THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, AND the lockdown it gave rise to, were unprecedented in South Africa’s recent history. So too was the devastation wrought on people’s lives and worlds. “Building back better” is a phrase that runs like a hopeful thread through South Africa’s...
Amandla’s Carilee Osborne interviewed Anindhita Adhikari Amandla!: You’re a founding member of the Stranded Workers Action Network. Could you tell us about the events that led to the emergence of SWAN? Anindhita Adhikari: When the pandemic hit the world and became...
My name is Denia Jansen and I’m part of Mawubuye Land Rights Movement. We are in alliance with CSAAWU, the farm workers’ union. My daily work is working with workers, especially seasonal workers and community members, struggling for land. Much of the work I do is out...
54 Numsa worker leaders have been banned by the current national leadership from attending the elective congress and from standing for positions. This includes Saftu president Ruth Ntlokotse, who is also the Numsa second deputy president. Ntlokotse was suspended by a...
MANY SUPER-RICH PEOPLE, including the richest, Elon Musk, became even richer during the pandemic, as governments printed even more money than usual. In between overseeing his various companies, Musk is fond of playing the stock and cryptocurrency markets. His critics...
AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE privatisation of electricity sales in South Africa is about to be taken. The process the government has embarked on is in effect a privatisation of sales, as in any privatisation of public property. Private investments have to produce a steady...
27TH FEBRUARY 2019, THE Cabinet of South Africa approved the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (NAP). The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ) launched the NAP on 25th March 2019. Its...
THE PERSISTENT PREVALENCE OF xenophobic attitudes within the working class is no surprise. Nor is the emergence in many townships of Operation Dudula, an openly reactionary and right-wing organisation. Equally unsurprising is the resonance of Operation Dudula in...
THE WATER CRISIS IN NELSON Mandela Bay is getting worse. Already, Churchill Dam has reached 0%. Meanwhile, the council is fighting over who should be the City Manager and is using rate payers’ money for lawsuits. They debate who should run the city and lead the...
THE SRI LANKAN catastrophe persists with no signs of respite. The terrible economic crisis has sparked an unprecedented mass protest that started after the Sri Lankan government defaulted on its external debt obligations in April 2022. The previous Prime Minister,...
ON 18TH MARCH 2022, THREE days before Human Rights Day, Judge Patricia Goliath delivered a ground-breaking judgement. It confirmed that economic benefits can never outweigh the cultural and heritage rights of indigenous people. The judgement concerned a unique and...
Interview with Thapelo Mohapi, General Secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo. Thapelo Mohapi: Abahlali is based in Durban, and that’s where our headquarters are. But we organise in four other provinces. The movement, of course, has grown. The latest statistic was...
Interview with Amcu President, Joseph Mathunjwa Amandla!: Amcu has conclude a three-year agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater Gold after a gruelling strike. What were the gains for gold workers and what were the main lessons you take from the strike? Joseph Mathunjwa:...
THE STUDENT UPRISING OF 1976 was a pivotal moment in the liberation movement against apartheid. For the first time high school students en masse across the country mobilised against Bantu Education and apartheid. The march by thousands of students and subsequent...
This article was written before the publication of the final report of the Zondo Commission on 23rd June. THE ZONDO COMMISSION HAS made serious findings of criminality against individuals, politicians, and private companies that enabled and benefited from state...
THE FIGHTBACK HAS BEGUN, BUT it will be a long road. In our last editorial we described how the labour movement has degenerated. How its leadership has become largely detached from the members. And how they have become corrupted by the lure of material benefits, in...
THE 2021 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS (Afcon 2021) finally took place in January and February 2022. In 2018, Cameroon had been stripped of its hosting rights by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) who stated that the “Africa Cup of Nations could not be exposed to any...
ON THE LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their latest report. Previous versions have warned of impending climate chaos. The current report rings the death knell for people and planet. Governments and scientists agree...
This article was first published on Michael Roberts’ blog. “The war in Ukraine is like a powerful earthquake that will have ripple effects throughout the global economy, especially in poor countries”. That’s how IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva described the impact of...
RUSSIA’S WAR WITH UKRAINE HAS invited widespread calls for de-escalation and diplomatic resolution. Still, countries worldwide are more reluctant to express outright condemnation for Putin’s aggression, or to join the West’s efforts in actively deterring Moscow...
PIERRE BEAUDET, ACTIVIST, strategist, intellectual, friend and comrade died earlier last month. As well as the loss to me of a friend and comrade of 35 years, he is a loss to many in the progressive and revolutionary movements across the world. Pierre was a friend of...
SINCE FEYA FAKU BEGAN HIS month-long national tour of five South African cities, there is a scramble amongst young jazz musicians for membership in his bands. As he moves from one city to the other, the celebrated trumpeter assembles local musicians and invites them...
ON 14TH MARCH 2022, THE Appeal Court ordered the Makana Municipality and the Eastern Cape Government to come up with a financial recovery plan (FRP) to improve the financial and management position of the failing municipality. In 2020 the Makhanda High Court had...
IT IS COMMON FOR THE STATE OF THE Nation (SONA) to begin with a poetic quote or reflection on the fearlessness of the late Nelson Mandela, and our journey into freedom. In 2020 for instance, the President eloquently reminded us of Madiba’s spirit of fearlessness and...