South Africa

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

Obama’s presidency has been disastrous for African Americans, who have been economically crushed and disconnected from their historical roots in social struggle. Political fantasists now urge us to put our faith in demographics, claiming that change will inevitably flow from the darkening of America’s population. But, that’s a trap which leads to a descent into South Africa-like conditions.

by Carlos Martinez

Chris Hani was a man of the people who saw the struggle for socialism and African liberation as inseparable. A leader of both the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress, Hani “realized that national liberation, though essential, would not bring about total economic liberation.”

by Mark P. Fancher

South Africa did not complete its revolution with the transfer of government power to Black hands in 1994. The Marikana mine massacre shows that imperialism “will not tolerate any disruption in the flow of profits from the exploitation of highly valuable natural resources.” The question now comes to a head: Will the poor majority of South Africa tolerate a Black government that defends the interests of imperialism?

by BAR editor and columnist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo has permitted us to serialize excerpts of her new book, No FEAR: A Whistleblower’s Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. Dr. Coleman-Adebayo incurred the wrath of EPA when she protested the agency’s alliance with corporations that were poisoning miners in South Africa. This week, we continue with Chapter 4.

by Abayomi Azikiwe

The President of South Africa began his rotating month as president of the UN Security Council with a rebuke of the world body’s relationship with African states. “Although South Africa voted in favor of UN Resolution 1973 that authorized a so-called ‘no-fly zone’ over Libya, the action was clearly designed to engineer the destruction of the country and the overthrow of the government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi.” The UN claimed it acted to protect civilians, but “there was never any real evidence of the massacre of Libyan civilians by the Gaddafi government.”

Poor “Shack”-Dwellers Advocate Decries “New Apartheid” in South Africa

“We seem to have a new apartheid” in South Africa, says S’bu Zikode, leader of the poor people’s organization Abahliali base-Mjondolo. In this new order, “the poor are not taken care of, are not part of society.” Zikode, who is touring the United States, says the African National Congress government “wants to create a ‘shack-free’ country where the poor can be hidden,” reserving the cities “for the better-off and the rich.”

Bloomberg Undermines Living Wage While Jockeying for President

Billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is said to be eyeing a run for the White House in 2012, has hired a notorious opponent of minimum wages to study proposals to include subsidized development projects under Living Wage regulations. The mayor’s expert says higher wages kill economic development. But expanded wage protections have been “very successful” in Los Angeles and other cities, says Paul Sonn, of the National Employment Law Center.

Anti-War Committee Broadens Scope

A recent mass meeting of the United National Anti-War Committee (UNAC) showed progress in diversifying the peace movement. UNAC co-coordinator Joe Lombardo said a large fraction of participants at the Manhattan conference were Muslim, part of a newly-formed Muslim Peace Coalition with chapters in 16 states.

Plus…

Bruce Dixon examines the woeful irrelevance of the Black Misleadership Class; Jared Ball counters Michael Eric Dyson’s outrageous assault on Black youth; and Danny Schecter dissects the banksters’ fraudulent mortgages.