Armed Struggle in South Africa: Consequences of a Strategy Debate
It would be possible to draw a line from the founding leaflet of Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK), issued on December 16, 1961 (and from the 1962 South African Communist Party [SACP] programme, The Road to South African Freedom) to the Harare Declaration of 1989 – and to the eventual outcome and claim that the strategy of the African National Congress (ANC) was always for a negotiated settlement to achieve democracy in South Africa (Umkhonto we Sizwe 1961, 1989a, 1989b). That indeed is the idea which Allister Sparks attributes to NelsonMandela: “I startedUmkhontoWe Sizwe ... but I never had any illusions that we could win a military victory; its purpose was to focus attention on the resistancemovement” (1994:26). However, that standpoint is contradicted by the decisions of the ANC conference at Morogoro (April 25–May 1, 1969) and by countless other ANC documents which insist that the goal was the armed seizure of power by the masses.
Civil Society Leadership and Industrial Risks: Environmental Justice in Durban, South Africa
This paper examines the ability of civil society leaders in Durban, South Africa to champion environmental justice in an industrial risk society. It presents viewpoints from key social actors at the Durban city level, including three local case sites, to examine civil society leadership capacity to achieve environmental justice by addressing grassroots concerns. It explores how leaders engage with other civil society actors and subsequent responses towards government and industry. The paper compares the urban regional and case studies analyses and highlights that although post-apartheid civil society leadership is not built from the anti-apartheid leadership, changed civil society leadership during the transition has influenced contemporary leadership in Durban, addressing industrial risks. New opportunities and challenges have resulted in the emergence of limited leaders championing industrial risks such as individualized leaders hindering wider collective actions against risks, including engagement in formal technical processes as opposed to mobilizing people. Not only is new and collective interest in civil society leaders required to mediate between classes, communities and the state and capital, but leaders also need to strategically combine the social and industrial pollution issues for solidarity in order to achieve environmental justice.
Populations on the move.
This article sets out the broad nature of population movements and changes in distribution which are taking place in the major continental areas of the Third World while making comparisons and contrasts. It outlines the differing approaches to these movements and the interpretations of varying ideological and disciplinary points of view. It describes contemporary practical problems and indicates possible future developments. The primary focus is on internal migration. (EXCERPT)