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ISSUE No. 67/68 DECEMBER 2019

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Chile: neoliberal oasis in flames | Bolivia: Evo’s fall, the fascist right and the power of memory Shadow of Liberation Contestation and Compromise in the Economic and Social Policy of the African National Congress, 1943–1996

Vishnu Padayachee and Robert van Niekerk

This book seeks to answer the question of what happened between 1990 and 1996, years during which the ANC abandoned its earlier advocacy of a social democratic welfare state to embrace instead ‘market driven’ neo-liberalism. Padayachee and Van Niekerk’s achievement in researching this story from the surviving archival materials as well as the recollections of participants is impressive. Combining fi ne scholarship with vivid narrative, this is an economist’s detective story. Print ISBN: 978-1-77614-395-5 — Tom Lodge, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Peace and Confl ict Studies, University of Limerick Format: 234 x 156 mm When the prospect of a negotiated settlement came onto the political agenda in the 1980s, Extent: 288pp one outcome of policy discussions within the ANC was the birth of the Macro Economic Research Group (MERG). This book provides the fi rst comprehensive account of what became Price: R350 • US$30 of MERG, once considered the ANC’s ‘trickle up’ economic plan, and sheds interesting light Rights: World on a chapter of our recent history that is often forgotten. — Z. Pallo Jordan, head of ANC’s Department of Information and Publicity from 1987, cabinet Subject: Politics & Government, minister 1994–2009, and a member of National Executive Committee of the African National Economics Congress until 2014.

Publication date: October 2019 Shadow of Liberation explores in intricate detail the twists, turns, contestations and compromises of the African National Congress’ (ANC) economic and social policy-making, particularly during the transition era of the 1990s and the early years of democracy. Padayachee and Van Niekerk focus on the primary question of how and why the ANC, @WitsPress #ShadowofLiberation given its historical anti-inequality, redistributive stance, did such a dramatic volte-face in #ANCeconomicpolicy the 1990s and moved towards an essentially market-dominated approach. Was it pushed or did it go willingly? What role, if any, did Western governments and international www.witspress.co.za fi nancial institutions play? And what of the role of the late apartheid state and South African business? Did leaders and comrades ‘sell out’ the ANC’s emancipatory policy vision? ORDERING INFORMATION Drawing on the best available primary archival evidence as well as extensive interviews with key protagonists across the political, non-government and business spectrum, the authors argue that the ANC’s emancipatory policy agenda was broadly to establish a social democratic welfare state to uphold rights of social citizenship. However, its economic policy framework to realise this mission was either non-existent or egregiously misguided. Africa: Blue Weaver: With the damning revelations of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Tel: 021 701 4477 on the massive corruption of the South African body politic, the timing of this book could [email protected] not be more relevant. South Africans need to confront the economic and social policy choices that the liberation movement made and to see how these decisions may have UK & Europe: +44 (0)20 7240 0856 www.eurospangroup.com facilitated the conditions for corruption– not only of a crude fi nancial character but also of our emancipatory values as a liberation movement – to emerge and fl ourish. North & South America: Retailer and Wholesale orders: About the Authors Phone 855-802-8236 Vishnu Padayachee is Distinguished Professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily or [email protected] Cameron Chair in Development Economics at the School of Economic and Business Consumer orders: [email protected] Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was a member of or visit http://witsuniversitypress.nyupress.org the Steering Committee of the Macroeconomic Research Group (MERG). Robert van Niekerk is Chair of Public Governance at the Wits School of Governance. FOR ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES, REVIEW He was active in policy-making processes for a democratic South Africa in education COPIE S OR INTERVIEW REQUESTS, PLEASE CONTACT: and health during and after the 1990’s transition era, including serving as a co- [email protected] ordinator and policy analyst for the health section of the National Commission on www.witspress.co.za Higher Education. Tel: +27 (0)11 717 8700 contents

11 | The uprising in Lebanon Editorial Analysis 02 |Something has got to give 32 |Reclaiming Pan-Africanism for social emancipation News Briefs and 35 |The need for comprehensive Social Media sex education 04 |News Briefs 05 |Social Media What do we mean by? 36 |The fourth industrial revolution Feature: global wave of uprisings 06 Sudan: a cry for justice and International a revolution far from ending 06 |Sudan: a cry for justice and a 38 |Radical resistance to authoritarian revolution far from ending democracy in Nigeria 08 |More than just a “Spring” 41 |Turkey’s war for occupation 11 |The uprising in Lebanon 44 |Bolivia: Evo’s fall, the fascist right, and the power of memory 14 |The battle to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy 16 |Chile: neoliberal oasis in flames Culture 47 |The Debt Delusion Economy matters 48 |Activists and the surveillance state 18 |The Mid Term Budget austerity 50 |Joker isn’t an ode to the far right – it’s a warning against austerity and unemployment plan: let the 32 Reclaiming Pan-Africanism debate and the opposition begin! for social emancipation 52 |Poetry 20 |Tax Justice: more failed reform proposals from the OECD New Politics 22 |Eskom: unbundling and privatisation 54 |From anti- to alter-globalisation are not the answer 24 |Eskom in SA’s wider political economy crisis 27 |How seven thousand Quebec workers went on strike against climate change 28 |Rebuilding links between trade unions and co‑operatives for counter-power 30 |The growing retail sector in Africa and the role of African retail trade unions 50 Joker isn’t an ode to the far right – it’s a warning against austerity

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Email your comments to [email protected] or visit www.amandla.org.za for additional articles, news and views. Tweet us @AmandlaMedia // Facebook amandla! media // Subscribe to Amandla! website at www.amandla.org.za // To post material on the website, contact [email protected] Something has got to give NUM and Numsa at Eskom. The other would be with the public sector unions around shrinking the size of the public sector wage bill. In general, the forces of neoliberal capital, represented by the ratings agencies, are pulling them in this direction. And they are wedded to that neoliberal strategy – the smaller state and the expanded private sector. What deters the Ramaphosa faction from actually making progress with that strategy is not primarily fear of the organised working class. Yes, it’s true that, even if Cosatu is a shadow of its former self, public sector workers are still capable of responding if their interests are seriously threatened. But the more serious threat is from the “revolutionaries” of the Magashule / Zuma, “Radical Economic Transformation” faction, waiting for their opportunity. Neoliberalism is We have a gang economy in many townships around the country. People left with such hopelessness that they will yesterday’s strategy ever get employment, even at a poverty wage, that they participate in a parallel economy of drugs and abuse. Meanwhile, the lessons of the small, outsourced state are being s if it wasn’t bad enough. As their own hospitals, their own doctors increasingly revealed. The mass protests if the suffering of the and their own schools and universities. in Chile against the results of the most impoverished masses of The government can cut public health extreme version of neoliberal strategy. ASouth Africa wasn’t deep expenditure as much as they like. It won’t Privatising, retrenchments, cutting enough. Already we are experiencing affect the members of Discovery Health. budgets, withdrawing subsidies, raising unprecedented levels of homelessness Their risk is a different one – predatory user fees – all of these increase the costs and hunger. Already we are witnessing a doctors who will chop them up for profit. and pain for the poor. They are fuelling seemingly endless wave of retrenchments, But it will affect the long lines of poor protests from Chile to Iraq, , from Sudan as a manufacturing industry, already and working class people who form the and Iran to Lebanon. We report on some decimated in the last 25 years, continues queues outside the clinics; who queue all of these in this issue of Amandla. to shrink. Already, as we have highlighted day to get treatment. Already, some of And the irony is that these neoliberals in this magazine recently, we have a them get sent home if they have not got who want to shrink the state are so far gang economy in many townships there early enough. The numbers sent behind the times. They ignore: around the country. People left with home will increase. The numbers who • The failing outsourcing giants of the such hopelessness that they will ever get fail to get reasonably prompt treatment UK economy. employment, even at a poverty wage, that will increase. The numbers who don’t get • The forced de facto renationalisation they participate in a parallel economy of the medicine they need will increase. The of train services because of the sheer drugs and abuse. They are not deviant numbers who die in our health facilities incapability of outsourced companies. individuals – they are people desperate for are increasing. • The private prisons which abuse an income. Scared and desperate to feed prisoners. their families. ANC factionalism Over 10 million South Africans cannot prevents movement As we are writing, the British find work. 12 million by some methods of This situation is, by any human Labour Party, simply a party of left social calculation. At least 38% of the workforce. definition, a crisis. And yet what democracy, is standing in the British And the ANC/SACP government wants happens? The government of the ANC general election on a huge programme of to lay down an austerity agenda on that and SACP (and Patricia de Lille) is driving renationalisation – water, railways, energy, base. They want to cut public expenditure, the skorokoro economy in the wrong even broadband. as we reported in Amandla! 66, by 5% in direction. In another instance, the recent 2020 and 6% in 2021. We said in this editorial at the agreement signed between the unions and There is no mystery about who suffers beginning of this year that the major South African Airways makes provision from cuts in public expenditure. The challenges for Cyril Ramaphosa were for a task team whose mandate is to major consumers of public services are the going to be two confrontations with see how much money could be saved poor. The wealthy, in South Africa, have organised workers. One would be with by insourcing services. For so long, the

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 2 DECEMBER 2019 dominant narrative has been – if you want would require action that continues until negotiate training layoff schemes and to save money, outsource. The lesson that it achieves its goal. That would mean the most generous packages we can get, is starting to be learned is that, no matter the “rolling mass strikes” that are often and we accept. Management buys off how much you drive down wages and talked about but never implemented. our members with packages they feel working conditions through outsourcing, Steelworkers out today. Food workers out they can’t resist. The training received it doesn’t guarantee that you save money. tomorrow. Prison workers out the day by retrenched workers is enough to salve What it does guarantee is the consciences of the that you reduce standards. employers who get rid of them. But it’s not enough They will come to make any difference for you to the lives of those At this point, those workers. Theyare plunged who still have full-time, in an instant from the “permanent” jobs have a inadequate but tolerable choice. To adapt a classic conditions of an exploited cautionary tale: first they worker to the misery came for the steel workers, of unemployment and and I did not speak out unemployability. because I was not a steel So what alternatives worker. Then they came for are there? At the very least the public sector workers, we must start to think and I did not speak out of developing exemplary because I was not a public struggles of working class sector worker. Then they resistance. Argentinian came for me. and there was labour history contains no one left to speak for me. many examples of factory The “permanent” occupations in response workers, members of to waves of retrenchments Cosatu and Saftu, can and factory closures. keep quiet and hope that The British have, from no one comes for them. time to time, done the They can breathe a sigh of same. The well-known relief that they didn’t work historical example of an for Highveld Steel (1,800 armaments factory in retrenched), Standard Bank Britain, Lucas Aerospace, (1,200), Tongaat Hulett which, although ultimately (5,000), Sibanye-Stillwater it was never implemented, (3,450), Multichoice produced a plan to turn (2,000), ArcelorMittal in an armaments factory Saldanha Bay (1,000)… into a manufacturer of They can play Russian socially useful goods. This Roulette and hope that the plan was produced out of next retrenchment doesn’t an alliance of progressive hold a bullet for them. intellectuals and workers. Or they can seriously They said that, bad as The government of the ANC and SACP (and Patricia de Lille) is driving the skorokoro economy mobilise to change in the wrong direction. the situation is for us, the direction of the we have not accepted government. after. Mineworkers the next day. Teachers defeat. We are laying down, for future the day after that. Your turn will come generations, markers for what workers How to avert disaster round once a month. self-organisation can do. We have to be clear straight away. It’s painful to lose a day’s wages every So, it is time to get out of the routinist A one-day stayaway, even two one-day month, but it’s manageable. And it keeps box of retrenchment consultations and stayaways, will make no difference. They the pressure on continuously. It can be the occasional one-day mass action. are simply token events. They say – we ramped up as the immediate situation They are fine for a situation where we are want to show that we disapprove; but demands. The only drawback it has is not under immediate threat. That is not we know that we can’t stop what is that it requires intensive organisation. It where we stand today. Today we stand happening. The situation is now far too would require unions to go back down on the edge of a precipice of disaster. The severe for expressions of disapproval. to their members and organise, educate political leadership is leading us over the If “crisis” is an overused word, we are and mobilise in ways that we haven’t edge. Are we going quietly? facing disaster. seen in the labour movement for many So, if expressions of disapproval are years, to the point where some wonder if Disclaimer insufficient, what must we do? We cannot those muscles still exist. But perhaps that prescribe the way forward from this small analogy is a useful one. Because the only The views expressed in these articles do not magazine. But we can illustrate the scale way to restore atrophied muscles is to necessarily reflect those of the Alternative of need and possibility. If token one-day exercise them. Information & Development Centre, or the action is not useful, what might be? To Similarly with retrenchments. At the Amandla! Editorial Collective. actually stop government in its tracks moment we complain, we consult, we

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 3 DECEMBER 2019 news briefs &

social In recent months there have been numerous incidents of police brutality meted out against zamazamas (artisanal miners) operating in the Langlaagte area on the West Rand.

percent of the population lay the blame of they have done nothing. The case can only violence at the door of the government, proceed if DMR applies to have the case set media while 40 percent thought it is chiefly the down. But they continue to do nothing. protestors’ responsibility. So now the Umgungundlovu community What this poll shows also coincides has applied to the court to have the appeal with another poll: 70-80 percent of the dismissed. population support the five demands of It seems that the DMR has learned the movement. Still, nobody ever thought from their former boss, Jacob Zuma, the news briefs that the pan-democrats could win such art of playing the judicial system. Exhaust a landslide victory in a local election. the opposition with legal tricks until they Especially when it occurred in a context run out of patience or money. Hong Kong election where the movement is in a decline. At This is the same ANC government the time of writing, the police have been which stood for election on the slogan After writing the article on Page 14, laying siege to the Polytechnic University “Better life for all”. Apparently “all” Au Loong Yu sent us this update after the since last week. Despite several dozen didn’t include rural communities like local government elections: protestors still refusing to give themselves Umgungundlovu. The landslide victory by the opposition up, there is little they or their supporters in the current local election could be outside can do. Global car sales considered to be a referendum on both The victory in the election surely the Hong Kong government and Beijing. boosts the morale of the opposition in The global auto industry continues The people’s voice is a clear and loud general, thus neutralising the demoralising to slump, mainly due to broke consumers “No” to the latter’s hard-line policy. In effect of the defeat at the two universities. after a decade of low-interest rates and general, the opposition parties enjoy 55-60 Today more than sixty newly elected endless incentives. percent support in legislative elections. district board members went to the gate The auto slowdown has sparked But in local elections, such as these, they of the university to express solidarity manufacturing recessions across the drop to 40 percent. The fact that the with the protestors inside. That is also an world, including manufacturing hubs in opposition has garnered 57 percent (up encouraging scene. the US, Germany, India, and China. A to now) of the vote, compared with the prolonged downturn will likely result in pro-Beijing parties’ 41 percent, is surely a Amadiba Crisis Committee stagnant global growth as world trade big victory. continues to reduce. In terms of seats, it is an even bigger In November 2018 the High Court Global auto sales fell by 1.2 million, victory. Opposition parties got 388 seats ruled that 128 directly affected applicants from 81.8 million in 2017 to 80.6 million in in total, an increase of 263 seats, while and the Umgungundlovu community 2018. That was the first annual decline in pro-Beijing parties lost 240 seats and were have the Right to say No to the “Xolobeni nearly a decade. 2019 sales are likely to fall only able to retain 59 seats. The popularity Mining Project”. The following month, the by 3.1 million, or 4%, to 77.5 million. That’s of the pan-democrat camp could already Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) the most significant drop since 2008. be seen in a poll before the election: 83 applied for leave to appeal. Since then The slowdown in auto sales has been one

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 4 DECEMBER 2019 the 10% exemption level, and working for a full 23 days, earned R3,312 for the month. Transport cost R1,288 (38,9% of the wage) and electricity cost R598.52 (18,1% of the wage). Together, transport and electricity charges take up 57% (R1,886,52) of the National Minimum Wage, leaving R1,425.48 for all other expenses (including food). The cost of a basic nutritional basket of food for a family of four was R2,353.55 and for a family of seven (the average household size for households living on low incomes in Pietermaritzburg) was R4,115.76. So the bottom line is that it is impossible to feed a family properly on the much heralded national minimum wage. In October 2019 PMBEJD data shows that families are underspending on proper nutritious food by 23%. And that’s the very best-case scenario.

social media

AIDC podcasts The Umgungundlovu community won the Right to say No in court. Now the Department of Mineral Resources is stalling the process with its appeal. For the first time, we showcase podcasts, and specifically AIDC’s new of the largest contributors to the global On 21st November, a group of miners podcast series “Voices of the Streets”. Here manufacturing recession. was assaulted and robbed of cash by the is Sizwe’s response to Voices of the Streets China has been labelled as the primary police. One of the miners who was beaten – Episode 2: Tito’s budget for the rich. source of falling demand. So far this year, was seriously injured and had to be taken auto sales in the country are down 11% to hospital Sizwe: compared with the first ten months of Amazingly, when Lt. Col. Sibande was Thanks for the podcasts. I have 2018. There are no signs that a recovery in asked to talk to his men and order them learnt and realised that the demands from the industry will be seen in 2020. The US to stop the assaults, he said that speaking the public have been restricted, perhaps and Western Europe are expected to see to them wouldn’t make any difference by the understanding of politics or not declines of 2% this year. Brazil, Russia, and because they do not listen to him. understanding of politics. I don’t claim India are expected to record a drop of at It is ironic that it is the very police to have understanding. But I feel really least 5.5%. who treat zamazamas as outlaws engaged bad to hear people talk of water, toilets, South African auto assembly plants in illegal activity. Yet it is they themselves jobs, but not touching economic freedom are part of that global system. So this who are the thieves and robbers, out of (not EFF), and not speaking of land. It could be another source of economic the control of their commanding officer. seems the demands are selective. But downturn for this country. And when We can see who are the real outlaws in AIDC must make more of these podcasts, the assembly industry slumps, it takes Langlaagte. And it’s not the zamazamas. also just play them in events, like book the supporting components industry launch. Maybe even have a podcast down with it. Child Support Grant listening option in the AIDC library, just to spark some fire (self awareness and Police attack zamazamas It should have another name. introspection). Because the one thing it won’t do is In recent months there have been support a child. On 1st October it was In response to the article numerous incidents of police brutality increased by R10 to R430. That leaves in Amandla! 66 “GEPF, meted out against zamazamas (artisanal it 23% below the food poverty line of budget austerity and miners) operating in the Langlaagte area R561. The Pietermaritzburg Economic Eskom debt crisis” on the West Rand. Support organisations Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD) has such as the Legal Resources Centre established a baseline cost of R576.67 to John Richards (LRC) and the Benchmarks Foundation provide a basic nutritious diet for a small In the days when Defined Benefit have visited the area on a number of child between 10 and 13 years. The so- funds were commonplace, an employer occasions. Every time that visits have called Child Support Grant is 25% below “contribution holiday” was often used been made to Langlaagte, acts of police that level. to absorb unnecessarily high surpluses. brutality, intimidation, assault and Is that not an option in this case? A two general criminality have taken place in National Minimum Wage year holiday would make R100m available the presence of the visitors or just as they to support Eskom in a budget-neutral were leaving the area. And when they The PMBEJD has also looked at how manner without having to tinker with are carrying out their illegal acts, SAPS a worker can manage on the minimum contractual obligations. members do not wear name tags/badges. wage. In October 2019 a general worker So they hide their identity. earning the National Minimum Wage at

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 5 DECEMBER 2019 FEATURE Placeholder text

Sudan: a cry for justice and a revolution far from ending By Muzan Alneel and Walaa Salah

led to the fall of former President, Ibrahim Aboud. These protests came with demands varying from justice for the martyrs, to dissolving Bashir’s ruling party, to returning the investments under army control to the public treasury, and many others. There were two sorts of issues in the demands: issues which the current transitional government has decided – up to now – to stay quiet about; and issues which it has made decisions on that were unsatisfying to the public. An example of an unsatisfactory decision is the formation of an investigation committee into the massacre of June 3rd. This committee came with many flaws, starting with the participation of the Ministry of Defense and the Interior in the investigation of crimes carried out by the Ministry’s own troops. The protests were all held under the common slogan of “supporting the civilian government and correcting the path of the Protestors near the Military Headquarters in April 2019. The protestors were dispersed violently by the military on the revolution”. morning of June 3rd 2019, in what was later on known as the Military Headquarters’ June Massacre. The tension between the two halves of the slogan cannot be denied. The n mid-December 2018, the side there are arguments for stability and first half confirms support for the people of Sudan took to the streets stopping bloodshed. On the other side government. The second, by demanding demanding the overthrow of there are arguments for justice and the corrections, confirms that the transitional their dictator of 30 years, Omar continuation of the revolution to achieve government has deviated from the path al- Bashir, and his regime. The its demands for freedom, peace, justice of the revolution. This is a reflection of nation-wide protests continued and full civilian rule. the tension between, on the one hand, Ifor four months and were followed by a Control over the military, militias hope that the transitional government can 58-day sit-in at the military’s headquarters and the police remains in the hands of achieve the “freedom, peace, and justice” in 15 different cities in Sudan. The sit- the military half of the government. people fought for. And, on the other ins started on April 6th 2019 and were Meanwhile, the executive civil hand, deep doubts that the power-sharing dispersed violently by the military on government is trying to walk a very fine agreement which gave birth to this the morning of June 3rd 2019, in what line: providing the public with satisfactory government will allow real change. was later on known as the Military outcomes without angering their military In the first weeks following the signing Headquarters’ June Massacre. frenemies. of the power-sharing agreement, the Though al-Bashir is in jail facing doubtful, critical voices were branded corruption charges, Sudan is currently Protests revived “pessimistic” and were alienated from the ruled by a power sharing agreement On October 21st 2019, the Sudanese public debate. That is rapidly changing between his military apparatus generals people revived their revolutionary now, as we can see by looking at the and the opposition leadership. This fragile customs of mid-day protests that number of protestors, cities and resistance agreement did not achieve the demands sustained the first four months of the committees that participated in the march of the protestors in overthrowing the December 2018 revolution. Protestors of October 21st. And they did this without regime. However, as its supporters often took to the streets in over 20 different the leadership of the Forces of Freedom state, it did stop the bloodshed. Right Sudanese cities on the 55th anniversary and Change (FFC) coalition, for the first now, Sudan lingers in a tension: on one of the October 1964 revolution that time since December 2018.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 6 DECEMBER 2019 GLOBAL WAVE OF UPRISINGSPlaceholder text

The change in public opinion against the current power structure in the country was gradual but with major milestones. The missing body of an activist One major shift was on October 3rd 2019, when the body of a person who had been missing since the day of the massacre was found. Gussai Hamadto was the name of the young man, in his early 20s. He was killed on June 3rd. His body was in the morgue from June 6th, but he was not identified until four months later, on October 3rd. This is the same morgue where Gussai’s family, friends, neighbourhood committee and the Missing People Initiative went to inquire about bodies from the day of the massacre. They were told, again and again, there weren’t any. Gussai’s body was carried to his burial by protestors chanting that he was killed by al-Burhan, the head of the transitional sovereign council and the On October 21st 2019, the Sudanese people revived their revolutionary customs of mid-day protests that sustained main representative of the military half of the first four months of the December 2018 revolution. the government. The severe mismanagement of the That was a night Sudan saw the weeks after the massacre – more than 7 issue of justice for the victims of the transitional government prioritise million protestors. They marched against massacre, seen in the story of Gussai, may maintaining good relations with their fear and for justice, chanting “we wear be nothing but lack of capacity, systems military partners – by protecting their the blood of the martyrs around our or an individual mistake. There may be investments – over justice for the necks”. It is not logical to expect them to no ill intention to obstruct justice. But oppressed. That was also the night we compromise on justice. the rest of the events of the day were saw tyres burned in protests around To avoid the tragedy of a total more worrying. Sudan, in numbers never seen since the collapse, the transitional government and power-sharing agreement was signed. In its regional and international partners Protestors shot in Talodi some places, copies of the power-sharing must understand the commitment of the On the same October 3rd, Sudan agreement were burned and there were protestors to justice. They must learn witnessed what happened in Talodi. This chants against “documents that can’t the lessons of October 21st: the country is a small town, in a gold-rich area in bring justice”. will not see stability if the people do not southern Sudan, that protested. It held a see justice. Prioritising the compromise month-long sit-in against the dumping of Justice first with the military over the demands of untreated, poisonous cyanide in the area, The events of this day alone are a the people might seem like the easy way which was jeopardising the health, life and clear example of how the lack of capacity out. But first of all, it is unethical. If that environment of the town’s residents. and of political will for justice are doesn’t matter anymore, then maybe The sit-in succeeded in getting an threatening an already very fragile social it will matter that it is also a strategic official decision from the governor to contract between the people and the mistake. It can lead the people, as they close all the mining companies – known transitional government. However, in the lose hope in the transitional government, in Sudan as Death Companies – in the wider context, the government’s economic to take the matter to the streets again to area. This decision was followed by all decisions have not helped. Decisions correct the path of the revolution. But this the companies around Talodi, with the such as the lifting of subsidies repeat the time without supporting the transitional exception of the two death companies pattern of the same policies which led to government. owned by the paramilitary Rapid Support the public anger that overthrew Bashir. Forces and their commander, Mohamed Looking at the statements made by the Muzan Alneel is an engineer, a Marxist activist Hamdan Dagalo, better known as prime minister and his cabinet since they and a blogger. One of many activists detained “Hemeti”. On the morning of October took office, it is very clear that stability during the uprising, Muzan is one of the most 3rd, the residents of Talodi marched and “economic development” are their important critical voices in Sudan today, pointing to the companies, demanding their top priorities. However, it seems that this to the weaknesses and contradictions of the closure as per the official decision. They transitional government is not aware of current political arrangement. were met with live ammunition from the depth and weight of the demands for Hemeti’s soldiers. justice. What the transitional government Walaa Salah is a human rights activist with a On that night, a few minutes before and many regional actors have not yet legal background. In 2007, she was the first midnight, the transitional government been able to grasp is that the slogan of woman and youngest ever to be elected as issued a statement. It condemned the loss “justice first” is not just a principled the President of the Khartoum Students Union. of assets by Hemeti’s’s death companies. It position. It is also very practical. Walaa currently lives in Nairobi, where she works did not condemn the violations of human The oppressed people of Sudan have on Sudan issues, and travels back frequently to rights the residents of Talodi have faced. marched the streets on June 30th, four the country.

