1.31.2012

Staken voor de Toekomst

Na alle heisa in de media pro en contra staking is op maandag 30 januari succesvol actie gevoerd: bedrijfsstakingen, informatierondes, sensibiliseringsacties en ludieke acties zoals een fietstocht in Antwerpen met een bezoek aan Voka. Allemaal met dezelfde boodschap: neen aan de besparingen op de kap van de zwakkeren en de werknemers. In plaats daarvan moeten de lasten eerlijker verdeeld worden. En er zijn alternatieven.
Meer bij LBC, ACV, PVDA en uiteraard DeWereldMorgen.be



foto: Olivier Van Acker

1.29.2012

Kom bij de vakbond

Kameraden en vrienden, een zeer aan te raden oproep van een aantal jonge syndicalisten, kom bij de vakbond.

Maandag is het weer zover. Een nationale staking. U bent voor. Of tegen. Of u nuanceert een en ander. Wat er ook van zij, mocht u nu eens zelf in de toekomst meedenken, debatteren en beslissen over dit soort acties? Wat het spreekwoord ook moge beweren, de beste stuurlui zitten wel degelijk aan boord.

Time Magazine bekroonde 'de demonstrant' in de nasleep van vele Occupy-betogingen tot man/vrouw van het jaar 2011. Parijzenaar Stéphane Hessel, 94, strijder van vele oorlogen, haalde ook bij ons de krantenkoppen met zijn bestsellers Indignez-vous en Engagez-vous. Het zijn twee veruitwendigingen van een gevoel van verontwaardiging en onzekerheid die onze tijden kenmerken. Verontwaardiging door het groeiende besef dat de bankencrisis en zijn gevolgen niét zullen leiden tot een andere maatschappij met minder ongelijkheid tussen de haves en have nots. Niét zal leiden tot een catharsis bij de elites die onze maatschappijen blijven voortduwen richting een sociale en ecologische implosie. Onzekerheid door de complexheid maar vooral ongrijpbaarheid van schijnbaar onontkoombare stromen die ons teisteren.

Wij willen als jonge vakbondsverantwoordelijken daarom hier in deze krant, aan de vooravond van nieuwe syndicale acties en protesten, een oproep doen. Probeer, beste lezer, jong of minder jong, man of vrouw, bemiddeld of minder bemiddeld, uw mogelijke vooringenomenheid of zelfs mogelijks aversie tegen het instituut 'vakbond' even opzij te zetten en verder te lezen. De vakbond, zo menen sommigen, zou niet meer relevant of zelfs nodig zijn. De vakbond zou de nodige veranderingen in de weg staan en zou vooral nog functioneren omwille van het eigenbelang. De vakbond zou het verleden zijn.Zij vergissen zich. De vakbond anno 2020 zal er nog steeds toe doen. Alleen zal zij anders (moeten) functioneren dan vandaag of gisteren het geval was. Zal zij er wellicht ook andere standpunten op nahouden.

Omgevingsfactoren veranderen, mensen veranderen, zienswijzen worden bijgesteld. Wat evenwel niet zal wijzigen, zijn - geloof het of niet - de waarden waar een vakbond dagelijks voor strijdt. Eerlijkheid en billijkheid in tijden waarin alles tot op de cent in geld wordt uitgedrukt ("een dag staken kost ons land zoveel miljoen", "een MBA-diploma levert u zoveel op"). Wat ook niet zal veranderen is de kracht van vakbonden om tegengas te geven via overleg en waar nodig actie. Want hoe weinig sympathiek of hip de vakbond vandaag voor velen oogt, geen enkele andere organisatie of beweging heeft een vergelijkbare en vooral duurzame potentiële impact op het sociaal-economische bestel en op het noodzakelijke streven naar minder ongelijkheid in onze samenleving. Zij bundelt de belangen van miljoenen werkende mensen op een structurele en verankerde manier, en kan een onvervangbare kracht leveren aan de tegenbeweging waar zovelen naar uitkijken. Maar dat zal dus niet vanzelf komen. We zullen voldoende kritisch moeten zijn voor onszelf en de lat blijven hoog leggen.

