Archives

The archives of the Communist University (completed yesterday) comprise the notices, press releases, communiqués and articles that have been circulated since the beginning of 2005. You can find the “Archives” link in the “Navigation” on the left of the CU web site, choose the month, and scroll through the days. Or use the very good “Search” facility that wikispaces provide at the top of every page. Uploading the archive has been a long job, but worthwhile. Among other good things, it has provided the source for the 3-6-9-12-Months Ago feature that you can now find on the home page. The work was pushed on by the manifest importance and usefulness of the material. For example, the so-called “Zuma Affair” takes on a different aspect when the passages are read together. Each time ANC Deputy President Cde Jacob Zuma has been handed a problem he has overcome it and emerged stronger than before. An example is the last period uploaded into the archive (June-July 2005), and there are other similar episodes. Today is the start of the rape case that has been brought against Cde. Zuma. Surely, if he is found guilty, it must be the end for him. There could be an appeal, but in general, a convicted rapist would not be supported in South Africa by any party or mass movement. That is unconscionable. But if the charges are found to be false, the question of conspiracy must arise with even greater force than before. Liesl Gerntholtz, writing in the hard-copy Labour Bulletin, argues that no woman would gratuitously put herself through the humiliations involved in making a rape accusation. This argument has some force, but it cuts both ways. It simply means that there must have been a powerful incentive, whether it was justice and restitution, or whether it was some other incentive. A rape is not like a fraud or a corruption case. There are not hundreds of documents to be gone through. The incident in question took place during a particular day. The witnesses will have to report simply and directly on what they know about that day. It is hard to imagine a protracted trial. Potentially, this is a moment of truth. The archive shows, however, that whenever Jacob Zuma has been within reach of such a moment of truth, his adversaries have managed to snatch it away. We may usefully consider what the “Zuma Affair” will amount to, if Zuma is convicted of rape. The Zuma Affair is bigger than Zuma. It has a significance that transcends Zuma the man. So, if Zuma is convicted will it create a moral certainty among his opponents and crush the morale of his supporters? Or might it actually lead to a more open political contradiction, to the disadvantage of the anti-Zumas? As the fox-hunting English like to point out: If you shoot the fox, the sport is over. You must return to reality. Which all goes to show that in the study of politics, it is not a case of either studying the classics or otherwise current problems. Rather it requires examination of history in the light of current examples, and vice versa. The Cubans have today presented us with a good example of how this can be done. It is the 3rd International Conference of their Institute of Philosophy, due to take place in Havana between the 3rd and the 6th of May, 2005. See link. Bearing in mind the overwhelming victory of the ANC, I hope that comrades who have taken the CU to task in the past for treating Ministers with too little respect, will not object to a little drollery at the expense of our Cde Minister Alec Erwin. See linked document, including Zapiro cartoon. Links: Karl Marx CXXI Cuba Event May 3 to 6, 2006 (1471 words) Mampara of the Week - Alec Erwin, Sunday Times (139 words)