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Within that global framework, the most spectacular chain of events is what started in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread to the whole Arabic-speaking region in 2011, becoming known as the “Arab Spring.” The general crisis of neoliberalism revealed in the Arab region a very deep structural crisis related to the specific nature of its state system. The region’s developmental blockage was made worse by the prevalence of rentier patrimonial states. They are “patrimonial” in the sense that they are dealt with by ruling families as their private property. This developmental blockage caused a gigantic explosion of social unrest across the region, which can only be overcome by a radical change encompassing its political, social and economic structures. That is why I emphasised from The most spectacular chain of events is what started in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread to the whole the start in 2011 that this was only the Arabic-speaking region in 2011, becoming known as the “Arab Spring.” beginning of a long-term revolutionary process that will carry on for years and decades, as upsurges and backlashes alternate. At the time of euphoria, I warned More than just against the illusion that the region’s transformation will be fast and smooth, and at the time of gloom I kept asserting that there will be other uprisings, other a “Spring” “springs” to come. What is now unfolding in the “Roar” editor, Joris Leverink, interviews Gilbert Achcar Arab region proves that it is indeed a revolutionary process for the long haul that began in 2011. This is an edited version of an interview masse, the question was raised that first appeared in “Roar” magazine. whether what we were seeing was JL: What is common to all the beginning of a “Second Arab these different revolts? n late 2018, the people of Sudan Spring.” Since then, mass revolts took to the streets demanding an end have erupted in Egypt, Lebanon and GA: What they have in common is a to Omar al-Bashir’s authoritarian Iraq – each with different outcomes, rejection of political regimes held rule. This immediately triggered and the latter two still very much responsible for increasingly intolerable memories of 2010, when Mohamed developing stories. You have pointed social and economic conditions. Youth I out that the terminology of an Arab Bouazizi burned himself to death in unemployment in the Arab region affects protest against the Tunisian regime. “Spring” was misleading to begin young graduates disproportionately This set in motion a process of popular with, that the revolts of 2011-13 in this part of the Global South. It is uprisings and revolutions across the were not a come-and-go seasonal characterised by a relatively high rate region that have since become known as event, but rather the beginning of enrolment in tertiary education. the Arab Spring. of a long-term revolutionary The connection between this fact and Since then, massive protest process. Could you explain this. uprisings that are mostly youth rebellions, movements have taken shape in Algeria, in which educated young people play a Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. Each has its own Gilbert Achcar (GA): The events leading role, is obvious. specific triggers and dynamics, and they we see happening now, across the globe, have had different degrees of success. In occur at two different levels. One is a JL: What has been the secret Sudan and Algeria, the people managed general crisis of neoliberal capitalism, to the success of the uprisings in to rid themselves of their respective which was made worse by the Great Sudan and Algeria? And what are authoritarian rulers. In Lebanon, the Recession of 2008. This triggered a the challenges that lie ahead for government was forced to resign. The number of social protests across the the movements in both countries? uprising in Egypt was short-lived and globe and caused a political polarisation. violently repressed, and the violent This was expressed on the one hand GA: The popular movements crackdown in Iraq has already cost the in the rise of the far right. Fortunately, learned the lesson of the Egyptian events. lives of hundreds of protesters. on the other hand, there have been Protracted revolutionary processes are significant developments of the radical also learning curves: popular movements Joris Leverink (JL): Earlier this left in some countries, including, most learn the lessons of previous revolutionary year, when the people of Sudan surprisingly, the United States and the experiences and take special care not to and Algeria took to the streets en United Kingdom. repeat their errors. The Sudanese and

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The Sudanese and the Algerians avoided the trap which the Egyptians had fallen into when they bought into illusions about the military’s democratic intentions. the Algerians avoided the trap which Iraq and Lebanon, there are ongoing Another weakness is the legacy the Egyptians had fallen into when they efforts at grassroots organising inspired by created by massive errors of the Egyptian bought into illusions about the military’s the Sudanese model. left, the bulk of whom supported the coup democratic intentions. in 2013, contributing to fostering illusions The masses in Sudan and Algeria JL: In late September, protesters about the military and discrediting had no such illusions. In both countries, across Egypt took to the streets themselves. Egypt will need something the uprisings remained defiant of the demanding the resignation of like what we have seen in Sudan: the military. They understood that the army, President Sisi. It was quickly and formation of a grassroots network in removing the president, only sought to violently crushed. What is the capable of mobilising the population and preserve its dictatorial power. These were difference between 2011 and 2019? providing an alternative in its eyes. conservative coups, not even reformist And why did the people of Sudan coups. They kept their movement going. and Algeria succeed in occupying JL: Lebanon is currently But the key difference between the two the streets, whereas their Egyptian witnessing what is probably the movements is that there is no recognised brothers and sisters failed? biggest popular uprising in its leadership of the mass movement in history. The movement has already Algeria, whereas there is very clearly GA: Sisi has created the most forced the government to revoke one in Sudan. repressive regime Egypt has seen in some of the regressive taxes and The movement in Sudan has already decades – a dictatorial neoliberal regime Prime Minister Hariri announced his gone far beyond what has been achieved leading to massive impoverishment and resignation. These are significant in Algeria, where the military are just huge inflation. The prices of food, basic successes. But the movement keeps ignoring – or pretending to ignore – staples, fuel, transport – all basic needs demanding the removal of the entire the popular movement. The grassroots – have risen massively. Normally, people ruling class. What is the historic Sudanese social organisation, the would have taken to the streets in great relevance of the current protests Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), numbers to demand that these measures and how should we understand was formed in 2016 as an underground be repealed, but they were deterred by the them in the context of the long- network of associations of teachers, repressive context. term revolutionary process? journalists, doctors, lawyers and other A climate of terror has descended professions. The SPA was decisive in laying over Egypt since 2013. Additionally, GA: In fact the ongoing mass the ground for what eventually led to the population can’t see an alternative movement is not the largest that Lebanon the popular uprising. It grew massively to the regime. And it brings us back has seen in recent history. In 2005, you when the uprising started: it was joined to the question of popular alternatives had a huge mobilisation against Syrian by independent unions sprouting up represented by groups, organisations and domination. But at that time, the country in various sectors until it ended up associations – the problem of leadership. was divided along sectarian lines: a organising the bulk of the country’s The recent attempts at mobilising against mass counter-mobilisation of mostly working class. This kind of coordinated Sisi in September were significant, but Shia people took place in support of the network of unions and associations they failed to reach the level required to Syrian regime. has been the most advanced type of take down a dictatorial government. It This time, what has been most leadership to emerge in the region since would need something on the scale of impressive about the movement is that 2011. And it has become a model: in both what happened in 2011 at the very least. the whole country is involved and most

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response to an extremely violent repression, so that it has an excuse to intervene militarily?

GA: The uprising in Iraq involves the Shia population in open opposition to Iran’s domination. The Shia are the very community that Iran is keen on keeping under its control. Tehran cannot afford to alienate these masses completely. In Lebanon, the uprising involves people from all sects and communities. An important difference between Lebanon and Iraq is that the Iraqi Sunnis have mostly stayed aloof. The present uprising there has been essentially restricted to Shias until now, whereas in The recent attempts at mobilising against Sisi in September were significant, but they failed to reach the level Lebanon it has been cross-sectarian from required to take down a dictatorial government. It would need something on the scale of what happened in 2011 at the very start. the very least. The anti-Iran character of the uprising in Iraq is much more pronounced than in importantly, given the sectarian nature Iran’s regime is not motivated by Lebanon, where Iran’s direct interference of Lebanon’s political system, people anti-imperialism; they do not even use is less prominent. This is one reason for belonging to all religious sects. that term. They refer to the US with a the harsher repression in Iraq, where a Sectarianism is the key tool through religious phrase – “the great Satan.” The high number of people have been killed which Lebanon’s ruling class has regime has its own expansionist agenda already. On the other hand, the protesters traditionally controlled society. What and spreads its influence through the are very keen on sticking to nonviolent is most important about the ongoing build-up of sectarian paramilitary forces forms of protest, especially in Lebanon, movement, and allows the building in neighbouring Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, where the movement resembles those of of horizontal solidarity, is that the and in Yemen as well despite the lack of Algeria and Sudan in that regard. That is movement encompasses various social territorial continuity between Iran and because they know that if they fall in the groups: the poor, the unemployed, that country. trap and allow violence to escalate, it will workers and even the middle-class. In spreading its influence by such provide the reactionary forces with the Against that, there have been attempts at means, Tehran is not pursuing some opportunity to crush the movement and countering the social mobilisation with progressive agenda. It is building up a deter it from carrying on. sectarian mobilisation. Most prominent regional empire that is as neoliberal and behind such efforts is Hezbollah. It has corrupt as the Iranian regime is. In Syria, JL: We are now talking about come forward as a prominent reactionary they intervened on behalf of the regime Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong, force, threatening the demonstrators against the revolution that started in 2011. Catalonia: it is all connected. with thugs and defending the existing Iran and its regional proxies have been What is the best way to show structures of power. crucial in enabling the Syrian regime to international solidarity in confronting However, in Lebanon, as in Algeria, turn the uprising into a civil war, and the system against which there is not yet a recognised leadership to eventually win that war with its help people are revolting globally? of the movement, which started as a truly and that of Russia. This was a blatant spontaneous uprising. counter-revolutionary intervention that GA: The best way to be in “Leaderless movements” are fine in those who support it try to portray as solidarity with an uprising in another the early phase of an uprising, but to go part of an anti-Israel and anti-US strategic country is to have one in your own. But forward, the movement must organise in design. But that is not true: neither Israel it is also important, of course, to express some form. Leadership is needed – not nor the US wanted the overthrow of the cross-border solidarity with the uprisings. in the sense of some charismatic leader Syrian regime. And it is also crucial to condemn any or “vanguard party,” but in the sense of a The counter-revolutionary character reactionary attempts at putting the revolts network of grassroots organisations that of the Iranian regime is also obvious in down. In the future, one hopes there will can coordinate and steer the movement the way it repressed mass protests in be more direct connections between towards fulfilling its aspirations. Iran itself. Likewise, the Iranian regime, local organisations. There has been a through paramilitary forces connected lot of talk about the role of social media JL: We know the Iranian regime’s to it, has been engaged in the repression and new communication technologies involvement and connections in of the Iraqi people’s uprising. Iran is in facilitating the coordination of local Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Why thus definitely part of the regional struggles. The same goes for solidarity is Iran keen on suppressing counter-revolution. Along with the between the movements of various the protest movements in both Saudi kingdom, they constitute two countries. It is imperative to build real Iraq and Lebanon, and how do rival counter-revolutionary poles at the physical networks to carry the struggle to you see that developing? regional level, as both Russia and the US a higher stage. are at the global level. GA: Iran is a theocratic government, a clerical government, a JL: Do you think it is part of Gilbert Achcar is Professor of Development sort of regime that can only be deeply Iran’s strategy to provoke popular Studies and International Relations at SOAS, reactionary. uprisings into taking up arms in University of London.

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Demonstration in Tripoli, Lebanon, on October 20th. What triggered this uprising were the taxes the government was planning to implement two months prior to the uprising, and which were to be included in the national budget in 2020.

Amandla! interviewed Mohamad A!: Are there uprisings throughout without providing proper services in Kleit, a Lebanese journalist Lebanon, or is it confined to Beirut? return, such as electricity, water supply to specialising in international affairs houses, public transport, fixing roads (5% and a socio-political activist MK: The protests have covered of roads in Lebanon are fit for driving), seeking proper change in his most areas in Lebanon, such as Beirut, and other related issues. country. Jounieh, Jbeil (Byblos), Saida, Tyr, In addition to that, there are the Nabatieh, Baalbek, Zahle, Aley, Chouf, banks, headed by the Central bank which Amandla!: When did the uprising Rashaya, Shtoura, Khalde, Ne’me’, Barja, has had the same governor, Riad Salame, in Lebanon begin? I understand Akkar, Batroun, Jal el Dib, Bint Jbeil, and since 1993. They have benefited a lot from that it was spontaneous. Is that other smaller areas and towns. the political system, and they have made correct? If it was spontaneous huge profits. And they have increased what sparked it? Or, put in another A!: The impression that we Lebanon’s national debt to almost way, what was the tipping point? get from the Western media, is $103 billion. This in turn has increased that the cause of the uprising is general living expenses, while wages have Mohamad Kleit: The uprising corruption by politicians. Is that remained low. (Beirut is one of the most began on 17th October at 6:30pm when correct? Or are there other factors? expensive Arab cities). It’s also worth a small group of people gathered in Riad mentioning that the US has put sanctions Soloh square in Downtown Beirut. By MK: The causes of the on some Lebanese individuals and banks 8pm, that small group of around 30 people demonstrations go back to the 50s, when that they claim support Hezbollah, grew to around 300 protesters. Then a the political turmoil started in Lebanon which the US considers a terrorist big group joined an hour later, coming between different political factions, that group. In fact Hezbollah was formed in from other parts of Beirut, so the number caused the civil war. This in turn made 1982 as a resistance group against the gradually increased until it became the country a cake that sectarian militia Israeli occupation. They became part of around 5,000 by 2am. What triggered this commanders and political leaders cut Lebanese politics in 1996. uprising were the taxes the government for their own benefit and to protect their The economic crisis that started was planning to implement two months interests, whether personal or sectarian- recently has led the government to prior to the uprising, and which were based. The system that was formed after take austerity measures, while avoiding to be included in the national budget in the end of the civil war in 1990 was fighting the corruption of the banks, 2020. The most notable taxes were new economically corrupt and based on a major businessmen, and politicians ones on fuel, food products, and strangely capitalist economic system. This led to (present and former). So, on 17th enough, WhatsApp calls. them sucking money out of the people October, the government put forward

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the decrees as part of the 2020 national revolution. Are there other present population of Lebanon budget. The increased taxes on fuel oil, popular chants expressing the are Syrian refugees. Does the communication (a tax on WhatsApp outrage of the protestors? issue of refugees ever feature in calls), and others has caused an outrage the demands of the protestors (in amongst the public, who took to the MK: One prominent chant was a positive or negative way)? streets to protest against the deteriorating “hela hela hela hela ho” and the protesters economy, corrupt politicians, and Central would cuss one of the politicians or the MK: The issue of refugees has Bank policies. Governor of the Central Bank. It’s worth seldom been mentioned during the noting that some groups have called it the protests; I recall it was mentioned once A!: Are there any political and or “hela ho revolution”. by an activist. They chanted against religious organisations involved Other chants include “the people want a right-wing political leader and the in the uprising? minister of foreign affairs, Gibran Bassil, because he MK: There are created an anti-refugee several political groups, atmosphere. He worked mainly leftist and liberal constantly on kicking them movements such as The out of Lebanon and back People’s Movement (left), to Syria. Now it’s also a Communist party (left), demand by the Lebanese Youth Movement for in general that the refugees Change (left), and Sabaa should return to the safe party (liberal), in addition areas in Syria, but not to NGOs, youth groups, to act in a racist manner universities, environmental towards them. campaigns, and a few But the main demands trade unions. were economic reforms, snap elections based A!: Lebanon went on full proportional through a terrible representation, formation sectarian war in the of a government of experts period 1975-1990 that not political parties, resulted in over 120,000 and an unbiased legal deaths. The scars are system to take the corrupt still very evident in politicians, businessmen, Tripoli and in some and bankers to court. buildings in Beirut. Is sectarianism still a A!: This movement feature of Lebanese is unique globally in life? Is there any the almost party-like danger of the present atmosphere of many of uprising degenerating the gatherings – music, into a violent dancing, picnics. How sectarian conflict? did this come about?

MK: Of course there MK: Well, the is. 15 years of civil war Lebanese are known to be revolved around sectarian life-lovers. We love to party political groups and and enjoy ourselves, even fed sectarian hatred. in serious situations such These sects and political as protests and uprisings. affiliations have been Even in times when we have there amongst people a political problem, we deal since the 50s. The hatred Aftermath of a car bombing just outside Beirut in May 1986. 15 years of civil war revolved with it through joking and has continued as a around sectarian political groups and fed sectarian hatred. These sects and political affiliations memes. It’s a double-edged psychological and societal have been there amongst people since the 50s. sword though. It could be aftermath of the war, where beneficial to grab attention people of different sects won’t enter areas to topple the system”. This is a famous and at the same time it could belittle the inhabited by people from other sects. chant that was used in 2010 during the seriousness of the situation. The uprising broke some of these anti-sectarian system protests. It was then barriers amongst people. But politicians heard in Arab countries that witnessed A!: What are the forms of and political leaders have used the “fear of the Arab Spring revolutions. communication used by the returning to the civil war” as a scarecrow movement to conscientise to make their supporters hesitate to join A!: What are the movements ordinary citizens who are the masses in the streets. demands? Is it only about not presently committed. political change or does it include A!: People are chanting economic change? For example, I MK: We’ve used direct ‘thawra, thawra’ – revolution, understand that about 20% of the communication through social media,

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 12 DECEMBER 2019 GLOBAL WAVE OF UPRISINGSPlaceholder text discussion panels in public spaces, and also word-of-mouth to spread the demands, goals, and activities of the uprising. We, as demonstrators, try always to explain practically and factually why we are protesting in front of the Central Bank, for example. An indirect form of support to the uprising was, strangely enough, getting attacked and beaten up by political parties’ supporters. This created a sense of outrage amongst the masses. We have witnessed in several areas more people joining a demonstration or a march after those politically affiliated supporters attacked the protesters. A!: The uprisings have been ongoing for some time now. What will happen if there is no substantial change? What will you do?

MK: We’ve already figured that the fight with the political stratum won’t be easy or short. The ruling class in The Lebanese are known to be life-lovers. We love to party and enjoy ourselves, even in serious situations Lebanon has been there since the 50s, and such as protests and uprisings. Lebanon gained its independence on 21st November 1943. These parties still rule would be a civil conflict. This is because suspected of corruption in Lebanon, so up to today (with some changes and new of the existence of some political parties that a proper trial could take place here. parties joining in the 80s and 90s), so they which have been members of the political won’t let go of their personal interests and system since the 50s. They have tried to A!: What’s the role of women, profits easily. take control of the uprising as if they were and their lack of rights In Now, they’re trying to blame the founding members of it. These are parties the present system? uprising for the current economic which were known for their brutality predicament, rather than the real culprits during the civil war and which also have MK: Women and feminist – the banks and their own economic their own militia groups. movements are the core of this uprising policies. They are also blaming the In that case, it would be very difficult because of what they have suffered protesters for the sectarian problems to predict what the conflict could lead to, from the corrupt political system. It has and other issues that Lebanon has been but there will definitely be blood, and our supported religious laws that in turn suffering from over the past 30 years. demands will be lost beneath the rubble. stripped women of some of their civil The protesters are well aware of these rights. The feminist movements are facts, and they’re aware that the only thing A!: Do you have any sense pushing towards a civil, secular state they can do is to keep the pressure on the of international solidarity? In where everyone is subject to the same banks, government offices, public squares, what form would you like to see laws, rather than each sect answering and economic centres, right where it hurts international solidarity? Or do you to religious laws and being supported those in power. think that it is best that international by political parties that are based on supporters don’t get involved sectarian groups. One notable example A!: What will the movement do beyond reporting on the uprising? of feminist movements is that of the in the face of state repression? late Nadine Jouny – one of the most MK: International solidarity prominent feminists and rights activists MK: Well, we have faced that would benefit the Lebanese people in Lebanon. She passed away in a car repression more than once from the riot is the actual absence of it. Lebanon accident almost two weeks before the police and political parties’ supporters has been occupied by many countries uprising. She had demanded for years a in several areas, and once from a former over a century. Its political parties nursery for her son after a religious court MP’s guards who shot and wounded were and are part of foreign agendas stripped her of that right on the basis of several protesters in Tripoli in the north. on Lebanese soil, whether it be Saudi, “sharia law”. Nadine was left to see her We have been repressed in Beirut four Iranian, American, French, British, child only once a week. In the uprising, times, Nabatieh, Tyr, Saida, Jal el Dib, Qatari, Syrian, Egyptian, or Iraqi. And you would see her images in some areas and Tripoli. that’s starting from the civil war up to of Beirut with the words “my nursery is The outcome: more and more people today. So, proper solidarity would be that my right”, as part of the campaign Nadine took to the streets over the following few these countries would actually threaten fully supported. hours or day. This happened not only in the interests of the corrupt politicians, There was also a woman’s march, the area where the repression took place, bankers, and businessmen abroad. One during the days of the protests, to support but also in other areas in support of the notable proposal that was put forward by generally women’s socio-economic and repressed area. an attorney is to send a complaint to the political rights which they’ve been striving Now, if mass repression took place in Swiss government demanding that they for in recent years. all areas of the uprising, I believe there open the accounts of specified groups

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The battle to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy By Au Loong Yu

Unlike all other countries, which have sovereignty, Hong Kong is a special region of China. It does not have the necessary power to resist the central government’s legal persecution, if Hong Kong’s legal system is not insulated from China. When the Hong Kong government tried to table the bill in June, it detonated a big political bomb. Stages of the movement: Stage 1 The movement in Hong Kong has gone through three stages. The first was in June, when millions of people took to the streets. The legislative assembly was besieged and there was violence. Then Carrie Lam’s administration conceded by announcing that It was the radical youth breaking into the legislature building on 1st July which escalated the movement further. the extradition bill would be temporarily suspended. fter the four day battle China Extradition Bill. Hong Kong has But discontent persisted. The labour between the Chinese University extradition agreements with 20 countries, movement should be mentioned here: Astudents and the police, between including the UK and the US, but not with on 17th June, the pro-democracy 11th and 14th November, big clashes broke mainland China. The pro-Beijing camp, Confederation of Trade Unions called for out yesterday, 17th November. Hundreds here and overseas, argues that since Hong a strike, but it was not successful. of riot police besieged the Polytechnic Kong has extradition agreements with the It was the radical youth breaking into University and, as I write, the siege is West, why can’t it have an agreement with the legislature building on 1st July which still going on. mainland China? escalated the movement further. But The great Anti-Extradition Bill The reason is the “one country two what followed was horrible: the police Movement finally succeeded in forcing system” arrangement. Article 8 of the collaborated with the mafia in the Yuen Carrie Lam’s administration to withdraw Basic Law stipulates that “the laws Long region (right near the border with the bill on 4th September. Yet this has previously in force in Hong Kong…shall China) to carry out indiscriminate attacks failed to calm the movement. This is partly be maintained”. That means that Hong in the train station to terrify residents and because there are still four demands left Kong is insulated from China’s legal demonstrators. This antagonised people unanswered. It is also because, over three system. This is because, at the time the and even the most moderate liberals months, the movement has thoroughly Basic Law was drafted, even Beijing tacitly became angry. exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s agreed that the Chinese legal system So we saw a further radicalisation. (CCP’s) real intention of hollowing out all was far from being fair and open. So an There were also 16 or 17 the substance of Hong Kong’s autonomy extradition agreement between China and demonstrations in different districts. and replacing it with direct control by Hong Kong would necessarily undermine We saw a broadening of the movement Beijing, down to commanding the local “one country two systems”. If China’s to the community level, which we have police and mafia. legal system had improved significantly never seen before in Hong Kong. This The movement has evolved into a big then it would be possible to discuss an was driven by the attack from the mafia. battle to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy. extradition agreement. But in reality it has Hundreds of thousands of people took gone from bad to worse. This February, Xi part. The 27th July protest was even more Where it started Jinping released a speech re-affirming his significant. Until then, the demonstrations In February, the Hong Kong party’s stand that there will never be such were legal. But on 27th July, the police government started to promote a new a thing as judicial independence in China. refused a permit for the first time.

