Dear Amandla! At a time when the crisis in Cosatu has reached breaking point and we can expect the emergence of a new trade union movement or federation, it is critically important for left trade unionists to draw some lessons from the crisis. Cosatu’s demise is not...
anger
ZUMA Victory a Call for the Left to Vuka
An earthquake has hit the ANC. A new leadership has wiped out the Mbeki regime in the ANC leadership race. This is comparable to a landslide victory for an opposition party in a general election. Except in this case the opposition party was a broad coalition of...
BRT, Metrorail and the city and country’s priority?
Dear Amandla! I have recently moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town to work as an educator. I worked in Soweto before this and was quite looking forward to relocating to a different place. I had heard a lot about Cape Town's beauty and the pictures testified to that. I...
Protest Politics:Sweet Home
a version of this article was published in the Mail & Guardian on 21 September 2012 By Jared Sacks For much of this winter, communities in shack settlements across Cape Town have taken to the streets in some of the most active civil disobedience protests since...
The Marikana Massacre | by Siboniso
The massacre of 34 people by police in Marikana, South Africa last week shocked not only locals, but the world. The conflict has many dimensions but the chief factors that led to it are being analysed in a very thorough way by the media, numerous political entities...
Can’t you hear the thunder? | by Jay Naidoo
The headlines scream 'Marikana Massacre'; 'Killing Fields of Rustenburg'. Radio and TV Talk shows and social media all display the anger and expose the psyche of a nation badly wounded. The bloodiest security operation since the end of apartheid has left us shocked...
The massacre of our illusions …and the seeds of something new | by Lenny Gentle
The story of Marikana has so far been painted shallowly as an inter-union spat. In the first few days after the fateful Thursday and the shock and horror of watching people being massacred on TV there have correctly been howls of anger and grief. Of course no one...
Marikana shows dangers of populist leaders | by Carol Paton
Joseph Mathunjwa, leader of the Association of Mining and Construction Union, and Julius Malema, the expelled leader of the African National Congress Youth League, have several things in common. Like Mr Malema, Mr Mathunjwa was expelled from the National Union of...
Abahlali base Mjondolo Press statement | Solidarity with Mine Workers at Marikana Platinum
Abahlali baseMjondolo are deeply shocked by the murderous cruelty of the South African police, and those that give the police their orders, at the Marikana Platinum Mine in the North West. The killing of more than 40 mine workers yesterday by the SAPS is immoral and...
