigmatization.
At present there are five neighborhoods that assemble the assemblies to articulate this
joint rescue that causes them to cease to depend on the state. They are the 27 of
February, Belgrano, San Martín, Cabin 9 and Ateneu Virginia Bolten. Almost 500 organized
residents, where a huge percentage of those who work on all types of tasks belong to the
female gender.
They are the women of FOB, transforming the union into a forceful action that expands with
the beating of a stoic libertarian heart.
Source:
http://rojoynegro.info/articulo/sin-fronteras/cuando-las-mujeres-libertarias-organize-transformar-los-barrios
Translation> Joana Caetano
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Message: 4
In June of 2016. Works committee established IP at the Museum of the History of Polish
Jews POLIN - another structure of our relationship operating in the sector of culture.
POLIN employer, however, is unique - one of the few cultural institutions benefit from
temporary employment agencies, which until now were associated more with industry,
logistics and trade. ---- Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN is a specific
cultural institution - Poland's first public-private institution created by the
government, local government and non-governmental organization (Association of the Jewish
Historical Institute). The specificity of POLIN-in is not limited only to the governance
structure, but also touches on labor relations - of the 150 people working at the museum,
the majority has a contract of employment for a specified period and dozens more people is
constantly employed by temporary employment agencies on a three-month or six-month
contract order.
It is the temporary employment contracts and order was one of the most important reasons
why workers and employees at the POLIN-appointed trade union organization CMO IP. In
addition to precarious forms of employment, representatives of the commission and
representatives of IP indicates the following problems workers: lack of clear criteria
regarding the renewal of contracts, difficulty in accounting for overtime and work late
into the night on weekends and the lack of a clear salary scale. As they say, the creation
of committees aim was primarily to "obtain[by employees and workers]impact on the
organization of labor, employment and program activities museum." Workers' Initiative was
for the employees and workers compound "democratic", "taking up the subject of
outsourcing" and known for its activities in other cultural institutions in Warsaw (among
others: the National Audiovisual Institute and Theater Institute).
The Commission currently has the IP ie about 39 people. 25% of the staff employed directly
by the Museum (not including those employed by external companies). Importantly, it
includes both those directly employed by the POLIN on employment contracts, employers and
the workers employment agency. Museum uses the services of two agencies: Fallwork (renter
informants and informer) and Interservice (cleaning services). According to the members
and committee members employed by agencies, the rates of net salaries in the past year
ranged from 7 zl per hour (people cleaning) to 11 zl (informants and informer), forcing
most workers and workers agency to "voluntary" extension of their working time .
Preliminary analysis of the employment system in the museum POLIN shows that regardless of
the economic sector precarization and instability of employment are still common and are
one of the most important problems people working in the cultural sector. In this context,
it is interesting how the new commission will not answer. Her representatives and
representatives intend in the coming months to take action to direct employment agency
workers and workers through the museum. You can see, however, that employment instability
is a problem of the whole economy and preventing it requires action on a broader level
than the individual workplaces.
Contact committee: ozzip.mhzp@gmail.com
This article was published in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Workers' Initiative
Number 47:
http://operatorzy.ozzip.pl/teksty/informacje/mazowieckie/item/2255-przeciwko-pracy-tymczasowej-w-muzeum-historii-zydow-polskich-polin
------------------------------
Message: 5
Globally and in South Africa, the capitalist system is becoming more and more unstable.
Over the last period, the responses of the ruling classes in many parts of the world to
this growing crisis has been a turn to authoritarianism. This has been done to hold onto
power and to increase their control over wealth. Factions within ruling classes, in
countries such as South Africa, are also engaged in a battle over shrinking opportunities
to accumulate wealth. Competition between factions within ruling classes is, therefore,
also intensifying. This too is feeding into an intensification of imperialist rivalries.
The consequences are that over the last few months the threat of large scale war globally,
as part of a show down between imperialist powers, has become an awful possibility. ----
The only force capable of changing this situation is the working class locally and
internationally. Yet to do so, struggles need to come together, new forms appropriate to
combating a rampant and growing authoritarian form of neoliberalism are needed; and such
struggles need to be infused with a revolutionary progressive politics. While struggles
are taking place in different parts of the world, none as yet have come to hold these
three ingredients on a large scale.
Dangerous times: authoritarianism and crisis
Introduction
Globally and in South Africa, the capitalist system is becoming more and more unstable.
