Written by Kali Akuno
For the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and Malcolm X Solidarity
Committee
Azania, better known to most as South Africa, is afire with
worker resistance and social unrest. Since August, hundreds of thousands of
workers, the unemployed, and their allies have engaged in a pitched battle
against the forces of transnational capital, particularly those concentrated in
the mineral extraction industries, and the African National Congress (ANC)
government and its partners the Coalition of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) – known at the Tripartite
Alliance
. The
workers rebellion has literally brought the Azanian economy, one of the largest
and most strategic in the world, to a virtual stand still and created an
unprecedented political crisis for the ruling Tripartite Alliance and its
international backers
.
The workers uprising is rooted in the deepening of
capitalist exploitation in Azania since the end of Apartheid and the failure of
the ANC government to implement the transformative program outlined in the
Freedom Charter that promised to democratize the economy for the benefit of the
majority of Azania’s peoples
. It
must also be understood as part of the wave of global resistance against the
austerity impositions of neo-liberal capitalism stimulated by the collapse of
the global economy in 2007 – 2008. This wave has touched Algeria, Bahrain,
Brazil, Chile, Cote d’ Ivore, England, France, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, Syria, Yemen,
the United States and beyond! However, in terms of scale, scope and impact, the
upsurge in Azania is only rivaled by the popular uprisings in Egypt, Greece,
Quebec, and Tunisia.
However, despite its scale, scope and impact, the Azanian
uprising has received very little attention by left and progressive forces in
the United States. One of the primary reasons why can be directly attributed to
the support of the ANC and COSATU by the vast majority of left and progressive
forces within the US (the SACP receives less support for ideological reasons).
To most, the ANC, COSATU and SACP are the unrivaled liberators of Azania, who
through decades of protracted struggle delivered the country from the grips of
Apartheid and white minority domination. The dominance of this narrative and
position has made it difficult for these forces to contextualize the Marikana
massacre and understand the workers rebellion, and if and how they should
relate to it
.
The crisis posed by the Marikana massacre is threatening the
position of the Tripartite Alliance. Its legitimacy is being challenged and
with it certain aspects of its power. The weakening of its legitimacy and power
is prefaced by its failure to improve the lives of the vast majority of the
people of Azania after apartheid. This failure is rooted in the compromise struck
by the Tripartite Alliance with the South African settler regime, US
imperialism, and the forces of transnational capital.
The compromise consisted of maintaining the capitalist
social order, including white settler ownership, in exchange for nominal
political control over the bourgeois state and the inclusion of Black and
non-white peoples into the capitalist class. It is this deal that produced the
likes of Cyril Ramaphosa, who transitioned from a mineworker and COSATU leader
during Apartheid to a part owner of the Lonmin mining company and one of the
richest men in post-Apartheid Azania.
This historic compromise should not be understood as a
sellout or betrayal of the masses by a revolutionary party. From its inception
the ANC was a liberal democratic organization that accepted the twin monsters
of capitalist social production and liberal democracy
.
Along the protracted road of struggle, the ANC adopted many social democratic
ideals, such as those in the Freedom Charter, and even incorporated a good
number of revolutionary forces within its ranks from the communist party and
various revolutionary nationalist trends, but it never waivered or ceased being
in its fundamental character a liberal democratic organization. And as such, it
never fully intended on breaking with capitalism and imperialism.
The notion that the ANC was or is a party of national
liberation is more myth than substance
.
And it is likely that the Marikana massacre has forever shattered that myth.
Marikana, like the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and the Soweto massacre in
1976, is clearly a game changer. It has radicalized the consciousness of a
generation and altered its social expectations and relations. There is no going
back to the pre-Marikana status quo, no matter how much the Tripartite Alliance
and its allies utilize the repressive might of the state to try and make it so
.
And although this crisis most likely won’t result in the fall of the ANC, let
alone a full-scale social revolution given the still fragmented nature of the
revolutionary forces in Azania, it is clear that the hegemony of the ANC has
been forever shattered.
