Category Archives: unfreedom day

UnFreedom Day 2017: The poorest of the poor will gather once again

21 April 2017

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

UnFreedom Day 2017: The poorest of the poor will gather once again

On the 23rd April 2017 the movement of Abahlali baseMjondolo will once again convene its annual Unfreedom Day event. It will take place at the Springfield Sports Grounds at eThekwini FET College. It will commence at 09:00 and run until 15:00.

While the rest of the country celebrates 23 years of “Freedom” we the impoverished, the marginalised and the oppressed will be mourning the absence of this freedom that our mothers and fathers fought for so hard. We say that as long as we are still landless, homeless and impoverished we cannot say we are free. As long as we are subjected to floods and shack fires we cannot say that we are free. As long we are not recognised as human beings and for as long as our lives do not matter to the politicians and the government we cannot say that we are free. As long as we are divided by politicians who say that those who are born in the Eastern Cape and those who are born in other countries must ‘go back where they came from’ we cannot say that we are free. As long as we face assault and eviction when we occupy land and arrest, assault, torture, imprisonment and assassination when we organise independently we cannot say that we are free. Continue reading

Once Again We Will Gather to Mourn UnFreedom Day

Friday 22 April 2016

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

 

Once Again We Will Gather to Mourn UnFreedom Day

 On the 24th of April 2016 Abahlali baseMjondolo will gather to mourn UnFreedom Day. We will meet at the eThekwini FET college sports ground from 10:00 to 15:00.

The 27th of April is a historical day in the calendar of SA. It is a day which all South Africans should enjoy and celebrate. But in ten years of struggle we have never celebrated this day.

The people who betrayed us are the same ones that we brought into power with our struggle and our votes. They took an oath to respect us. But although their power came from us they vandalized our dignity. Continue reading

Cape Times: Freedom Day only words for us

http://www.iol.co.za/news/freedom-day-only-words-for-us-1.1850795#.VT86uCGqqko

Freedom is not something that is held in the hands of the politicians and renewed on April 27 each year, writes Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Cape Town – Once again “Freedom Day” is here. Once again we will be told that we are free. Once again we will be lectured about our freedom and told to accompany the politicians, businessmen and the rich to their stadiums.

Twenty-one years of shack life has not been easy for us. In 21 years of ANC rule lies and evictions have become the order of the day.

The land has not been restored to the people. Our dignity has been vandalised.

In 2005 we declared our humanity. The response of the ANC has been lies, the denial of life-saving basic services, arrest, assault, imprisonment, illegal evictions, torture, armed attacks by members of the ruling party, the destruction of our homes by members of the ruling party and assassination. The vandalisation of our humanity has become even more extreme.

We are not alone. We do not forget Marikana or all the people murdered by the police during countrywide protests. Continue reading

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

24 April 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

Once again ‘Freedom Day’ is here. Once again we will be told that we are free. Once again we will be lectured about our about freedom and told to accompany the politicians, businessmen and the rich to their stadiums.

21 years of shack life has not been easy for us. In 21 years of ANC rule lies and evictions have become the order of the day. The land has not been restored to the people. Our dignity has been vandalized. In 2005 we delcared our humanity. The response of the ANC has been lies, the denial of life saving basic services, arrest, assault, imprisonment, illegal evictions, torture, armed attacks by members of the ruling party, the destruction of our homes by members of the ruling party and assassination. The vandalization of our humanity has become even more extreme. We are not alone. We do not forget Marikana. We do not forget all the people murdered by the police on protests around the country. We do not forget all the harassment and violence against people born in other countries. Continue reading