Over the last period, the responses of the ruling classes in many parts of the world to
this growing crisis has been a turn to authoritarianism. This has been done to hold onto
power and to increase their control over wealth. Factions within ruling classes, in
countries such as South Africa, are also engaged in a battle over shrinking opportunities
to accumulate wealth. Competition between factions within ruling classes is, therefore,
also intensifying. This too is feeding into an intensification of imperialist rivalries.
The consequences are that over the last few months the threat of large scale war globally,
as part of a show down between imperialist powers, has become an awful possibility.
The only force capable of changing this situation is the working class locally and
internationally. Yet to do so, struggles need to come together, new forms appropriate to
combating a rampant and growing authoritarian form of neoliberalism are needed; and such
struggles need to be infused with a revolutionary progressive politics. While struggles
are taking place in different parts of the world, none as yet have come to hold these
three ingredients on a large scale.
The rise and rise of authoritarianism internationally
Since the beginning of the year, the rise of the authoritarian right has continued. Along
with Trump taking office, the far right-wing have gained support, taken power or have come
close to taking power in a number of states. In fact, support for the likes of Marine Le
Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands has increased - even though they may
not be in a position to take state power at this point. Likewise, strongmen such as Recep
Erdogan in Turkey, Narendra Modi in India, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines have
further centralised power as a means to shore-up the rule of sections of the dominant
classes in these states.
The rise of these politicians is a symptom of sections of the ruling classes shifting away
from the façade of liberal democracy to authoritarianism to maintain and entrench the
class war against the working class. They are also shoring up their power against
competing sections of the ruling class as a means to out compete for shrinking
opportunities to accumulate wealth and loot. In fact, it is an attempt to enforce
‘stability' on a system marked by profound inequalities and instability; while at the same
time scapegoating immigrants to camouflage the class nature of the crisis.
At the vanguard of this reaction has been Trump, and his cohorts in terms of sections of
finance capital that now directly head the US state.
Vanguard of the Right
From the very onset of taking office in January, the Trump administration has implemented
policies to boost finance capital, attack the working class, and repress immigrants. In
fact, the administration is packed with representatives of finance capital, and it has a
profound anti-working class and aggressive imperialist character: building on and adapting
the policies and practices of the Obama administration in the process.
While Trump was driven into office by the Alt-Right, he has largely begun to distance
himself from its leading elements. Even Steve Bannon has been side-lined over the last few
weeks within the White House. Even so, the policies of the Trump regime are reactionary
and racist.
As a matter of fact, Trump - despite claiming to be the man of the white working class in
the US - has unleashed a plethora of policies and actions against the working class. This
has seen the Trump administration slash the Federal budgets for housing by 13%, public
transport by 12%, health by 16%, education by 13%, and environmental protection by 31%.
The consequences are going to be devastating as the number of Americans living below the
poverty line (43 million people) will increase.
Trump has also staffed the Department of Labour with reactionary elements and has already
embarked on rolling back the already limited rights of workers. For example, the Trump
regime has revoked legislation that required companies bidding for contracts from the
state to adhere to fair labour practices and workplace safety standards. Surveillance and
oppression by the state against sections of the working class has also been expanded.
While simultaneously attacking the working class, the administration has assisted finance
capital by revoking the legislation that had been put in place to try and mitigate another
crisis as erupted in 2008. In the process, the regime is moving towards implementing an
authoritarian version of neoliberalism domestically - even though it has not done away
with elections.
The Trump administration has also been using a strategy of diverting attention away from
its anti-working class and pro finance actions and policies, by making one outlandish
statement after another. The pretence is, therefore, given that at a domestic level the
administration is directionless and erratic, when in fact it has been conducting a
systematic attack on the working class.
The Trump regime has also been quick to back up its racist rhetoric by increasing spending
aimed at repressing immigrants. As part of this, US $ 1.5 billion was set aside to expand
the detention and removal of "illegal" immigrants from the US. Likewise, Trump has made
moves to prevent citizens of seven Middle Eastern states from entering into the US under a
travel ban order.