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Hong Kong people are very moderate – or have been for many years. Ordinarily, they would have accepted this. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in defiance. This was the first time since the current movement started that there has been civil disobedience in such large numbers. This laid the groundwork for August. Stage 2 August marked the beginning of the second stage, which was the climax. On 5th August, there was a second strike. This time it was successful. It’s estimated that 300,000 or 400,000 people took part. On 12th The police collaborated with the mafia in the Yuen Long region to carry out indiscriminate attacks in the train station to terrify August, there were more huge residents and demonstrators. occupations of the airport. Another strike was called for 2nd and occupation in the Chinese University struggle and are now calling for people 3rd September. It was not that successful (CUHK) which was the biggest. This to join or form new unions. A young however, as working people and the was because many students from other public servant’s call to form a new public unions feared retaliation from Beijing. The universities came to help. This made the employee union has resulted in a very latter has already shown its claws after resistance to police attack on the night of good response. There have been news the 5th August strike by making Cathay 12th November possible. reports that hundreds of public servants Pacific’s management fire its trade union However the lack of organisation have joined. This is also a response to the chairperson and more than 30 employees. and coordinating bodies within the traditional unions which have been slow As neither the students nor the unions occupation magnified the differences over to react, although credit is due to them could find a way to protect strikers from tactics between CUHK students and those for their support for the 5th August strike. dismissal, it should not surprise us that from outside campus. CUHK students Without this strike it would not have been this second strike was not very successful. were angry over some outside students’ possible to prove to Hong Kongers the But the early September class boycott destruction of facilities and reckless relevance of labour and to attract a new was very successful. Along with college behavior. Eventually the management of generation of labour supporters. students, now even high school students the university closed the whole campus Local elections are scheduled for 24th got organised and boycotted classes. down and the occupation was ended. November. Some people from liberal Demonstration became a regular activity The strike was not that successful parties have appealed to the movement to in this small city. either. It is true that many people could stay away from militant civil disobedience There were also setbacks in the not get to work on that day. But this was so that it will not give the government movement. Since the movement is not because they took the initiative to an excuse to cancel the election. This is leaderless and no political party has ever strike. It was rather because the students, something that pro-Beijing parties have been able to play any significant role at through occupying campuses located been pushing for. They fear a catastrophic all, it tends to be very loose and chaotic. next to 30 main roads or railways, defeat. There is a grain of truth in the For instance, on 1st October there were practically paralysed half of Hong Kong’s liberals’ argument, but local councils multiple marches in different parts of the busiest area. in Hong Kong are merely consultative city instead of a single big march. But these are actions which ordinary bodies. They do not have the power to people with a job cannot join or are not impose any tax or to administer any local Stage 3 ready to join. Increasingly, there is now a government departments. If the election From October onwards, the danger that the mass base of radical action is relevant, it is more because it may act as movement entered its third stage. The will narrow. The number of people who an expression of an angry public. movement is in a bottleneck as it finds are coming out to march despite the ban So, very soon the movement will be it hard to mobilise labour to strike again has also declined. put to a big test again, either by going or to demonstrate again in millions in On the other hand, there are also signs to the election or by being banned from defiance of the ban on marching. On the that the government’s hardline policy and doing so if the government eventually other hand, the government is also unable police brutality has broadened support for cancels it. to suppress the movement . the five demands of the movement. From There is an update to this article on On 11th November there was a call September onwards, community protests the election result in News Briefs. for a strike and class boycott. The fight have become even more common. between the students and the police Au Loong yu is a long-time activist based in between 11th and 14th November was Ways forward Hong Kong, a member of the editorial board impressive. The students occupied the There are young activists who have of China Labor Net and author of China Rise: campus for four days, and it was the realised the importance of labour Strength and Fragility.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 15 DECEMBER 2019 FEATURE Placeholder text Photo by Héctor González de Cunco right is unable to maintain social hegemony, it exercises domination through state repression. To do this, the government resorts to a fictitious internal enemy or international conspiracy. On the other hand, a social rebellion has emerged that questions neoliberal democracy and the current institutions. It is calling on us to build a new collective imaginary that invites us to rethink and reinvent the geographical territory we inhabit. We no longer know who the country belongs to or where it is heading, but we are not willing to give up without a fight. In order to challenge neoliberal domination from its roots, it is imperative to reimagine the country. That includes its institutions, the role of the A demonstration in Santiago – 1.2 million people. The largest demonstration ever in Chile. A massive uprising of two million economy, the character of Chileans began on October 25th, in opposition to the effects of neoliberalism in every aspect of life. citizen participation, the role of indigenous nations and traditional peoples, and the development model. The constitution that Chile: neoliberal governs Chile is undemocratic because of the context in which it was created. But it is also undemocratic oasis in flames because of its contents and By Carlos Torres the restrictions it imposes on popular sovereignty. It focuses hile has found itself in worry it will get even worse in the near on private property and market freedom unexpected turmoil since future and for their children. Almost against the common good and societal October 18th, when high everything is privatised in Chile – it is wellbeing. Cschool students began a like neoliberalism on steroids. That is why Neoliberal economists, known as mass mobilisation against a subway the slogan “neoliberalism started in Chile the Chicago Boys, used Pinochet’s Chile fare increase and will die here” has spread across the as a testing ground for their theories The international media has published demonstrations. of the withdrawal of the state from impressive images of the recent events. The Chilean President, Sebastian economic activity. The state’s resources The photographs and press reports show Piñera, declared that “Chile is at war were transferred into private hands to the result of years of accumulated anger against a powerful enemy.” This was enhance the free market and further that began with the military dictatorship the pretext for the murder, torture and the privatisation of common goods. in 1973. This is the result of the flagrant violation of unarmed civilians, men and Neoliberal reforms took the form of violation of the social and political rights women. When Piñera declared a state abuses by the elites against the working of Chilean people for many decades, in of emergency and a curfew, calling on poor. Years of exclusion and humiliation the context of harsh neoliberal policies. the military to guard private property, it are taking their toll. People are fed up A massive uprising of two reminded us of an axiomatic principle. In with seeing the new rich pillage the million Chileans began on October Chile the Armed Forces were founded to country’s wealth. They do it in the name 25th, in opposition to the effects of protect the dominant system against any of a development system that has enabled neoliberalism in every aspect of life. popular social revolt which might emerge the ruling elites to marginalise the poverty This is a revolt against abuses and the from the abuse and structural injustice. and debt of millions of Chileans for commodification of education, health, and The only war that Chileans remember is their benefit. retirement pensions. when the armed forces attack peaceful They reduce the social role of the protesters who demand that their rights state while expanding policing, the Background to the uprising be respected. They shoot those who paid criminalisation of dissent and repression. The protests are not just about for the fatal bullets with their taxes and All other public sector functions are changing the government; they are about their work. privatised. Neoliberalism has continued, changing everything. Things have been Nothing should astonish us anymore. regardless of the government in power, getting worse for decades and people The history of Chile shows that when the because during the military dictatorship

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 16 DECEMBER 2019 GLOBAL WAVE OF UPRISINGSPlaceholder text Photo by Héctor González de Cunco they enacted an authoritarian constitution that would control society from above. The State that neoliberal policies built represents a culture of domination and an economic model designed to extract wealth and take possession of it in all areas of human life. Accumulation by dispossession is a concept presented by David Harvey. It defines neoliberal capitalist policies that result in a centralisation of wealth and power in the hands of a few by dispossessing the public and private entities of their wealth or land. The recent mobilisations The massive mobilisations in Chile over the past week were entirely spontaneous, sparked by young people who jumped the subway turnstiles to protest a minor transit fare hike. Many of the young protestors were treated brutally by the police, and people reacted to defend their children. In a matter of A water canon, known as Guanaco in Chile, covered in paint from paint bombs used by the demonstrators. hours, the protests spread through the The massive mobilisations in Chile over the past week were entirely spontaneous, sparked by young people who jumped the subway turnstiles to protest a minor transit fare hike. entire country. The ruling elite has stolen from the people for more than three decades. The state of emergency and curfew and has demonstrators continue to occupy fare hike was the last straw. reorganised some of the ministries, while the streets of the main cities across The protestors demands are related maintaining the hard-core neoliberal the country. to minimum wage, pension plans, free politicians. Piñera and his devoted team Something will emerge from the education, health care, the well-being of will be accountable for the massive and neoliberal wreckage, but nobody knows retirees, the public management of water, brutal abuses perpetrated since October yet what it will look like. The government student loans, Indigenous autonomy, 18th by the army and the police. has had to make many concessions anti-patriarchy, phishing matters, According to the Human Rights demanded by this uprising. children’s rights and protection, forestry Institute, 5,362 have been arrested, In the meantime, the political elites problems, corporate tax evasion and hundreds have been tortured and 2,381 and government have agreed to freeze avoidance, and the role of the state in have been hospitalised as a result of hikes in subway fares, utilities and the economy. wounds from gunshots, pellets and other highway tolls, and to increase pension At present no one and everyone is weapons. Over two hundred people have payments for the poorest. In another leading this fight. The issues are what been partially blinded by the police pellet important matter, there will be major drive the mobilisation. I have never seen guns. At least one young man, university constitutional reforms that will put an anything like this before. The masses student Gustavo Gatica, lost sight in both end to Pinochet’s constitution and call are in the streets everywhere. This is his eyes due to shots from pellet guns. for a constituent assembly. There will the largest protest since the fall of the There are 283 lawsuits against the police, also be deep reforms in healthcare, dictatorship. There is wrecking and including for torture, cruel treatment and drugs, parliamentary expenses and the looting, but primarily of multi-national sexual violence. exorbitantly high incomes of senators corporations like Walmart. But the President has few options and deputies. Every movement in Chile has been left. His political capital is declining In 1970, Salvador Allende inspired working to support their shared demands and his impending resignation is quietly the world by establishing a truly socialist through social networks. That includes the whispered in the business and military democracy through an election. He died labour and women’s movements and the corridors. Citizens are demanding his resisting the coup that took power on student, indigenous and environmental resignation for the crimes that have taken September 11th 1973. Once again, almost movements. However, these movements place. He must be brought before the 50 years later, Chile may again inspire are not coordinating or organising these courts of justice. the world in the search for deep political protests: they are truly spontaneous. Due to the political and social crisis transformation. Now, the recently organised Social Unity and unrest, the Chilean government has The people always want peace but Platform, encompassing the above sectors had to cancel significant events, both in the context of justice, freedom and and many other social organisations, is international and domestic, like the APEC democracy, which is the opposite of the becoming the forum for some form of meeting and COP25, as well as major current scenario. coordination and has recently called for soccer tournaments, musical concerts and In the meantime, thousands are general strikes in October and November. many other public events. taking to the streets to keep fighting for As of today, the UN Human Rights their demands and pushing back the Commission, as well as the Inter- Where will this end? neoliberal mantra. American Commission on Human No one knows. However, Chile does Rights (IACHR), are in Chile monitoring not look the same anymore. Although abuses of power. As a result, the neoliberals continue to try to save the Carlos Torres is an activist and a writer on Chilean government has ended the best part of the pie for themselves, Politics and Social Movements.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 17 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters The Mid Term Budget austerity and unemployment plan: let the debate and the opposition begin! By Amandla! editorial team

In the October 2019 MTBPS, the Treasury expanded this policy of financing Eskom’s debt service from the National Revenue Fund – in other words, with tax money.

The Mid Term Budget in October was into the fog. It is again deemed to be “too The political importance dominated by the Treasury’s policy of expensive”. of the debt solving Eskom’s debt crisis with tax The Treasury continued to walk money. In summary: Shaken by opposition down the path set out in Mboweni’s 1. Eskom is increasingly capitalised from Finance Minister Tito Mboweni was budget speech in February. the national budget. obviously shaken by the extent of the In the February budget, R23 billion 2. This prompts the Treasury to harsh opposition to new cuts in spending plans, was set aside to service Eskom’s debt in and dangerous fiscal austerity. hitting education, housing programs and the current 2019 budget year. The plan 3. This means cuts in government public health. So he told the media after was, in fact, to give Eskom R23 billion per spending for everything other than his speech that the Mid Term Budget only year for ten years. servicing the debts of government “opened up a debate” before the main In the October 2019 MTBPS, the and Eskom. 2020 Budget in February. The traditional Treasury expanded this policy of financing significance of three year plans was Eskom’s debt service from the National Opposition to this is urgently undermined at a stroke. Revenue Fund – in other words, with tax needed before the budget in February next But we will accept his invitation. Let money. Tax revenue is supposed to fund year. And it has already come from many the discussion begin. all kind of service delivery and public corners. To give just one example of what We will start with two positive pieces investment projects. But it is increasingly needs to be protected from the Treasury’s of news in the MTBPS. Firstly, there is being used to pay interest on Eskom’s fiscal austerity plans: the Presidential the proposed R1 billion addition to the debts, and to pay off the loans one by one Summit on Public Health in October 2018 budget of the South African Revenue when they expire. reported an estimated 37,000 vacancies in Service (SARS). Let’s hope it will be used public health. to curb tax dodging. Secondly, there is Austerity questioned If the Mid Term Budget plans go the R1.2 billion addition to the budget This policy right now is what is ahead, those vacant posts in hospitals and of the National Prosecution Authority. leading to austerity that will, in turn, clinics will not be filled. Newly trained Here the hope is of course that this aggravate the social crisis. It will doctors or nurses will not get jobs. money will be spent to start prosecutions multiply the futile battles working class Instead, they will join the army of the against corruption and shoddy private- communities launch every day against unemployed. The vacancies will disappear public contracts that have looted the local governments, protesting against lack in support of the government’s war on State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), not of proper housing and water supply, or the “the public sector wage bill”. least Eskom. lack of sewage controls in townships and Not to mention the National Health Now let’s look at the main thrust of informal settlements. And there are still Insurance. That disappeared, once again, the MTBPS. 4,000 schools with dangerous pit latrines

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left to get rid of, creating many more than 4,000 opportunities for jobs to do it. Austerity is indeed a strange thing. More and more tax revenue is diverted to pay debt and interest. And it is presented to us as if the result is that we are “living within our means” and so we are “saving money”. Meanwhile, real resources continue to be squandered and destroyed. Take the issue of water in our water- scarce and drought-ridden country, which is becoming seriously hit by the climate crisis. 25-30% of all fresh water leaks out into the ground from old pipes in the towns and cities. Austerity means that even less is done to prevent it. This is definitely not to going to “save”. In Eastern Cape, the majority of municipalities pump out raw sewage directly into rivers. Repairs and investment in water cleaning stations are not carried out. This wastes In Eastern Cape, the majority of municipalities pump out raw sewage directly into rivers. Repairs and investment in and destroys natural resources and the water cleaning stations are not carried out. This is wasteful and destroys natural resources and the environment. environment. Eskom’s debt insurance money (UIF). It is the obvious The threat from In the 2017 financial year, Eskom’s alternative to using tax revenue for another recession total debt stood at R358 billion. In 2018, it capitalisation of Eskom. More open-minded mainstream was R392 billion. On 31 March 2019, it had • GEPF is, as usual, going for a surplus of observers are also starting to point grown to R445 billion. R50 billion this year, after benefits and out that “fiscal austerity” is dangerous. Eskom is taking new loans to pay back pensions are paid. When public sector economic demand old loans and the interest on those loans. • Despite the fact that there is mass is cut, state organs buy fewer goods It paid R69.5 billion for debt repayments unemployment and that UIF purports and services or reduce the wage bill for and finance costs in 2019, compared to to be “unemployment insurance”, UIF public employees. This can trigger an R43.6 billion in 2018. has amassed a portfolio of R156 billion outright economic downturn: a drop in Eskom can’t cope with this escalation in financial assets over the years. This the production of goods and services in of payments to creditors. A Presidential is also managed by the PIC. UIF always the whole economy, called “economic task team estimated that Eskom cannot records annual surpluses of R7-9 recession”. handle, without support, R250 billion billion per year This means more retrenchments of its debt. According to them, that part in the private sector and higher mass should be moved to a separate “Special The Treasury has conveniently unemployment. Government spending Purpose Vehicle” (SPV). But if a new and forgotten about these resources. comprises about 30% of economic separate legal outfit takes over some of demand in the country. Public sector Eskom’s debt, it will need to have income “Making finance capitalism employee wages are also a part of that to continue to service it. The question is, a little less prosperous” economic demand. where will the money come from? As it To transfer Eskom’s debt to GEPF is The danger is aggravated by the threat stands now, the Treasury’s answer will still not to destroy wealth. It is to move money from a world-wide downturn in the be: tax revenue. from a place where “maximised returns economy. That will cause lower demand on investments” are not needed (GEPF for South Africa’s exports. Several alternatives and UIF), not required by the Government Internationally renowned economist, to austerity: a scale Employment Pension Law and not Joseph Stieglitz, is one of the critics. from centre to left rational from the point of view of the vast He visited South Africa in November There are differences among those majority of citizens. It would move it to and advised against austerity policy. He who oppose austerity. Joseph Stieglitz the national budget, on which the daily contrasted half a decade of austerity simply says that, in order to avoid cuts in lives of tens of millions of South Africans policy of Greece with the rejection of spending, the state can take on more debt depends, as both public service sector austerity in Portugal. Greece continues to without any problem. users and workers. be in trouble with no end in sight, whilst But there are other strategic When public sector funds are used employment in Portugal is recovering. alternatives. The government’s for social aims, this also shifts the stream constitutional mandate is to gradually of interest income away from the private Unconstitutional improve the lives of all “within its finance industry and rich investors, to economic policy available resources”. So far, the Treasury public sector service delivery. It re-directs In short, the Mid Term Budget is a has however not “opened up a debate” that money stream from private financial plan to take R161 billion rand out of the about the resources that are available accumulation. It is a structural reform national budget over four years. R49 that they are not using – those managed that makes financial capitalism a little less billion in the 2019/20 budget year has by the scandal-ridden Public Investment prosperous. already been approved by Parliament. Corporation (PIC). The next immediate step would be This will be followed by R56 billion, R33 Amandla! has said it before: the to renegotiate flawed coal contracts billion and R23 billion in the following PIC manages over R2.1 trillion rand in and regulate the profiteering of the coal three years. The money will go instead to the Government Employee Pension producers from Eskom. service Eskom’s debt. Fund (GEPF) and unemployment

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 19 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters Tax Justice: more failed reform proposals from the OECD By Erwan Malary

other. But both have lost resources in the process. And it is shareholders who have gained. In this global tax race to the bottom, there are only losers. The State loses because its capacity to implement development strategies and welfare policies is eroded. Citizens lose because the economy can’t provide for their essential needs. Companies also lose, because “free” state services, that were at the core of their business model, are not provided anymore. Globalisation of value chains and the erosion of the corporate tax base The second development is linked to the globalisation of value chains. This has been facilitated by the abolition of most tariffs, the removal of capital controls and the conclusion of trade and tax agreements. This means that economies are much more connected than they were before. But it has also A company can ask its South African subsidiary to sell its commodity to another foreign subsidiary at a very meant that it has been extremely easy for discounted price. That subsidiary then sells the commodity to those who want it at a proper price and makes a huge Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) to profit. If that subsidiary is in a tax haven, they pay no tax on that huge profit. navigate around tax rules. And this is a huge problem: it has been estimated that orporate tax plays an of the richest countries, has been tasked currently 40% of MNCs’ profits are hidden essential role in a market to solve the problem. Once again it is in tax havens. economy. It allows the state to failing us. To understand how this happens, Cpay for wealth-creating activities we need first to understand how the that are otherwise unaccounted and The global tax race international tax system is structured. unpaid for: building roads, educating to the bottom Normally it is simple: if an economic students, ensuring workers stay healthy, Corporate tax payment are falling activity takes place on its soil, a country etc. These activities are often labelled worldwide. Two linked developments has the right to impose production taxes as a cost by capitalists and neoliberals. explain why. The first and most obvious on it. Therefore, when a local entity trades But they are essential for any wealth to development is the tax race to the with a foreign one, if they know the price be produced. No factory can export its bottom. In order to attract foreign of each transaction, they know how much products if there are no roads, railways, investment, many countries have decided wealth was produced by that company. airports or harbours. A software company to sacrifice their corporate tax revenues. And they can tax it. cannot sell anything if its employees can’t The calculation is simple: first, reducing However, if the local company and the count, write or code properly. corporate taxes makes it more profitable foreign company are both subsidiaries In a market economy, a crucial way of for investors; then, by attracting investors, of the same MNC, it is very hard for paying for such “free” public services is more jobs are created and the tax base countries to be sure the price paid was the the payment of corporate tax – a tax on increases. This is because there is more right one. A company can ask its South the profits of companies which make a economic activity to tax. In the end, these African subsidiary to sell its commodity profit. In other words, those who benefit benefits are greater than the initial cost of to another foreign subsidiary at a very the most from these services contribute lost revenues from reducing the tax rate. discounted price. That subsidiary then back through corporate tax. They allocate Unfortunately, this “magical” solution sells the commodity to those who want it to the state a share of the wealth it has has a serious limit: everyone is doing the at a proper price and makes a huge profit. contributed to. same thing. When one country reduces If that subsidiary is in a tax haven, they This scheme is under threat and the its taxes to become more attractive, its pay no tax on that huge profit. So the Organisation of Economic Cooperation neighbour does the same. So they remain parent company reduces its global tax bill and Development (OECD), an organisation in the same position in relation to each without reducing its global profit.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 20 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters

With the development of social media and e-platforms, it is not really clear anymore who produces the wealth.

This process is also called “profit hide them inside legitimate transactions. • Under Pillar 1, the profits of a MNC shifting”. It is a nightmare for tax You just need a foreign invoice. And would be split into two parts. Part authorities. nobody can tell whether it’s true or a fake. 1 (applicable to about 93.5% of a Not only that. With the development company’s profit) would not be affected. Two wake up calls of social media and e-platforms, it is For Part 2 (about 6.5%), a formula will For a long time, this wasn’t too not really clear anymore who produces apply. The formula will allocate this tiny much of a problem for industrialised, rich the wealth. When Google or Facebook minority of profit to different countries, countries. The MNCs’ headquarters were sell ads, who has produced the wealth? according to sales. This effectively in those countries. So they still benefited The engineer in India and America who means that only countries with big sales from a substantial tax base. And their own built the algorithm to target the right (the richest countries) will actually MNCs could get a competitive advantage customers? The SA users who fed the make anything significant out of this compared to properly taxed foreign algorithm through search requests and proposal. As the Tax Justice Network ones, by benefiting from these fabricated clicks? Or maybe the content makers says, this looks like the last attempt tax breaks. without which these websites lose their by rich countries to protect a broken But two main game-changer elements sole purpose? Probably a bit of each. tax system. came in. First, the 2008 financial crisis. • On a slightly more optimistic note, Rich countries had to borrow massive The OECD’s BEPS process: Pillar 2 provides for a global minimum (and unsustainable) amounts of money on rich countries’ last attempt to tax rate for MNCs. Fixed at 15% financial markets. They tried to repay that protect a broken tax system worldwide, following the US recent tax money by imposing austerity measures on To solve these problems, rich reform, this could look like progress: the their people, but this led to social unrest. countries decided to set up a forum : the tax race to the bottom will finally face So they started to investigate the flaws of BEPS forum. Of course, developing and a floor. This will limit the possibility for the global tax system. They couldn’t afford emerging economies are mostly excluded. MNCs to benefit from undue tax breaks. any longer to regard this revenue stream Through this forum a few victories However, there are two big drawbacks: as secondary. were secured, like the improvement of first, since MNCs’ headquarters are Secondly, there was the digitisation transparency rules, but the core problems located in rich countries, countries of of the economy. Before, trade was mostly have not been addressed. the global South will depend on them to in goods. These are fairly easy to track The key to solving the problem is to apply the floor. Secondly, since there is down for well-funded and organised tax prevent companies from choosing the no rule proposed for a fair way to split authorities. Assessing their prices isn’t transaction prices that are convenient these extra taxes, rich countries will always easy, but it is feasible. But now, for them. Tax justice movements likely be the sole beneficiaries. with digitisation, it is possible to trade generally agree that the key solution is more and more services. A company in the creation of a common formula to Clearly, faced with such pitiful New York can sell advertisement services split the worldwide profits of a MNC. This outcomes, southern countries and tax to a South African company. An Indian formula is based on tangible and fairly justice movements need to oppose company can sell its IT services, while easily accessible figures, such as payroll, strongly this absence of real reforms. A a German one can provide consultancy sales and local investment amounts. Using fair international tax system is urgently services. Not only can those services be these figures for each country where a needed. The time has come for this produced from anywhere, but faking the multinational is located has the advantage broken and inadequate forum that is the provision of such services is really easy. of being extremely simple. This is what is OECD to act. You just need a paper trail – there is no called a unitary tax system. concrete, tangible thing to trace as it goes However, instead of such a simple across the border. solution, the OECD came up with another This means that if you want to shift layer of complexity. The OECD’s proposal Erwan Malary is advocacy officer working on your profits abroad, you no longer have to has two “pillars”: finance and member of Attac France.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 21 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters Eskom: unbundling and privatisation are not the answer By Amandla! correspondent

Government’s plans for dealing with Eskom first became apparent in February 2019 when President Ramaphosa announced that, as the way to deal with myriad problems facing Eskom, the government intended to unbundle the utility.

