Category Archives: Take Back the Commons

3pm protest at Parliament against police’s senseless massacre of 45 Marikana strikers! Mthethwa must be jailed!

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17 August 2010
Take Back the Commons Press Statement

3pm protest at Parliament against police’s senseless massacre of 45 Marikana strikers! Mthethwa must be jailed!

Join us at 15h00 at parliament today (17th of August) to protest the police and the mining bosses who have colluded in the massacre of 45 miners in broad daylight!

We call on the immediate resignation of Nathi Mthethwa and for him to be judged by the Marikana strikers and all other victims of police brutality! He should rot in jail for the rest of his life.

See facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/277176292386858/

Thursday the 16th of August 2012 will go down in South African history as the new Sharpeville. 45 dead because police and the South African government cannot handle an independent union movement.

We are in solidarity with the workers of Marikana against the bosses and the police and those who support the bosses and police.

To protest this massacre and all other forms of police violence, we will gather at parliament on Friday the 17th of August at 3pm. Please bring signs.

Proof of massacre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImqAVon92VM

* Remember Hector Peterson!
* Remember Andries Tatane!
* Remember Hangberg!
* Remember Occupy Rondebosch Common!
* Remember the miners of Aurora killed by security!

From Khayelitsha to Marikana, hands off our right to protest!

From Aurora to Implats to Lonmin, bosses and their police must keep their hands off our people!

This is a non-political party rally. Politicians and police are not welcome!

Down with police brutality everywhere! Down with oppression from mine bosses!

On UnFreedom Day, freedom remains a distant dream

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26 April 2012
Take Back the Commons Press Statement

On UnFreedom Day, freedom remains a distant dream

Action: UnFreedom Day Guerilla ‘fan walk’ through the V&A Waterfront
Start: The traffic circle in front of the Green Ppoint McDonalds
End: ‘People’s Park’ next to our white elephant Cape Town Stadium
Date/Time: 27 April 2012 (UnFreedom Day) from 10h30-14h30
Info: See our Facebook invite or contact Gizelle Rush @ 0728456142

Are we really free?

In typical ‘double-speak our government tells us to celebrate freedom on the 27th April – yet it continues to be complicit in our domination and oppression. For many South Africans, tomorrow remains UnFreedom Day, because we have not yet truly liberated ourselves .

We are unfree because the Commons (the gifts of nature and culture which should be accessible to all) have been segregated, privatised and exploited.

We are unfree because of the tens of millions of us living without land and therefore without a secure place to call home and raise a family.

We are unfree because millions of us still live in shacks without sewage, water and electricity.

We are unfree because our voices are not heard over the corporatised chatter of the media.

We are unfree because our own ‘democratic’ government is controlled by the wealthy 1% rather than by the people

We are unfree because 40% of this country is unemployed or underemployed.

We are unfree because for those of us that are employed, our labour is used for the profit of others rather than for ourselves and our communities.

We are unfree because the police arrest, torture and kill those, like Andries Tatane, who dare to stand up for the truth.

We are unfree because of the many forces that seek to control and dominate us each and every day, bossing us around, usurping our dignity and watering down our freedom of expression.

Yet even though we are unfree, we affirm our dignity, creatively expressing our anger and hope, our experience of oppressive conditions, and our agency to bring about change.

Join us as we hold the first ever UnFreedom Day Guerilla Art ‘Fan Walk’ from Cape Town Stadium to the V&A Waterfront and back. Bring your own creative expression of your alienation from this current system and your longing for a truly free society.

None of us are free until all of us are free!

Additional announcement: Some of our friends and comrades including members of the Backyarders, Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo will also be joining a simultaneous UnFreedom Day protest in Silvertown Informal Settlement headed by the Makhaza Wetlands Forum from Khayelitsha. They will be protesting against the continued deployment of the bucket system in their community in the morning of the 27th. You can contact Tobela (0739120740) for more information.

We are all Andries Tatane! People Against Police Brutality

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19 April 2012
People Against Police Brutality

Take Back the Commons will be helping plan and participating in this memorial and march against police brutality.

What: Interfaith Andries Tatane memorial ceremony, testimonial against police
brutality, and march to Harare Police Station
When: Sunday 22nd April 2012 at 12h30
Where: Way of Life Church / Multi-purpose centre, Mandela Park, Khayelitsha
Directions: Visit http://g.co/maps/ucmky or contact Moza @ 0791176943 / 0213672122

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We are all Andries Tatane!

There is a little bit of Andries Tatane in each and every one of us.

As he fought for service delivery for his community in Ficksburg, we fight for toilets, electricity, houses and land here in Cape Town.

As he lived in the hellish township of Meqheleng, many of us are stuck in hell-like conditions in Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Delft and Manenberg.

As he was attacked, shot, beaten and ultimately killed by police for standing up for what he believed in, many of us are at times also attacked, shot, beaten and a few of us have even been killed at their hands.

As he believed in freedom and dignity for himself and his community, we know that we remain unfree and that it is only through continued struggle that we may liberate ourselves and one another.

We are all Andries Tatane!

To commemorate the life, activism and the death of Tatane and countless other victims of police brutality, we are holding a memorial ceremony and testimonial on Sunday the 22nd of April. Through this event, we hope to build a shared consciousness about our struggle for dignity and against police brutality. Following the memorial, we will march to Harare Police Station where we will hand over a memorandum to the police and demand that they sign an undertaking that they will no longer engage in any acts of intimidation, violence and brutality against the people of Khayelitsha.

We are all Andries Tatane!

In 2009, police shot dead at least 556 people. Police suppression of protests have occurred recently in Hangberg, Blikkiesdorp, Khayelitsha, and Rondebosch Common. In the townships, almost everyone we know has had at least some negative experience with the police.

Thus, as long as we remain quiet and divided, the police will continue to arrest us without cause, beat our youth, and repress our movements, and kill our most vocal community members.

All are welcome so please join us this Sunday.

For more information see our Program below:

12h30 Opening
13h00 Memorial ceremony conducted by Pastor Skosana
13h30 Testimonials: expressing our disgust at the treatment by the police by Nkwame Cedile
14h30 SOS space: art and music against police brutality ? by Soundz of the South
14h50 Mkhonto to Andries Tatane
15h00 March to the police station
16h00 Closure