As part of an increasing shift to authoritarianism, the Trump administration has also
boosted the military. The conventional and the nuclear armouries and forces have already
been increased. This is part of a strategy to try and maintain the dominance of the US
globally. For several decades the US has been in decline and economically its share of
global GDP and trade has been shrinking. Successive US administrations have used various
strategies to try and stem the decline, which have included shows of force through
imperialist wars. Under Obama, this began to extend to brinkmanship with rivals such as
Russia, specifically over the Ukraine and the expansion of NATO. Nonetheless, successive
regimes also used multilateral institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO),
to facilitate trade and investment deals that would be in the interest of the US ruling class.
The Trump administration, as part of its attempt to stem the decline of the US globally,
has upped its militaristic imperialism. This has seen the US state extend the presence of
US troops in several countries and conflict areas, including Afghanistan and Somalia. In
the last month, the US has also dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan,
undertaken a missile attack on Syria and threatened military action against North Korea.
In the case of North Korea, the US's threatened military action is a message to China, but
also Russia - the US is attempting to send a signal to these powers that it will not
accept rivals globally. Linked to this, the US and Japan have also been holding excises in
close proximity to Chinese air force bases in the South China Sea. Such actions are
threatening to erupt into a war. What is concerning is that top US strategists in the
Trump regime believe the US can win a nuclear war with China and Russia and survive in the
case of a first strike.
In terms of Russia, initially Trump appeared to want to patch up relations. This was part
of the agenda of the Alt-Right who were pro-isolationist. This, however, was not the
agenda of those within finance capital that had backed Trump' nor the security and
military establishment within the state. Under pressure from these sections of the ruling
class, Trump has shifted his initial position on Russia. The recent strike on Syria, the
only client state of Russia in the Middle East, was a clear message to Russia not to
challenge the US in this sphere. More provocatively, NATO has been holding extensive
military manoeuvres on the border of Russia. Such militaristic displays are intended to
cower Russia into accepting the US as a sole world power.
While shifting from the position of isolationism pushed by the Alt-Right, the Trump regime
has been far more critical of multilateral trade and investment agreements and
arrangements than its predecessors, including the WTO and NAFTA. Yet this should not be
mistaken for the Trump administration being isolationist. What is rather taking place is
that the US state is shifting away from multilateral agreements in favour of bilateral
agreements, in which it feels it has greater power over individual states in order to best
push through trade and investment deals that favour it.
As with the domestic level, the Trump regime, however, deliberately presents itself as
being volatile and unpredictable - essentially using the "madman" theory in an attempt to
cower rival imperialist powers by seeming to be out of control and capable of almost any
irrational action. This, however, is an extremely dangerous game and could lead to large
scale war. It is for this reason, along with the danger of runaway climate change, that
the Doomsday Clock has been reset to two and a half minutes to midnight - its ‘highest'
level since the height of the Cold War.
Friction within the US ruling class
Yet the Trump aligned section of the ruling class have faced resistance. Some of this
resistance, but by no means all, has ironically come from a competing sections of the
ruling class aligned with the Democratic Party. This section, along with the media, have
made much about Russia seemingly interfering in the Presidential Election process in
favour of Trump. Earlier in the year, it even seemed possible that this section of the
ruling class would attempt to impeach Trump on the basis of his alleged connections to Russia.
The friction between different factions of the US ruling class, however, is about
competition over control of the state. As part of this, it is also about how to conduct US
imperialism and trade and investment relations. As such, both factions are imperialistic,
all they differ on are the details of carrying it out. In terms of attitudes to the
working class, both factions too are hostile. In fact, it must be remembered that the
imperialist actions of the US state became even more confrontational under Obama, and so
did the states repressive arms - the Trump administration is simply carrying out the
intensification of this as it is its answer to the symptoms the capitalist crisis is
throwing up.
Sections of the working class have, however, been involved in mobilising against Trump.
This has specifically been around Trump's racist and sexist attitudes. Nonetheless,
despite this, the working class has not become an independent force within these protests;
rather many still remain tethered to the Democratic Party, which only offers more
neoliberalism. If the working class in the US is to stem the attack it is under it needs
to become an independent force that acts in the interests of its class.
Southern Africa in a time of strife
Southern Africa has not been sparred in the time of crisis. As the capitalist crisis has
deepened so too have political and social upheavals in the region. Former liberation
movements in some of the countries are now facing their own crisis of legitimacy. Under a
deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, for example, the ruling party is
fragmenting. Yet it won't let go of state power easily, as an elite within ZANU derive
their wealth from the state. Nonetheless, struggle is again arising in the country for the
first time in many years, and prospects of a new movement being born exists, albeit in a
harsh and hostile environment. In Mozambique, the ruling party too is clinging on to
power. It, however is not being challenged by a progressive force, but rather the
regressive RENAMO. Consequently, a low-grade intermittent civil war has erupted in
Mozambique on party political lines.
