Reform Or Revolution?

Kumi Naidoo’s linked letter about his breakdown is very instructive concerning the hopelessness of heroic liberalism without the assistance of a revolutionary party. Unfortunately it seems that the comrade is right back on the treadmill. Let’s hope he takes his own advice and drinks plenty of water, and that it helps him stay alive at least. Naidoo is Secretary-General of “Civicus - World Alliance for Citizen Participation”, an organisation that co-exists with Imperialism, without confronting it. All the problems it purports to fight are caused directly by Imperialism. Yet rule number one in Civicus is that this truth must be concealed. The beast must not be named, lest the funding be withdrawn. There is no funding for anti-Imperialism. There lies the problem. As much as Kumi’s stress appears to be a product of existential and personal angst, it is not. It is political. The way forward is political, not charitable. Comrade Kumi’s desperate letter was written on an aeroplane bound for Ethiopia, on a mission with Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane to bail out two NGO people in jail in that country. It reads like the last, lonely cry of a dying breed – the noble liberal. It seems out of time. It belongs in the era of Dag Hammarskjold, Alan Paton, George Orwell, Albert Camus and Graham Greene. Making poverty history? More like making a mockery of history, making time stand still, and making tragedy fashionable. The remedy is not just more glasses of water. That may be necessary, but it is not sufficient. The remedy is to change from being NGOs (Next Government Officials) to being PROs (Present Revolutionary Organisers). The perverse court ruling that proposed banning a legal strike on the grounds that the security guard employers had rounded up 14 semi-bogus small unions whose combined strength was less than the COSATU-affiliated SATAWU, has been overturned by the labour court. See linked COSATU statement. Links: Struggle for justice a marathon, Kumi Naidoo, Civicus (1693 Words) COSATU welcomes SATAWU court ruling (352 words)