Date: AUGUST 2001 From: "Trevor Ngwane" <trevorngwane at hotmail.com>
To our international comrades who follow the South African struggle for racial, gender, social, environmental and economic justice,
I write from Soweto as secretary of the Anti-Privatisation Forum, a coalition of many community, labour, student and other progressive social organisations in the Johannesburg region.
We are at a moment in South Africa's history that is potentially *decisive.* As virtually the entire working class prepares for the first explicit general strike against the ANC government, on 29-30 August, we in the main industrial heartland of Johannesburg aim to bring the grassroots component of the struggle to the World Conference Against Racism in Durban.
Simply, we believe that the kinds of neoliberal policies forced upon the South African government by international pressures and by comprador forces within the ruling party's own ranks, are racist.
The policies are the standard menu of privatisation, fiscal and monetary austerity, real declines in social spending, liberalised finance and trade, and increasingly brutal repression against those who resist. On 21 August, a man was shot dead by the electricity company's hired guns in Sharpeville, about 60km south of here: you will remember it was the scene of another infamous massacre of unarmed protesters, on 19 March 1960.
These neoliberal policies--most urgent of which today is the intensified privatisation of electricity, water, transport, telcoms and other essential services--disproportionately affect people who are black (in our terminology, including "African", "Coloured" and "Indian" ethnicities). They affect women more than men, and hurt the life chances of the young, the elderly, the disabled. They muck up the environment. They divide our people.
We aim to reverse neoliberalism. Taking our case to the people of Durban and the 10 000 attendees at the World Conference Against Racism is a big step. We aim to unveil the universal nature of a problem--commodifying all that is vital to us, from the water to the air to the land--which besets even a government that has done so much to reverse institutional and legal racism. That government has many ministers and officials who like to bask in the warmth of international goodwill -- but while imposing on us truly fatal policies.
Water cutoffs and denial of service to low-income rural women in Kwa-Zulu Natal province--forcing them to walk long distances to polluted rivers--was the reason that over the past 12 months our country has suffered 100 000 cases of cholera, for example. In Soweto, where I organise, extreme hardship has been recorded because of the government's refusal to subsidise services sufficiently to those who cannot afford "economic" rates.
If you have read this far, comrades, and know the manifestations of neoliberalism in your own struggles, you will be interested in giving us your moral support. I am happy to get these messages, and pass them to our comrades (at trevorngwane at hotmail.com).
But I also appeal for funds, even the smallest amount you can afford to assist us with (e.g., 15 pounds, $25, etc).
What we have in Durban from 30 August through 2 September is a chance to unite with similar protesters coming from across the country and the world. We are working closely with excellent journos at the new Independent Media Centre that is being set up in Durban (http://southafrica.indymedia.org/)
If you want to ensure that an extra activist has resources to travel to Durban, please donate the equivalent of 180 Rand, so we can pay for a return trainfare (Jhb-Durban-Jhb) at the least expensive rate. If you can afford another R180 it will pay for three days of food while our activists hit the streets. A militant People's March will be held on Friday, 31 August, as well as other major events on the days before and after.
So 30 pounds or $50 or the equivalent in other currencies will allow you to sponsor one of our best young women and men, so they have a chance to add voice and toyi-toyi and energy... and learn and network. I won't promise you that you will see your comrade on the international news coverage we will generate--maybe you saw the APF leadership protesting Collen Powell a few months ago when he came to Wits University, delaying his exit for an hour with a 500-person sit-in. But Indymedia will try to give you all the cutting-edge coverage of the protests and events around WCAR.
In particular, we fully support the demands that Zionism be addressed forthrightly, and that there be reparations for slavery/colonialism/apartheid. And unfortunately, we expect very very little from the South African government in terms of rocking the boat. All the more important that the APF and our comrades do so.
Please join us in spirit, and if you can, in financial solidarity. Next year for the Rio+10 "World Summit on Sustainable Development," , we will be hosting many of you in Johannesburg, and we want the best experience we can get in Durban in late August and early September, in reclaiming the streets from those who would see them privatised too!
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About the Anti-Privatisation Forum:
The Anti-Privatisation Forum is a coalition of organisations opposed to privatisation in South Africa. We were founded in July 2000, as a merger of the Anti-iGoli 2002 Committee and the Wits University Crisis Committee. Both of these structures were built in the fight against two major privatisation initiatives in Johannesburg: the iGoli 2002 plan to restructure the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area, and the Wits 2001 plan to restructure the University of the Witwatersrand.
REVERSE THE DRIVE TO PRIVATISE!
Member organisations of the Anti-Privatisation Forum include the SA Municipal Workers Union, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) at Wits University, the South African Students Congress (Sasco), the SA Communist Party (Central JHB branch), the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco), Democratic Socialist Movement, Workers Organisation for Socialist Action, African Peoples Democratic Union of South Africa (Apdusan), Keep Left, Wits University Post-Graduate Association, and the Campaign Against Neo-Liberalism in South Africa.
To send even the smallest financial contributions, we are being assisted by a respected comrade--Dr Dale Mckinley, one of our most active members--who will transfer all funds to us from a bank account in the United States (for ease of international transfer with minimal bank charges). Please contact him directly and tell him your pledge; he will send you his bank account details, and confirm that your transfer was successful. He will notify our treasurer and me so that we can plan to have the greatest number of our members in Durban at the end of August.
TO PLEDGE TO OUR CAUSE, NOTIFY DALE MCKINLEY AT drdalet at hotmail.com