A new era is emerging in Azania as a direct result of the
Marikana massacre and the workers uprising. The era holds both great promise
and peril. If the revolutionary left forces and radical social movements can
consolidate over the next several months and years as the capitalist world
system continues to struggle there is a potential for these forces to complete
the Azanian revolution that was interrupted by the negotiations and compromises
of the ANC in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. If these forces are unable to
unwilling to complete this task, then it is likely the ongoing national and
international crisis will result in ethnic conflict as a result of the
provocation and degeneration of the ANC.
What We Can Do - The
Role of International Allies
Our primary task is to do whatever we can to support the
radical social movements (like the emerging independent Workers movement, the
Landless Peoples movement, the Shack Dwellers movement, the Anti-Privatization
movement, etc.
) and
the unification and consolidation of a new revolutionary force in Azania (which
this writer believes would include the revolutionary forces from the social
movements and the Black Consciousness Movement, and more developed political
forces like the Socialist Party of Azania, Socialist Azanian Youth
Revolutionary Organization, and the Democratic Left Front).
This entails:
·
Providing resources when and where possible, particularly
financial resources in support of the organizing work of the social movements
and revolutionary formations
·
Challenging the hegemony of the ANC and the
Tripartite Alliance and providing political support in the international arena,
which entails everything from doing international education work that shatters
the myth of the Tripartite Alliance, popular agitation in support of the
demands of the new revolutionary forces, and advocacy in venues such as the US
congress and the United Nations for these demands, etc.
·
Fighting the interventionist politics, programs
and activities of the US government that will target the revolutionary forces,
bolster the Tripartite Alliance, and seek to strangulate the Azanian economy
Avoiding Traps
As the old saying goes, “
the
best way of avoiding a trap is knowing of its existence”. Perhaps the
greatest trap in the way of international forces wanting to engage in
principled solidarity with the uprising of the workers and the impoverished in
Azania is ideology. The Tripartite Alliance, as Patrick Bond says, is a master
of “
talking left, but walking right”
.
The left rhetoric and (questionable) credentials of the Alliance play a critical
role in confusing international forces.
Post-Marikana, COSATU and the SACP have taken the lead in
being the “left” flank of the Alliance, and played a concerted role in not only
denouncing the workers uprising, but resorted to many of the old “divide and
conquer” tactics of the settler Apartheid regime, going so far as to label the
striking workers “scabs” being manipulated by “outside agitators”, and accusing
them of being blinded by tribal witchcraft. These are classic anti-communist
tactics that were well worn by the Apartheid regime, now on full display by
their one-time enemies
.
The ideological attack on the workers acting autonomously in
their own interests and the alleged “primitiveness” of their consciousness is
not the only ideological assault being waged. The Tripartite Alliance has also
been keen to reengage in the longstanding ideological, and often bloody,
conflict with the forces of the Black Consciousness and Afrikanist movements
.
Both of these revolutionary nationalist tendencies have been given wide
expression in the recent uprising and many partisans of the forces representing
these ideological currents have been playing critical roles in the uprising and
its dramatic spread (such as SAYRO, SOPA, and several Priests historically
partial to the BCM). The SACP has gone so far as put hit pieces out on the
likes of Lybon Mabasa, the SOPA Party Chairman and Bishop Jo Seoka, of the
Anglican Church and head of the South African Council of Churches, both of whom
are BCM partisans and the targets of recent assassination attempts for their efforts
in support of the workers uprising
.
The BCM and the Afrikanist ideology associated with the
thought of Robert Sobukwe, are revolutionary nationalist tendencies that offer
radically different programs and strategies for the realization of socialism in
Azania than that alluded to in the Freedom Charter and argued for by the SACP
(although never universally accepted either within the ANC or COSATU)
.
The Tripartite Alliance and its allies are gravely concerned with the
alternative these revolutionary nationalist tendencies pose, as they are
ideologically and politically a direct threat to the “governing bargain” struck
by the compromise of the Tripartite Alliance under the leadership of the ANC. The
revolutionary tendencies of these ideologies and programs demand an end to the
settler domination of the economy and with it a break with the forces of
transnational capitalism, white supremacy and imperialism.