South African ruling class brawl
In South Africa, factions have also formed within the ruling class that are vying for
control of the state. One faction of the ruling class are those grouped around Zuma. It is
comprised of sections of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) capitalists, top state
officials, and politicians aligned to Zuma. The other faction has coalesced around
Ramaphosa/Gordhan and is comprised of sections of the ANC leadership such as Ramaphosa and
Gordhan, white capital and the South African Communist Party (SACP). In this battle
metaphorical blood has been spilled: those of a few Cabinet Ministers, including Pravin
Gordhan.
Both factions are also appealing to the working class for their support. This has seen
Zuma using the rhetoric of radical economic transformation; while the other faction has
been calling on people to mobilse against Zuma's corruption. The question though is: does
this battle within the ruling class in South Africa offer anything to the workers and the
unemployed of the country?
It is patently obvious that Zuma and his faction are rotten. They have been involved in
one corrupt deal after another, and have been brazen when caught out. Zuma's endless
giggling over Nkandla is the tip of the iceberg. Over and above this, however, they have
also supported and imposed neoliberal policies on the working class in South Africa.
Hence, it is clear they offer nothing to the working class (workers and the unemployed).
But does the other faction, the Ramaphosa/Gordhan faction offer the working class
anything? One brief glance at the history of some of those in the faction provides a clear
answer.
When one looks at the figurehead of the faction, Ramaphosa, one finds endless dirt.
Ramaphosa was the BEE man of choice for sections of white capital after apartheid fell.
Suddenly the ex-trade unionist became a billionaire overnight. To be sure, white capital
was not buying Ramaphosa's business acumen when they provided him shares and board
positions in their companies; they were buying the influence he had in the ANC and the
state in order to further their own capital accumulation. By 2012, Ramaphosa had his hands
in many pies, in partnership with white and foreign capital. When one of the companies he
owned shares in, Lonmin, experienced a wildcat strike at Marikana he made a few phone
calls to Ministers and top officials in the police and 34 mine workers were shot dead to
end the strike.
Then there is Ramaphosa's political partner Pravin. Year after year, he has been at the
head of drawing up one neoliberal budget after another. The consequences have been
devastating. Class and race inequalities have continued to grow, with the black working
class being the hardest hit. It was also Gordhan who recently dismissed calls for ABSA
bank to pay back a corrupt bailout it received from the state during the dying days of
apartheid. Gordhan is the prize fighter of established capital in South Africa.
Of course, the majority of white capital are part and parcel of the Ramaphosa/Gordhan
faction. To say the least they have a dismal record. Corruption during the apartheid
period was central to their operations. Banks belonging to the Banking Association were
essential to sanctions busting during apartheid. As for the Chamber of Mines, the wealth
of its members comes from the extreme exploitation of black workers - workers that were
forced into working on the mines through the colonial states' conquest of land and
imposition of the hut and poll taxes. Forced to work in appalling conditions, over 54 000
mine workers have died in workplace accidents in companies that form the Chamber of Mines
since 1904. Mining companies in South Africa literally have blood on their hands.
The practices of white capital today continue to be as bad as in the apartheid days. Major
banks were recently caught out colluding to fix the Rand in order to make billions; while
mining houses continue to exploit black migrant labour to generate huge profits and then
use transfer pricing to whisk the money out of the country.
Then there is the ‘vanguard' in the form of the SACP - also part and parcel of the
Ramaphosa/Gordhan faction. It bemoans state capture and corruption, yet it is mired in
corruption and nepotism itself. Top SACP members pack the echelons of the state; many not
because of their skills and talents; but because of political connections. The SACP - self
avowed anti-capitalists - also have their own investment arm, which too has shares in
mining companies. When the SACP head, Blade Nzimande, became Minister of Higher Education,
it cannot be an accident that an education institute that is partly owned by the SACP's
investment arm received funding of over R 200 million from a Skills Education Training
Authority ultimately controlled by the Minister. The SACP has also tried to mobilise
COSATU against Zuma, yet COSATU itself is in terminal decline politically and is also far
from clean.
