Imagine

“Women - Caste, Class or Oppressed Sex” is our text for discussion tonight with the great and gentle Luli Callinicos at the Communist University in the Women’s Jail, 1 Kotze Street, Constitution Hill at 17h00. Next week at the same time and place we do Teresa Ebert’s “(Untimely) Critiques for a Red Feminism” – linked below. It is long and perhaps a bit difficult in terms of language. It is typical of a lot of feminist writing in that regard. Skim it, comrades. The general gist is: Can feminism be “reality-based”, or is the thought merely the daughter of a wish? Ferial Haffejee, the editor of the Mail & Guardian, agreed long ago to come and talk about it with us. Let’s hope she has kept the date free. Today at 13h00 there will be a picket of the Swazi Consulate in the Braamfontein Centre, Jorrissen Street. At 14h00 the final planning meeting will take place for the border blockades on April 12th. Therefore the CU will not recommend that anyone attends the US Culture and Information Library “Open House” reception from 13h00, unless you go after the picket. The event is scheduled to finish at 16h00. They appear to be offering free drinks (wine and cheese, very polite). The venue is 3rd floor, “1066” Building, corner Pritchard and Harrison Streets. Much more important than the free drinks is the rumour that there is good free Internet access in this library. A better social event to go to will be the Johannesburg Central Branch Freedom Day Party at 13h00 on April 27th. See notice. It’s not free like the imperialist’s reception, but it’s not expensive either: Only R20 per head for the Party. See link. Security guards have been in the streets in militant action. Now the bosses have maneuvered to exploit 16 so-called small unions, some “representing their jackets”, to try to impose a unilateral diktat on the majority of workers, who are in the COSATU-affiliated union, SATAWU. Read the linked SATAWU for a live case study in working-class tactics of the class war. “Non-Agricultural Market Access” (or NAMA) is the face of Imperialism, the world-wide class enemy of the workers. Read the linked document below for an advanced notice of international working-class action on this front. Last week at the CU we workshopped a project for a democratic federation, called Labour-Urban Federation, of existing organisations in Johannesburg for the purpose of acting on urban issues such as accommodation, transport, finance, and lumpen-proletarian crime. Here, linked below, is the fourth draft of that document. Links: 1995, Ebert, (Untimely) Critiques for a Red Feminism (14852 words) Swaziland border posts to be blockaded, COSATU (644 words) SACP Johannesburg Central Branch Party 13h00, 27-04-06 (Notice) SATAWU on so-called wage deal signed on April 1 2006 (1170 words) WTO agreement on Non-Agricultural Market Access, COSATU (192 words) Johannesburg Labour-Urban Federation, Fourth Draft (1971 words)