Response to the TAC Statement on Zackie Achmat’s blog
I am very disappointed at this statement by TAC which I find factually inaccurate and opportunistic. It also fails to actually do anything but help the oppressors divide the oppressed. I have always had a lot of respect for Zackie Achmat but am upset at his unjust stance in this case.
Firstly, the protests are not really violent. Not a single person has been hurt (this cannot be said for COSATU protests where people are often assaulted). Burning tyres and blockading roads is not violent protest but a legitimate way of poor people demanding attention when they are being ignored.
Secondly, it is unfair and I would say purposefully misleading to mis-comment on statements while not actually providing links to such statements. For instance, Zackie says that AbM wrote a statement basing “white middle-class people”. However, if you look at the actual AbM statement, it does not mention race nor does it make any blanket statements against middle class people. The statement can be found here: http://abahlali.org//////node/7364
Finally, it is paternalistic to claim that – as a non shackdweller – you know what is and is not the right way to struggle for a shackdweller. Yes, debates and discussions between different organisations regarding strategy and tactic are important. However, this does not mean that one should condemn others without first trying to really understand where they are coming from. Yes violence is bad but where is the actual violence really coming from?
The problem with many (not all) middle class activists is that they think their ideology is always right. They have not interest in true participatory democracy and building democratic forms of organising and democratic movements. They want to control everything. They want to decide how the poor can struggle and they want to speak for the poor instead of struggling in solidarity with them.
This is why TAC, SJC, and EE can never build long-term mass movements. If you are a top-down NGO/Movement, then you will never sustain your mass base. The masses will always move away from you because they never truly feel that they “own” the movement.
Also, it should be noted that while TAC, et al, were quick to condemn AbM, they didn’t bother to first meet with AbM and find out why they had chosen road blockades as a protest tactic. This shows that TAC et all had little desire to really dialogue with shackdwellers. Go to one of AbM’s mass community meetings and you will see thoughtful dialogue and a lot of concern about why the government refuses to hear their demands. It is wrong, patronising, and unjust to claim that AbM is a small group of self-styled revolutionaries without even taking a look at how they are internally organised and how decisions are made.
To close, I’d like to call attention to the hypocrisy in this stance given Zackie Achmat’s laudable stance against the oppression of the Palestinians. Yet, when Palestinians protest and conduct civil disobedience, they often try to block roads, even throw rocks and damage property of the Israeli government, etc. Yet Zackie does not condemn them. They are fighting for liberation. They need to have their voices heard. But AbM cannot fight for their own liberation by blocking roads?