Building the Frantz Fanon School: An interview with Mqapheli Bonono

This short excerpt from a much longer interview with Mqapheli Bonono, the current deputy president of Abahlali baseMjondolo, by Richard Pithouse discusses the building of the Frantz Fanon School in Durban and the movement’s evolving approach to political education. Bonono reflects on how lessons drawn from Brazil’s Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) informed Abahlali baseMjondolo’s efforts to organise political education work amid the pressures of an often intense struggle. He describes how, for a time, it became a valuable node in the movement’s political education work despite extremely difficult circumstances. Bonono also recounts his experience of imprisonment, including the formation of a reading group.

Interview with Mqapheli