Er staan ons tot 2020 nog veel woelige jaren te wachten. De veranderende krachtsverhoudingen in de wereld zullen sneller dan gedacht voelbaar worden voor elk van ons. Ook de werkende mensen zullen opnieuw een tandje bij moeten steken door gemiddeld langer dan nu aan de slag te zijn.

Europa, helaas nog steeds gedirigeerd door machtige lobbygroepen uit het bedrijfsleven, zal het sociaal overleg op elk niveau bemoeilijken in functie van het alfa en omega in de ogen van vele elites: de competitiviteit. De échte strijd zal er dus niét eentje zijn van jong tegen oud (wat er nu zo gretig ingaat), maar van creatie én verdeling van welvaart onder de economische lagen van onze maatschappij. Dat hebben de Occupy-bewegingen al goed begrepen. Europa zal mogelijk iets aan welvaart inboeten. De échte vraag zal dan zijn, wie deze prijs zal moeten betalen. Diegene met een bescheiden loon uit arbeid (jong of oud) of diegene met een minder bescheiden 'loon' uit kapitaal (jong of oud), omringd door een leger fiscalisten en vermogensbeheerders die the fittest nog fitter maken. En vergis u niet, beste hoogopgeleide lezer, voor wie de kansen op de arbeidsmarkt vandaag toch niet zó slecht ogen.

Ook u kan snel in het vizier komen. Kijk maar naar Spaanse jongeren.Zijn onze vakbonden klaar voor dat werk tegen 2020? Dat zijn ze niet, maar dat zal komen. Onze dienstverlening aan onze leden zal verder worden aangepast aan de veranderende verwachtingen van steeds meer hoogopgeleide werknemers met (terecht) steeds hogere eisen. Onze communicatie- en actievormen zullen transformaties ondergaan. Vakbonden zullen meer dan nu het geval is, aandacht schenken aan de arbeidsorganisatie, arbeidsverdeling en arbeidskwaliteit binnen een onderneming. Een personeelsbeleid aangepast aan onze verouderende beroepsbevolking. We vragen het al lang, maar dit moet liever nu dan morgen, in samenspraak met de werkgevers, in daden worden omgezet. Net als een sterke Europese samenwerking waarin meer dan nu wordt geïnvesteerd.

Er moét en zal ook eindelijk veel meer aandacht aan de zienswijzen van een jongere generatie worden geschonken. De negatieve reacties op de acties van eind december en mogelijk ook op deze van komende maandag, vooral uit jongerenhoek, bewijzen de noodzaak hiervan eens te meer. De vakbond 2020 moet en zal kortom ook verbreden zodat echt breed gedragen standpunten kunnen worden ingenomen. Ons ledental dat vooralsnog tot de verbeelding blijft spreken, zal dit niet zomaar blijven doen.

Daarom dus ook deze oproep aan u, beste lezer. Engagez-vous en durf actief lid en waarom niet zelfs medewerker te worden van een vakbond (misschien in uw eigen bedrijf of organisatie naar aanleiding van de vierjaarlijkse sociale verkiezingen in mei). Maak samen met ons die vakbond waar u - mocht dat nu niet zo zijn - wél mee achter kan staan. En neem zelf mee de stuurknuppel in handen.We vragen veel, we beseffen het. Vakbonden bedienen zich vooralsnog niet van hippe marketeers om hun imago en 'merk' bij de brede publieke opinie aantrekkelijker te maken. Vakbonden komen soms in conflict met de consument die u ook bent en die liefst http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifzo goedkoop en zo ruim mogelijk wil consumeren. Maar durf u daarover te zetten.

Steek mee uw nek uit en heb de moed tegen de stroom in te roeien en uw steentje bij te dragen, los van uw eigen hoogstpersoonlijke carrièrepad. Dat laatste zal u toch niet zóveel gelukkiger maken, geloof ons vrij. Ondergetekenden zijn alvast blij dat ze die keuze gemaakt hebben om mee te kunnen werken aan die toekomstvisie. Zélfs nu, in tijden waar vakbonden qua 'populariteit' niet bepaald hun beste dagen kennen. Nu u nog (overtuigen).



http://lbcnvk.blogspot.com

1.26.2012

De Mewlips

Beste vrienden, op deze gedichtendag een gedicht door de enige echte J.R.R. Tolkien. We brengen 'The Mewlips' uit zeer lezenswaardige 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'.

The Shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.

You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river-strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock Mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool's borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.

Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip,
As they sidle to the door.

They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they've finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock Mountains, a long and lonely road,
Through the spider-shadows and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging trees and gallows-weed,
You go to find the Mewlips - and the Mewlips feed.

voorgelezen door de meester zelve:



op muziek gezet door Colin Rudd in een animatie door Richard Svensson:

1.25.2012

We Strike Back!

Kameraden en vrienden,

maandag is er in ons land nog eens een algemene staking.

Tijd voor wat reclame voor een zeer interessant gebeuren in de Gentse Vooruit.



We Strike Back op maandag 30 januari, een dag die broodnodige nuance wil brengen in het debat.

Over We strike back
Open brieven voor en tegen de staking, stakers vs. niet-stakers, jong vs. oud… Maar weten we eigenlijk waarover de staking nu precies gaat? En kunnen we in plaats van te roepen of het werk neer te leggen ook iets anders doen?

Op 30 januari – dag waarop een algemene staking aangekondigd is – wil Vooruit een forum zijn. We willen in de massa aan voor- en tegenstemmen op zoek gaan naar nuance. We willen de juiste info bieden om gefundeerde meningen te vormen en om op zoek te gaan naar alternatieven.

Programma

vanaf 15u: Infoloketten in het Café waar vakbondsmedewerkers een antwoord geven op al je vragen
15u-19u: talks voor wie dieper wil ingaan op thema’s als actie en democratie, solidariteit en sociale zekerheid, duurzame loopbanen en duurzame toekomst? Werk jij mee aan een constructief gesprek?
20u: Keynote van Paul Verhaeghe (hoogleraar psychotherapie aan UGent)

Meer namen + info op westrikeback.vooruit.be

Volgende week volgen meer namen en het verloop van de dag, maar blijf op de hoogte via dit Facebook-event, via deze site of via #westrikeback


Ik neem de gelegenheid ten baat om nog eens flink mijn ongenoegen te laten horen over sommige studentenvertegenwoordigers en studentenorganisaties die uitblinken in corporatisme door te mekkeren over het ongemak dat dit veroorzaakt voor studenten die examens moeten gaan afleggen. Alsof ze de instellingen voor hoger onderwijs niet kunnen dwingen om de examens die dag voor pendelaars of voor eenieder te laten uitstellen. Dat de rector van de UGent bv zijn dienstwagen ter beschikking stelt is wel sympathiek, zo kennen we hem, maar feit blijft dat de studenten wel allerlei ongemakken moeten doorstaan, en examens zijn zo al ongemakkelijk genoeg. De instellingen weten ruim op voorhand dat er gestaakt gaat worden, dus kunnen ze ook het ongemak op hun nemen door de examens die dag te verzetten. Maar bon, mijn studententijd is voorbij dus buiten wat oudemannenontevredenheid-spuien moet ik er mij eigenlijk niet veel van aantrekken.

1.23.2012

Niwouinwouin, Troll Slayer

Kameraden en vrienden, het is wederom maandag, dus de hoogste tijd voor een nieuw filmpje. Een prachtige animatiefilm van de Jullien Brothers, waarin posters tot leven komen.

Veel kijkplezier:

Troll Slayer from Jullien Brothers on Vimeo.

1.09.2012

Zombie Sloth

Maandag is mijn vrije dag, dus daarom een leuk filmpje. Van het hilarische Slothvision brengen we vandaag Zombie Luiaard:

1.08.2012

Honderd jaar ANC

Acht januari 1912 - exact honderd jaar geleden werd in Zuid-Afrika het Afrikaans Nationaal Congres opgericht. Vandaag brengen we dus een interessant overzicht van de geschiedenis van het ANC.
Verzet tegen Apartheid en een bloedig regime, volgehouden strijd dat eindigde in een nieuw Zuid-Afrika. Al valt er uiteraard super veel aan te merken op het beleid van ANC. Maar alle lof voor het verslaan van dit regime.


