Defiance And The System

The YCL launched its Defiance Campaign last Sunday at a rally in Bloemfontein. The defiance is against the capitalist South African system. In consequence of this, and in addition to it, the YCL rejected the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) announced by government earlier this year. Use the link below to access the full document including the YCL’s ten specific demands. Stephen Friedman is the principal “independent analyst” (bourgeois ideologue) of South Africa and the model for all the others. He begins every piece like a teacher, with a little summary of the day’s lesson in one sentence – a homily. It is usually about what “we” should be doing. Yesterday’s (linked) sermon was about why delivery should be put on the back burner and service brought to the boil. The Apartheid Museum is a strenuous experience. It attempts to describe our history from prehistoric times and to give a definitive version of the freedom struggle. It does quite well with this impossible task. One crucial moment is described as “the turn to the masses”, dated 1976. In fact, the masses were always at the centre of the struggle and particularly in the years preceding 1976, such as the 1973 strike wave and the pre-‘76 leaflet-launching and banner-unfurling activities of Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, for example. But the general point is made: that it is only the turn to mass struggle that makes politics go forward. This is the step that Friedman does not want to take in 2006, or ever again. SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande in the current Umsebenzi Online contrasts utilitarian delivery with creative development driven by mass democratic involvement. Prof. Friedman can only manage to move from one blandishment (delivery) to another (service). He is a conservative, while Dr Nzimande is a revolutionary. Devan Pillay is another kind of intellectual. He wants to bash COSATU, so as to decorate his CV with “independent” credentials. Therefore he will bash COSATU if they do, or if they don’t, and he is not fussy about facts (see link). If he had taken a few moments he would have been able to find out that his charge that COSATU has been silent is not true. In that case he would no doubt have hit them for violating “sub judice”. It is very clear that his ingratiating letter is only an unprincipled “distancing” exercise, and is all about positioning Pillay for his next career leap. Bye-bye, Devan. See you on your way down again! A variation on the theme of intellectuals in the bourgeois media is demonstrated by Dumisani Muleya’s linked article. This one is not bad at all, as it happens. He is correct that the Zimbabwean working class and peasantry need a vanguard leadership along the lines recommended by Lenin. Whereas what they have got is more like the Mensheviks, Cadets, and Essaires. Thank you, Business Day! Another fine example of sometimes truth-speaking bourgeois media is Antiwar.com, and especially the thunderous Paul Craig Roberts, whose words are as vivid as the fictional Elmer Gantry’s, but a lot more serious. See link. Links: YCL criticises ASGISA and launches Defiance Campaign (1179 words) Delivery fetish obscures deeper meaning, Friedman, B Day (837 words) Devan Pillay says, Shame on COSATU, Letters, Business Day (327 words) Opposition shambles sets back Zim struggle, Muleya, B Day (696 words) No more Americans, Paul Craig Roberts, Antiwar (909 words)