Soweto Plus 30

June 16th this year has a special significance. Not only is it the 30th Anniversary of the Soweto Uprising of 1976. It also coincides with a new uprising of militancy and political consciousness among South Africa’s youth. This is evidenced by the spectacular growth of the Young Communist League of South Africa over the last three years to its present membership of 30,000, as well as the parallel growth in militancy of the ANC Youth League during the same period, and the strong fraternal bonds between the two organisations. The YCL is to hold its First National Congress this year in Umlazi, at Mangosuthu Tecknikon from the 13 – 17 December 2006. There will be a total of 1500 delegates present, drawn from local structures. The June 16th (Youth Day) statements of the SACP, COSATU and the YCL are all linked below. The messages of President Thabo Mbeki, the ANC, and the ANC Youth League are all in ANC Today, published yesterday. The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) is in a negotiating process. For the Communist University, these procedures are of great interest. Watching them, we are able to learn how workers struggle tactically to defend their position under conditions of capitalist state power. In this case a facilitator has framed a proposal (see link) which now goes out to membership for their approval, or rejection. Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum is an ad hoc network of “civil society formations” essentially led and held together by an NGO, the Centre for Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), supported by the SA NGO Coalition. It will meet at 10h30 on June 22 in Braamfontein (see linked notice). It is in the nature of such a body, without formal membership or constitution, that one can never be sure of who has the right to be informed of or to attend their meetings. Clearly in the circumstances, and in the absence of any other substantial broad forum for Zimbabwe in South Africa, it needs the greatest possible support. An e-mail address is given. The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think-tank and a child of the old liberal-monopoly-capitalist Urban Foundation, which was unbundled in the early 1990s. Its current Senior Research Fellow and former director is Steven Friedman, the very model of a post-modern “analyst”, in which capacity he now has a host of imitators. The current director is Chris Landsberg, of “Native Club” fame. Like the CSVR, the CPS is fond of invoking the phrase “civil society”, and so conjuring up an imaginary legitimacy free of all material evidence of any democratic content. For its latest attempt at projecting influence from leafy Rosebank, the CPS is joining forces with the CSVR to invoke yet another indeterminate buzz-phrase: “developmental state”, which in the CPS’s case is an undeveloped mental state, willfully uninformed of the expressions of organised masses of people. The deliberate exclusion of the vanguard and mass movements (SACP, COSATU and ANC) from the latest CPS/CSVR programme, in favour of nebulous “civil society”, at a time when all three major structures of our leading Alliance have recently launched their own debates on the state, is only like a ram trying to bust a billion-kilowatt dam: high hopes. Those with time on a Tuesday morning to “engage” with these ladies and gentlemen should respond to the notice linked below. But this is a sideshow, to be honest. There is no Communist University today. It is a public holiday, and many comrades will be spending the day at rallies. The reading for next week is here. More on this tomorrow. The Johannesburg Central Branch of the SACP will hold this month's BGM on Sunday, June 18th. This is one week earlier than originally planned. The reason for the change of date is to avoid a clash with the SACP Johannesburg District Congress, which is to take place the following weekend, on June 24th and 25th. The BGM will debate the SACP “State Power” discussion document, and elect delegates for the District Congress. Click on these links: SACP on 30th Anniversary of 1976 Students Uprisings (1940 words) COSATU National Youth Day message, 16 June 2006 (1044 words) YCL of SA, June 16 30th Anniversary message (1370 words) SAMWU, Proposal being considered by members (251 words) Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum meeting, CSVR, 22 June 2006, 10h30 (notice) Civil Society Developmental State, CPS, 27 June 2006 11h00 (notice)