The intensifying marginalisation of blacks from the body politic manifested itself in the numerous legislation that disenfranchised Africans in the Cape. With this the die was cast - blacks would only prop up the system that oppressed them.

The Act of Union passed in England in 1909, took effect in South African on 31 May 1910. It sealed the fate of Africans as non-citizens, thus mobilising Africans across all provinces. In this climate Africans come together to form the South African Native Convention in Waaihoek location in Bloemfontein in March 1909, with the view to consider the draft constitution adopted at the whites-only National Convention. The gathering decided that the convention would continue as a permanent body, thus electing a President in the person of Dr Walter Rubusana. This convention served as an incubator, which would later give birth to the African National Congress (ANC).

Accordingly this Convention passed a resolution to send a deputation to Britain to appeal to the British government against the draft constitution of the Union of South Africa. Led by Dr Walter Rubusana, Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, Tengo Jabavu, John Langalibalele Dube, DE Dwanya and T Mapikela, the deputation drew a blank from a nonchalant British government.
This left the oppressed with no chance but to take their fight to a higher level by consciously striving for an organisation that would unite all the oppressed people.

In 1911, Pixley ka Isaka Seme called on Africans to forget the differences of the past and unite together in one national organisation. He said: "We are one people. These divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes today."

On the 08 January 1912, a broad spectrum of African people, comprising chiefs, representatives of different description and the church organisations came together in Bloemfontein to form the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), the ANC`s predecessor.

The chief aim of the ANC was to unite all Africans in defence of their rights and freedoms, based on equal rights for all. Expressly, in this conception Africans fought for inclusion and the common citizenship of all within the South African polity, while their white counterparts sought exclusive citizenship for themselves. This all-inclusive spirit had infused the protest movements sowed the seeds for the possibility of the adoption of a non-racial perspective in subsequent years.

The wars of resistance ended with the defeat of Bambata`s rebellion. Africans had to find new ways to fight for their land and their freedom. In 1911, Pixley ka Isaka Seme called on Africans to forget the differences of the past and unite together in one national organisation. He said: "We are one people. these divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes today."

On January 8th 1912, chiefs, representatives of people`s and church organisations, and other prominent individuals gathered in Bloemfontein and formed the African National Congress. The ANC declared its aim to bring all Africans together as one people to defend their rights and freedoms.

The ANC was formed at a time when South Africa was changing very fast. Diamonds had been discovered in 1867 and gold in 1886. Mine bosses wanted large numbers of people to work for them in the mines. Laws and taxes were designed to force people to leave their land. The most severe law was the 1913 land Act, which prevented africans from buying, renting or using land, except in the reserves.

Many communities or families immediately lost their land because of the Land Act. for millions of other black people it became very difficult to live off the land. The Land Act caused overcrowding, land hunger, poverty and starvation.

Working for a Wage

The Land Act and other laws and taxes forced people to seek work on the mines and on the white farms. While some black people settled in cities like Johannesburg, most workers were migrants. They travelled to the mines to work and returned home to the rural areas with part of their wages, usually once a year.

But Africans were not free to move as they pleased. Passes controlled their movements and made sure they worked either on the mines or on the farms. The pass laws also stopped Africans from leaving their jobs or striking. In 1919 the ANC in Transvaal led a campaign against the passes. The ANC also supported the militant strike by African mineworkers in 1920.

However, some ANC leaders disagreed with militant actions such as strikes and protests. They argued that the ANC should achieve its aims by persuasion, for example, by appealing to Britain. but the appeals of delegations who visited Britain in 1914 to protest the Land Act and again in 1919 to ask Britain to recognise African rights, were ignored.

This careful approach meant that the ANC was not very active in the 1920s. The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) - a general union formed in 1919 - was the most active and popular organisation in rural and urban areas, at this time. The union won some major victories for its workers through militant actions. However, the ICU could not sustain itself, and in the late 1920s it collapsed.

Socialist organisations also began to organise black workers in the 1920s. The International Socialist League together with other socialist organisations formed the Communist Party in 1921. The Communist Party became the first non-racial political organisation in South Africa.

