Umsebenzi Online Volume 14, No. 35, 10 September 2015
In this Issue:
* The revolution will not be televised: is it different for workers
in the media, workers at e-TV and e-NCA?
* Bolstering fraternal relations with Vietnam
* Celebrating the 70th anniversary of Vietnam's declaration of
independence
Red Alert
The revolution will not be televised, is it different for workers in the
media, workers at e-TV and e-NCA?
BY ALEX MASHILO
Media transformation in South Africa to de-monopolise the industry,
especially the press and the pay TV market, build diversity, and ensure
accountability must include workplace transformation and decent work for
all, including for journalists, regardless of race and gender. The
persistence of the apartheid workplace characterised by a white-top and
black-bottom pyramid in which the higher you go the better it becomes, and,
inversely, the lower you remain the tougher it is, and, in the media, its
impact on news content and coverage have not been given adequate attention.
This is coupled with unequal treatment of workers, unequal distribution of
pay, benefits and authorities on a racial and gender basis.
In addition, let us recall that in the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels say workers are not the slaves of the bourgeois class only,
but are daily and hourly enslaved by the over-looker. Therefore the managers
play a crucial role in facilitating the exploitation of workers.
Recent developments in the media as the workplace reminded us about the
content of this analysis.
In the media, the managers might perhaps be playing the most decisive role
given the separation between ownership and operational control. Where this
model works "perfectly", which appears as the case at e-TV and e-NCA, those
who own do not exercise a say on the selection of news, news content and
coverage, as well as on the entire field of related operational management.
This is reserved, exclusively, to the managers who exercise editorial
functions and associated oversight roles.
Last week the workers at e-SAT, commonly known as e-TV and e-NCA went out
publicly in what they called "We are not free at e". They released a
statement and said it was time members of the public know what is going on
in the world of work in the media, e-TV and e-NCA as examples. The news of
their plight, being "not free at e", did not make it in the media, starting
where they are working for the public to see, hear and read. Gil
Scott-Heron's 'The revolution will not be televised', a phrase Scott-Heron
adopted from the slogan of the struggles of the 1960s in the United States
against the oppression suffered by black people, became as true as his first
single, 'Home is where hatred is'.
According to much of the media, everybody or other institutions and social
actors in society need to be kept in check, and, importantly, by the media
too functioning as the "fourth estate" (the fourth power - i.e. if one
considers our context if Parliament, the Executive/Cabinet and Judiciary the
first to the third power) as part of society's checks and balances! In his
book On Heroes and Hero Worship, Thomas Carlyle attributes the origins of
the concept "fourth estate" to Edmund Burke who (is said to have) used it in
a parliamentary debate in Britain, 1787, on the opening up of press
reporting of the House of Commons. The "fourth estate" (that sat in the
reporters gallery), Burke (is attributed to have) said, is more important
far than the three arms of the state that had gathered in parliament.
But then who independently keeps such an important power in check? According
to the media, there must be none! Let us recall that accountability to or
regulation by the self is neither accountability nor regulation at all. If
it were not so, the very existence of the role expected of, if not already
accorded to the media - and by the media itself - as one of the important
elements of the checks and balances to the exercise of power in society will
be nothing but a negation of the negation.
Let us briefly look at what the workers at e-TV and e-NCA are complaining
about.
They want to exercise their constitutional right of freedom of association
which is further given effect to in the Labour Relations Act to join a trade
union. They want a workplace forum to discuss workplace transformation.
According to their analysis, e-SAT (e.g. e-TV and e-NCA) "has over 70% black
employees; and the viewership is 87% black, yet the top management (is) made
up of white males only". The workers want this discussed. They believe that
the absence of transformation at e-SAT has a negative bearing on news
content and coverage.
All of this indicates, according to the workers, that: "The company pays lip
service to transformation, enabling an atmosphere where racism and racist
innuendos thrive. Just this past week (a week before last) a white female
employee referred to Indians as "Coolies" on the Output Desk. No action has
been taken against her".
According to the workers at e-SAT, the massive black audience of e-TV and
e-NCA finds not expression in the editorial policy that is driven by the
white-only top management. At "an editorial meeting earlier this year", say
the workers about a top manager who allegedly said: "reporting on rural
areas is pointless because the 'middle class doesn't care about the poor'".
The e-NCA's Africa Bureau was closed and 50 workers were retrenched,
according to the workers, despite the ironical fact that e-NCA calls itself
e-News Channel Africa. Meanwhile: "In May 2015, top management received 10%
Salary increases and performance bonuses", said the workers who further
asked: "Performance for what? How can they be rewarded for job losses?"
The aggrieved workers further draw the attention of the public to the
alleged utterances of the top manager on another occasion where "he stated
that the AU Summit (held in South Africa recently) was 'boring' and not
worthwhile". And then they conclude: "African issues clearly have no
prevalence" at e-NCA.
* Cde Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo is SACP Spokesperson, and writes in
his capacity as a Fulltime Professional Revolutionary
Bolstering fraternal relations with Vietnam
BY CHRIS 'CHE' MATLHAKO AND ALEX MASHILO
South African Communist Party (SACP) Secretary for International Affairs,
full time member of the Central Committee and Politburo, Comrade Chris
Matlhako is on a working visit to Vietnam. He is attending Asia-Pacific
Regional Conference for Solidarity with Cuba. During the visit, he met with
various leaders from across the world.