here is clearly an urgent AIDC, TUED and TNI have been doing and board members as corruption and need to deal with massive in conjunction with NUM and Numsa. state capture eroded the organisation; problems at Eskom. It cannot The research is focused around three • operational problems which directly be business as usual – Eskom commitments: impact on the public when it finds Tdoes need to be transformed. • To build a “new” Eskom: fully public expression in load-shedding; and But this needs to happen in a way that and serving the people; • massive cost overruns as well as design meets the energy needs of the majority • To secure a democratic and just energy flaws at Medupi and Kusile. of South Africans, many of whom are transition; currently excluded from accessing • To work towards a socially owned Since Ramaphosa’s announcement, electricity, largely because of the renewable energy sector. two messages have been constantly high tariffs. relayed. On the one hand, the urgent Today South Africa faces horrifyingly Shortly after the workshop, the need to unbundle Eskom as the way to high levels of unemployment (close to government released its vision of how solve its problems. But, on the other 40%), and massive inequality. It is not to deal with Eskom. The “Roadmap for hand, the argument that this does not surprising, therefore, that we also have Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply constitute privatisation. These messages high levels of energy poverty, with 47% of Industry”, released on October 29 2019 by have culminated in the document released all households considered to be energy Minister Gordhan (Department of Public by Gordhan. poor. At the same time, the global climate Enterprises), clearly sets out the steps Both Numsa and NUM have crisis means we should be increasing the towards the deepening liberalisation of vehemently opposed the unbundling. For share of renewable energy in the energy the electricity sector. Minister Gordhan, them it is clear that it is not the solution mix far more rapidly than we are. however, was quick to assert that but will only exacerbate the problem In this context, we would argue, the unbundling didn’t mean privatisation, by opening up the electricity sector to emphasis must be on transforming Eskom even though the Roadmap explicitly talks market forces. They also recognise that into an effective and efficient public about the privatisation of generation unbundling of state utilities has generally electricity utility that is driving renewable through Independent Power Producers led to privatisation. energy. It must work in partnership (IPPs). with local government, community Government’s plans for dealing Government’s Roadmap organisations and co-operatives to meet with Eskom first became apparent in At heart, the Roadmap proposes the the needs of all for affordable electricity. February 2019 when President Ramaphosa deepening corporatisation of Eskom and Alternative Information and announced that, as the way to deal the liberalisation of the electricity sector. Development Centre (AIDC), together with myriad problems facing Eskom, It does this in a number of ways. with Trade Unions for Energy Democracy the government intended to unbundle It proposes splitting Eskom into (TUED) and the Transnational Institute the utility. The problems at Eskom are three entities – generation, transmission (TNI), recently hosted a workshop well known: and distribution – which would all fall focusing on how we can transform Eskom • a massive debt of R441 billion; under the Eskom Holdings Company. to do this. This workshop was part of • major governance problems with a These entities would be separated out the research on a “new” Eskom that rapid turnover of senior management over a number of years, starting with

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 22 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters

Transmission which, it is envisaged, would be a separate entity by March 2020 – just three months away. Ultimately, the plan would be for three independent subsidiaries. Each generating unit (or group of units) would relating to Transmission through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Transmission, in turn, would relate to distribution through Electricity Supply Agreements. The long term vision in the Roadmap is captured in the diagram below – Reformed electricity supply industry PPAs are typically used with IPPs to regulate the relationship between the electricity generator and the transmission company. They generally contain The starting point for transforming Eskom should be giving Eskom greater responsibility for renewable energy, agreements on how much power will rather than liberalising the electricity sector. be delivered, when it will be available and what the price of it will be. With of a public sector ethos. This would The roadmap places great emphasis IPPs, these agreements often tie the ensure that all have equitable access to on creating a competitive market electricity utility into buying a certain affordable electricity, and that public between different electricity generators, amount of power, at a certain price. sector workers have decent jobs. But if as though this is the panacea to many of According to the Roadmap, “each power the public sector is forced to compete the ills besetting Eskom. It argues that station will have its own Power Purchase with the private sector, they will be forced with different generators competing Agreement, with predefined, fixed and to act like private companies, cutting against each other, and an independent guaranteed tariffs for energy with the TE jobs, worsening working conditions and Transmission Company buying electricity [Transmission Entity].” delivering only to those who can afford to on a “ least-cost” basis, generation will In this way, most of the risk is carried pay. This will serve to increase inequalities become more efficient and electricity as a by the public utility rather than the private and deepen poverty in a country where whole will become more affordable. And entity, as the public utility is contractually these are already major problems. yet international experience (captured required to buy a certain quantity of Saftu issued a statement in response to in a European study by the Public electricity from the generator. the Roadmap in which it argued: Services International Research Unit at The Roadmap notes that eventually “it is plainly obvious that what the the University of Greenwich) has shown the relationship between the generators DPE is proposing comes straight from the that liberalised electricity markets don’t and the transmission company will be World Bank’s privatisation handbook. It is achieve what their proponents argue based on an open-market model. But this consistent with the Bank’s “privatisation that they will. Instead, an open market will not create a healthier situation. It will in stages” approach attempted in many in the electricity sector has led to greater result in public generating units having to other countries. According to this plan, concentration of ownership, and higher compete with private companies. But this first the public utility is broken up, but prices for electricity users. is not fair competition. its component parts will remain–for a There can be no doubt that Private companies are driven by the while–in public hands. Then for-profit increasing operational efficiencies and need for profit maximisation. To achieve independent power producers (IPPs) effectiveness must be an important part this, they look for ways to cut costs. are offered long term contracts (power of transforming Eskom. But there is no This often means fewer jobs and job purchase agreements, or PPAs) to take clear motivation given for why this has intensification. And they won’t deliver over new generation capacity. We have to involve unbundling. Rather, we need services for those who can’t afford to seen this already with the Renewable a solution that doesn’t leave workers pay for them. Energy Independent Power Producers bearing the brunt of the transition by With the public sector on the other Programme, or REIPPP. Privately owned cutting jobs, increasing tariffs, and making hand, there is a greater potential for generation is phased in, publicly owned electricity unaffordable, as unbundling services to be delivered on the basis Roadmapgeneration for Eskom is phasedin a Reformed out.” Electricity Supply Industry and privatisation will.

Reformed electricity supply industry A people’s roadmap Figure 3: Reformed Electricity Supply Industry The starting point for Generation Transmission System Market Operator (TSMO) Distribution transforming Eskom should be giving

Eskom Gx Eskom Dx Eskom greater responsibility for Customers renewable energy, rather than liberalising Local level the electricity sector. Eskom should System Operator Generation

IPPs play this role in partnership with local Municipal government, community organisations Connection and Connection and SAPP Dispatch Supply and co-operatives. All of them should Agreements Agreements have the capacity to generate their own SAPP electricity as well as buy electricity from Peaking Transmission Grid Management Eskom. The focus should be on developing this partnership between public sector Other LPUs and not-for-profit entities, to ensure that all have access to affordable electricity, SAPP ‐ South African Power Pool Gx – Eskom Generation entity LPU ‐ Large Power User Dx – Eskom Distribution entity and that basic energy needs are being met. IPPs – Independent Power Producers The private sector can’t do this. Source:Transmission DPE (2019) Roadmap for Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply Industry.

Overview Amandla! Issue No.67/68 23 DECEMBER 2019  Establishment of a Transmission Entity (TE) that is 100% Eskom owned and fully regulated.  The TE will balance electricity supply and demand in real time.  The TE will dispatch the generators according to least‐cost merit order principles.  The TE will be empowered to introduce additional markets and products if necessary, such as, a reserves market.  In order to fast track the establishment of the TE, several processes will be undertaken in parallel as the separation and creation of the TE is dependent on the entire legal process being completed.  The first step is to functionally unbundle Transmission and the formation of the new legal entity.  The second step will be to corporatise the TE as a subsidiary of Eskom Holdings with its own independent Board of Directors.  An organisational design based on the new mandate will be defined. This process will provide clarity on the assignment of human resource, finance, procurement, and IT systems.  The accounting treatment of how debt will be allocated (if required) will be defined and lenders engaged accordingly.  A trading system starting internally will be implemented, followed by legal contracting when required. As market rules and structure becomes clearer it will be rolled out to other providers.  These processes are very complex and will need careful management to ensure that operations are not disrupted.  Much effort will be invested in transparent communication with all relevant stakeholders and the required levels of consultation.

The Creation of a Transmission Entity (TE) The establishment of a new Transmission Entity (TE) is the keystone in Eskom’s reform. The new TE will be wholly‐owned by Eskom Holdings. Its core functions will be to act as an unbiased electricity market broker, to promote capital investment within the industry and to catalyse energy efficiency and cost sustainability. Over the past five years, the performance of the transmission network has deteriorated and requires capital for replacement. The system minutes lost due to interruptions on the transmission network has increased from 2.85 minutes to 3.16 minutes. This is primarily due to aging transmission lines, ranging between 30‐40 years.

17 Economy matters

Load shedding and increased electricity prices have led to disinvestment from the mining and minerals beneficiation sectors. In short, the crisis of Eskom is a key factor in what has been termed the “premature deindustrialisation of the South African economy.” Eskom in SA’s wider political economy crisis By Amandla! correspondent

he ESKOM crisis takes place in “premature deindustrialisation of the to official statistics. These high levels of the context of a stagnating and South African economy.” unemployment and worsening poverty deindustrialising economy. It also It is also important to contextualise have led to South Africa becoming more Ttakes place in the wider context the Eskom crisis within the unravelling unequal than ever before. of the climate crisis and its impact and of the minerals energy complex. Eskom South Africa’s widening inequality consequences for the electricity and is a leading institution in that complex. is seen in the fact that 10 percent of the energy sectors. It does this as issues of In fact, Eskom is both a contributing population earn around 60 percent of all climate change begin to affect and impose factor to, and a victim of, the crisis of the income. In the advanced economies that themselves on energy policy and the minerals energy complex and the wider 10 per cent earn only 20-35 percent. So public utilities responsible for electricity economic crisis being experienced in the top 10% earn far too big a share of generation. South Africa. income. And of course that means that the Equally, Eskom plays a critical role bottom 90% have to make do with only in the current crisis of South Africa’s South Africa’s economic 40% of income. political economy. The financial crisis and social crisis But even those figures pale in of Eskom, with a debt burden of over The economic crisis SA faces is comparison to those for ownership of R450 billion, weighs heavily on South illustrated not by the anaemic growth wealth (by “wealth, we mean owners of Africa’s financial position and is one of levels, which most mainstream assets such as real estate, pension funds the factors behind the downgrade by commentators and economic analysts and shares of listed companies). New tax most of the credit rating agencies of the focus on. Rather, it is the extreme and survey data suggest that the same 10% sovereign debt. Economic growth hovers inequality, poverty and unemployment of the South African population owns at recessionary levels. levels that mark South Africa’s post- between 90% and 95% of all those assets. There are several causes: some of Apartheid political economy and act The export-oriented direction them are structural, (the slowdown in as the major constraint and obstacle to of the economy flows from these the world economy, a virtual investment development and wellbeing. unequal foundations and imbalances strike by big corporations and large Over 11 million people (when we on which the economy is structured. capital outflows). But growth is also take into account the more than 5 So does the tendency towards over- significantly affected by the Eskom crisis. million discouraged jobseekers and accumulation crises. The economies of Load shedding and increased electricity “homemakers” not included as part of scale necessary to withstand pressures prices have led to disinvestment from the work force) are without work and of a globalised and financialised world the mining and minerals beneficiation regular income. This has significantly economy cannot be achieved without sectors. In short, the crisis of Eskom is a contributed to more than 55 percent of wealth redistribution. This needs to take key factor in what has been termed the the population living in poverty, according various forms, including higher wages,

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 24 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters extensive land and agrarian reform, comprehensive social security, a progressive system of taxation, an extensive investment programme to overcome spatial Apartheid and the remoulding of the built environment. A different set of economic (fiscal, monetary, industrial and trade) policies would be required to overcome SA’s economic, social and political crises. However, inflation targeting, tight monetary policies structured around high interest rates, and financial and trade liberalisation have eroded the productive base of the economy and encouraged investment in the speculative Eskom is both a contributing factor to, and a victim of, the crisis of the minerals energy complex and the wider economic crisis financial sectors. This has being experienced in South Africa. coincided with the big corporations that have traditionally they fuelled increased levels of debt- have announced their intention to dominated the South African economy driven consumption and higher levels of withdraw from SA. This is for a variety reinventing themselves as global imports for this consumption, reduced of reasons, including the depressed corporations. They have used their downstream manufacturing capacity, nature of the economy, the relative fall in dominant positions and their resources in and led to high levels of capital flight and commodity prices, uncertainty regarding the South African economy as platforms speculation in securities and real estate BEE ownership targets (the Mineral’s to expand into global markets and markets. The low levels of domestic Council has been in dispute with the value chains. investment and the domestic absorption Department of Mineral Resources and This reorientation of the largest of short-term foreign capital flows were Energy (DMR) over the Mining Charter,) South African corporations and accompanied by unsustainable increases and the legacy of state capture. reallocation of capital led to large- in the rate of GDP growth that had been Former South African giant scale corporate restructuring. In driven by consumption and speculation. corporations restructured their South particular, with the growing influence The severe impact of the 2008 global African activities to focus on their core of the shareholder value movement, it financial crisis on the South African businesses. At the same time, they has increased deindustrialisation and economy put an end to this unsustainable increased their investments abroad. hindered diversification into downstream growth model. Since 2000, there was restructuring and manufacturing sectors. Since the 2007/8 global recession, internationalisation of the conglomerates At the same time, the large growth the South African economy has been in and there was a decline in their share of in Foreign Direct Investment that the a stagnating and job-shedding cycle, as control over the market capitalisation government’s pro market policies banked the minerals energy complex has reached of the JSE. on did not materialise. This made the its limits and begun to erode. Between economy more dependent on “hot October 2008 and March 2010, 1.2 million Anglo American money” portfolio flows (“hot money” is jobs were lost. Many were in key sectors Consider the situation of Anglo short-term capital in search of immediate such as mining and manufacturing. The American, once the preeminent South returns). These inflows were necessary opening up of the economy, particularly African conglomerate, which at its height to match the large outflows occurring the liberalisation of trade and finance, was worth54% of the capital value of the as a result of financial liberalisation. But has left SA largely defenceless when JSE. Now its dominance has disappeared faced with the and it is currently worth a mere 3.3% of Anglo American value as percentage of JSE contagion resulting the total JSE value. from the global In the same vein, Anglo Gold Ashanti 60 financial crisis. has announced its withdrawal from SA 54 This has taken and it expects to sell off its remaining 50 a heavy toll on mines in SA by 2020. The reason it offers mining and other is instructive. Withdrawal from SA would 40 key sectors of the result in upward rerating of its shares MEC. Not only has because of “regulatory uncertainty, Eskom % 30 economic growth electricity price increases and constraints, 25.1 in general been labour unrest, and rising and untenable 21.2 20 low but mining levels of debt in state-owned companies 15.4 and downstream that threaten the economy. These all make

8.9 heavy industries SA a risky investment for miners. 10 6.8 5.5 have been in The internationalisation of SA’s 3.3 1.6 recessionary mode. mining giants and their progressive 0 1980 to 1985 1995 to 2000 2001 to 2005 2006 to 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Investment has declining ownership and withdrawal been subdued from SA has led to the unravelling of and several major the MEC. But the ending of the era of mining companies cheap electricity is also significant and

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 25 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters

state capture. But the political transition to the era of the New Dawn is likely to only make things worse. This is because every indication is that Ramaphosa’s government is seeking to address SA’s political economy and social crises through relying on attracting foreign investment and appeasing the credit rating agencies. Both investors and the credit rating agencies have made clear what they require from government: • Austerity to deal with what they consider to be South Africa’s unsustainable debt levels (projected to rise to over 65% of GDP by 2021); further pressure on the fiscus as the result of bailing out of state owned enterprises (the R59 billion Eskom bailout a case in point); • Privatisation, or at the very least public private partnerships, and the opening High levels of unemployment and worsening poverty have led to South Africa becoming more unequal up of key markets such as electricity as than ever before. a way to deal with crisis-ridden SOEs; • Labour Market flexibility “streamlining has contributed to the weakening of well as the expenditure of state owned the settlement of labour lawsuits and SA’s industrial base. Over a period of 10 enterprises (SOEs), especially the more limiting compensation for dismissals” years, Eskom’s electricity prices have significant ones such as Eskom, Transnet, (as the IMF put it in 2018). The obvious increased by about 356%. Inflation over Prasa, SAA. It is this drive that was led intention is to reduce wages and further the same period was only 74%. Up until by Zuma and his allies for control of key weaken the bargaining position of the recently, intensive energy users, such as state institutions, including Treasury, the trade unions; smelters and steel producers, have been revenue services as well as key security • Reducing the cost of doing business, able to mitigate against these electricity and intelligence services. This is what which entails reducing costs of price rises through long term contracts became known as state capture. Their administered prices such as electricity, with Eskom. So investments in upstream reliance on the state as an accumulation water, broadband etc. and easing production of basic metals have been strategy predisposed them to cronyism congestion in transporting goods. supported by cheap energy agreements and corruption. This especially took made in the 1990s, (some of which the form of manipulating the tender Already the Minister of Finance, must be ending soon and influencing process and directing tenders to favoured Tito Mboweni, in his 2019 Medium Term investment decisions). But downstream corporations, from which kickbacks could Budget Policy Statement, has signalled industries are generally purchasing be extracted. government’s intention to adopt most if electricity from municipalities at costs But the result of this struggle for not all of these reforms. When delivering estimated (for foundries) to be between greater levels of black ownership and the MTBPS, in what is a clear statement 19-29% higher than if they were supplied control over state procurement was of intent with relation to the reform of direct by Eskom. to factionalise the state. It divided SOEs, he noted “I am pleased to learn that key agencies, demoralised public there are conversations involving SAA and The politics servants and left a trail of paralysis and potential equity partners, which would Part of the explanation for the dysfunctionality at most state owned liberate the fiscus from this SAA sword of decay of the MEC also lies in the political enterprises, government departments and Damocles.” side of political economy. This is the institutions. The economic costs were and In the coming months, we can expect struggle between an emerging black are not small. Estimates range between several initiatives from government capitalist class, dependent on the state for R500 billion and R1 trillion. Of course, to subject Eskom to further reforms, accumulation, and the internationalised it is near impossible to put a cost on the which will open the electricity sector corporations that have traditionally lost opportunities that cronyism has to private investment. Yet it is this very dominated the SA economy. This struggle imposed on the South African economy. liberalisation of the economy that has entered a more combative phase after the This is especially the case in relation to resulted in the collapse of key sectors transition from Thabo Mbeki to Jacob what could have been a more sustainable of heavy industry critical to Eskom’s Zuma as ANC president in Polokwane in development path had we had an effective business model. Without putting in place 2007, and the subsequent recall of Mbeki state able to co-ordinate economic and a new industrial strategy to the withering as South African President in 2008. industrial strategies with social priorities minerals energy complex, South Africa’s Frustration had grown with the of job creation, poverty eradication and core manufacturing sectors have declined, slow pace of economic transformation, addressing inequality. with severe impact for the economy especially amongst black economic and jobs. Neoliberalism just does not empowerment groupings. Under the “New Dawn” will have the necessary policy tools to direct guise of radical economic transformation make things worse investment where the South African and a more radical version of African So the background to the Eskom economy needs it. So the role Eskom nationalism, several factions and crisis lies in the broader economic crisis could and should play in revitalising patronage networks united to drive a South Africa is facing. This includes the South African economy and in more aggressive programme to gain deindustrialisation of heavy industry and contributing to overcoming the deepening greater control of the economy for black the associated erosion of the MEC (in social crisis will be lost. capital. Their focus was on government’s which Eskom has been a critical factor) as Under the New Dawn, expect Eskom’s R800 billion procurement budget as well as cronyism, corruption and so-called death spiral to accelerate.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 26 DECEMBER 2019 economy matters

scheduled for the start of the school year. Since classes were already cancelled, they reasoned, the objective of allowing their members to participate in the rally was fulfilled. A strike, not a class cancellation But the half-dozen rank-and-file leaders who were spearheading the movement replied with a small leaflet titled “eight reasons to vote the strike anyway.” For one, not every CEGEP had suspended classes. Second, cancelling classes did not necessarily imply that teachers would be free to participate in the rally. Most important, teachers had begun the mobilisation. It was their movement, not a movement organised by administrators. They were not going to With a crowd of 500,000, Montreal’s march for the climate was the largest in the world during the September march for the planet because their boss 20-27 week of climate action. “let them” do so, but because they had decided not to work. The small group made calls, contacted fellow teachers in other institutions, How seven thousand posted the leaflet on a Facebook group for CEGEP teachers, and debated the proposition in every forum they had. Quebec workers went This convinced eight other locals to join the movement. Most of them represented other CEGEP workers, on strike against but some represented office workers. University teaching and research assistants also voted to strike. In total, the climate change 11 locals were members of three different labour federations. By Alain Savard Critical mass This article first appeared on the repression and marginalisation. It also Around September 20th, the goal of “Socialist Project” website ensured that locals could coordinate 10 locals representing 5,000 workers without having to use the formal was reached. Quickly, the rank-and-file ith a crowd of structures of labour federations for organisers called a meeting to gather 500,000, Montreal’s communication and strategising. The the locals. march for the climate was unions that the organisers thought might It became clear that people were the largest in the world strike belonged to various federations. not afraid of fines for holding an “illegal Wduring the September Tey expected the federations to be strike.” The legitimacy of the cause and 20-27 week of climate action. Yet it was reluctant, if not hostile to the project. the scale of the mobilisation had cornered also noteworthy for another reason. the bosses. Because administrators had Despite provincial labour laws preventing Teachers vote to strike agreed to cancel classes in many places, unions from striking over political issues, By June 2019 the first three locals it was not clear how they could “prove” 11 locals, representing 7,500 workers, had voted to strike, all of them legally that teachers were not providing formally voted to go on strike for a day. representing teachers at Quebec’s system the normal workload required of them. So Organising for the strike began in of public, two-year, post-secondary, pre- in a way, the workers got their strike vote January with a handful of rank-and- university colleges, known as CEGEPs. “recognised.” They were on political strike file teachers who were also involved Word was spreading fast among teachers despite the labour laws. in grassroots ecological movements. that a climate strike was coming up, and On September 27th, a large part of They decided to organise a real many locals scheduled strike votes for the province was shut down. Students in climate strike. They linked up with after the summer break. universities, colleges, and high schools the rank-and-file union network Lutte By design, these strike votes put CEGEP had voted to strike. A hundred and Commune (Common Struggle) to make administrators in an awkward position. fifty businesses shut down and let their connections with union activists on how They did not want to appear to be “against employees join the march. Thousands to push forward. the environment”. So they were not eager of workers took the day off. And amidst The strategy they came up with was to repress the strike movement. Under this turmoil, one group was striking in to get local membership meetings to pressure, the administrations of many of the proper sense. Seven thousand five pass a strike mandate. This mandate the colleges decided to cancel classes for hundred workers were proud to be on would be “conditional”: it would take September 27th. Instead, they announced climate strike. effect only if a critical mass – at least 10 an “institutional day” where questions of locals, representing 5,000 workers – were climate change would be discussed. participating. That way, the locals would Many local union officials therefore Alain Savard is a PhD candidate in political not strike alone and be vulnerable to called off the strike votes they had science and union militant

