Yeah, the popularity of anti-neoliberal struggles in general follows the same logic. So should we not do that?
> It's an
> extension of the sanctions approach of pleading with imperialism
Where do you get this from, man? This is explicitly anti-imperialist work, demanding that Swiss banks compensate the mass of South Africans who are being screwed by neoliberal development policies which are in place, in large part, because of the residual power of the Swiss (and other) banks.
> to do
> the job (in this case asking it to pay some compensation), in the
> absence of a movement that can make an impact.
No, man, this is PART of building a movement that IS having an impact. Sure, legal strategies are used to keep the issue developing and bubbling in the public consciousness, but the mass demo--20,000 strong--in favour of reparations (and against the Mbeki government) was surprisingly militant during the World Conference Against Racism on 31 August, for instance.
> It also ends up
> sending people on a long detour into lengthy administrative and
> bureaucratic processes, tribunals and litigation - much cheaper than
> policing popular resistance.
Debt tribunals are good for consciousness raising, as the Brazilians are showing. Litigation isn't going to solve this issue; street protests are. But an occasional lawsuit forces the bastards to take depositions and confront the media's renewed attention, so we don't dismiss the tactic.
> Inherent in the reparations approach is a practical renunciation of
> independent action and the fostering of illusions in the humanitarian
> west.
No, it's the reverse: an acknowledgement that the ANC leadership are compradors, and independent action is therefore required, by the masses on the ground, led by people of conscience like Archbishop Ndungane, Prof. Fatima Meer, Trevor Ngwane and many others, in solidarity with internationalists in the belly of the beast.
> The few crumbs that they may indeed pay out will merely nurture
> further illusions in the ability of the West to play the role of
> honest broker and humanitarian peacekeeper around the world
On the contrary, it's a clear signal that imperialist corpos and their state sponsors had better be careful about propping up dictatorships, because the bill will come due, just as it did for Jewish Holocaust victims. Surely you can recognise that, as a result, mass-popular sanctions (e.g., against the Burmese junta today) are thereby strengthened, and the corpos and banks that prop up dictatorships shiver a little bit now as a result?
Comrade Russell, you got out of bed this morning upside down. Pull yourself together. Join the struggle, or stop distracting us. If you get in the way of this, you're in bed with Mbeki. Read this morning's Business Day, if you need a reminder:
***
Lawsuit considered on apartheid funding
GENEVA SA debt-relief campaigners were reported yesterday to be considering
lawsuits because of Swiss financial ties with apartheid, only days after the Swiss
government launched an inquiry into its former spy chief's ties with the apartheid
government.
Le Matin newspaper reported yesterday that members of the SA branch of
debt-relief group Jubilee 2000 would decide on Saturday whether to seek damages
from the Swiss government or Swiss banks because of their role in providing loans
to the apartheid regime.
Responding to the Jubilee 2000 announcement, a Swiss foreign ministry
spokesman said yesterday that "the new SA government has never made any
claim against Switzerland".
Jubilee 2000 has reportedly approached two lawyers at the centre of a $1,2bn
settlement with US Jewish groups acting for holocaust victims and heirs for their
money hoarded by Swiss banks after the Second World War.
The report came as the Swiss defence ministry began an official inquiry into help
provided by former intelligence chief Peter Regli to apartheid counterparts including
Wouter Basson, former head of SA's chemical and biological weapons programme
and now on trial in Pretoria. Basson, nicknamed "Dr Death", is facing 46 charges
including accusations of using chemical warfare against political opponents.
Jubilee 2000 has accused Swiss banks of continuing to provide loans and servicing
debt from 1986 and into the early 1990s, which it says helped the apartheid
government maintain power in SA despite international sanctions. Switzerland,
which is not a member of the United Nations (UN), did not take part in the UN
sanctions regime against apartheid, except for an embargo on arms sales. Swiss
companies and banks openly pursued business ties in SA.
Le Matin quoted a Jubilee 2000 spokesman as saying it was focusing on
cancellation of debt owed to Switzerland under apartheid, and an estimated $300m
a year in profits Swiss businesses made in SA in the 1980s.
In a report in 1999, Jubilee 2000 estimated that debt owed to Switzerland on loans
to SA authorities reached $5bn by 1993. "After Germany, Switzerland was the
second most important financier of (SA) public authorities." It said Swiss
investments in SA rose considerably in the last years of apartheid, but fell back
significantly after the fall of the system in 1993.
"Those who stuck to the regime by providing foreign finance are to be considered
accomplices," Jubilee 2000 said in a report on Swiss and German financing of
apartheid debt.
Jubilee 2000 told Le Matin that the Regli affair also indicated Swiss involvement
with the apartheid regime, with Britain, Germany and the US.
Swiss Defence Minister Samuel Schmid said on Friday that the inquiry, which
would also take a broader look at Swiss-SA relations at the time, would be
completed by the middle of next year. He said he was concerned that some
documents had been destroyed.
Regli, cleared by a previous parliamentary inquiry, has denied wrongdoing.
Sapa-AFP.
Nov 05 2001 12:00:00:000AM Business Day 1st Edition
Monday
05 November 2001
Patrick Bond Phone (27)83-633-5548 Fax (27)11-484-2729