by Shawn Hattingh Southern Africa has become well known for being one of the cheapest places to produce sugar. Consequently, million of tons are produced in the region every year. Two companies have come to dominate much of this lucrative industry: Illovo Sugar and...
strikes
DLF Honours the life of Neville Alexander
The Democratic Left Front (DLF) joins many activists in South Africa and around the world in mourning the death of Neville Alexander, leader of the Workers Organisation for Socialist Action (WOSA). We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, comrades...
South Africa’s dashed hopes of liberation | by Charlie Kimber
Charlie Kimber travelled to South Africa regularly to report on the fight against apartheid for Socialist Worker. He looks back at that struggle in the wake of the Marikana massacre—and how dreams have turned to disillusionment In the misty early morning of 27 April...
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...
Other people’s struggle; being of use or abusing Palestinians’ right to act | by Richard Falk
The posture of solidarity with the struggle of ‘the other’ is more complex than it might appear at first glance. It seems a simple act to join with others in opposing severe injustice and cruelty, especially when its reality is experienced and witnessed first-hand as...
Defend our right to strike! | by Roger Ronnie
The South African Constitution proclaims that everyone has the right to strike. The entrenchment of this right was bought at a high cost by the majority of working men and women through, amongst others, the use of the strike weapon as a measure of last resort in...
Canada’s `maple spring’: student strikers against austerity | by Chris Webb
The student strike wave that swept through the Canadian province of Quebec the past several months, now beginning to spark in other Canadian provinces and campuses, is a watershed moment in the struggle against neoliberal austerity in Canada. What began as a revolt...
Egyptian workers’ movement and the 25 January Revolution | by Anne Alexander
“It is midnight in Cairo”, intoned the BBC reporter on the Ten O’ Clock News bulletin, “and still tens of thousands are in Tahrir Square. One chant echoes again and again: ‘Go, go, go’. But this time it is not Mubarak they want to quit, but Egypt’s military ruler...
Egypt’s working class and the question of organisation | by Hossam El-Hamalawy
The nascent trade union movement in Egypt will need to develop political structures for the voices of the working class to be heard in electoral processes. ‘Who is the labour candidate in this presidential election?’ This is a question I have been asked frequently in...


