Author Archives: Abahlali_3

M&G: Socialists accuse state of crackdown

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-07-12-00-socialists-accuse-state-of-crackdown

Socialists accuse state of crackdown

by Kwanele Sosibo

Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) executive member Liv Shange’s visa woes – which may see her barred from re-entering South Africa – are part of a “wider onslaught on democratic rights” and could be linked to attempts to salvage the faltering peace deal in the mining sector, she said this week from Luleå in Sweden.

The DSM has been actively organising mineworkers disillusioned with the National Union of Mineworkers for years – long before the Marikana massacre occurred last year. Its members advised several of the strike committees during the wave of post-Marikana strikes. Continue reading →

SACSIS: The Antinomies of Democracy in Durban

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/1721

The Antinomies of Democracy in Durban

by Richard Pithouse

In the last days of June, Nkululeko Gwala was assassinated in Cato Crest – a shack settlement in Durban that is in the process of being upgraded with formal housing. Just over three months ago Thembinkosi Qumbelo was gunned down in the same streets. Both men had been prominent figures in the increasingly bitter struggles around housing that have convulsed Cato Crest in recent months. There have been road blockades, a land occupation – named, as they often are these days, ‘Marikana' – and the offices of two councillors have been burnt down.

Continue reading →