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 27 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters Rebuilding links between trade unions and co‑operatives for counter-power By Lucien van der Walt

often presented That said, workers’ co-ops – whether as new – in some start-ups, or from factory occupations, cases, as part of an or land occupations, or generated in innovative “21st other ways – can provide valuable, century socialism”. concrete examples of democratic, self- But they have a managed, non-profit production. They surprisingly long can contribute to building the working history. What, then, class counter- power and revolutionary can we learn from counter-culture, or consciousness needed earlier experiences for fundamental change. Workers’ co- in South Africa? And ops should be embedded in larger social what role, if any, movements, especially unions, which can co-ops play in can provide protected markets and reinvigorating the subsidies, including paying above-market union and working solidarity prices. class movements? Claims that co-ops provide an alternative are not new. They were, for Limits and example, made in the 1840s by French possibilities libertarian socialist Pierre-Joseph of co-ops Proudhon. He was later a major influence I argue that on the anarchist movement of Mikhail workers’ co-ops Bakunin. Proudhon wanted autonomous, cannot play a bottom-up co-ops, funded by a mutual significant role in bank; his rival, Louis Blanc, an early social poverty alleviation or democrat, advocated state sponsorship. In job creation, do not South Africa, efforts at forming union- challenge capitalism backed worker co-ops date back a century, economically, and and they remain central to the formal are not a direct socialist strategy of the Congress of South route into socialism. African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the However, there is still South African Communist Party (SACP). real value in workers’ However, there is nothing intrinsically co-ops, if linked anti-capitalist, anti-statist or inclusive The 1980s saw a revival of interest in worker co-ops in the left press and to larger working about co-ops. The most economically Cosatu. Numsa set up the Sarmcol Workers Cooperative in Howick in 1987 to class movements important co-ops in modern South Africa assist fired workers. for change. have been large-scale capitalist cartels. Workers’ co-ops For example, KWV was formed in 1918 Based on a talk in Tanzania face capitalist production, which is based as a co-op run by white Western Cape on union strategy. on authoritarian management, control commercial farmers. It controlled wine over capital and skills, exploitation and a and distilled spirits, including prices, igh unemployment, disregard for workers’ views and rights. received state backing and was built on together with stunning failures They must either struggle simply to the back of low-wage, non-union and by both private and state sectors survive, or embrace capitalism. Likewise, impoverished, mainly Coloured labour. Hto provide basic services, have consumer co-ops aimed at the working This is an example of a user co-op helped reignite interest in forming co- class are under immense pressure to providing services to clients. In this case operatives amongst the working class and provide low-price items, and so to source it is also enabling capital accumulation. poor. There is a range of left ideas behind cheap products from capitalists. Relying Around 1997, KWV became a private firm, support for building workers’ co-ops. They on ethical consumption by richer people ran BEE deals from 2004, and sold for over range from ideas that cooperatives can makes co-ops reliant on the inequalities a billion rand in 2016. alleviate poverty, to claims that they can within capitalism. Relying on states makes Workers’ co-ops are different: they form the heart of a different, solidarity- them reliant on ruling class patronage and are owned and controlled by the workers based economy, to notions that they can politicians. themselves. But they have significant provide a route out of capitalism itself. Fundamental change in society limitations. Co-ops, following the International requires a massive redistribution of wealth Cooperative Alliance, are autonomous and power – not least, socialisation of Co-ops in South organisations to meet the common major means of production. This requires African history purposes and needs of members, with struggle and confrontation, rather than Workers’ co-ops in South Africa joint ownership and control. They are engaging in markets on the margins. first emerged in Cape Town, according

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 28 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters to Evan Mantzaris. A small bakers’ union from big capitalist firms and lack of helping “plant the precious seeds” for a started an International Cooperative markets. The alternative was for workers’ new society. Bakery on Roeland Street in 1903, and co-ops to emulate capitalist firms, eroding Unions should revive workers’ bootmakers in the non-racial General co-op values. co-ops. They should do this without Workers Union (GWU) set up two co-op In the 1990s, co-ops faded from illusions that they can end poverty – that stores on Caledon Street in 1906. That union projects, and union funds moved requires the end of capitalism and of year, striking cigarette rollers in the GWU instead into investment companies. In states. Nor that they can end capitalism formed a co-op producing “Knock-Out” 2015, the total value of Cosatu-linked and states themselves – that requires and “Lock-Out” cigarettes, eventually union investment companies stood revolution. They should do it as part of employing 300. The latter co-ops were at R20 billion. Many are embroiled in the institutional apparatus of a radical assisted by GWU and Social Democratic BEE deals, enriching black elites, union working class movement. Federation militants like the anarchist and ex-union leaders and established What matters is that worker co-ops Barney Levinson. firms. Involvement in privatisation and demonstrate the features of a new world. Despite enthusiasm, union support, corruption is common. They are capitalist They must contribute to a culture of and impressive starting capital, none corporations. self-management, practical skills and lasted. Raw materials were controlled by solidarity essential to a revolutionary large firms; co-ops lacked counter-culture. This running costs and battled consciousness is essential to to pay wages; they could building counter-power that not access big retailers or can challenge the ruling class compete with the big brands; now, and later dethrone it, they struggled to operate socialising the major resources democratically and efficiently. and reconstructing society This pattern continued over from below. the following decades. To give a concrete example, The 1980s saw a revival of union-backed co-ops could interest in worker co-ops in supply t-shirts (as with the left press and Cosatu. For successful NUM and Numsa example, the National Union co-ops in Phalaborwa and of Metalworkers of South Howick) to unions, with large, Africa (Numsa) set up the guaranteed sales at decent Sarmcol Workers Cooperative prices. The unions would lose (Sawco) in Howick in 1987 money on this – it’s always to assist fired workers. cheaper in China – so this is The National Union of a political, not an economic Mineworkers (NUM) set up 30 decision. It’s about building cooperatives in South Africa, the co-ops, the union, and Lesotho and Swaziland, the class. This is close to how following a bruising 1987 Numsa used to approach mass strike. By 1989, Numsa the co-op question, using was setting up the Siyanda co-ops to demonstrate what Consumer Cooperative in they called in Cosatu News Port Elizabeth, and an East “democracy in production”. Cape Co-op Newsletter. Other And why not expand this into unions were also active. building clinics, fixing roads and establishing alternative From co-ops to media, technikons and union investment universities? companies This only makes sense Mikhail Bakunin (1814 to 1876). Bakunin saw that co-ops are “overwhelmed” by There was never monopoly capital. But he also saw their great value: they “habituate … workers to in a larger project of union agreement in Cosatu over organise themselves to conduct their own affairs”, helping “plant the precious seeds” renewal, the rebuilding of co-ops’ aims, but there was for a new society. union democracy, critical consensus over co-ops’ limits. thinking and workers’ In Cosatu News in 1989, education, and autonomy Numsa argued they were “tiny” islands Role of co-ops in from capitalist parties and corporations. in a “hostile capitalist environment,” broader movement That project would require the abolition employing hundreds only, and struggling The basic problem facing worker of union investment companies. Their to remain democratic. NUM ran co-ops is that we live in capitalism. A billions could be used for mass organising cooperatives mainly to help, and keep small ruling class of capitalists and state drives, a lively working class media, contact with, ex-miners in rural areas. managers controls all major means of advice centres and union-backed co-ops, They were phased out in the mid-1990s. production, administration and coercion building a movement, as Bakunin put Its Phalaborwa T-shirt Printing Co- through top-down corporations and it, for a “future system of production” in op has, however, survived. NUM’s new states. This system operates according which “land and all forms of capital must approach was to build local businesses to deep logics of domination and be converted into collective property”. via a Mineworkers Development Agency exploitation. Projects like workers’ co-ops (MDA). are doomed to the margins. Lucien van der Walt has long been involved Kate Philip, NUM co-op and then Bakunin saw that co-ops are in union and working class education and MDA coordinator, documented the “overwhelmed” by monopoly capital. movements and published widely on labour, the disappointing outcomes of the NUM and But he also saw their great value: they left and political economy. Currently at Rhodes other workers’ co-ops: issues of funds, “habituate … workers to organise University, he’s part of the Neil Aggett Labour wages, skills, and management, pressure themselves to conduct their own affairs”, Studies Unit and the Wits History Workshop.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 29 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters The growing retail sector in Africa and the role of African retail trade unions By Keith Jacobs

The significance of the retail MNCs The foreign retail companies are appreciated in various countries for a number of reasons. They bring in valuable foreign investments; they enhance formalisation in the sector; they create jobs; and they sponsor the emergence of local supplier businesses and value chains. Initially, retailers from South Africa relied on sourcing their goods from the home country. They were forced to shift towards sourcing from suppliers in host countries, as there were often long delays at borders and ports. As a result, companies like Shoprite run huge local supplier development programmes to ensure local supply of fresh produce and other goods. In countries such as Kenya, local laws require companies to source a significant proportion of their goods from local suppliers. This goes a long way in facilitating local linkages. A new Shoprite store under construction in Luena, Moxico province, Angola. Shoprite is the biggest retailer in Africa. Interestingly, formal retail creates space for the informal sector to grow. Informal traders tend to cluster around lobal retail retailers as they battle for a larger share of formal retail chains, to gain access to Multinational corporations the market in the region. customers and sell what the formal (MNCs) have been spreading There are a number of reasons for retailers do not provide. So, instead of through Africa. Walmart this growth. These include the growing formal retail destroying informal traders, Gentered the African market middle class in the continent, increasing there is often a healthy relationship after purchasing a majority stake in rates of urbanisation, and rising levels of developing between the two. Massmart, which houses major brands formal retail penetration in most regions But retail work is characterised by a such as Game, Makro, Dion Wired – especially in southern and east Africa. deficit of decent work. and Builders Warehouse. Carrefour These have contributed to the emergence established a strong presence in North of a strong and growing consumer base in Conditions of work Africa and has been making inroads into the continent. Furthermore, an increasing A lot has been written about the west and east African countries. number of countries are implementing poor conditions of work that exist in At the same time, local retailers, national minimum wages – Nigeria, the retail sector. Wages are very low in such as Shoprite and Pick n Pay of South Mauritius, South Africa and Zambia – and a sector where Executive Directors earn Africa, Choppies of Botswana and welfare programmes. This ensures a stable among the highest in the world in terms of Nakumatt of Kenya, have spread out income for the majority of the people. pay, bonuses and dividends from shares. from their national bases. Shoprite is the The minimum wages and state Retail companies rely on precarious forms biggest retailer in Africa. Choppies is a transfers are small in monetary terms. of work, with casual, labour broker and fast-growing supermarket which extended But they represent a predictable form part-time work very common. Lack of job to Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and of income that retailers have been able security is a major concern for workers. Kenya. Nakumatt is a big supermarket to target, by providing consumer goods They are subjected to long and flexible from Kenya that, until it closed recently, at very low prices. To make profits, the hours of work, where overtime is counted dominated the retail market in East retailers cut costs by sourcing goods at as part of normal working time. Africa. This collapse fuelled an intense low prices from suppliers and paying Long and late trading hours create competition between the large foreign low wages. huge safety problems for workers, who

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 30 DECEMBER 2019 Economy matters

Through these measures, the Shoprite trade union network was able to help the retail union in Swaziland. It faced obstacles to winning recognition at the Shoprite store in the country so that it can conduct collective bargaining on behalf of its members. The Pick n Pay network operates at a sub-regional level in Southern Africa. The company’s operations are currently confined to this sub-region, though it is exploring the possibility of entering the market in Nigeria. The unions, through UNI-Africa, have submitted a draft Global Agreement for negotiation. After a delay due to restructuring due to recent losses, the company appears to have turned the corner and is interacting with the sub- regional trade union network. As would be expected, lots of challenges have been experienced at Massmart/Walmart, due to the company’s notorious anti-union attitude. Nevertheless, Walmart recognises the unions and bargains with them. This Makro workers protesting in Johannesburg. Workers employed by South African retail MNCs in other countries seek comes from the conditions that were to achieve and enjoy what applies to workers in South Africa attached to its entry into Africa, when it bought a majority stake at Massmart. have to travel long distances back home costs. These methods have become But alongside its engagement with the after knock-off time. With the majority crucial in corporations’ efforts to contain unions, the company implements the of the workers being women, lack of labour costs. To counter these and other anti-union practices it has mastered over transport after late trading hours becomes problematic corporate practices, the the years in the US. These include endless an even greater problem, as instances retail unions meet regularly to share cases of dismissals against shop stewards of rape of women workers increase information. and harassment of worker activists. day by day. Also, when negotiating over wages and The problems experienced by Regional networks conditions for workers in other African workers has made them amenable to The expansion of the retail MNCs countries, the company has insisted that joining unions. Through their unions, across borders, and their malpractices, the negotiations be held in South Africa. workers have waged struggles to improve have created the need for sharing of This has seen trade union negotiating their wages and conditions of work. information and exchange of strategies teams from other countries heading to In South African corporations such as among the unions from the different Durban for wage bargaining, with costs Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Massmart, countries. The majority belong to the of travel, hotel accommodation and meals wages and conditions in South Africa Africa regional structure of the UNI borne by the company. have been better, because of many Global Union – the international sector The Walmart strategy in Africa is years of struggles led by the South federation of unions in the retail and clearly aimed at isolating the bargaining African Commercial and Catering private services sectors such as security, teams from union members, in an effort Workers Union (Saccawu). These better banking and telecommunication. to squeeze concessions that are not conditions are often used as benchmarks The UNI Africa regional office has favourable to workers. While most unions for workers in other countries. So, formed union networks around the key have co-operated with the company in workers employed by South African retail MNCs operating in Africa. The this approach, they have always insisted retail MNCs in other countries seek networks hold annual meetings to share on getting proper mandates from workers to achieve and enjoy what applies to information and strategise together to participate in the negotiations. workers in South Africa. around their experiences with the An important part of the struggles companies. The main idea is to promote Power from below waged by unions has revolved around cross-border solidarity between the So the retail sector in Africa is insecure forms of employment. Workers unions and workers employed by the expanding rapidly. The retail MNCs bring in different countries are fighting corporations. about valuable investments and stimulate against part-time, casual and labour The networks are at different levels local economic linkages, while creating broker employment, in favour of direct, of development. The Shoprite network jobs in the process, But they engage in permanent employment with the MNCs, is the most advanced, having signed a serious malpractices that have inspired and against exploitative and burdensome Global Agreement with the company. workers and their unions to rally together shifts and flexible working patterns. This commits the company to observe to advance workers’ interests and promote The unions are achieving some key worker and trade union rights cross-border solidarity. With limited legal positive results. More and more in all countries where it operates. It instruments and political will in Africa to precarious workers have been converted further provides for the unions to meet hold MNCs accountable, workers and their into permanent company employment. head office management on an annual unions are building power from below and But where such victories are registered, basis, where the company reports on developing international strategies and the corporations (especially Walmart) its performance and plans. In turn, the structures to confront the behaviour of have resorted to maintaining low staffing unions are able to raise problems and corporations. levels, linked to “smart” scheduling of concerns of workers from the different available employees, to contain labour countries. Keith Jacobs is Regional Secretary of UNI Africa.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 31 DECEMBER 2019 Analysis Reclaiming Pan- Africanism for social emancipation By Issa Shivji

This was a presentation at the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN) People’s Summit, followed by an interview.

re we for Pan-Africanism or for member states? In which tradition or tendency does SADC fall? In the APolitical Pan-African or in the Economic Integrationist tradition? These are some of the questions we should be asking ourselves to understand the role of civil society in promoting and advocating progressive Pan-Africanist unity. In this process of interpreting and changing our reality (as Marx said), we must be fully cognisant of the ideology which guides us. Because ideology does matter, whether you are explicit about it or follow it without knowing. Ideology determines the language you use, the people you mobilise, the demands you make, the slogans you craft and the goals you set. Without ideological guidance you are inevitably, without even realising, accommodated, co-opted and compromised. And the language used does matter. It tells what you are advocating, in whose interests and what you stand for. Language is not just words. Language arises from certain outlooks and perspectives. The central question is: what do you stand for – the politics of Pan-Africanism or the Economics of Integrationism? What is the Pan- Africanist tradition? The Pan-Africanist tradition can be divided into three phases: Phase 1: The first phase was embedded in a kind of anti-racist, racist ideology. The period is roughly from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Born in Marcus Garvey led the “Back-to-Africa movement” because he believed that Black Africans had no the Caribbean and the US, the demand future in the US and the Caribbean. was to be treated as equal human beings and against racial discrimination. Within this struggle for equality and non- terms. Garveyism stood for separation Phase 2: discrimination, there were two tendencies: from, as opposed to integration in, the The second phase is the liberation one represented by WEB Du Bois and mainstream. He led the “Back-to-Africa phase. It was led by a liberation the other by Marcus Garvey. Du Bois movement” because he believed that ideology. The liberation ideology was stood for people of African descent to be Black Africans had no future in the US and best articulated at the 5th Pan-African integrated in the mainstream on equal the Caribbean. Conference (PAC) held in Manchester in

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1945. It included delegates like CLR James, today there are people – African people Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, WEB – who think that imperialism does not Interview Du Bois, George Padmore and others. The exist and that it is passé, then they need 5th PAC was an important turning point to re-examine their intellectual source Amandla!: What do you mean in the Pan-African ideology because it of knowledge and understanding. by a political Pan-Africanism? opened up a larger landscape of struggle • Thirdly, and this is my proposition, for the African people all over the globe. It the modern Pan-Africanist ideology Issa Shivji: More than ever before had four very clear demands: needs to combine the national and there’s a need for us to revisit and • Independence and liberation for Africa; the social questions theoretically, resurrect Pan-Africanism. Otherwise, • Social democracy, including public politically and organisationally. How in the neoliberal stage that we are in, ownership of the means of production; this is done in practice will depend we will sink into narrow and parochial • Uncompromising anti-imperialism; and on actually existing conditions of our nationalism. Today, narrow nationalism • An African federalism own terrains of struggles. There is and parochial chauvinism, propagated no blueprint nor a text book answer under the guise of patriotism, are Phase 3: to “how we do it”. We can only show becoming rampant. This is not in the The Third phase never happened, “why we should do it”, but not “how”. interests of the working masses of Africa because it was aborted and taken over by Because “why” is a question of theory – it only serves the interests of comprador Integrationism. However, it should have and partly politics, while “how” is a classes and imperialism. “For my God and happened, both logically and historically. question of organsiation and partly of country” is its slogan. But patriotism is Logically, because national liberation real life politics. only a fig leaf for narrow class interests. should have dovetailed into social Secondly, there’s no way that we can emancipation. And historically grapple either with imperialist because social emancipation hegemony or with our own was and continues to be on the reactionary states without an historical agenda and the demand ideology which goes beyond of the time. our borders and subordinates I talk about national liberation narrow patriotisms. On our and social emancipation not own, as separate countries, it in the stage-ist sense, but as a will be virtually impossible to process, in the sense of Cabral. do that. Kwame Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral said “So long as Julius Nyerere realised that there imperialism exists, independence is no way that we can take on can only mean national liberation this challenge without unity and in power”, before he was therefore they were ardent Pan- assassinated by the Portuguese. Africanists. This is because independence of At the moment, we find the country itself does not ensure that nationalism, presented as social emancipation of the people patriotism, has been co-opted from exploitation and imperialist by reactionary classes and social control. In short, imperialism groups. In the colonial phase, is built on the underlying in the times of the national structure and social relations of liberation movements – in what capitalism; it does not end with I refer to as the Liberation Phase independence. So the struggle for – nationalism was progressive liberation from imperialism has then. But not now. Now it is to be waged simultaneously with becoming increasingly parochial. the struggle against capitalism for What we have is some kind of emancipation. chauvinist patriotism (sometimes Summing up the important verging on xenophobia). Under characteristics of Pan-Africanist these circumstances, we need an ideology, I would say: The question of African unity presents itself as a political question. If we don’t ideology that transcends this. unite politically, we cannot overcome our economic divisions. • First and foremost it is a political ideology. Politics A!: How do we cannot be separated from economics. Thus conceived, I see a great take power today? In our universities, politics is separated potential for the Pan-Africanist from economics. This is in line with the ideology to become the ideology of the IS: In the Gramscian sense it is bourgeois outlook where the whole is African working people. I see working important to win hegemony in civil broken up into compartments; where people as the harbinger and agency of society before you can win hegemony knowledge is disintegrated, thus losing transformation and revolution in the at the level of the state. That is where vital connections; and where the bigger current phase of neoliberal capitalism. much of the progressive left has failed. picture is lost in a myriad of details. Against this background, the Traditionally we always thought of getting Indeed, politics must take precedence question of African unity presents itself power and then once you have power then over economics. This is what is meant as a political question. If we don’t unite you can do things. But that is not how by saying politics takes command. In politically, we cannot overcome our things work, because capitalism is not this perspective, politics is seen as a economic divisions. Economics promotes simply rule by power. One of capitalism’s concentration of economics, in the competition; politics enables solidarity. greatest strengths is its hegemony Leninist sense. After our independence, progressive – ideological hegemony, intellectual • Second in the Pan-Africanist ideology is Pan-Africanist politics was abandoned hegemony and cultural hegemony. Its its consistent anti-imperialism. And the in favour of integrationist economic ideology has become common sense, anti-imperialist struggle goes beyond policies and its concurrent petty giving the feeling that there is no colonialism and national liberation. If bourgeois politics. alternative. It is hegemonic.

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We need to break that. We have to Marxist framework. Later on, after he as fickle. In fact, the most fickle are the show that there is an alternative. Not only was overthrown, Nkrumah wrote Class intelligentsia and the petty-bourgeoisie. is there an alternative, but the alternative Struggles in Africa. It’s a bit schematic Even there, we have to be more is not utopian – it’s feasible, it’s do-able. but still the Marxist sentiment is there. concrete. For example, many of my former Until you arrive at a stage where your For me, I’m not interested in African students are unemployed. They take on perspective becomes the common sense socialism. But socialism in Africa, yes. any job they come across. So what do they of people, or at least a critical mass of have to gain from the system? Some will people, you cannot go very far. And that is A!: Who are the agents classify them as petty-bourgeois, but they where the progressive left has failed. of change today? are not. This is where a concrete analysis comes in: concrete analysis of concrete A!: Where do you think IS: Inspired by Amilcar Cabral and conditions, that is important. That is why national liberation movements Walter Rodney, I have tried to develop it is so important to have tools of analysis failed in Africa? the thesis of working people, rather than and an ideological framework within the working class, as the agent of change. which to understand concretely actually IS: When you look back at the Because when you hear of the working existing classes and social groups in our left, it had an amazing vision. The failure class there is a focus on the proletariat. societies. of the left is not a failure of vision. It is a failure to correctly A!: What should a characterise the state and new phase of Pan- various forces aligned against it. Africanism look like? When these national liberation movements came into power, IS: In my view, a new phase the link with the people, with of Pan-Africanism ought to be the masses, broke, because they rooted and located among the became a part of the state. When people, and the working people in the organic link with the masses particular; in movements, beyond breaks, you become a prisoner NGOs. Initiatives have to be taken of the state, however progressive and it should not be left to the you may be. states or follow from the states. Of course, we have to revisit A!: Are there major Pan-Africanism, reformulate contradictions between it and develop it not only in Marxism and Pan-Africanism? relation to national liberation. We also need to include a IS: There are strong links socially emancipatory agenda between Pan-Africanism and within it. I feel that we are Marxism. Nkrumah had a basic in a stage where we have to Marxist outlook too. Marxism is combine the two processes, both not a theology. There’s no bible national liberation and social of Marxism. It is a method of emancipation, and not think of understanding and a question them as stages. We cannot say of struggle among social forces. liberation first and then social Other people may deny struggle, emancipation second. We have class struggle, but you can see a concrete situation with a it happening every day. There is potential for a Pan-Africanist no problem between Marxism revolution in the medium term. and Pan-Africanism. Some Pan- But we have to start with an Africanists may reject Marxism insurrection of Pan-Africanist and vice-versa, but this is not a ideas and thought, for thought problem either. precedes action. In a struggle, you cannot be a We can struggle for reforms purist; not everyone will be on the There are strong links between Pan-Africanism and Marxism. Nkrumah had while having a revolutionary bus journey the whole way. Some a basic Marxist outlook too. Marxism is not a theology. There’s no bible of outlook. If the state gives workers will get off along the way, others Marxism. It is a method of understanding and a question of struggle among an eight hour work day, then it’s may join and so on. I’d paraphrase social forces. a reformist reform. But if the Lenin and say: if you are a Pan- state gives workers an 8 hour Africanist and say you believe in Marxism, But where is the proletariat in Africa? The day because the workers have fought for it is good. But if you are a Marxist, and say concept of the working people is potent. It it in the streets, then it is a revolutionary you believe in Pan-Africanism, it is bad includes all those groups who we wouldn’t reform. That is important, because because Pan-Africanism is not a theology; strictly describe as working class. But they struggles are schools for the working it is a political ideology. fall into the same category because they people. We cannot stay away from are exploited by capital. Capital doesn’t reformist struggles, provided always that A!: African socialism or only exploit at the factory. Informal we are led by a revolutionary ideology socialism for Africa? workers are among the most exploited, and struggle for revolutionary reform as I and they are exploited by capital because characterise it here. Don’t forget, struggles IS: Nkrumah didn’t want to they are subsidising capital. – even reformist struggles – are schools of develop an African socialism. Yes, he The working people include the socialism. may have been critical of Marxism, unemployed, the peasantry, small but this is not an issue. If you read his producers, small service providers and so works like Neocolonialism, the Last Stage on. We are past the stage where we refer Professor Issa Shivji is the Director of the of Imperialism, for example, it is in a to the peasantry and the unemployed Nyerere Resource Centre.

