Also VC, just another glaring omission by commission, the founding and role of the Communist Party and its contribution the ANC and MK.
Sent by AlexM -----Original Message----- From: Dominic Tweedie <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:05:26 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] ANC: On a century of movement One glaring omission: The Cubans. VC On 23 December 2011 22:03, <[email protected]> wrote: > There's a number of inaccuracies in Pallo's content, by both commission > and omission. The enquiry by Lithayono is also justified. > Sent by AlexM > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:45:48 > To: <[email protected]>; Communist!!< > [email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] ANC: On a century of movement > > Cmrds > > I am grappling with the crux of this article. What is cmrd Pallo trying to > get across? > Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Castro Ngobese <[email protected]> > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:10:10 > To: <[email protected]>; Communist!!< > [email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] ANC: On a century of movement > > ANC: On a century of movement > > PALLO JORDAN - Dec 23 2011 > > During an interview earlier this year, an American academic asked me to > explain the remarkable absence of the ethnic hatred he had encountered in > the former Yugoslavia and other places, in spite of three centuries of the > most overt racism. > > I explained that the once ubiquitous "Whites only" signs, the explicit and > palpable definition of who then wielded power, had not tempted us to > ethnicise the struggle. Instead we placed the issue of democracy at the > fore, underscoring that we were fighting a system of institutionalised > racism and not whites as a racial group. > > The story of the ANC is that of several thousand ordinary people, the > overwhelming majority of whom were Africans drawn from South Africa and the > countries within its periphery, working and struggling together as > comrades, in pursuance of the vision of a South Africa that would be a > better place for all its people. Among the oldest national liberation > movements in the world and the pioneer movement in sub-Saharan Africa, the > ANC's narrative, like that of India's Congress Party, is the history of the > struggle for freedom and democracy. > > It is all too often forgotten that political support and public confidence > have to be won. By the same token, they can be contested and subsequently > lost. The legitimacy, public confidence and political support the ANC > enjoys were earned in struggles, large and small, spanning some 80 years, > waged in town and country -- by men and women, the old and the young -- > initiated by members and activists of that movement. > > Successive general elections demonstrate the levels of support the ANC > enjoys among the overwhelming majority of South Africans. How long it will > continue to do so depends on the movement's actions. Ossification, > complacency and rigidity can overtake even the most powerful movements. > > In 1919, a group of dockworkers in Cape Town founded the Industrial and > Commercial Workers' Union -- a general workers' union -- that grew into a > popular organisation among the African and coloured working class in urban > and rural areas during the 1920s. > > Although they emerged independently of each other, the national and black > working-class movements have historically intersected and intermeshed, and > so have evolved a symbiotic relationship. Unionists are invariably members > and leaders of the ANC and working-class ANC members are unionists. The > alliance between the ANC and trade-union federation Cosatu is a function of > both history and sociology. Since its inception, the liberation movement > has comprised these interpenetrating components. > > The ANC operated as a loyal extra-parliamentary opposition that recognised > the legitimacy of the white state for two decades. But consistent with its > own ambitions and the growing capacity of its constituency, it eventually > challenged white domination on the battlefield. > > That challenge rested on a principle stated unequivocally in the preamble > of the Freedom Charter: "No government can justly claim authority, unless > it is based on the will of all the people." > > Declaring war > In pursuance of its vision, the ANC leadership took the decision to create > Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the nucleus of a national liberation army when other > options were foreclosed. > > Even at the moment of declaring war on the apartheid regime, MK held out > the olive branch, pronouncing a readiness to desist, on condition that the > regime demonstrated a willingness to negotiate a democratic political > dispensation in earnest. MK could justifiably claim paternity of Codesa, > the talks that led to a democratic government. > > After the Rivonia arrests and the repression that followed, the ANC was at > its weakest. There were very few active ANC units and it had no military > presence to speak of inside the country. > > During the late 1960s, the youth took up the cudgels, borrowing freely > from movements in the United States and other parts of the world, and > organised themselves into students' bodies that aroused and mobilised > crucial sectors to open political activity that had declined after 1965. > The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) emerged as a distinct political and > organisational force among the student youth during the 1970s. The ANC > necessarily had to define its attitude towards it. > > A search for fraternal relations with the movement succeeded with some > among its leadership but failed with others. The re-emergence of an active > trade-union movement was greeted with similar initiatives based on the > principle that unity could develop organically among formations actively > engaged in a common struggle. > > But the watershed was the national uprising detonated by the high-school > students of Soweto after a five-month protest against the unilateral > imposition of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in African schools. In > a rebellion unprecedented in the annals of radical social change, teenagers > shattered the unnatural