Newlands, Cape Town
4th July 2013 | 08:35 am My comrades The decade of 1948 - 1958 marks one of the most important eras in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. Globally the epoch was characterised by recovery from World War II, the cold war, and waves of decolonisation and independence. The forces of decolonisation and independence elsewhere in themselves provided encouragement for other oppressed nations to continue the fight for their own freedom. In South Africa, the post-1948 epoch saw an amplification of discrimination and oppression by the National Party through apartheid policies. These events were paralleled by equal observations by progressive forces, especially the youth in the country. Under these conditions, the young people of the 1940s-50s took it upon themselves to determine their destiny. Part of this determination meant there was clear need to change the obedient and moderate tactics in fighting the unjust and discriminatory system by the ANC. The earlier formation of the ANCYL in 1944 is generally credited for having provided new impetus, new energies and radicalised the ANC. Subsequently the 1949 national conference saw an ANC NEC which was infused with younger blood and an ANC which adopted progressive and politically astute programmes (i.e. ‘Programme of Action’). The fundamental principles of this ‘programme of action’ were inspired by the desire to achieve national freedom. By national freedom this generation meant freedom from white domination and the attainment of political independence. In order to achieve these and other goals, reality on the ground warranted the ANC to partake and fulfil a struggle under objective circumstances transferred to it by the past and to be encountered in the future. This struggle would warrant ordinary people of the land to sacrifices their comforts, jobs, families, and their lives in order to achieve their liberation goals. In modern times where many of us lives so intimately with our illusions, one has no option but to first begin with narrating what in normal conditions is obvious. In early 1951, the now radicalised struggle for liberation led by the ANC took more astute strategies and tactics. Among these was the need to unite all the oppressed people behind the unified congress movement. In this regard, the ANC NEC met with other oppressed (even though in different levels) black national movements – the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the Franchise Action Council (an ad hoc federal body representing several coloured organisations) to a joint campaign of civil unrest, disobedience and general strike actions against an oppressive government. The origins of the need for the campaign were also detailed in the adopted 1949 – programme of action. The evolution of these engagements led to a broader recognition of the congress alliance (ANC, SAIC, COD, CPC) - a multi-racial alliance opposed to apartheid and seeking a democratic society. One of the foremost programmes to be undertaken by the alliance would be the famous successful ‘defiance campaign’ of 1952. Several key factors led to the success of this campaign. These include the coalition organisations oppressed by the apartheid system and the fact that these sponsoring organizations showed confidence to the people to being agents of change, ‘volunteers’, thus firmly in-charge of their programme and destiny. The campaign spread from major cities (i.e. Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town) and in smaller towns, and gained momentum as it progressed. The sense of an unyielding defiance amongst the people towards the system was awoken and the enthusiasm amongst the people was heightened. This phase of the struggle can now be conceived by the analogy of two-sides of one coin. One side is propelled by defiance to unjust laws and the other side driven by the people defining their own vision of an alternative society. Crucial to note however is that all these actions were relatively managed within an organisational set-up led by the ANC and the congress alliance. This epoch is also important because it was the first time in the history of South African resistance that the people were actively involved in formulating their ideal society where they are free and prosperous. In a year following the successful defiance campaign, in 1953 ANC (Cape) congress, Prof Z.K. Mathews formally suggests the convening of a Congress of the People (C.O.P) campaign to draw up the Freedom Charter. The idea was endorsed by the ANC and the broader congress alliance. For the purpose of this article, the author refuses the temptation of entering into a historic debate around the question of what kind of a document the charter was (i.e. bourgeoisie democratic demands or socialist demands). A progressive outlook of the charter it to conceive the charter as a set of core people’s demands for self-determination in opposing the unjust system, where people from all walks of life, classes and strata stood to benefit. The main tenet on this article is to highlight the highly advanced nature of formulation of the congress of the people and the drawing up of freedom charter. The campaign like the defiance campaign relied heavily on the work conducted by the people themselves as ‘freedom volunteers’. In most cases the same people who were volunteers in the defiance