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feel about sexual abuse and violence in this country. Frank and factually accurate conversations about puberty, sexuality and sex education have been pushed under the rug in South Africa for too long. That has clearly not led to a society that is able to keep its most vulnerable members safe. Allowing comprehensive sex education is one of the only tools that we have to try and educate young people about how to protect themselves and respect the diversity that South Africans so proudly claim makes us stronger. Grade 4 learners need to be able to point out private parts on a line drawing. This is so they can feel empowered to say no when someone, There is no lesson that could have protected Uyinene from the brutality that awaited her on 24th August. But perhaps if Uyinene who they might have been Mrwetyana had been able to grow up in a society that spoke openly about sex, consent and what it means to respect human dignity, brought up to trust, tries to her “no” would have been respected. molest them and tells them that it’s okay because they are their dad/uncle/aunt/sibling. Teaching a Grade 7 learner The need for that if they masturbate they are not a pervert or going to go blind, reduces confusion about hormonal changes that comprehensive happen for many young people at that age. The Grade 10 differentiation between gender and biological sex isn’t “highly sex education laden with liberal sexual ideology”, as has been claimed By Rehana Thembeka Odendaal by critics. It’s what science tells us is fact. Grade 11s need a Life Orientation curriculum n 28th October, City Press abuse; where it is okay to rape and kill that includes 4 out of five “heroes and reported that “Teachers are queer people to “fix” them; where only role models” that are HIV positive and/ threatening to boycott a new one in four children live in what looks or LGBTQI, not as propaganda, but to Oschool curriculum” of sex like a traditional nuclear family. We counter the massive social stigma that education. It has also been attacked by the need to prepare our young people for millions of South Africans still face in religious right. This article is a response. the world that we are actually living in. their everyday lives. Including same-sex Two months ago, South Africans Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), cases as an example of the kind of abuse across the political and religious spectrum which has been part of the South African that young people might need to report were up in arms against gender-based curriculum since 2008, is one very is not homosexual propaganda. It teaches violence, as the brutal killing of 19-year important way for us to do this. In a study learners that sexual abuse isn’t always old Uyinene Mrwetyana shook the nation. of 48 countries, CSE was shown to reduce between a man and a woman. We prayed, we march to parliament, we the spread of HIV/AIDS, delay when Yes, education and teaching should demanded that President Ramaphosa take young people start having sex and reduce be sensitive to the society they are based action, and school children around the unwanted pregnancies. in. Yes, parents and teachers need to be country begged us to STOP, while they Whatever our personal or religious engaged with what their children are wondered #AmINext? There is no lesson beliefs are about sex, gender and sexuality, learning. But parents and teachers also that could have protected Uyinene from it is the government’s responsibility to need to be sensitive to the fact that our the brutality that awaited her on 24th protect all its citizen’s rights to non- children are growing up in a society August. But perhaps if she had been able discrimination. It must ensure that the where they don’t get to “opt out” of to grow up in a society that spoke openly approaches we take to reducing crisis collective consequences of discrimination, about sex, consent and what it means to issues like HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence and HIV/AIDs. Classrooms are respect human dignity, her “no” would violence are informed by scientifically an important tool for us to create a new have been respected. sound information. normal where womxn and children don’t One of the basic responsibilities of our need to wonder #AmInext? schooling system is to create a common Education to combat abuse basis for understanding the society that The discomfort that the sex we live in. The reality is that we live in education curriculum poses for some Rehana Thembeka Odendaal, from Cape Town, a society where 35% of South Africans parents and teachers should not be is currently doing a PhD in Education, Culture and under 18 report having experienced sexual greater than the discomfort that we Society at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 35 DECEMBER 2019 What do we mean by? The fourth industrial revolution Job creation – a conceptual contradiction By Fazila Farouk

and qualitative changes in society”. Very few can argue with the fact that we are experiencing a tectonic shift in how economies work and society functions. Technological disruption is nothing new in our history and past developments have always led to progress linked to human sustainability. But this time there’s a sense of foreboding that the current onslaught is different. Robots and AI are moving into factories, offices, stores and homes to perform an increasing number of tasks traditionally performed by humans. As this happens, the fear of technological unemployment is growing. A 3D printer. 4IR technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), advanced robotics, automatisation, machine learning, big data, cloud This time, automation is linked computing, augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D printing, intelligent agents, block chains and sensors. to an existential threat for human beings, as there is also o state the obvious, global new era as the “Fifth Technological growth in the number of machines taking society is undergoing profound Revolution”. decisions on our behalf. changes due to sweeping Be that as it may, the 4IR is the most People have always resisted the idea of technological changes in the common description of the changes robots invading factory floors to displace Tworld’s economy. A new term, we are experiencing. It has become workers. Workers have challenged it the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, has an agenda-setting concept that grabs through industrial action. Nevertheless, entered our discourse to describe these media headlines and dominates policy robots on factory floors were never revolutionary technological changes. conferences all over the world. really perceived as an existential threat The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” to society. Workforces have always had (commonly abbreviated to 4IR), was The global dimension the option to develop their skills and coined by Professor Klaus Schwab, There is currently a proliferation transition into more advanced sectors Executive Chairman of the World of new and unusual technologies applied of the economy. Current anxieties, Economic Forum (WEF). Fuelled by the in increasingly innovative and complex however, stem from the fact that, beyond influential policy machinery of the WEF, ways. In many ways, this justifies the the factory floor, many professions in the 4IR has become a defining policy noise and interest in the 4IR. Indeed the advanced and seemingly secure sectors theme of our era. WEF’s Schwab is correct to argue that the of the economy are now exposed to the The concept and definition of the 4IR defining characteristic of this industrial threat of technological unemployment. are contested. There remains much debate revolution is its complexity and scale. Its This is due to spectacular advances in AI, about whether or not we are indeed technologies include artificial intelligence integrated with advanced robotics. experiencing a so-called “fourth” such (AI), advanced robotics, automatisation, Some years ago already, The Wall revolution. For example, US academics machine learning, big data, cloud Street Journal reported that robotic Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of computing, augmented reality, virtual anaesthesia is threatening to remove the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reality, 3D printing, intelligent agents, anaesthesiologists (among the highest (MIT) refer to this era as “The Second block chains and sensors. paid doctors) from participating in Machine Age”. Fellow American economic The impact of these technologies routine procedures in operating rooms. and social theorist, Jeremy Rifkin, is described by Perez as a surge of That would significantly reduce their contends that we are merely experiencing development that “propagates across the incomes. Overnight, the threat of a paradigm shift in “The Third Industrial economy, leading to structural changes in technological unemployment has become Revolution”. While Venezuelan-British production, distribution, communication a reality for the secure medical profession. scholar Carlota Perez refers to this and consumption as well as to profound This is supported by the International

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Federation of Robotics (IFR) which reported in 2018 that “sales of medical robots rank ahead of agricultural and logistics robots”. Without doubt, 4IR technologies are set to radically transform future livelihoods across the social and economic spectrum. Impact in South Africa Here in South Africa (SA), the 4IR has been greeted with mixed feelings. People marvel at its advances. But they also harbour deep anxiety about the prospect of joblessness, combined with our existing unemployment crisis, including record levels of youth unemployment. Sadly, the South African situation is a toxic mix of economic and social inequality Robots in a VW assembly plant. Industrial robots in VWSA’s Uitenhage plant increased from 320 in 2016 to 600 in 2018. facing further catastrophe, as job opportunities for people shrink. This, call for the upskilling of workers for jobs how to expand new job opportunities unfortunately, is borne out by local studies higher up the value chain. However, the as well as protect existing jobs, while conducted by academics. notion of upskilling workers for higher actively engaging in the 4IR. There’s a For example, a 2018 workshop order jobs is problematic on two fronts. dangerous conceptual contradiction in discussed the preliminary findings of a Firstly, the evidence that value chain this way of looking at the issue. Embracing study that examines specific job categories interventions can create and protect jobs automation requires accepting the idea in SA to determine their risk. In that is weak. A 2014 study was conducted of fewer possibilities for job creation and workshop, economists at the University of on behalf of the International Labour scarcer jobs all round. No amount of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) Development Policy Organisation (ILO) to measure pro- teaching coding and entrepreneurialism at Research Unit (DPRU) argued that “39% poor changes based on value chain schools is going to address this problem. of formal employees in SA are at high risk interventions. It examined 53 studies, of losing their jobs, with a further 42% at with an emphasis on developing nations, Future distribution medium risk”. including South Africa, and found “highly What are required are creative Another 2018 study sought to variable and generally scarce” evidence policy responses that break the mould. determine the impact of automation that these interventions led to job creation In the South African context, they must specifically on low and medium or better-quality and long-term jobs. Early also address historical injustices that skilled workers. In it, the University of results from a local study also support perpetuate current social and economic Stellenbosch’s Daniel Le Roux found that this global finding. A preliminary report inequalities. For example, German labour “the occupations performed by almost from a UCT multi-sector case study of the lawyer, Dr Ruediger Helm, argues that 35% of South African workers (roughly impact of automation in 2018 found that South Africans should take advantage of 4.5 million people) are potentially “automation does not lead to upskilling in the 4IR to address the vertical pay gap in automatable in the near future”. This the workforce and that workers are often our country. Meanwhile tech billionaires, study predicts that black South Africans re-deployed to manual routine jobs on the such as Elon Musk, are at the forefront of are most at risk of job losses as a result of production line”. championing the universal basic income automation, while white South Africans Secondly, and in general, workforces as an important social safety net. will be minimally impacted. of the 4IR are becoming smaller and Futurist and author, William Gibson, The manufacturing sector is a smarter, especially high up in the value famously wrote, “The future is already frontline industry for automation, chain. This can be seen from this famous here. It’s just not evenly distributed”. where the use of robots is growing. The global example. When Facebook acquired In the context of apartheid’s legacy, IFR estimates that globally “the stock Whatsapp at the staggering price of US$19 South Africa’s inequality and increasing of operational industrial robots will billion in 2014, the messaging service only joblessness in the 4IR, the most important increase…to 3,053,000 units at the end employed 55 people. contribution South Africans can make to of 2020”. The car manufacturing sector There’s no question that workforces of future generations is to transition away will lead demand in both advanced and the future will be smaller. Policy responses from the ideology of the survival of the emerging economies. The global trend that seek to address this challenge fittest. It will not serve us well in a future in industrial robot sales is evident in SA’s with further job creation strategies where robots have taken most of our car manufacturing sector. For example, are simply shortsighted. This is where jobs…and perhaps also, a great deal of our industrial robots in VWSA’s Uitenhage SA repeatedly fails. A WEF survey has decision-making. plant increased from 320 in 2016 to found that one of the main barriers to 600 in 2018. planning for the future of work in South Fazila Farouk is the former publisher of the Africa is “insufficient understanding of South African Civil Society Information Service Upskilling not the answer disruptive changes”. (SACSIS). She is currently doing a PhD at UCT on SA’s response to the challenge of The automation challenge, as most the intersection of automation, unemployment and growing automation in the workplace is to South Africans perceive it, is about inequality in South Africa.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 37 DECEMBER 2019 international Radical resistance to authoritarian democracy in Nigeria By Baba Aye

apparently targeting those from the southern parts of the country. When running for his first term in office, four years ago, Buhari claimed to have become a “converted democrat”, but “dictatorial habits have proved hard to give up”. However, it is the dynamics of the world, as well as the nature and balance of class forces in struggle, that are much more important. Increasing impunity and repression Autocratic regimes have a propensity for constricting freedom of expression, including the mass media, and increasingly social media. Since the Police drag an @SaharaReporters journalist into a detention truck. Attacks on press freedom, disregard for court 29th May inauguration of its second term, orders and the crushing of peaceful demonstrations have become the order of the day. the APC regime has taken its tyrannical attacks on the mass media a notch or ur article for Amandla! in Latin America created “Bureaucratic two higher. 64 analysed the February/ Authoritarian States” to push through It immediately unleashed an avalanche March elections and related modernisation of countries in the region. of repressive measures in the first week developments. We pointed Attacks on press freedom, disregard of June. The National Broadcasting Oout “the hollowness of liberal for court orders and the crushing of Commission (NBC), a supposedly neutral democracy in Nigeria”. In the months peaceful demonstrations have become regulator of the broadcast industry, since then, the regime, represented the order of the day. This slide towards a headed by a stalwart of the ruling primarily by the ruling All Progressive quasi-fascist order is likely to go further party, suspended the license of DAAR Congress, has become more authoritarian, unless it is curbed by struggle from Communications. whilst clinging to the shell of liberal below, as it is hinged on pushing through DAAR Communications is owned by democracy in form. The Coalition for unpopular neoliberal policies. Mr Raymond Dokpesi, a chieftain of the Revolution (CORE) in Nigeria further In the 1960s to the 1990s, when Peoples Democratic Party. The company’s exposed the repressive essence of the military dictatorship was somewhat in African Independent Television and regime. The state has violently tried to fashion, authoritarian rule took the shape RayPower FM radio (the largest private suppress the #RevolutionNow campaign of a series of military juntas in Nigeria. broadcast network) were both shut down, launched by CORE in August without Buhari himself first appeared as a head The reasons proffered for the shutdown much success. This marks a renewal of of state, in 1983, as General Muhammadu were “inciting broadcasts and media radical politics. Buhari, with a coup. propaganda against the government” and In the wake of his re-election, Of the half a dozen juntas that wielded failure to meet financial obligations to the President Buhari declared that working- power for all but four years from 1966 to regulatory body. class people should brace themselves 1999, his regime was the most autocratic, The same week, Koffi Bartels, a for tougher times ahead. Turns to despite not being as murderous as that journalist with the Nigeria Info FM radio, authoritarianism are often taken by the of General Sani Abacha. He whipped was beaten black and blue by police ruling class to push through unpopular Nigerians in line with a national officers after he tried filming Special policies and programmes in the service of “War Against Indiscipline (WAI)”. He Anti-Robbery Squad police officers capital accumulation (or to maintain the retroactively effected laws which carried beating a young man. The policemen stability of the capitalist system). the death sentence. He issued decrees for said he had “been giving them problem The Argentine political scientist, detention without trial and for the most for a long time” in his coverage of police Guillermo O’Donnell, for example, repressive press gag law in the country’s activities in Rivers state, which had been theorised on how military regimes that history. He purged the civil service and a violent battle ground between APC and emerged in the 1960s and early 1970s selectively prosecuted civilian politicians, PDP during the elections. The US-based

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Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Nigerian authorities to “investigate and hold accountable the police officers”, to no avail. No less than 36 Nigerian journalists were attacked between January and July. Thirty of these were during the general elections in February and March. This was just a foretaste of what was to come, making an earlier wave of attacks on press freedom last year (as captured in the Amnesty International report Endangered Voices: Attack on Freedom of Expression in Nigeria) appear like child’s play. The government’s reign of impunity includes the killing of 11 members of the Shi’ite minority Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), as well as a police officer and a journalist felled by stray bullets of security personnel on 28th July. Members of IMN were protesting the continued incarceration of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzakky, in contempt of a 2016 court ruling. Zakzakky and one of his wives have been detained since 2015. This was after at least 348 of his followers, including one of his wives and three of his sons, were killed and secretly buried in mass graves. This has been described as an operation of the Army with a “pre-determined mandate” to attack the Shi’ites during one of their ritual processions. IMN members have mounted a series of peaceful protests in Abuja to demand the release of Zakzakky. Dozens of IMN members were brutally killed on 29 October 2018 during one of these demonstrations. After the July 2019 killings, the IMN was banned. The government claimed that it had only “outlawed the criminality of the group”, but members of IMN were not being banned from practicing their religion. But 12 members of the group were again murdered by security Professor Wole Soyinka, the renowned Nobel Laureat, saluted #RevolutionNow activists and called on civil personnel in a nationwide crackdown on society organisations to “come together” to fight the increasingly authoritarian regime. 10 September, while marking the Ashura, an annual Shi’ite mourning ritual. rule of law, his (in)actions present a But resistance has been alive. These Political consolidation of powers picture of a chief judge who is not keen to draconian bills, the regime presenting across the arms of government into rock the boat. them and the system this regime one warhead of the executive is an It is probably within this context represents can be defeated through often under-problematised aspect that the government believes no struggle. The embers were stoked on 5th of the emerging post-fascist regime. criticism can stop the enactment of a August. They continue to blaze in the face Friction between the leaderships of the social media gag bill presently before of the state’s oppressive weight. two national legislative houses and the the Senate. It has been described by a executive was the norm under earlier former radical Senator, Mr Shehu Sani, #RevolutionNow and administrations, even when all sides were as a move towards totalitarianism. An the radical left from the same party. This included Mr earlier attempt to pass such a law in 2016 On 5th August, the #RevolutionNow Buhari during his first term. But he now failed under the then embattled Senate campaign was set in motion by the has allies as the Senate President and President, Mr Bukola Saraki, due to mass Coalition for Revolution (CORE). It has Speaker of the House of Representatives. mobilisation against it. five core demands: Just weeks before the elections, As if the intent to gag criticism on • an economy for the masses Buhari removed Mr Walter Onnoghen social media were not enough, APC • an effective and democratic end to the Chief Justice for corrupt practices in Senators also re-introduced an anti- insecurity a deft political masterstroke. The role of hate speech bill in November. If passed, • an end to systemic corruption the Chief Justice in constituting election the death penalty could be imposed on • immediate implementation of the tribunals, as well as the interpretation anyone found guilty of hate speech that N30,000 minimum wage, and of laws, cannot be overemphasised. Mr incites the death of another person. • free quality education for all. Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed was sworn There is however widespread concern in as Chief Justice in April. Despite that the law could be used to hound It has received massive support verbal commitments to respect for the opposition forces. from working class people and youth.

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revolutionary class consciousness cannot be forged. For example, apart from #RevolutionNow trending on social media for days on the eve of the start of the campaign, on 5th August, more than 5 million Nigerians searched for “revolution” on google. Omoyele Sowore remains incarcerated, as does Olawale “Mandate” Bakare, a 22-year old leader of the TIB arrested in the heat of the 5th August demonstrations. This incarceration continues despite an order for their release. It has also elicited widespread condemnation. This increased after a series of demonstrations by #RevolutionNow activists in front of the offices of the secret police, the self-styled Department of State Services (DSS). On 12th November, demonstrations of #RevolutionNow activists and other supporters #OccupyDSS were dispersed with live ammunition and pepper spray. Professor Wole Soyinka, the renowned Occupy Nigeria rally in 2012. With the genie of #RevolutionNow out of the bottle, it is unlikely that the battles ahead Nobel Laureat, saluted them and called for working-class people will remain on the defensive economistic level or be easily called off, as happened to the on civil society organisations to “come #OccupyNigeria revolts of January 2012. together” to fight the increasingly authoritarian regime. The response of the radical and revolutionary left has however The regime tried its best to snuff life constrained by having to circumvent the not been as unambiguous as that of the out of the campaign, even before it began. massive dragnet. liberal democratic professor. On 3rd August, it arrested Omoyele Their dexterous organising was not Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, sufficient to stave off a crackdown. Not The working class is roused the leading online source of exposés less than 57 protesters, including some The near future is pregnant and on political corruption and impunity journalists, were arrested in seven states. something has to give. Worsening in Nigeria. Mr Sowore is Chair of the 32 of the peaceful demonstrators were living standards are sowing seeds of African Action Congress (AAC) and was also brutalised, beaten and injured. One anger on the soil of resistance, which the party’s presidential candidate during suffered a gunshot wound when the #RevolutionNow is ploughing. The the general elections. He was central to security personnel shot at them in Lagos, ignition point for a revolutionary upheaval the formation of CORE. the epicentre of action. could be arrived at spontaneously, and/or The revolutionary coalition brings Attempts to quash #RevolutionNow through the deepening of economic mass together these organisations: Take It Back activities did not stop with the failure strikes, as the working-class is roused in (the movement which gave birth to AAC) of the 5th August repressive offensive. the coming period. and a number of radical and revolutionary There was a standoff on 18th August After much prevarication, the trade left groups such as the Socialist Workers as police cordoned off the venue of a unions reached an agreement with & Youth League (SWL), Socialist Vanguard national symposium to discuss the current government in October on increments Tendency (SVT), Nigeria Resistance political situation, but the state failed to based on the miserly minimum wage Movement (NRM), Committee for the stop the movement. In yet another failed of N30,000 which was passed into law Defence of Human Rights, as well as attempt to stop further #RevolutionNow in April. However, the state governors the Federation of Informal Workers of demonstrations, police barricaded the have made it clear that they are unlikely Nigeria (FIWON) and the Alliance of offices of the CDHR and the Sahara to respect this. Meanwhile, the federal Nigerian Students Against Neoliberal Reporters studio/civic media centre in the government has increased VAT by 50%, Attacks (ANSA). This is the mass platform second week of September. supposedly to fund payment of the new of students (including a number of their The movement represents a major minimum wage and consequential wage unions) which has arisen as a radical turning point of resistance, fanning the increments. alternative to the bankrupt official embers of revolt. Apart from the trade Rank and file demands will force the structures of the National Association of unions with their ready-made structures, trade union bureaucracy to take action Nigerian Students (NANS). no other social force has been able to to achieve meaningful implementation Demonstrations had been planned for mobilise nationwide protest of any sort in of the wage rise. With the genie of 23 out of the 36 states of the federation on the 21st century. And it took the explosion #RevolutionNow out of the bottle, it 5th August. But before dawn, combined of mass anger, after the military junta of is unlikely that the battles ahead for teams of the army, air force, special units General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the working-class people will remain on of the police and paramilitary forces took “June 12” presidential elections, for the the defensive economistic level or be over the streets in all state capitals of pro-democracy movement, led by the easily called off, as happened to the the country. Despite this unprecedented radical and revolutionary left, to rise up to #OccupyNigeria revolts of January 2012. show of coercive strength by the state, such a level in the mid-1990s. #RevolutionNow activists organised The CORE-led movement has thus far Baba Aye, a Co-Convener of CORE, is a protests in 14 of the states and 9 other demonstrated its building of a national contributing editor of Review of African Political cities across the world. The nationwide infrastructure necessary for prosecuting Economy [RoAPE] and author of Era of Crisis & action was, however, limited in most radical struggle. It has also inspired Revolts (2012). He works as policy officer with a of the locations as the protesters were mass awareness-raising, without which global union federation in Geneva.

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Women’s Protection Unit fighters. On the ground and in the legal-political sphere, the Democratic Self-Administration has institutionalised gender equality in all its mechanisms. Turkey’s war for occupation By Dilar Dirik

ollowing a phone call with with the aim of isolating majority Kurdish In the first days of the operation, the US president Donald Trump, the areas. In January 2018, Turkey launched Turkish state and its proxies were shelling Turkish president Recep Tayyip its so-called “Olive Branch” operation nearly all of the major cities and towns FErdogan launched the so-called in the majority Kurdish region of Afrin. on the border, well aware that these areas “Peace Spring” operation in the majority Since March 2018, Afrin has been are inhabited by hundreds of thousands Kurdish region of North and East Syria on occupied by the Turkish state, leading to of civilians. These attacks have allowed October 9th, 2019. Since then, hundreds fundamental demographic change, war ISIS to regroup and reorganise. Hundreds of thousands of people have been crimes and human rights abuses. of captives are reported to have escaped displaced and hundreds of civilians have Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of as a result of the Turkish airstrikes. ISIS been murdered. Chaos and instability Amnesty International, stated that: “The has already claimed dozens of attacks in has erupted in the once relatively stable Turkish military offensive into northeast North and East Syria since the beginning region. The Turkish state’s plan for a “safe Syria has wreaked havoc on the lives of Turkey’s war. zone” is in reality a war of occupation. of Syrian civilians who once again have Since 2012, the majority Kurdish It has created a humanitarian disaster been forced to flee their homes and are areas in Syria (referred to as Rojava) for millions of peaceful people, with the living in constant fear of indiscriminate have been administering themselves. The support of the European Union, Nato, the bombardment, abductions and summary administration has been based on ideas US and Russia. killings. Turkish military forces and their for a democratic, federal, decentralised, This is not the first time that Turkey allies have displayed an utterly callous multi-ethnic and gender-egalitarian future has conducted a cross-border military disregard for civilian lives, launching Syria, which would enable communities to operation in Syria. For years, Turkey has unlawful deadly attacks in residential govern themselves autonomously. These been occupying large stretches of land in areas that have killed and injured structures are currently organised in the the region of al-Bab and Jarablus, mainly civilians.” form of the Autonomous Administration