Continuously developing the SACP as the vanguard party of the working class
for socialism, and building its capacity to live up to the challenge of
proving leadership in the ongoing struggle to achieve the immediate aims and
interests of the working class, require the party to widen and strengthen
international relations and co-operation with other revolutionary parties in
the world working class movement. This is Matlako's mission in all
engagements abroad. On Tuesday, 8 September he met with the Vietnamese
Communist Party Central Committee Commission for External Relations led by
Comrade Hoang Binh Quan in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
Matlhako and Quan briefed each other about the unfolding situations in South
Africa and Vietnam, respectively. They pledged on behalf of the SACP and the
Vietnamese Communist to deploy the best of their capacity to enhance
solidarity and friendship between the two Parties and their democratic
peoples.
The communist leaders discussed the importance this work has as the
political foundation to bolster the economic, trade and investment relations
between South Africa and Vietnam. This is crucial, in turn, in the struggle
to meet the immediate aims of the working class in the two countries and in
advancing the historical mission of the struggle for socialism in its
international character and scientific basis as the path to the shared
vision for a classless, communist, society. Both the SACP and the Vietnamese
Communist Party see this as the only path to the universal emancipation of
humanity from the problem and problems of capitalism.
Quan made use of the opportunity of meeting with Matlako to thank the SACP
and the democratic people of South Africa for supporting the struggle for
national liberation that Vietnam fought against colonial and imperialist
occupation and domination.
* Cde Chris 'Che' Matlhako is fulltime SACP Central Committee and
Politburo member and serves as Secretary for International Affairs; Cde Alex
Mohubetswane Mashilo, SACP Spokesperson, joined him in the work in his
capacity as Fulltime Professional Revolutionary
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of Vietnam's declaration of independence
BY CHRIS MATLAKO
Vietnam marked the 70th anniversary of its declaration of independence on
the 2 September, with huge festivities across the country and a spectacular
event in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square. On 2 September 1945, comrade Ho Chi Minh,
who was to become the president of the country, stood on a makeshift podium
and proclaimed Vietnam independent from France, hours after Japan's
surrender in World War 2. President Ho Chi Minh declared: "All men are born
equal; the Creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty and
happiness", borrowing from the French moto; 'liberte, egalite, fraternite'.
This was a historic moment in Vietnam; for immediately thereafter, the
country descended into war for total emancipation and sovereignty, from late
1945 until finally uniting and defeating the enemy in 1975. Ho Chi Minh led
the anti-colonial struggle against colonialists until his death, 25 years
later after declaring independence from France on 2 September 1969 and six
years before his forces succeeded in re-uniting North and South Vietnam in
1975.
September 2nd is therefore very significant for Vietnam and its people. They
mark the anniversary of the declaration of independence and simultaneously,
of death of the great leader of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh. It is history's
ironies that President Ho Chi Minh died on the exact anniversary day, when
29 years earlier he had declared Vietnam independent from France. Vietnam's
Independence Day, therefore, rings a dual tribute: to the end of colonial
rule; remember the death the founding leader of modern-day Vietnam known
throughout the country, and the world, as Uncle Ho!
Indeed, we are celebrating the brave heroes of Vietnam, including the
outstanding leadership of President Ho Chi Minh. We honour the brave and
heroic people of Vietnam, who dared to take on the combined might of
imperialism and declared their sovereignty and united towards final victory
in 1975. It is in celebration of the great leadership of President Ho Chi
Minh, who gave his all to Vietnam and its course for national liberation and
social emancipation. We join in their celebrations, and observe the immense
contribution to the international struggle for political liberation and
social emancipation, of Vietnam's declaration of independence and ultimate
victory over the forces of colonialism and dealing imperialism, including
the United States, a crushing defeat.
We join the people of Vietnam in our longstanding fraternal relations with
them. Our common struggles for national liberation, benefitted significantly
from each other. The national liberation movement and progressives in and
outside joined the international condemnation and campaigned against the
imperialist war on Vietnam. The people of Vietnam shared their strategies
and tactics with the national liberation movements of the world, altering
the struggle significantly in the late in 1970. In 1978 OR Tambo led a
delegation to Vietnam where they attended numerous lectures and met with
activists in the Vietnamese struggles. Subsequent to the visit, he
commissioned a Politico-Military Strategy Council to lay the groundwork for
mass support and mass mobilisation leading to the dislodging of apartheid in
1994.
The Commission recommended a programme whereby all opposition groups within
the country would join forces around a broad programme of opposition to
apartheid. On the occasion of the award by World Peace Council (WPC) in
1986, comrade OR Tambo, the Ho Chi Minh Peace Award, said:
"We reined proud to be associated with the name of Ho Chi Minh, a
revolutionary gain and genius, a patriot who devoted the greater part of his
life to the liberation of his fatherland. His was a life of intense
struggle, hardship, simplicity, clarity of vision and sacrifices that
contributed immensely to the heroic victory of the Vietnamese people over
French colonialism and Japanese and American aggression. This most historic
victory over a combination of colonialists and powerful imperialist forces
inspired and encouraged the oppressed in South Africa and served as a spur
to the peoples fighting for freedom and national independence everywhere. Ho
Chi Minh' devotion to the liberation struggle and his strong commitment to
the ideals of peace and friendship among peoples, won him a special place of
honour and respect among Vietnamese and peace-loving peoples the world
over".
* Cde Chris 'Che' Matlhako is fulltime SACP Central Committee and
Politburo member, and serves as Secretary for International Affairs
Umsebenzi Online is the online voice of the South African working class
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