quiescence that had descended on the country after > the repressions of the 1960s. > > The Soweto uprising announced a new phase in the struggle -- a phase > marked by an ever-sharpening confrontation between the masses of the people > and the apartheid regime; a phase during which the mass offensive became > continuous and uninterrupted; a phase that placed the issue of the > resumption of the armed struggle firmly on the agenda; and a phase that > would require the ANC to devise tactics in response to the continuing use > of maximum force against an insurgent but unarmed people. > > With hindsight, one could say that the 1976 uprising that drew in every > province of the country and all sections of the oppressed signified the > passing of the strategic initiative from the racist regime to the movement > for freedom. After Soweto, we never looked back. Every action, proposal and > scheme devised by the regime was defensive, designed to stem the inexorable > drive to freedom. > > 'Functioning of structures' > Operating from external headquarters over 30 years, the ANC's leading > bodies were required to co-ordinate the functioning of structures spread > across the globe. In addition to its own membership and supporters, the > movement maintained a multifaceted relationship with a number of other > bodies -- sister liberation movements, supportive political parties, > fraternal governments, solidarity movements, influential politicians and > opinion-makers. > > The positive contribution the BCM made to the reactivation of the people > into struggle was readily recognised by the ANC and it encouraged the > formation of a host of bodies that grew into a mass democratic movement by > the mid-1980s. By 1984, almost every democratic current in South Africa > converged on the ANC. > > Thanks to the efforts of anti-apartheid forces the world over, responding > to rising levels of internal struggle, South Africa is a democracy today. > The popular pressure they engendered forced policy changes on reluctant > politicians, not least the Reagan administration in the United States, > which had assumed office with the phrase "constructive engagement" on its > lips in 1981. > > The American anti-apartheid lobby finally broke Western states' resistance > to sanctions by passing the Anti-Apartheid Act with a majority that > overrode a possible presidential veto. That was but one of the levers that > threw open the gates of Victor Verster prison in February 1990. > > Despite the tense environment created by the intransigents among the > regime's securocrats during the early 1990s, the democratic elections of > 1994, which gave the ANC the landslide majority it has since retained, took > place in a peaceful atmosphere. South Africa changed forever in 1994. > > Political freedom brought the dividend of new opportunities for self- > advancement and access to professions hitherto closed to blacks as the > centres of the economy from which they had previously been excluded were > thrown open. A new dynamic emerged in society at large but also within the > ANC itself as its leaders, members and supporters could now compete on more > equal terms with their white counterparts -- in the professions, in > business and for state and government posts. From among the ANC's support > base, its membership and its leaders, a new black elite took shape, > becoming, for instance, captains of industry, heading private corporations > and state-owned enterprises, becoming judges, government ministers, > well-paid professionals and high-ranking civil servants. > > Personal ambitions and careerism inspire the actions of many among the ANC > membership today. Some even have recourse to ethnic mobilisation. At the > 1997 Mafikeng conference, for example, whispers about the need to resist > domination of the movement by one ethnic group emanated from certain > quarters. Class differentiation has produced its corollary, class > conflicts, in which ANC members have found themselves on opposite sides. > Because its constituency is blue collar, there is mounting pressure that > the ANC should tilt in favour of the working class in such conflicts, > generating tensions with its principal alliance partners, the South African > Communist Party and Cosatu. > > The ANC evolved from a body of loyal second-class citizens into a > revolutionary national movement because it had the courage to critically > review its experience, to retrace its steps when necessary and to absorb > the tough lessons of defeat. The ANC's founders sought to reform the > colonial state by incrementally deracialising it. Experience demonstrated > that the only realistic course was its overthrow and dismantling. A > capacity for introspection, self-criticism and grasping the nettle of > corrective action, when necessary, ensured that the ANC remained relevant > while other movements dithered, then withered. It has dominated the > political landscape since 1985. > > The tensions within the ANC, so often cast as competition for elective > posts, are rooted in the changing material conditions of life of the > various strata that today make up its constituency and reflect recently > acquired social mobility by black South Africans. > > The movement's reluctance to undertake serious study of the outcomes of > freedom has rendered it less capable of anticipating potential points of > tension and conflict. As a result, it finds it difficult to manage the > contradictions produced by its own policies. The ANC's capacity to lead > will depend on how it addresses the societal changes its own policies have > generated. > > Pallo Jordan is a member of the ANC's national executive committee > > > > > > > > > Castro's iPad > > -- > You are subscribed. This footer can help you. > Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to > this message. > You can visit the group WEB SITE at > http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery > options, pages, files and membership. > To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected]. > You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to > put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail > to this address (repeat): [email protected] . > > -- > You are subscribed. 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