We Are Still Struggling for our Humanity to be Recognised

Sunday, 21 March 2021
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

We Are Still Struggling for our Humanity to be Recognised

Today is Human Rights Day, a day during which we are always told that we should celebrate the human rights that were included in the 1996 Constitution.

As everyone knows the origin of Human Rights Day is the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Under the leadership of Robert Sobukwe, the Pan Africanist Congress organised a non-violent protest against the pass laws that were used to exclude African people from the cities, and to keep them under white control in the cities. Sobukwe was clear that the protestors would “observe absolute non-violence” and that the protest would be the beginning of a campaign for “life abundant”. Around five thousand people joined the protest, and 69 were shot down like animals. Another three people were murdered by the police during protests against the massacre in Cape Town.

The Sharpeville massacre in 1961 was followed by the Soweto massacre in 1976 and then the Marikana massacre in 2012.

As we noted in our previous press statement there is a constant slow massacre of poor black people on protests and during evictions and as a result of political assassinations. Mostly these murders carried out by the police, armed eviction units and the izinkabi are not even reported in the media and do not receive any national attention.

More protestors have been killed over the years in this slow massacre than in any of the three major massacres since 1961. We must all accept the fact that more than a quarter of a century after apartheid poor black people continue to be murdered like animals.

Many of the rights enshrined in the constitution have yet to be realised for all. They include the rights to protest, freedom of speech, association, safety, housing, food, equality, dignity and life.

There are no more passes but poor black people continue to be excluded from the cities with armed eviction units. State violence is used to prevent all of us from enjoying the right to the cities.

The insistence on the human dignity of all, and on building a world in accordance with the recognition of the human dignity of all, is at the centre of our movement. But the realities of oppression must be faced clearly.

What dignity is there for those of us who are left to live like pigs in the mud? What dignity is there for those of us whose homes can be destroyed at any time? What dignity is there for those of us who can be violently attacked by the state or the ruling party at any time?

We have asked ourselves serious questions, and we put that same questions to society: What do human rights mean when millions continue to be impoverished and to live in indignity? What do human rights mean when poor black people are regularly brutalised by the police and killed like animals?

The government likes to deliver speeches to honour the fallen at Sharpeville in 1961 and Soweto in 1976. But what does it mean when this same government committed its own massacre at Marikana in 2012, and commits a continuous ongoing slow massacre against poor black people?

The idea of ‘life abundant’ is beautiful. Why were people murdered for associating themselves with such a beautiful idea? Why do people continue to be murdered for associating themselves with a demand for dignity?

Our movement refuses the vandalization of humanity and insists on the recognition of the full and equal dignity of all people everywhere.

Contact:

Thapelo Mohapi 074 774 4219
Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274
Nomsa Sizani 081 005 3686