Unity and Action

COSATU and Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum have called a planning meeting for today (March 9th) at 09h00, at 3rd floor COSATU House, 1 Leyds Street, Braamfontein, in the SACP boardroom. The principal focus will be on the general strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions for the 4th and 5th of April. It is vital that this meeting is as broad and as can be and creates an extensive, voluntary, democratic movement that will be up to the necessary scale for the tasks at hand. Sekunjalo! Tuendeni! Hasta la Victoria Siempre! Miss no opportunities! Lose no time!

In 1981 Alan Brooks and Jeremy Brickhill published a prophetic book about the 1976 South African student uprising called “The Whirlwind before the Storm”. Today comes news that there are student class boycotts nationwide across Zimbabwe. The storm is coming to Zim. The whirlwind is already there. See the first item below.

Another event to note is Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s public lecture, “Globalisation and African leadership: reading from the Wizard of the Crow”, to be given at 18h30 on Thursday, March 15th at the Wits Great Hall, Braamfontein. Thanks to Xolela Mangcu for flagging that for us in his Business Day column.

FAWU is calling for a consumer boycott of Premier Milling products, in particular Iwisa mielie-meal and Blue Ribbon bread products. Don’t buy them. Buy alternatives. Spread it around. See the second linked item below for details of the dispute and the action, including secondary strike action.

The next linked item, on the “Nature, role and work of the Communist Party”, by Sam Webb, National Chairman of the CPUSA, comes highly recommended. Read it while you still have the time. Zimbabwean comrades and Zim-solidarity comrades should read it, too. Among other things it says: “A go-it-alone strategy by the working class or anyone else is a surefire recipe for defeat.”

Today (March 9th) is the 60th Anniversary of the Three Doctors’ Pact, (referring to Drs Xuma, Naicker and Dadoo) which as the ANC (see link below, and picture above) correctly notes “was a precursor to the Congress Alliance, which brought together African, Indian, coloured and white democrats.” This is how the business gets done.

We are united, yet each has his or her own voice. In the denunciation of the letting-off by the SABC board of “His Staliness” (as Zapiro called him) Snuki Zikalala the SACP, COSATU, YCL and ANCYL all express themselves firmly and characteristically. On the other side, let it be seen by all this that good journalists like John Perlman are well loved and valued by the people, whatever toffee-nosed snobs may sometimes say about journalists in general. And good politicians are well loved, too.

Just to prove that we allies can still have our differences, and are not afraid to express them, see the last item, which is an objection by ANC spin-doctor Smuts Ngonyama to YCL spin-doctor Castro Ngobese who called Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula “a decoration”, among other things, as Comrade Ngonyama takes care to remind us. See more of this dance of the spin-doctors via the link below.

Click on these links:

Student class boycotts all over Zim, ZNSU, The Student (323 words)

FAWU call - secondary strikes, consumer boycott of Iwisa and Blue Ribbon (393 words)

Nature, role and work of Communist Party, CPUSA NC Sam Webb (14247 words)

60th Anniversary of the Three Doctors Pact, ANC statement (457 words)

Snuki warning not enough, SACP, COSATU, YCL, ANCYL (1114 words)

ANC statement on YCL attack on Home Affairs Minister (343 words)