During the 1920s government policies became harsher and more racist. A colour-bar was established to stop blacks from holding semi-skilled jobs in some industries. It also meant that black workers were paid lower wages for unskilled work.

J.T. Gumede, was elected President of the ANC in 1927. He tried to revitalise the ANC in order to fight these racist policies. Gumede thought that the communists could make a contribution to this struggle and wanted the ANC to co-operate with them. However, in 1930, Gumede was voted out of office and the ANC became inactive in the 1930s undergo conservative leadership.

The ANC Gains New Life - 1940s

The ANC was boosted with new life and energy in the 1940s, which changed it from the careful organisation it was in the 1930s to the mass movement it was to become in the 1950s.

Increased attacks on the rights of black people and the rise of extreme Afrikaner nationalism created the need for a more militant response from the ANC. Harsher racism also brought greater co-operation between the organisations of Africans, Coloureds and Indians. In 1947, the ANC and the Indian Congresses signed a pact stating full support for one another`s campaigns.

In 1944 the ANC Youth League was formed. The young leaders of the Youth League - among them Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo - based their ideas on African nationalism. They believed Africans would be freed only by their own efforts. The Youth League aimed to involve the masses of people in militant struggles.

Many more people moved to the cities in the 1940s to work in new factories and industries. They began to from their own community organisations - such as the Squatter`s Movement - and trade unions. The militant ideas of the Youth League quickly found support among the new population of the cities. The Youth League drew up a Programme of Action calling for strikes, boycotts and defiance. It was adopted by the ANC in 1949, the year after the National party came to power. The Programme of Action led to the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s.

The Defiance Campaign was the beginning of a mass movement of resistance to apartheid. apartheid aimed to separate the different race groups completely through laws like the Population Registration Act, Group areas Act and Bantu Education Act, and through stricter pass laws and forced removals.

"Non-Europeans" walked through "Europeans Only" entrances and demanded service at "White`s Only" counters of post offices. Africans broke the pass laws and Indian, Coloured and White "volunteers" entered African townships without permission.

The success of the Defiance Campaign encouraged further campaigns against apartheid laws, like the Group Areas Act and the Bantu Education Act.

The government tried to stop the Defiance Campaign by banning it`s leaders and passing new laws to prevent public disobedience. but the campaign had already made huge gains. It brought closer co-operation between the ANC and the SA Indian Congress, swelled their membership and also led to the formation of new organisations; the SA Coloured people`s Organisation (SACPO) and the Congress of Democrats (COD), an organisation of white democrats.

These organisations, together with the SA Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) formed the Congress Alliance.

The Congress Alliance came together to organise the Congress of the people - a conference of all the people of South Africa - which presented people`s demands for the kind of South Africa they wanted.

The demands called for the people to govern and for the land to be shared by those who work it. They called for houses, work, security and for free and equal education. These demands were drawn together into the Freedom Charter which was adopted at the Congress of the People at Kliptown on the 26th June 1955.

The government claimed that the Freedom Charter was a communist document. Communism had been banned by the government in 1950, so they arrested ANC and Congress leaders and brought them to trial in the famous Trason Trial. They also tried to prove that the ANC and its allies had a policy of violence and planned to overthrown the state.

In 1955 the government announced that women must carry passes. A huge campaign was mounted by women, countrywide. Women also led a militant campaign against municipal beerhalls. According to the law it was illegal for women to brew traditional beer. Police raided homes and destroyed home brewed liquor so that men would use municipal beerhalls. In response, women attacked the beerhalls and destroyed equipment and buildings. The women also organised a highly successful boycott of the beerhall.

There were many other community struggles in the 1950s. Resistance in the rural areas reached new heights. In many areas campaigns were led by the ANC against passes for women, forced removals and the Bantu Authorities Act. The Bantu Authorities Act gave the white government the power to remove chiefs they considered troublesome and replace them with those who would collaborate with the racist system.

The collaboration of chiefs with government officials was one of the causes of the Pondoland Revolt, a major event in the resistance by rural people. The Pondos also demanded representation in parliament, lower taxes and an end to Bantu Education.