We must also be clear ideologically and politically, of the
shrewd maneuvering of the ANC. Perhaps its most shrewd maneuvering comes in the
international circus it has built around Julius Malema. Malema is the supposed
“young lion” of the ANC, who has the ear of the people, particularly the youth,
who is allegedly challenging Zuma and the ruling elite of the ANC to reform the
economy for the good of the masses by nationalizing the mining sector of the
Azanian economy
. According
to the current ruling faction of the ANC, Malema is an opportunist rogue fanning
the flames of racial hatred by calling for nationalization of the mines and
land redistribution, which would threaten the predominance of white ownership
in these sectors
.
Malema is also being accused of being a criminal opportunist involved in
numerous fraudulent activities.
In the context of understanding the overall strategy and
program of the ANC, it is clear that these allegations and charges against
Malema amount to nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Although there are real
factional differences within the ANC, and left leaning and right leaning forces
as well, the anti-Malema and pro-Malema forces within it are all aligned on the
core program of the ANC that is centered on upholding the agreements emerging
from the compromises made with the Apartheid regime. And the core program of
the ANC has produced from top to bottom, a party full of opportunists, careerists,
poverty pimps and cronies who line up and sometimes compete viciously to feed
at the troth of the ANC government provided by its corporate masters in the
form of gracious insider contracts (called Tenders) awarded through various
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programs that have strategically benefitted a
small number of petit bourgeois Afrikans. So, although the ANC has presented a
compelling case of fraud and opportunism against Malema, it is not one they
want to press too hard, as Malema could just as easily expose many in the
leadership of the ANC who set him up with his opportunities, contacts, and
contracts in the first place
.
The real shrewdness of the ANC comes into play in how it, or
at least a faction of it, are using and deploying Malema to channel and contain
the rage of the rebelling workers. In making his appeals to the workers after
the Marikana massacre, Malema was always keen to inform everyone that he was
still with the ANC (despite present legal formalities regarding his expulsion)
and that the problem being confronted by the workers was one of sell-out and
misguided leadership on behalf of the party
.
The clear implication here was that if he were to replace Jacob Zuma as the
Chairman of the ANC, then there would be no more massacres, low wages, or poor
working conditions as his leadership would resolve these problems, in part
through nationalization. In this game, the ANC hits the workers on both ends:
the stick on the one side and the carrot on the other. Malema, by his own
admittance, is not serious about really nationalizing the mines
,
nor is he serious about breaking with the neo-liberal polices and programs of
the ANC. However, the character of Malema provides the ANC with several
strategic options. To appease transnational capital, Malema and the forces he
represents within the ANC can be blamed, disciplined, and ultimately sacrificed
for various failures that yield themselves to low profit margins. And to
appease the material demands of the base, the Malema forces can be used both as
instigators and agitators to try and force various concessions from
transnational capital. So, in effect, the ANC can and does have it both ways
.
Marikana reveals that the ANC is a spent force. In following
its lead, COSATU and the SACP have not been able to orient it towards a social
democratic, let alone a revolutionary path. The Marikana massacre provided the
SACP and COSATU, which have both threaten to leave the Alliance in the past due
to the corruption and pro-capitalist orientation of the ANC, with enough reason
and political cover to make good on its promises to act independently and
legitimately break with the ANC. That both have gone out of their way to not
only defend the ANC, but to serve as its left cover speaks volumes! It is past
time that a new revolutionary force, rooted amongst the workers and the
millions of unemployed and impoverished, emerge to complete the Azanian
revolution.
Revolutionary forces throughout the world have a concrete
role to play in the development of this new force in Azania. The only way
international forces can avoid the trap of providing the ANC and the Tripartite
Alliance with aid and solidarity that is not warranted, is to be as
ideologically clear as possible on who these forces are, what is their history,
what it is that they fundamentally represent, and what is their concrete
historical practice.