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media circulates photographs of the army distributing humanitarian aid to villagers, after having displaced hundreds of thousands of people as a result of its war. As the Turkish president said: “What is important is to prepare a controlled life in this enormous area, and the most suitable people for it are Arabs. These areas are not suitable for the lifestyle of Kurds… because they are virtually desert”. As many people have pointed out, this is the language of ethnic cleansing. The people of the region now resort to throwing rocks at the Turkish military convoys to protest what is in their eyes a colonial presence. They are well aware of the implications of a Turkish “safe zone” – the occupation of Afrin since last year has drawn an accurate picture. The Turkish state’s Afrin offensive has displaced 300,000 people, the majority of whom are still in a self-organised refugee Journalists and activists hold pictures of jailed journalists during a demonstration in front of an Istanbul courthouse. camp in the Shehba region. There is no According to Reporters without Borders, Turkey has been the largest jailer of journalists for several years now. effort by the Turkish state to allow the native people of that land to return home. of North and East Syria. They never the US under Obama began launching Instead, people from other regions have planned to secede, but actively sought air strikes against ISIS in support of the been settled in Afrin, fundamentally to be part of international efforts to resistance on the ground in Kobane. This altering the demographic make-up of negotiate peace in Syria. laid the foundations of a by now five-year the region. As part of its occupation, the Turkey did not plan any cross-border long military cooperation. Turkish state has initiated what some call military interventions when parts of its It was evident from the beginning a “Turkification” of Afrin. This involves, border to Syria were held by ISIS. For that this mutually-beneficial military among other things, the imposition of the Kurdish people, it is evident that cooperation against ISIS was only tactical Turkish education on children, the use of the aim of Turkey is to undermine the and temporary. The Autonomous Turkish-language signs for public services, autonomous self-governance structures Administration, as a self-government the renaming of places and the systematic that have been built up in the region since body, currently makes up around one destruction and erasure of all references the early years of the Syrian war. third of the country. But, due to pressure to the region’s majority Kurdish identity. The self-ruled region hosts millions from Turkey, this Administration, as well Yezidi and Christian communities of internally displaced people from as the Syrian Kurds as an ethnic group, and organisations in Northern Syria Syria, as well as a number of refugees have been consistently excluded from have issued several statements in recent from Iraq. Until the current military talks, including UN-led efforts. weeks, drawing parallels. These include invasion, it was a safe haven for ethnic The fight against ISIS was not a the Ottoman genocides and pogroms, and religious communities. When ISIS guarantee for political recognition. ISIS and the methods employed by the committed genocide against the Yezidis Nevertheless, Trump’s decision to pull Turkish state’s extremist allies, who use in neighbouring Iraq in 2014, fighters of out the US troops at a time of immediate Islamist language as they document their the YPG (People’s Defence Units) and YPJ threat by the Turkish army has been own war crimes. Every achievement of (Women’s Defence Units) from Rojava, interpreted widely as “greenlighting” an the autonomous women’s movement as well as the guerrillas of the Kurdistan ethnic cleansing operation. has been destroyed in Afrin. And there Worker’s Party (PKK), came to their are widespread reports of the systematic rescue. They fought for a corridor to Turkey’s track abduction of women and girls, looting of enable tens of thousands of Yezidis to find record in Syria property and torture and harassment of refuge in Northern Syria. By using proxies, Turkey not only civilians. Currently, the region is secured by tries to evade accountability for crimes The YPJ gained global attention for the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is and abuses. It also seeks to legitimise its their fight against the so-called Islamic a large, multi-ethnic alliance of peoples occupation policies by claiming that the State. Moreover, on the ground and in from the region. The SDF lost 11,000 proxies are Syrian, and thus indigenous to the legal-political sphere, the Democratic lives in the fight against ISIS. Yet Turkey the region. The “Syrian National Army”, Self-Administration has institutionalised considers these forces, who have been often also called the “Turkish-backed gender equality in all its mechanisms. Last the backbone of the war against ISIS, as Free Syrian Army” (TFSA), is a coalition year, during the battle for Afrin, pictures terrorists and repeatedly emphasises of battalions that are recruited, trained emerged of the mutilated and stripped that they are no different from ISIS. This and paid by the Turkish army, which is body of YPJ fighter Barin Kobane. This position is held only by the Turkish state. the second largest army in Nato. Some caused outrage, especially in the women’s The US-led coalition against ISIS of their methods, slogans and aesthetics movement on the ground. Similarly, repeatedly characterised the SDF as their clearly demonstrate a commitment to among the first videos of the current ally in the war against ISIS. The tactical extremist ideologies. Reporters suspect Peace Spring offensive were the brutal alliance of the regional Kurdish-led forces that some of the individuals in emerging close-range assassination of Kurdish with the US began in 2014 with the ISIS pictures and videos are former members women’s rights activist and politician siege of the Kurdish city of Kobane. They of ISIS or Al Qaeda. These proxies proudly Hevrin Khalaf, leader of the Syrian future resisted ISIS singlehandedly for months, document and share their brutal war party. Government-loyal media in Turkey before the global anti-ISIS coalition was crimes on social media, as if unafraid of has called the execution of Khalaf, a formed. Capitalising on this resistance, accountability. Meanwhile, the Turkish civilian woman, a successful anti-terror

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with autonomous self- operation. The dead body of organisation, are continuing Amara Renas, a YPJ fighter, to mobilise all their efforts was mutilated and stepped on to resist the occupation. In by the Turkish state’s allies, particular, women continue filming themselves insulting to insist that they will not her in misogynist ways. allow their history to be Drawing on its decades- erased by powers that use old sexist propaganda the same methods as the methods against Kurdish femicidal ISIS forces. The women fighters, the Turkish people of Rojava maintain state-aligned media has been military self-defence against mobilising its channels to the second largest NATO attack the feminist reputation army. They have thrown of the social and political rocks at Turkish military struggles in Rojava. These vehicles. They have started patriarchal attacks have been boycott campaigns against analysed by the women’s Turkey and mobilised movement on the ground as progressive and democratic a war on women, motivated forces around the world. by a desire to punish the Tey show no sign of women that defeated ISIS hopelessness. Among and to eradicate the historic the demands raised by gains of women that initiated organisations and institutions a “women’s revolution” in the in Rojava are: a closure of the region since 2012. airspace over the region to In the meantime, an prevent airstrikes on civilians Amnesty International report and vital infrastructure; published in November political recognition of the 2019 outlines the systematic Autonomous Administration; criminalisation of people assistance with the thousands inside Turkey, who make use of foreign ISIS fighters held of their democratic right to captive by the SDF; and the oppose the war. Surveillance trial of the Turkish state and of social media has led to its proxies for war crimes. hundreds of people being Governments, armies jailed for their dissent. The people of Rojava have started boycott campaigns against Turkey and mobilised and states, with their arms Meanwhile, protesters are progressive and democratic forces around the world. trades and military, political faced with riot police and and economic agreements their indiscriminate use of violence. A video of Mohamed Hamed went may be united in their desire to suppress According to Reporters without Borders, viral – a 13-year old boy, crying, in agony democratic and pluralistic alternatives of Turkey has been the largest jailer of and horror, “Dad, my body is burning” peoples. But individuals, organisations journalists for several years now. With This has been one reason for experts and movements around the world have the current operation, another round of to suspect the use of unconventional also come together to demand an end journalists, elected officers, human rights weapons by the Turkish operation. It to this assault on Rojava. It is seen as an defenders, and academics have been has led to widespread comparisons with assault on people’s democratic alternatives sacked or imprisoned. the use of chemical weapons against to patriarchal and capitalist nation the Kurds by Saddam Hussein. The states. Women have joined the “Women Weaponising refugees Organisation for the Prohibition of Defend Rojava” campaigns, alongside and global complicity Chemical Weapons (OPCW), initially global actions by civil society, educational Turkey is able to get away with war expressed concern and started an institutions, human rights organisations crimes and human rights abuses. This investigation. But it later stated that it will and women’s rights groups to stop the war is partly because of its repeated success discontinue its investigation, seemingly and put pressure on their governments in blackmailing the European Union due to pressure from governments. and the UN. by weaponising the 3.6 million Syrian Despite what Amnesty International Only international solidarity, through refugees it currently hosts. In a deal recorded as “damning evidence” of war concrete political action, can defend in 2016, the EU agreed to pay Turkey 6 crimes by the Turkish army’s proxies, Rojava’s women-led democracy struggle. billion Euros to help the country cope upon meeting Erdogan, the UN secretary South Africans can draw on their historic with the refugees. Political actors and general Antonio Guterres stated that he is resistance and victory against the media outlets often credit Turkey for its willing to form a group to study Turkey’s Apartheid regime to help these efforts hospitality towards Syrian refugees. But project in the region. by joining the actions to boycott Turkey, these narratives often leave out the fact put political pressure on the Turkish that the Turkish state’s military operations What’s next for Rojava? government, and work towards a political have been responsible for the forced Western journalists have made recognition of North and East Syria. displacement of hundreds of thousands problematic claims about the “end of of mainly Kurdish people, within Turkey Rojava”, echoing the militaristic media and in Syria, over the past 4 years. At narratives from Turkey. Given the the beginning of the current operation, international complicity in the current Dilar Dirik is an activist of the Kurdish Women’s Erdogan criticised EU leaders for calling war, it is not hard to see why people are Movement in Europe. She finished her PhD in his war an “invasion”, threatening to “open quick to draw a grim picture. The reality Sociology at the University of Cambridge and is the gates” and “send 3.6 million refugees” is however that the people of Rojava, currently a research fellow at the Refugee Studies their way. who now have seven years of experience Centre, University of Oxford.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 43 DECEMBER 2019 international Bolivia: Evo’s fall, the fascist right, and the power of memory By Raúl Zibechi

“Why did you have the Chiquitani burned?” asks a manifesto of Indigenous people to Evo Morales. Indigenous forest has been burned to convert it into farmland.

This article is an edited version of one that should govern only once? Why have you their free choice. Stop sending Indigenous was first published online, in Spanish, in sold off our Pachamama? Why did you people as cannon fodder to back up your Brecha. It was translated and published have the Chiquitanía burned? Why did interests and the interests of those around in English by Toward Freedom. you so mistreat our Indigenous brothers you, which are no longer ours, stop in Chaparina and Tariquía?” sending killers to abuse our people, let us fter nearly 14 years in live according to our law, stop speaking power, the government of Evo • Burning of the Chiquitania: this refers in the name of Indigenous people, as you Morales fell in a little less than to the burning of Indigenous forest to have lost your identity,” it reads. Aa month, due to allegations of convert it into farmland. There is a marked contrast between fraud and the desire to remain in power. what is taking place today and what took • Chaparina: this refers to the harsh Previously, Morales was a campesino place in October of 2003, during the leader. However, this time, in the face of repression by federal police of Indigenous first Gas War. the rise of a racist and opportunist right marchers protesting against the TIPNIS wing, he could not appeal for support highway. The first Gas War comprised mass strikes from Bolivian popular organisations. • Tariquia: this is a nature reserve in which and protests against the intention of the Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada government They have been weakened after years of subsistence farmers live. In 2015, the cooptation and repression. (the one before Morales) to sell the country’s Between efforts towards restoration MAS government allocated more than natural gas reserves to the US. and the progress of a coup, the Bolivian 50% of the reserve to Shell and Petrobas people are preparing, again, to resist. On for extraction. November 7th, members of the Qhara Back then, the social movements Qhara nation participated with a sector fought the government of Gonzalo of the Indigenous movement in actions This manifesto is one of the most Sánchez de Lozada. And they paid a very against electoral fraud in Bolivia. Its damning documents against Evo Morales, high price: more than 60 dead, and manifesto reads: perhaps because it comes from the same hundreds of people wounded and “Mr President, from the bottom of forces which brought him to power. mutilated. Regardless of the repression our hearts and with great sadness we ask: “Respect our cultures, stop spreading – the army shot at demonstrators from Where did you get lost? Why don’t you hate between our brothers from the helicopters – the population beat back the live within the ancestral beliefs that say we country and those in the cities, stop government, forcing the president should respect the muyu (circle): that we dividing the people; you already abused to resign.

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The flag of the Indigenous people (the wiphala). Supporters of the right wing Santa Cruz businessman, Luis Fernando Camacho, have burned the wiphala.

Mood turned In June of 2012, one of those of the MAS, which holds an absolute against Morales organisations, the Confederation of majority, as well as MAS senator Adriana But this time, there were Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia Salvatierra, were unable to enter the expressions of hatred toward the (CIDOB), denounced “the interference building. Salvatierra had publicly resigned government from the leaders and of the government, with the sole aim of her position as President of the Senate supporters of social organisations. This manipulating, dividing, and affecting the on the same day as Evo Morales and came after three weeks of opposition organic and representative organisations Vice President Álvaro Garcia Linera did, protests and accusations of fraud during of Indigenous peoples (pueblos) in but she did not give up her seat. When the October 20th elections, in which Evo Bolivia.” A group of dissidents from the she and others from her party tried to Morales proclaimed himself re-elected, By Confederation, with the support of the enter parliament, they were kept out by late afternoon on Sunday November 10th, government, refused to recognise the security forces. many, including the Bolivian Workers authorities and convened an “expanded For her part, Áñez was Vice President Central (COB), the mining federation and commission” to elect new authorities. of the second chamber. She was able to Indigenous organisations, demanded the In December of 2013, dissidents become President of the republic because president resign. That is why the most from the National Council of Ayllus and all the others in the line of succession, extreme right was able to enter into the Markas of the Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ), who were from the MAS, had resigned government offices without any trouble, who were “close to the MAS”, took over as part of the government’s policy of and why no one was immediately in the the organisation’s offices. They beat and denouncing a coup. Áñez is a member streets to defend Morales when the army ejected those who were present with the of the Democratic Union, an opposition suggested he resign. help of police, who remained to guard alliance. She is an unconditional ally of the Over the last 14 years of rule by the and ensure that the legitimate authorities racist elites from the Department of Santa official Movement Towards Socialism could not take it back. The communiqué Cruz (in Bolivia, Provinces or Regions are (MAS) party, there are things the of the CONAMAQ that followed these called Departments). This is how, three government did that social movements events said the attack on them took place days after the resignation of Evo, a true can’t forget. Between 2002 and 2006, a so that “all of the policies against the coup was consolidated, though in reality Unity Pact between the main campesino Indigenous movement and the Bolivian a combination of interests led to this and indigenous organisations created people would be approved, without situation. the foundations for Evo Morales’ anyone saying anything.” The chronology of these events begins government. By the end of 2011, two of with the elections on October 20th, these organisations had decided to leave Into the Void but especially with the interruption of the Unity Pact, because “the executive On Wednesday 13th, an the vote count and its re-starting, 24 branch has factionalised Indigenous unprecedented series of events occurred, hours later, with data that contradicted organisations, and values those closest in a turn as important as the resignation what was released the day before. This to the MAS above others.” They said this of Morales three days earlier. Jeanine Áñez raised suspicions of a repetition of a directly affected “our territories, cultures was named President in a parliament very obvious fraud. It is a pattern long- and our natural resources.” that had no quorum. The representatives established in Latin America. It could not

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war that is very complex, with unknown dimensions, that is going to demand that we sharpen our thinking, our strategy of self-defence.” It was women who responded with the most clarity and transparency, working to undo the mechanisms of war. In La Paz, the Mujeres Creando collective convened a Women’s Parliament (a handful of men attended), where they worked to build “collective voices” to challenge the polarisation underway. Meanwhile, in the city of El Alto, thousands of youth chanted “Yes, it is time for civil war,” while flying the wiphala. Many women expressed a double outrage: against Morales’ fraud and against the racist right. In general, defence of the advances of the last 15 years was the dominant sentiment, even if not all of them could be attributed to the MAS. In fact, they were attributable to the creative potential of the movements, which the There were expressions of hatred toward the government from the leaders and supporters of social organisations. authorities were never able to ignore. This came after three weeks of opposition protests and accusations of fraud during the October 20th elections. I’d like to highlight the words of Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, a historian and be ignored. It led to protests, led by civic intention of returning later in better sociologist: groups made up of middle class sectors conditions. “I don’t believe in the two hypotheses that are well established in eastern Bolivia. Meanwhile, the right continued to that are being pushed. The triumphalism These protests grew slowly until Friday, operate, and as is common in these cases, that with the fall of Evo we have recovered November 8th. probably did so with the support of the democracy seems to me an excess, an It appears that the Morales US embassy. A sinister man came to the analysis that is out of focus… The second government underestimated the forefront: Santa Cruz businessman Luis wrong hypothesis, which seems to me magnitude of the protests. The MAS Fernando Camacho. Employing radical to be extremely dangerous, is that of the had maintained an alliance with the and ultraconservative discourse, with a coup d’état, which simply legitimises in a Civic Committee of Santa Cruz, after clear racist and colonial content, Camacho complete package, wrapped in cellophane, having defeated a separatist movement rose as a leader of the white middle classes the entire Evo Morales government at the spearheaded from Santa Cruz in 2008. of eastern Bolivia, and a representative moment when it has most deteriorated. Initially, the circumstances appeared of the land-owing elites in the richest To legitimise this entire deterioration to continue to favour the MAS. It had a part of the country. He called a town hall with the idea of a coup d’état is criminal. good relationship with the Organisation meeting (cabildo) in which the results of So, how this deterioration began must be of American States (OAS), and especially the election were annulled. His incendiary considered.” with its General Secretary Luis Almagro, language went beyond the position of Along the same lines, María Galindo, to the point that the opposition candidate, the “civicos” from Santa Cruz, who had the spokesperson for Mujeres Creando, Carlos Mesa, had initially rejected the previously co-existed perfectly well with wrote this in her column in Página audit of the vote agreed to between the the MAS. It also went beyond the position Siete: “The feeling of abandonment and OAS and the government. of Mesa, who Camacho eclipsed as the orphanhood that comes with seeing Evo The situation changed abruptly on face of the opposition within a few days. Morales take off towards Mexico can Friday 8th, when a police mutiny that Camacho is an opportunist ultra-rightist, be felt in the streets. People are calling began in Santa Cruz and La Paz began who should have asked for forgiveness the radio, and they are broken, sobbing to spread across the country. Claims that after his supporters burned the flag of the and unable to speak. Their feeling of the police had been “bought” with money Indigenous people (the wiphala). weakness and abandonment means from a company with its headquarters in that the memories of the violence and Santa Cruz began to circulate on social Women and War arbitrariness of Morales (el caudillo – the networks. What is known is that the The Santa Cruz oligarchy expressed strongman) are forgotten. The people miss police mutiny was a turning point, and its extremism through Camacho. As him as a protective father and benefactor.” one that will be important to study so we tensions built in the run up to November can better understand what took place. 10th, Juan Ramón Quintana, Minister in An Uncertain Future The government couldn’t count on the Presidency of Bolivia, told the online Morales and García Linera’s plan to the police. Nor could it send the armed news site Sputnik “Bolivia is going to return as “pacifiers” failed and gave way forces against demonstrators. This created be converted into a great battlefield, a to a complex situation. The fascist and an unsustainable situation. Even worse, modern Vietnam.” racist ultra right has momentum. It also they couldn’t count on strong popular As one of the highest officials in the has a huge amount of material resources organisations to defend them. These government of Evo Morales, Quintana and media support, which has allowed organisations had been purged and many showed how cut off he was from reality, it to assume power, though it lacks the of their leaders had been removed and when he said that “there is a political legitimacy to maintain it. condemned, some ostracised and others accumulation of social movements that Long-term memory teaches us that jailed. At this point, the President and are ready to fight.” He proposed a strategy the racist elites can stay in power for an Vice President decided to take a risk. that consisted of “a pitched battle in the extended period through blood and fire, Last Sunday, they left La Paz, which was face of the virulent lies of the media.” even without social support, because they full of barricades and protests, with the This media, in his opinion, is part of “a possess the means to do so. However,

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recent memory, at least since 2000, points found through general elections, which way that water becomes stagnant when it towards something different in Bolivia: the usurper government of Áñez ought is left standing. power from below obstructs racist to convene immediately. As sociologist To avoid a repeat, a new political and patriarchal regimes from enjoying Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar notes, the culture would need to take shape, among stability and longevity. Women and choices appear to be “general elections or leaders and members of organisations Indigenous people don’t let themselves civil war.” If the ballot boxes speak, it is and movements. A culture that is capable get walked on. We have learned this from probable that the next president would be of nourishing itself from the waters of the people in the streets of Santiago de Carlos Mesa. But the MAS would retain Andean traditions of rotating leadership Chile and Quito, where new alliances an important number of legislators, and and complementarity between genders, are emerging on the ground and through it could even be the party that gets the ages and world views. A culture that is actions. These are best shown when the most votes. permeated by the feminist rejection of the flag of the indigenous Mapuche people Sooner rather than later, the diverse patriarchy, as they work to undo caudillo was raised by non-Indigenous Chileans, alliance that the MAS used to represent (strongman) leadership and hierarchical and by women, who were able to open a will return to the Palacio Quemado (the organisation. sliver of hope in the heat of the conflict official residence of the president). It is in Ecuador. the social and cultural majority. It would Raúl Zibechi is a journalist and popular educator A way out of the tremendous situation be best if it was not a copy of the current who accompanies grassroots processes in that Bolivia is currently living in could be MAS, which has deteriorated in the same Latin America. The Debt Delusion by John F Weeks Reviewed by Patti Mckenna-Jones

explains that governments who manage their own currencies (such as the UK) do not confront fixed budgets. They create their “means” either through borrowing or enhanced tax. The misuse of the idea of “affordability” is here shown using the example of the ageing population. We are often told that the young must shoulder the burden when the income- earning capacity of older people ends and is replaced by either public or private pensions. The shift of adults from taxpayer to pension recipient inevitably affects tax revenue and this latter factor dovetails with pensioners needing more health and care services. This is what places the “burden on the young”. We are presented with fallacious but commonly held beliefs. These include: “We must live within our means”; The author points out that this “Austerity, there is no alternative”; “Taxes are a burden”. Each is debunked with concision and wit. is a choice made by undemocratic governments, and that it is only a This review first appeared and propaganda techniques. Of the sociopath who would stigmatise the in Socialist Review latter, repetition of any myth is shown fundamental characteristic of all societies to lend credence, converting it to – in to want to care for their elderly. Many ohn F Weeks sets out to the words of economist JK Galbraith – have described this as a “Demographic demonstrate how there is an “conventional wisdom”. We are reminded Bomb” but, the author insists, there are alternative to austerity, effectively that ill-informed citizens provide the pre- no explosives in it. He points out that in Jexposing the Machiavellian condition to being duped by governments obvious “demographic bomb” countries machinations of Conservative policies wishing to undermine democracy and (France, Germany, Great Britain, US and along the way. serve their special interests. Japan) the labour force participation rate Austerity myths were constructed We are then presented with fallacious (what determines whether youngsters carefully over time and the author is at but commonly held beliefs. These include: bear an increasing weight of oldsters) has pains to systematically demolish the lot. “We must live within our means”; hardly changed over the last 25 years. His sleuthing is done with relish and “Austerity, there is no alternative”; “Taxes It’s difficult to point to the most enthusiasm as he urges us to “change the are a burden”. Each is debunked with salient parts of this book; I can only urge rules and drive ourselves”. concision and wit. you to read it, revel in its wisdom and The author does not presume any For instance, we are led to think that take whatever action you can to defuse prior knowledge of his readers and our government has a particular budget government lies. As the author insists: from the start explains deficits, debts which we cannot afford to overrun. He “There is an alternative: Democracy”.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 47 DECEMBER 2019 CULTURE Activists and the surveillance state By Aziz Choudry (editor)

hat can state and practices. Many chapters surveillance, (including one by South political African professor and Wpolicing, activist Jane Duncan), build and the criminalisation of on knowledge and analysis activists and communities grounded in experiences tell us about the nature of of state surveillance and democracy and the power infiltration, along with of the state and capital in examples of resistance. liberal democracies? What Some writings on can activists learn from each surveillance reproduce an other across generations, overdetermined sense that communities, struggles and state repression inevitably countries about state security only chills and crushes practices, about the interests dissent. Yet this is a partial that they protect, and from understanding. There are, the resistance of activists and have always been, people and movements being for whom state surveillance spied upon? is an everyday part of life. There are also those who have Not just bad apples resisted it in the course of Surveillance and struggles for liberation and infiltration which targets social, economic political and dissidents, and the environmental justice. Key construction of enemies features in resistance to state of the state have long been spying and repression have fundamental to liberal been collective organising, democracies, as elsewhere. activist research and political They are not merely education. This can break the unfortunate aberrations isolation, fear and alienation, or exceptions. The FBI’s divide and rule strategies Counter Intelligence exercised by state power. Program (COINTELPRO) is one example of the extent to Fighting back which state security agents, This book centres on informants and their political experiences and resistance masters have worked to of activists targeted by sabotage, smear, undermine state security agencies and and neutralise domestic political policing. We have opposition movements. yet to come to terms with the These and other Activists and the Surveillance State aims to contextualise and understand security consequences of the state’s experiences, across many practices and their role in maintaining the dominant social, political and economic order. covert, sustained attacks countries and different on the left in many western historical periods, suggest that such and agent provocateurs, and political liberal democracies. This repression operations are much more than an policing does not necessarily produce has also meant the erasure, forgetting afterthought. They cannot simply be compliant subjects. or hiding of many radical histories and explained away in terms of bad apples, politics, attempts to disrupt and destroy rogue units and overzealous agents Security and the organisations from within, to smear and overstepping their powers. They will not dominant order spread fear and paranoia, to manufacture be reined in by better checks and balances Activists and the Surveillance State consent, and crush and cripple dissent. or oversight of police and intelligence aims to contextualise and understand But often lost in these accounts is the agencies, without deeper systemic change. these security practices and their organising against state surveillance, Rather, they point to the need to confront role in maintaining the dominant the understanding that people directly a fundamentally more intentional state social, political and economic order. affected are not just passive targets or security apparatus which is politically Combining contemporary and historical victims, and the political education work and economically driven, sanctioned contributions, it connects reflections on that remains to be done. from the top down. But history also tells earlier experiences with those today. It Activists in the US uncovered us that state (and corporate) spying, also highlights the imperial and colonial COINTELPRO in 1971 after a daring break- infiltration, the use of informants origins of many state security agencies in at an FBI field office. More recently, in