The struggles of the 1950s brought blacks and whites together on a much greater scale in the fight for justice and democracy. The Congress Alliance was an expression of the ANC`s policy of non-racialism. This was expressed in the Freedom Charter which declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.

But not everyone in the ANC agreed with the policy of non- racialism. A small minority of members who called themselves Africanists, opposed the Freedom Charter. They objected to the ANC`s growing co-operation with whites and Indians, who they described as foreigners. They were also suspicious of communists who, they felt, brought a foreign ideology into the struggle.

The differences between the Africanists and those in the ANC who supported non-racialism, could not be overcome. In 1959 the Africanists broke away and formed the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). Anti-pass campaigns were taken up by both the ANC and the PAC in 1960.

The PAC campaign began on the 21st March. People were asked to leave their passes at home and gather at police stations to be arrested. People gathered in large numbers at Sharpville in the Vaal and at Nyanga and Langa near Cape Town. At Sharpville the police opened fire on the unarmed and peaceful crowd, killing 69 and wounding 186.

The massacre of peaceful protestors at Sharpville brought a decade of peaceful protest to an end. On 30 March 1960, ten days after the Sharpville massacre, the government banned the ANC and the PAC. They declared a state of emergency and arrested thousands of Congress and PAC activists.

The ANC took up arms against the South African Government in 1961. The massacre of peaceful protestors and the subsequent banning of the ANC made it clear that peaceful protest alone would not force the regime to change. The ANC went underground and continued to organise secretly. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed to "hit back by all means within our power in defence of our people, our future and our freedom"

In 18 months MK carried out 200 acts of sabotage. But the underground organisation was no match for the regime, which began to use even harsher methods of repression. Laws were passed to make death the penalty for sabotage and to allow police to detain people for 90 days without trial. in 1963, police raided the secret headquarters of MK, arresting the leadership. This led to the Rivonia Trial where the leaders of MK were charged with attempting to cause a violent revolution.

Some ANC leaders - among them Oliver Tambo and Joe Slovo avoided arrest and left the country. Other ANC members left to undergo military training.

After the Rivonia Trial, the underground structures of the ANC in the country were all but destroyed. The ANC was faced with the question of how to bring trained soldiers back into the country to continue the struggle. However, South Africa was surrounded by countries that were very hostile to the ANC. Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique were all controlled by colonial governments that supported the regime. MK would first have to make its way through those countries before it could reach home ground.

In 1967, MK began a joint campaign with Zapu, a people`s army fighting for the liberation of Zimbabwe. They aimed to find a route into South Africa by first crossing the Zambezi River from Zambia and into Zimbabwe, then marching across Zimbabwe through Wankie Game reserve, and crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa. While the Wankie Campaign gave MK cadres important experience in combat, it was clear that MK would have to find other ways of getting into the country. The ANC consultative conference at Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969 looked for solutions to this problem.

The Morogoro Conference called for an all-round struggle. Both armed struggle and mass political struggle had to be used to defeat the enemy. But the armed struggle and the revival of mass struggle depended on building ANC underground structures within the country. A fourth aspect of the all-round struggle was the campaign for international support and assistance from the rest of the world. These four aspects were often called the four pillars of struggle. The non-racial character of the ANC was further consolidated by the opening up of the ANC membership to non-Africans.



Workers and Students Fight Back - 1970s

During the 1960s, as a result of the banning of the liberation movement, there were few signs of resistance. The apartheid system grew stronger and extended its control over all aspects of people`s lives. But, despite the lull, people were not prepared to accept the hardships and oppression of apartheid. In the 1970s workers and students fought back against the system. their struggles changed the face of South Africa.

From about 1970 prices began to rise sharply, making it even more difficult for workers to survive on low wages. Spontaneous strikes resulted: workers walked off the job demanding wage increases. The strike began in Durban in 1973 and later spread to other parts of the country.

Student anger and grievances against bantu education exploded in June 1976. Tens of thousands of high school students took to the streets to protest against compulsory use of Afrikaans at schools. Police opened fire on marching students, killing thirteen year old Hector Petersen and at least three others. This began an uprising that spread to other parts of the country leaving over 1,000 dead, most of whom were killed by the police.