The Azanian Workers
Solidarity Committee
One
emerging force struggling to advance the ideological perspective advanced in
this work is the Azanian Workers Solidarity Committee (AWSC). AWSC was initiated by
the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and Malcolm X Solidarity Committee
(MXSC) in solidarity with the Socialist Azanian Youth Revolutionary
Organization (SAYRO), to pursue the following:
(The) creation of a
Black-led coalition of organizations and individuals committed to educating and
mobilizing the international community in solidarity with the struggles of
Azanian workers to end exploitation and to nationalize the resources of the
country.
We explicitly support the working class of Azania in its struggle to overcome
the oppression of neoliberal privatization and austerity policies of the ANC
government, which ultimately only serve Western corporate capitalist interests
and impoverish and enslave the Black masses on their own land. Accordingly, we
support the call for the nationalization of all privately controlled
financial institutions, industrial infrastructure, and natural resources
fundamental to the economy and well being of the people for their sole benefit,
the expropriation without compensation and redistribution on an equitable basis
of all the land of the nation, and the unconditional cancellation of the
apartheid debt.
The August 16, 2012 Marikana Massacre, a mass murder of striking workers by the
police of the South African ANC regime--like the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and
the 1976 Soweto Massacre before it--will represent a new birth of the struggle
for a Black Workers Republic. We stand shoulder to shoulder in common purpose
with the struggling workers and people of Occupied Azania.
The
immediate program of the AWSC is to provide tangible international solidarity
to the Azanian working class that will help it advance towards revolution and
at the same time cut off a vital supply line of rare earth commodities (gold,
diamonds, platinum, etc.) to transnational corporations and shut down
imperialism's southern conveyor belt for the recolonization of the Afrikan
Continent. To achieve this program, we are initiating the following:
1. INTERNATIONAL LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATIONS OR
COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY to investigate the Marikana Massacre and subsequent
human rights atrocities and violations of international labor standards and
conventions. We believe the South African Labour Relations Act on its face
violates the internationally recognized Right to Strike (a union or group of
workers in South Africa must get government permission before striking) and
Freedom of Association (from our reading, the SA LRA makes it virtually illegal
for workers to seek representation outside official ANC-approved/COSATU—i.e.
company-/government-dominated—channels).
2. BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS
ACTIONS/CAMPAIGNS. South African cargo should be picketed. Transport unions in
all countries should block shipments of companies who do significant business
in South Africa. Corporate offices and retail outlets of South African mineral
resource end-user products, such as DeBeers boutiques, etc., should be
militantly picketed. Unions pension funds must divest from South African
investments. Same for public universities, etc.
3. FUNDRAISING TO SUSTAIN OUR COMRADES' WORK ON THE GROUND. The
SOPA/SAYRO national head office in Johannesburg was nearly evicted recently, in
the midst of the most important and widespread mass class struggle in Azania
since the end of apartheid. The SOPA comrades have been able to maintain their
own office without any assistance for 19 years of the party's existence. But
these are extraordinary times in Azania, and with them come extraordinary
responsibilities. Our comrades who in the midst of 60% or greater Black
unemployment in “normal times” struggle valiantly just to keep things running,
and they deserve and have a right to expect our financial support in a
pre-revolutionary crisis.
These tasks should be considered
specific to the AWSC, and supportive of the larger tasks suggested earlier that
were and are intended for the construction of broad movement.
The Marikana Massacre and the
workers uprising is reinvigorating and rekindling the popular spirit of
revolutionary resistance in Azania. To support its advancement and make sure it
is not isolated and crushed, a new international solidarity movement like the
anti-Apartheid movement of a generation ago must be built that will ensure the
people's victory in this new phase of revolutionary struggle!
We call upon all those
committed and willing to help build this movement to rise to the occasion, meet
these challenges, and carry out these initiatives of solidarity in support of the
revolutionary social movements and political forces in Azania in support of the
completion of the Azanian national liberation struggle and social revolution.
*This article was heavily
informed by discussions with comrades in the Socialist Azanian Youth
Revolutionary Organization (SAYRO).
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