Complexities

SACP GS Dr Blade Nzimande’s latest Red Alert in yesterday’s Umsebenzi Online (linked below) is a concise and incontrovertible summary of the situation in relation to Swaziland. It also carries a tribute to the late National President of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) Cde John Zikhali. The great victory over Berlusconi in the recent Italian is reported below from the point of view of the Communist Refoundation (Rifondazione) Party. The report makes satisfying reading, as well as being a lesson on the complexities of electoral politics. See link. Today at 14h00 in COSATU House there will be a campaign meeting on the impact of Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA), a vicious imposition being pushed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and behind it by the USA, presently in the person of the motor-mouthed US visitor Mr Bhatia. See linked notice. The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum as an organisation is a peculiar hybrid. Its members are organisations and its plenary agenda is usually dominated by the typical concerns of NGOs – i.e. how to get funding and, having got it, how to spend it. The mass public is dealt with in a separate chamber, by declaratory speakers of attractive repute. The linked notice of the ZSF proceedings scheduled for May 3rd in Braamfontein tell the whole organisational story. Nevertheless these are well-meaning people and the SACP is a full member of the ZSF. The Communist University urges you to attend the plenary in the CSVR boardroom from 09h00 on May 3rd if you can pass as a member or as an intended member, or otherwise the Devonshire Hotel from 11h30 to 13h30. Nothing is said about food. But then, as they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Links: Umsebenzi Online, Vol 5, No 54, 19 Apr 2006, Swaziland and Tribute to Cde Zikhali (1883 words) We Defeated Berlusconi, Rifondazione, Counterpunch (607 words) NAMA Campaign Meeting, 20 April, COSATU Hse, 14h00 (Notice) ZSF Invite, May 3, intended, members, 09h00, others 11h30 (Notice)