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 48 DECEMBER 2019 CULTURE the UK, activists have collaborated with investigative journalists and academic allies to investigate, research and expose extensive, longstanding British undercover police spying operations against activist groups. And in South Africa, activists and journalists have highlighted the widespread infiltration of #FeesMustFall, although there remains much to be done regarding the policing and surveillance of dissent. I’m often struck by the cycles of learning in action that can occur in the course of long- term campaigns, short-term mobilisations, and daily struggles. Richard Johnson wrote about the “really useful knowledge” produced when people reflect on their experience with each other in ways that generate further Activists and journalists have highlighted the widespread infiltration of #FeesMustFall. insight and understanding into the causes of their conditions, common At that time, she was searching for criminalise all kinds of dissent. As with problems and struggles. This also enables her former partner who had suddenly other examples, rather than distancing people to develop theories that are linked disappeared. He was later confirmed themselves from those facing the sharp to strategies to bring about change. to be one of several British undercover end of state power, those not directly But there are both lessons learned police who had relationships with women affected by these measures might learn and lessons lost. Activist learning that activists while infiltrating and spying on from the experiences and resistance of informs and fuels effective organising the groups they were part of. those who are. to fight the power is not inevitable. Back then, I was in the middle of Insights drawn from previous experiences suing the New Zealand government, Surveillance fundamental of state repression, monitoring and after two NZ Security Intelligence Service to “liberal” democracy criminalisation are all too easily lost, officers were caught after breaking into documenting cases of political ignored or forgotten. There is a global my home in July 1996. I was organising spying, infiltration and disruption of transmission belt of state security an activist forum opposed to free trade political activism is crucial. But the doctrines, ideologies, strategies, and investment agreements at the time historical continuities in the ideology and technology and personnel. State of an APEC Trade Ministers Meeting in practices of the security state, alongside security and intelligence agencies, civil Christchurch. In 1998, shortly after the vastly expanded technologies for mass and military – and their private sector activist groups I was part of made public surveillance and data-gathering (and counterparts – learn from and train each our plans to organise against the 1999 Asia profits for the companies that produce other about disrupting, surveilling and Pacific Economic Co-operation meetings them), should serve to raise profound monitoring dissent. Governments learn in New Zealand, a police informant, questions about the supposed divide how to spin, distract, cover up, justify Rob Gilchrist, immediately raised our between democracies and authoritarian and make excuses whenever they are suspicions. He had latched himself onto states. It is important to understand caught engaging in dirty tricks against various activist groups. He immediately the political economy and implications communities and movements, and in made a beeline for the anti-APEC of technologies employed for mass economic intelligence-gathering. How can organising without being able to explain surveillance and data gathering, but we we educate and learn across struggles, and his motivation for doing so, and often must guard against a preoccupation with intergenerationally? behaving like a provocateur. Several of us technology that can feed social amnesia raised concerns about him and warned and ahistorical understandings about Personal experiences others not to trust him. He nonetheless state power. Beyond the outrage and Like many others targeted by state moved into various organisations and surprise that seems to follow every time security intelligence agencies, I was groups over the next decade until his then cases of mass surveillance, political spying sidetracked into doing this work. In July partner, an activist, discovered emails to and infiltration of activist groups and 2017, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu in his police intelligence bosses about the social movements are exposed, we need London at a Centre for Crime and Justice groups and individuals he had been tasked deeper, historically-informed analysis, to Studies workshop on undercover policing, to spy on. better understand how these operations in the context of sustained organising The tenacity, courage and focus of are intrinsic to (neo)liberal democracy by a range of progressive organisations activists in the UK targeted by the state and serve the interests of the dominant and activists infiltrated and spied on by is inspiring. In this era, doctrines of economic and political order. undercover police in Britain. “deradicalisation” and “countering violent A number of core participants in the extremism” disproportionately target ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry Muslim communities in many countries, Aziz Choudry is Associate Professor and participated. Speaking with British as Arun Kundnani has so powerfully Canada Research Chair in Social Movement activist Helen Steel, I remembered that documented. As they spread globally, Learning and Knowledge Production at McGill I had seen her almost 20 years earlier in these also serve as useful concepts University, and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand at for political and economic elites to Education Rights and Transformation, University an activist conference on transnational legitimise draconian surveillance and of Johannesburg. He is editor of Activists and the corporate power that I co-organised. other policies that clamp down on and Surveillance State (Pluto, 2019).

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 49 DECEMBER 2019 culture Joker isn’t an ode to the far right – it’s a warning against austerity By Micah Uetricht Credit: Niko Tavernise/Associated Press

Rosa Luxemburg once famously framed the choice for our future as that of socialism or barbarism. Joker is a portrait of a society that has chosen barbarism.

This review appeared first in the Arthur Fleck, the protagonist and his assailants and rejects his co-worker’s UK newspaper The Guardian eventual Joker, is a poor, young, white, racist epithets. mentally ill man who works as a clown Since critics depicted this as a film How have mainstream and seems to enjoy it. In the film’s opening for the far right, whose overtly racist commentators missed the most obvious scene, he is beaten up by a rowdy group views are well-known, I expected the takeaway of the film? of teenagers, some of whom appear to be depictions of characters of colour to be Midway through a screening teens of colour. bigoted. But interestingly, almost all of of Joker this weekend at a Chicago theatre, Watching this opening, I thought, the violence he eventually metes out as I leaned over to a friend seated next to me here it is: in the very first scene, teenagers he sinks deeper and deeper into a full and whispered: “Is this the same movie running wild on the streets of New York breakdown – save for the movie’s final that everyone has been talking about?” City, a classic rightwing trope in American scene, at which point Joker’s nihilistic I asked because what I was witnessing cinema depicting a society (and its brutality has fully blossomed, now wanton on-screen bore little resemblance to the racialised underclass, in particular) that is and indiscriminate – is against white men, ode to angry, young, white, “incel” men out of control. We’ll soon be told it needs many of them wealthy. that I had heard so much about in media to be reined in by some old-fashioned law A passing interaction with a coverage of Joker leading up to its release. and order and cracking of skulls. neighbour, a single black mother who Instead, we got a fairly straightforward Yet in the locker room of the clown lives on his floor, leads to a disturbing and condemnation of American austerity: how agency, when a co-worker calls the teens delusional romantic obsession with her. it leaves the vulnerable to suffer without “animals” and “savages”, Arthur explicitly This culminates in a tense scene in which the resources they need, and the horrific rejects dehumanising them. “They’re just – on the verge of a full breakdown and consequences for the rest of society that kids,” he responds. Bruises visible on his after we realise the previous scenes of the can result. body – a body for which Joaquin Phoenix two of them on a date and sitting at the This message is so blunt that even I, a lost 52 pounds ahead of filming, with a hospital bedside of Arthur’s mother were Marxist and philistine, found its message disturbingly protruding spine and ribs, completely imagined by him – he walks a bit too clobbering. How mainstream that is physically ravaged by the austerity- into her open apartment. commentators have missed it and drawn racked society Arthur lives in, wasting The viewer expects an act of violence the exact opposite conclusion is baffling. away in front of our eyes – he defends against her, perhaps even a horrific scene

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of sexual assault, by the lonely man who wants the beautiful woman but can’t have her. In other words, the ultimate incel revenge fantasy. Instead, startled, she asks him to leave. And he does. Likewise, in a scene whose political message was so blunt that it could have appeared in a mid-century Stalinist propaganda film, his social worker and counsellor – another black woman – with whom he has a tense but clearly significant relationship, is forced to tell him that due to recent budget cuts, their office will be shutting down. Arthur asks her where he’s going to get his medication; she has no answer for him. “They don’t give a shit about people like you, Arthur,” she tells him, referring to those who cut the budget. “And they don’t give a shit about people like With Joker we got a fairly straightforward condemnation of American austerity: how it leaves the vulnerable to me either.” suffer without the resources they need, and the horrific consequences for the rest of society that can result. The black, female public- sector worker is telling the white, male Wayne, her former employer, is Arthur’s film: in addition to the three Wall Street public-service user that their interests are father – the genteel billionaire, dressed types, an old mother, a co-worker, a intertwined against the wealthy billionaire in a full tuxedo, literally punches Arthur talkshow host and a billionaire couple class and their political lackeys who are in the face. Again, political subtlety is not have been murdered in cold blood; rioters slashing public services. Across racial this film’s stock and trade. How could in clown masks are running wild in the and gender boundaries, the two have a reviewers miss this? streets, cheering Joker on the hood of a common class enemy. What Arthur – and scores of others cop car. In the final scene, Arthur is again You can’t get much less subtle, or like him in Gotham and our own society speaking to a social worker, but now in much more diametrically opposed to the – needs is a fully-funded Medicare for All handcuffs in an asylum. But it’s too late to right’s worldview, than this. or NHS-style health system that includes reach him, because he’s no longer Arthur It is those budget cuts that drive robust mental health services that provide – he’s the Joker, and the Joker has no Arthur deeper into madness. Similar him with the counselling and medication qualms about killing her, too. attempted cuts likely drove sanitation that can save him (and others around him) Rosa Luxemburg once famously workers to strike, resulting in the piled-up from his unceasingly “negative thoughts” framed the choice for our future as that of garbage constantly visible on Gotham’s and violent impulses. socialism or barbarism. Joker is a portrait streets. These are clear allusions to New He needs public programs that can of a society that has chosen barbarism. No York City’s 1975 fiscal crisis and the provide a warm, encouraging environment one wants to see violence erupt in such a austerity it produced, which soon spread for his creative impulses, allowing him to situation, but we shouldn’t be surprised to the rest of the country. perform standup comedy or perform as a when it does. Elites’ condescending responses to the clown without becoming a laughingstock In the real world, we aren’t yet at that widespread suffering make things worse. on national television or getting canned breaking point. And unlike Gotham, Billionaire Thomas Wayne condemns by an uncaring boss. He needs wages we have alternate paths on offer – Arthur’s murder of his three employees for his care work for his infirm mother represented best by the Vermont senator (representing young, arrogant, rich Wall or a robust elder care system that can Bernie Sanders, whose presidential Street types) on the subway by calling respectfully take her under its care. He campaign speaks to that roiling anger but the average person seething in the needs high-quality housing he can afford. channels it into humane and egalitarian streets “clowns”. Don’t they know that Arthur has more than his share of directions. If we don’t take it, and that he wants to help them, the ultra-rich problems, but a few of them would have anger continues to find a home in mayoral candidate asks. He is irritated he been solved, or at least adequately and reactionary outlets, the barbarities we see even has to explain this. His comments humanely managed, in a society whose in Joker might start looking horrifyingly merely stoke the already burning fires of budgets were oriented more towards familiar. resentment, with Wayne’s obliviousness people like him than Wayne. But he does at their misery rubbing salt in the wounds not live in that society, and neither do we. of average Gotham residents and driving Instead of public services and dignity, he Micah Uetricht is the managing editor of them to the streets to protest Wayne and gets that most American of consolation Jacobin and host of its podcast The Vast Majority. elites like him in clown masks. prizes: a gun, and the sense of respect He is the author of Strike for America: Chicago And, of course, when Arthur sneaks that, while ultimately hollow, has long Teachers Against Austerity and co-author of the into a high-class theatre and confronts eluded him. forthcoming Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go Wayne about what Arthur has been led Joker’s ending is bleak and one whose From the Sanders Campaign to Political Revolution to believe by his ailing mother – that general thrust we knew going into the in Our Lifetimes.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 51 DECEMBER 2019 culture both of them

‘I’m just a red nigger who love the sea, I had a sound colonial education, I have Dutch, nigger and English in me, Capitalism and my body And either I’m nobody, or I am a nation,’ “The Schooner Flight” Derek Walcott by Danielle Alheit

My father came on a ship to my mother’s land my mother met him on the shore My father with his white, civilized, civilized?, civilised skin My mother with her Black earthy skin 21 October 2015, Parliament by Qondiswa James My father raped my mother on that beach My mother was raped by my father on that beach, On that beach I was conceived both of them white and Black battle battle within me, within my BROWN skin “white womening” by Jacana Joy Redcliffe And I love the ocean and I love that beach, For if I am not both of them then I am nothing

Capitalism and my body – like clenched jaw and tensed shoulders and a headache always waiting Like the purgatory of waiting for the sickness to end and for the feeling of worth that begins with being healthy and capable and productive And the brief periods of health that make the sickness feel all the more like a cage My mind like a thousand ants scurrying over synapses. Like a hurricane of ghosts screaming at me. And my body a desert with nothing to offer

The voice of capitalism speaking to me in my own voice, saying “you’ll be worth something when…” The unanswered emails The distrust of stillness because there must be something I’ve forgotten to do The weight of my future captured by calendars and schedules and deadlines The strung-out-in-tatters emptiness that can be numbed but not filled The sleep that isn’t sleep The tears that sit in my eyes and do not spill over The defeated anger. The defeated anger. The defeated anger

The institutions my body belongs to looming over me with open, hungry mouths and dripping teeth The fear that my body cannot keep up with their hunger The fear that I am the defective thing that people turn away from — The underachiever, the drop-out, the invalid The desire to be thin and well-behaved to keep the monsters of oppression at bay The knowledge that when they are not eating me, it is because they are eating someone else The knowledge that I am the monster too

The grasping, clumsy attempts to answer the call to resistance The desperation for hope The profound gratitude to the activists that walk in front of me whose words are an oasis Who made “chronic illness” and “mental illness” mean something other than pathology Who began creating a map to resistance as healing, resistance as embodied.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 52 DECEMBER 2019 “white womening” culture The other day I walked into a 21 October 2015, Parliament cramped, musty-smelling bookshop in Claremont I remember that day at parliament just the white old(ish) women before the chaos. I remember eating chips asked me drenched in delicious vinegar from the fish- from behind the counter what books I liked reading ery on Plein Street. I remember beautiful blacks helping themselves to deep fried “poetry”, I replied by young womxn of colour chicken at the KFC on the corner looking her response reeked of at Church Street. I remember the thick black white women – smoke of burning dustbins rising might- “Oh, they’re all angry, aren’t they?” ily to the sky. I remember I remember the And I replied, femmes just beyond the frame. I remember much to my own shame & laughing together, fighting together, crying frustration together, holding together. I remember the “well not all of them, movement. I remember the weight of what some of them are must have felt like revolution, and wasn’t. love poems” I said. I remember the soft creak of the gates and the moment of suspended shock realising But I only said that to appease, placate we had forced the gate to open. Realising her fragile white womenness they were never going to open the gate, Actually their poems; that we must do it ourselves. I remember Koleka Putuma’s Yrsa the tall man next to me like a rugby player Daley-Ward’s crushing my face to his chest telling the & Nayyirah Waheed’s police that he was ashamed that they would poems treat a femme with such violence, and me are infused with thinking ‘but here I am standing next to anger you having walked in freely, my choice in That righteous, my fists and the soles of my feet, needing passionate, about-fucking-time- no protection, no leader, no well-meaning kinda anger suffocation’. I remember the white people and I was reminded of what Koleka said; with their criss-crossed arms and the tear ‘all they are interested in is our pain, gas being thrown further out into the circle as if the joy-parts were accidental of blacks. I remember the lazy cigarette I write love poems, smoke of the riot police curling danger- too But ously over their lips, their manner so easy. You only want to see my mouth torn open in protest,’ I remember the countdown. I remember the running. I remember the falling. I remem- I pondered on the time Yrsa said; ‘ 4. Love is not a safe word ber ducking in the doorways of corner stores But it is the safe things that kill you and office buildings. I remember losing my in the end, friends (before I knew there was a differ- 6. There are parts of you ence between a comrade and a friend). I that want the sadness. remember running. I remember falling. Find them out. Ask them why.’ I remember the sound of stun grenades Or the time Nayyirah said; like distant thunder falling over CPUT. I ‘if we wanted remember running. I remember the treason to charge. I remember you. I remember you people of color by the pink of skies like that day the stun could burn the world down grenades smoked pink. We remember you, for what enemy. And we will never forget. we have experienced Disentangling from the law to find are experiencing ourselves still chained to our collective but we don’t unfreedom. – how stunningly beautiful that our Our comrades are in prison for fees that sacred respect for the earth. for life is deeper than our rage.’ have not fallen, the movement must not forget that. And that should That #everythingmustfall have been my answer. Amandla! Issue No.67/68 53 DECEMBER 2019 new politics From anti- to alter- globalisation By Pierre Beaudet

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 54 DECEMBER 2019 new politics

y the end of the 1980s, various cracks began to appear in the global neoliberal edifice. BPartially, they were triggered by early crises that erupted in Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and Russia, among other countries. The impact of the so-called Washington consensus was making itself felt in the form of massive cuts to public services and jobs. There were financial shifts that allowed big finance to siphon off huge amounts of debt, in addition to privatisation and deregulation, that put trade unions and other social movements on the defensive. The various fragmented revolts in the 80s were a harbinger of what was to come. Origins At the beginning of 1994, the little- known southern province of Mexico gained international attention. In Chiapas, the peasant-indigenous population took to the streets under the banner of the Zapatista Liberation Army (EZLN). It was a big surprise, even to the Mexican state, which was taken aback by the scale of the protest and the fact that it was widely supported, even outside Chiapas. The EZLN adopted a new language that distinguished it from earlier liberation movements, emphasising a non-statist view, local autonomy and non-hierarchical structures. This discourse gained currency worldwide through emerging social media and annual conferences held in the jungles of Chiapas. At the same time, huge protest marches were organised all over Europe and North America against the World Bank, the IMF and WTO. They encountered an exceptionally large Movements globally conceived the idea of creating a platform to recharge policy debates and explore the contours of gathering of angry protestors at their new visions of social transformation. This laid the groundwork for the World Social Forum. meeting in Seattle in the fall of 1999. The “Battle of Seattle” was unique in the sense of creating a platform to recharge policy discussion of how to “democratise that it brought together a wide variety debates and explore the contours of new democracy,” how to struggle against of social movements, from teamsters visions of social transformation. This laid gender, generational and ethnic (trade unions) to “turtles” (environmental the groundwork for the World Social discrimination, and how to change the campaigns). In the Americas, north Forum. Brazilian-led, the WSF had no rules of the game to wrest space and and south, this inaugurated a series of clear and explicit strategy, but there was a opportunities for meaningful citizen struggles that led to the massive People’s consensus around the need to build a new participation within the framework of Summit in Québec City in 2001. framework of analysis. For several years liberal democracy. after the founding event, hundreds of These immense brainstorming The growth phase thousands of movements and people met sessions were carried out by many social This was not yet a movement, but in Brazil, and later in India, Mali, Tunisia, movements that also took advantage rather a vast tapestry of initiatives in Kenya and many other countries, with the of the WSF to create new international opposition to neoliberal globalisation. aim of developing an alter-globalisation and action-oriented networks, such as These struggles revitalised a number perspective. Via Campesina and the World March of left-wing think-tanks, publications The WSF process was original of Women. The WSF methodology was and organisations in the North. In because it was an open space where also adopted by hundreds of national South America, meanwhile, mass pro- participants themselves were to define and municipal forums in which citizens democracy movements were offering the agenda through self-organised had a chance to act, play, speak out and real resistance to authoritarian regimes. political and cultural activities. Much express their hopes. It thus helped to Coalitions in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina of the work involved drafting an bring movements together, create new and later Bolivia and Ecuador came alternative economic program based on dynamics and give rise to new projects. together with a strong grass-roots push. the revitalisation of the public sector, One such successful forum was organised By the beginning of the new millennium, the decommodification of basic goods in Ottawa in 2012. The Peoples’ Social Pink Tide governments were established and services, new fiscal and financial Forum brought together a critical mass in many countries. mechanisms to push back inequalities, of movements from Canada, Québec and It was during this turbulent phase that local non-market enterprises and the Indigenous communities for the first time movements globally conceived the idea like. At the same time, there was much in Canadian history.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 55 DECEMBER 2019 new politics

The dark clouds of militarism, racism and fascism are looming everywhere, as evidenced most recently in Bolivia.

In its growth phase, alter-globalisation hand, and international intervention by Naomi Klein stresses, is not the climate was at once a rallying point for social undemocratic neoliberal institutions, on but capitalism. movements, a political program for the the other. This counteroffensive also led to At the same time, an international most advanced progressive parties and the demise of many pink-tide countries – conversation continues via new forms a living laboratory involving millions of Brazil and Venezuela in particular – which of networking, such as the Great professors, students, intellectuals and were unable to resist the reactionary Transition conference (Montreal, May artists. It also benefited from concrete assaults, in addition to being weakened by 2020), the World Social Forum on support by Pink Tide governments, their own limitations and contradictions. Transformative Economics (Barcelona, particularly Brazil and Venezuela. The World Social Forum was deeply June 2020), the Global Forum on affected by this new and debilitating Migration and Development (Quito, Uncertain times correlation of forces. The traditional January 2020), among many other events In 2008, global capitalism suffered South American leadership of the WSF and developments. It is still too early, its most severe crisis since 1929. It shook was blindsided by growing divisions however, to hail the rise of an Alter- the Global North first. Within a few between movements, and between globalisation 2.0. years mass mobilisations erupted under movements and pink-tide governments. the banner of Occupy Wall Street (in The WSF in Tunis (2015), Montreal Who is reinventing the left? Canada and the United States), and the (2016) and Salvador de Bahia (2018) were In the meantime, many left-wing Indignados (in Spain and other southern interesting events, but they lacked the political parties are evolving, scrapping European countries) before crossing the energy and enthusiasm of the past, falling the legacy of past sectarianism. We see Mediterranean in a historic movement into a bit of a rut rather than innovating this here and there – in the United States that led to the implosion of long- and exploring new avenues. (Democratic Socialists of America), standing dictatorships, mainly in Egypt Quebec (Québec Solidaire), Chile (Frente and Tunisia. Looking ahead Amplio), and England (Momentum). In many ways, these diverse The alter-globalisation moment is The dark clouds of militarism, racism movements all travelled the paths opened now being redefined. In many countries, and fascism are looming everywhere, as up in South America and through popular movements are on the defensive evidenced most recently in Bolivia. But the WSF. Unlike in South America, and social-democratic reforms are in all these places, the power struggles however, they did not have a political being reversed, while new forms of are complex, not predetermined. They counterpart, and in the absence of authoritarianism or “austeritarism” are allow creative movements to regroup, either a European or Maghreb-Mackrek being imposed. Yet if we look at the transcend their past experiences and pink tide, the revolts did not succeed in situation through a wide-angle lens, we invent new forms of political and social reversing the trends. The countries of can see the cracks in the system widening, mobilisation. Much more than in the the Global North were thus able to steady with uprisings multiplying as in China past, women, youth and marginalised themselves without too much effort, and (Hong Kong), Chile, Sudan, Lebanon, communities are taking the lead. It is the countries of the Global South fell Iraq, Argentina, and Algeria. In many most probably an “interregnum,” to use into the grip of resuscitated dictatorship more countries, we are seeing ripples that Gramsci’s phrase, between the black hole (with the exception of Tunisia). Even portend big transformative waves. Social of mass destruction and the hope for where social movements grew strong movements in many places have become emancipation. (in Spain and Greece, for example), the more astute, employing new decentralised edifice of power was able to withstand strategies. Many have taken the battle for the challenge by a combination of local/ Pachamama to the next level, announcing Pierre Beaudet is a founder and editor of the national reactionary offensives, on the one loudly and clearly that the problem, as Nouveaux Cahiers du socialisme.

Amandla! Issue No.67/68 56 DECEMBER 2019 TAKING POWER SERIOUSLY

South Africa’s new progressive magazine standing for social justice.

Editorial advisory board SOUTH AFRICA: Aswell Banda, Patrick Bond, Yunus Carrim, Jacklyn Cock, Jeremy Cronin, Ashwin Desai, Farid Esack, David Fig, Pregs Govender, Stephen Greenberg, Jonathan Grossman, William Gumede, Adam Habib, Ferial Haffajee, Pat Horn, PODCAST Dot Keet, Leslie London, Hein Marais, Darlene Miller, Sipho Mthathi, Phumzile Mthethwa, Andrew Nash, Trevor Ngwane, Lungisile Ntsebeza, Peter John Pearson, Tebogo Phadu, Devan Pillay, Vishwas Satgar, David Sanders, Christelle Terreblanche, Salim Vally, Mike van Graan INTERNATIONAL: Gilbert Achcar (Lebanon/Britain), Asghar Adelzadeh (Iran/USA), Alejandro Bendana (Nicaragua), Camille Chalmers (Haiti), Noam Chomsky (USA), Mike Davis (USA), Rhadika Desia, Wim Dierckxsens, Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt), Ben Fine (Britain), Bill Fletcher (USA), Alan Freeman, Gillian Hart (USA), Arndt Hopfmann (Germany), Claudia Katz (Argentina), Edgardo Lander (Venezuela), Michael Lowy (Brazil/ France), John Saul (Canada), Helena Sheehan (Ireland), Issa Shivji (Tanzania), Hillary Wainwright (Britain), Suzi Weissman (USA) Editorial collective Alex Hotz, Brian Ashley, Carilee Osborne, Christopher Morris, David van Wyk, Dominic Brown, Jeff Rudin, Keamogetswe Seipato, Khayaat Fakier, Mazibuko Jara, Mike Smith, Noor Nieftagodien, Patrick Lehmann, Rekang Jankie, Roger Etkind, Sandra Hlungwani, Tarryn de Kock Amandla! projects AMANDLA! FORUMS: Amandla! runs a series of discussion fora on topical issues in Cape Town and Johannesburg. To find out about upcoming fora, or to suggest a forum topic, contact Brian Ashley at [email protected]

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