campaign became volunteers for the C.O.P. and thus freedom charter campaign. The volunteers gathered demands of the people in homes, streets, workers unions, and factories. The gathering of demands was then followed up by elections of delegates for the congress of the people in Kliptown. Given the broad and inclusive nature of the campaign, the delegates were a product of nomination by a group or meeting of ordinary men and women. This meant delegates were largely characterised by people were seen as presenting people’s interests and demands. The people who elected the delegate would the raise money for food and transport for him or her. There are stories on these delegates tried in harsh conditions to partake in this process. Thus in all honesty, the charter represents the core freedom demands by the people of South Africa of a particular epoch. A question that then arises is how the generation in an epoch of political freedom and independence finds resonance in the charter of 1955 and how the charter finds resonance to their condition in 2013. In responding to the first part of the question, the current generation ought to enquire and decide on how new realities are influencing towards a pragmatic realisation of both charter demands and their own immediate and long-term demands. In responding to the second part of the question, the current generation ought to draws lessons from the charter, to build on it, to advance on the strides made and to systematically remove obstacles towards realising our own demands. In their book, titled ‘50 Years of the Freedom Charter’ Shutter and Cronin (2006) argue that the freedom charter ought to be seen as a document that upholds progressive, radical democratic values which continue to have powerful relevance and resonance in the present. In the main the charter remains the guiding programme of the ANC and provided the foundation for national democratic society. However, the obligation of the living today is to continue enriching the charter, to build from it. Fundamentally to attempt to emulate this advanced process. For example the congress movement needs to ask itself if we were to embark on a process of gathering demands from the people would we end up with similar demands to those in the 1955 freedom charter. This naturally raises simple but yet profound questions of whether or not the congress movement has the confidence of the confidence the people to be agents of change and formulate their new vision of South African society. Asked differently, since every five years, the congress movement appeals to South Africans to demonstrate confidence in it and vote it into government, can the same be expected from the movement, to provide meaningful platforms for people to gather and draft their demands in light of new social conditions? The ANC led government has attempted in several policy programmes to be consultative, however all these attempts have fundamentally fell short to emulate a similar process to the Congress of the People (C.O.P) campaign in drawing up of the Freedom Charter in 1955. Interesting to note is that the Congress of the People and the freedom charter campaign represent areas of either political difference or claims of betrayal by all splinter organisations from the ANC (i.e. PAC in 1959, COPE in 2008, and EFF in 2013). To some extent this demonstrates that the freedom charter represents a moment in our history that conjures up appealing nostalgic reflections. It is against this particular background why some attempting to render themselves relevant are opportunistically citing the freedom charter demands to prove that the post-1994 ANC has betrayed the charter’s realisation. The attempt is to portray the charter as a litany of clauses that need to be recited in official occasions or to be conveniently selected and interpreted for narrow ends. This portrayal of the charter seeks to perform two fundamental tasks – firstly to cripple this generation from formulating its own vision and destiny, and secondly use stringent nationalist rhetoric to vulgarize charter demands for narrow for ‘immediate upward class mobility’ interests. The idea is that the current generation must view the charter as the most authentic lenses from which the people must perpetually formulate their view of society, even if the document was formulated and adopted more than half a century ago. It is against this background that the living, (especially the youth) ought to be shown confidence in that they are capable to take it upon themselves to determine their own destiny as well. Our struggle as the living generation can be conceived in three main dimensions. Firstly it is a struggle for freedoms to meaningfully formulate our vision and realise it. Secondly it is also a struggle of memory against forgetting where we are coming from and going. Lastly it is a struggle of exposing all sorts of distortions and deceptions on what our vision actually means. *Aphiwe Bewana* – ANC Youth League PPT member in the Western Cape, he writes in his personal capacity. -- "It is our aspiration and our aim that everyone should become socially conscious and effective; but to achieve this end, it is necessary to provide all with the means of life and for development". -- -- 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. 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