Many Soweto student leaders were influenced by the ideas of black consciousness. The South African Students Movement (SASM), one of the first organisations of black high school students, played an important role in the 1976 uprising. There were also small groups of student activists who were linked to old ANC members and the ANC underground. ANC underground structures issued pamphlets calling on the community to support students and linking the student struggle to the struggle for national liberation



The Struggle for People`s Power - 1980s

In the 1980s, people took the liberation struggle to new heights. In the workplace, in the community and in the schools, the people aimed to take control of their situation. All areas of life became areas of political struggle. These strugglers were linked to the demand for political power.

Thousands of youths flooded the ranks of MK after the 1976 uprising. The violence used by the security forces to quell the uprising made the youths determined to come back and fight. The 1976 uprising also led the regime to change its strategy. For the first time reforms were introduced to apartheid. These aimed to win some support from the black community, but without making substantial changes. at the same time the military was greatly strengthened. They could use greater force and repression against people and organisations who ere considered revolutionary. Through the State Security Council and a network of other structures, the military also gained control over the most important decisions of government. This combination of reform and repression, the NP government described as winning the hearts and minds of black South Africans.

However, the reforms proposed by the government, such as the Tricameral Parliament and Black Local Authorities in African Townships, were totally rejected and only gave rise to greater resistance.

In the 1980s community organisations such as civics, students and youth organisations and women`s structures began to spring up all over South Africa. This was a rebirth of the mass Congress movement and led to the formation of the United Democratic Front.

One of the biggest organisations formed at this time was the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) with branches in towns and cities throughout South Africa. In many cases civic organisations developed out of parent - student committees which had been formed to support education struggles. Massive national school boycotts rocked the townships in 1980 and again in 1984/5.

Worker organisation and power also took a major step forward with the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985. Cosatu drew together independent unions that had begun to grow in the seventies. Cosatu committed itself to advancing the struggles of workers both in the workplace and in the community. 1987 saw the highest number of strikes ever, including a strike by over 300,000 mineworkers.

In 1985, the ANC called on township residents to make townships ungovernable by destroying the Black Local Authorities. Councillors and police were called on to resign. Municipal buildings and homes of collaborators were attacked. As the administrative system broke down, people established their own democratic structures to run the community, including street committees and people`s courts. An atmosphere of mass insurrection prevailed in many townships and rural towns across the country during 1985 and 1986. Mass struggles and the armed struggle began to support one another. Troops and police who had moved into the townships at the end of 1984 engaged in running battles with youths - armed with stones and petrol bombs - in an effort to re-establish control.

As resistance mounted, the regime became more vicious. A state of emergency was declared over many parts of the country in July 1985. It lasted for six months, and then in June 1986 a national emergency was declared, that lasted until 1990. The states of emergency were used to detain over 300,000 people, among them children, and to ban the UDF and its affiliates from all activity. Cosatu was restricted from political activity.

Secret government units killed activists and bombed their homes. The South African Defence Force (SADF) led raids into neighbouring countries to destroy ANC bases. These raids were part of a general strategy to destabilise neighbouring governments that offered the ANC support. The South African government gave extensive support to bandit organisations like Renamo in Mozambique and Unita in Angola.

The struggle for people`s power in the 1980s shook the foundations of the bantustan system. The regime tried desperately to save it by supporting vigilante groups and suppressing popular resistance.

In Natal, the struggle for people`s power was met with violence by Inkatha warlords who were opposed to the growth of community organisations. civic and youth organisations and Cosatu were opposed to the undemocratic practices of Inkatha and its ties to the KwaZulu government. The conflict has led to a bitter war in Natal, where thousands have lost their lives. Today there is evidence that the apartheid government gave money to Inkatha to fight the ANC, and that the South African Police and the KwaZulu Police have played active roles in this war.



Lees meer op de speciale website van het ANC

1.02.2012

kerst-zingende egels

We blijven nog even in de feeststemming met een prachtige opname van zingende egels:

1.01.2012

een zeer gelukkigen!

Kameraden en vrienden,

een zeer vrolijk nieuwjaar zou ik zo zeggen!

We starten het jaar met een gezellig zombie-filmpje: