----- Original Message -----
From: "James Heartfield" <Jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk>
> Barkan is astute in realising that the restitution movements displace
> the Marxist left as champions of the underdog, and that on the basis of
> a liberal notion of restitution, or compensation for past ills, instead
> of on the basis of meeting human needs and orienting to the future.
A great many marxists in this part of the world are championing reparations from corporations/banks for their apartheid-era profits because a) the concept, as articulated for instance by Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, is concretely aimed at building an independent reconstruction fund precisely to meet the basic needs of people (e.g. antiretroviral drugs, water systems) that the SA government is denying; and b) any disincentive -- i.e., the prospect of paying reparations -- to future profiteers/lenders who cozy up to the likes of PW Botha can only help those who struggle for economic and other forms of justice in future.