Given the corruption and exploitation associated with those in the Ramaphosa/Gordhan
faction, it is also clear that this faction offers nothing to workers and the poor. In
fact, like the Zuma faction, it has used the working class as a punching bag. Yet both
factions are calling on the working class to defend them. There is a danger the working
class could get embroiled in these fights between factions of the ruling class. In fact we
are already seeing this in KwaZulu Natal and the consequences of this are devastating with
political assassination becoming rife. As the intra ruling class battles intensify, there
will be more and more killings.
Instead of backing one faction of the ruling class over another; the working class (and
the black section in particular) needs to rather step into the ring as an independent
force to fight against class rule, capitalism and its state. It is class rule, capitalism
and the state that generates exploitation and corruption - the ruling class's actions in
South Africa are simply symptoms of the rotten system, even those of the Zuma faction.
Capitalism was born of exploitation, brutality and corruption. It was built on slave
labour in the Americas and parts of Asia. In Africa it was built on genocide and conquest.
Even in Europe, it was founded on disposition of the land, denying poor people a living
and forcing them to work for a pittance in the mines and factories of Europe. Child labour
formed part of the horrors of capitalism on that continent too. From the start,
capitalism's foundations were brutal and corrupt. It remains so today: workers remain
exploited; labour is still abused across the world; imperialism is rife; inequality is at
its highest in history; millions of people starve because of the profit motives of food
companies; billions of people are now redundant to the system and are mired in
unemployment; and most people because of the profit motive in housing live in slums.
Likewise states too have only existed to enforce the rule of an elite minority over a
majority. In this the state is always against the working class. In fact, states are
central to minority class rule; and ruling classes have always used them to accumulate
wealth. The state too can generate a section of the ruling class. In South Africa this is
particularly stark as a black elite relies on the state and connections to it, for its
wealth. Despite BEE, because of the deal struck in 1994, white capital still largely owns
a majority of businesses; hence the state is central to an ANC elites' wealth. This is why
factions within the ANC are fighting tooth and nail to gain direct control over it.
The reality is that the Zuma faction and the Ramaphosa/Gordhan faction offer nothing to
the working class - both are vile and are fighting for their own paydays. Yet both too are
symptoms of history and symptoms of class rule, capitalism and the state; including the
forms these took in South Africa. If the working class wants to fight corruption; rather
than relying on intra elite battles to do so; workers and the unemployed should fight the
system that has led us into the situation we are in. It is the rotten system itself that
needs to receive a knockout blow and only the working class can deliver that.
The working class fight
In fact, through so-called service delivery protests the working class has been fighting
the impact of corruption and neoliberalism at a local level for years. Since the beginning
of the year, there appears to once again be an upswing in such struggles. For example,
Abahlali base Freedom Park in Soweto has been involved in a large-scale land occupation
involving 5000 people.
On the labour front too, struggles have continued since the beginning of the year,
specifically through new forms such as #OutsourcingMustFall and the Simunye Workers'
Forum. Much hope, however, has been placed by some in the New Federation, which has
officially been launched this month. Yet the majority of the unions involved in the New
Federation have not been sites of recent struggles, with one or two exceptions. As such,
it still appears that new forms, such as Simunye and #OutSourcingMustFall, are the forms
that workers are taking their struggles forward through.
The foundations, in the form of community struggles and the self-organised struggles of
workers, around which working class struggles could galvanise into an independent force
are, therefore, there. The question through is how to bring these struggles together, how
to ensure new forms can be maintained and how to ensure formations come to adopt
revolutionary progressive politics; because without this the working class cannot become
an independent force that can roll back the attacks it is under.
The challenge, therefore, is to charter a course that can contribute to bringing struggles
together, to assist new forms to maintain themselves and strengthen and to also spread
progressive revolutionary politics. How to do this, even as a small organisation, needs to
be constantly debated and reflected on. Answers need to be developed, found and debated in
struggle, there are no set formulas. Nonetheless, we are at a critical point in history.
If working class struggles do not become an independent force for change, the future looks
bleak and will be defined by intensifying violence, growing authoritarianism, rabid racism
if not widespread war.
Shawn Hattingh, International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG)
Related Link: http://ilrig.org
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30244
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» Anarchic update news all over the world - 11.05.2017