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Abahlali baseMjondolo

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Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa. The movement grew out of a road blockade[1] organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005[2][3] and now also operates in the cities of Pietermaritzburg[4] and in Cape Town.[5] It is the largest shack dweller's organization in South Africa[6] and campaigns to improve the living conditions of poor people[7] and to democratize society from below.[8] The movement refuses party politics[9] and the key strategy is try to "to recreate Commons" from below by trying to create a series of linked communes.[10] According to the The Times (London) the movement "has shaken the political landscape of South Africa."[11]

The words Abahlali baseMjondolo are isiZulu for people who stay in shacks.

Contents

[edit] Context

Abahlali Assembly, Foreman Road Settlement

In early 2008 the United Nations expressed serious concern about the treatment of shack dwellers in Durban. [12] There has also been concern about evictions linked to the 2010 FIFA World Cup across South Africa.[13]

The eThekwini Municipality which governs Durban and Pinetown has embarked on a slum clearance programme which means the steady demolition of shack settlements and a refusal to provide basic services (e.g. electricity, sanitation etc) to existing settlements on the grounds that all shack settlements are now 'temporary'. In these demolitions some shack dwellers are simply left homeless and others are subject to unlawful forced evictions to the rural periphery of the city.[14][15] Abahlali is primarily committed to opposing these demolitions and forced removals and to fighting for good land and quality housing in the cities. In most instances this takes the form of a demand for shack settlements to be upgraded where they are or for new houses to be built close to where the existing settlements are. However the movement has also argued that basic services such as water, electricity and toilets should be immediately provided to shack settlements while land and housing in the city are negotiated. The movement is engaged in the mass popular appropriation of access to water and elecricity. The movement quickly had a considerable degree of success in stopping evictions and forced removals, winning the right for new shacks to be built as settlements expand and in winning access to basic services but for three years was not able to win secure access to good urban land for quality housing.[16] However in late 2008 S'bu Zikode announced a deal with the eThekwini Municipality, in Durban, which will see services being provided to 14 settlements and tenure security and formal housing to 3 settlements.[17]

The movement has been involved in considerable conflict with the eThekwini Municipality and has undertaken numerous protests and legal actions against the City authorities.[18] Its members have been beaten and many of its leaders arrested by the Sydenham police.[19]

Abahlali has often made claims over severe police harassment, including torture.[20] On a number of occasions, these claims have been supported by church leaders.[21] and human rights organisations. [22]

The movement currently has a constitutional court case pending against the Slums Act.[23]

In Cape Town there is acute conflict between the movement and the Cape Town City council[24] which has centred around the Macassar Village Land Occupation.

[edit] Autonomy

Academic work on the movement stresses that it is non-professionalized (i.e. independent of NGO control), autonomous from political organisations and party politics[25] and democratic.[26][27][28]

The movement has, along with the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign refused to work with the NGO run 'Social Movements Indaba' (SMI), and some of the NGOs involved with the SMI.[29]

[edit] Campaigns

Since 2005, the movement has carried out a series of large scale marches[30] and created numerous dual power institutions.[31] AbM has called for "a living communism"[32], has often made anti-capitalist statements[33] and has demanded the expropriation of private land for public housing.[34]

Abahlali states that it refuses to participate in party politics[35] or any NGO-style professionalization or individualization of struggle and instead seeks to build democratic people's power where people live and work.[36]

  • Housing

The primary demand of the movement has been for decent, public housing housing. The movement has often used the phrase 'the right to the city' to insist that the location of housing is critically important and demands that shack settlements are upgraded where they are and that people are not relocated to out of town developments.[37][38]

  • Services

The movement has also campaigned for the provision of basic services to shack settlements.[39]

  • Evictions & Forced Removals

The movement opposes all evictions and forced removals and had campaigned vigorously on this score via public protest and, also, legal action. [39].[40]

  • Fire & Electricity

In South Africa there are an average of "ten shack fires a day with someone dying in a shack fire every other day"[41]. Abahlali has campaigned on this issue demanding, amongst other things, the electrification of shacks.[42]

  • Dual Power & the Refusal of Electoral Politics

Since 2005 Abahlali baseMjondolo has refused to vote in all state elections.[43] The movement states that it aims, instead, to build a counter power to that of the state by creating a series of linked collectives and communes. This position is shared by all the organisations in the Poor People's Alliance. [44]

  • The Slums Act

Abahlali baseMjondolo took the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal to court to have the Slums Act[45] declared unconstitutional.[46][47] but lost the case. [48] On 14 May 2009 it took the case on appeal to the Constitutional Court. The result is expected in August.[49][50]

  • Xenophobia

The movement took a strong stand against the xenophobic attacks that swept the country[51][52] in May 2008 and there were no attacks in any Abahlali settlements.[53] The movement was also able to stop an in-progress attack in the (non-Abahlali affiliated) Kenville settlement and to offer shelter to some people displaced in the attacks.[54][55]

  • Police Brutality

The movement has organized numerous actions against police racism and brutality.[56]

[edit] Philosophy

The movement describes it self as "a homemade politics that everyone can understand and find a home in".[57] Its philosophy has been sketched out in a number of articles and interviews. The key ideas are those of a politics of the poor, a living politics and a people's politics. A politics of the poor is understood to mean a politics that is conducted by the poor and for the poor in a manner that enables the poor to be active participants in the struggles conducted in their name. Practically it means that such a politics must be conducted where poor people live or in places that they can easily access, at the times when they are free, in the languages that they speak. It does not mean that middle class people and organisations are excluded but that they are expected to come to these spaces and to undertake their politics here and in a dialogical and respectful manner. There are two key aspects to the idea of a living politics. The first is that it is understood as a politics that begins not from external theory but from the experience of the people that shape it. It is argued that political education usually operates to create new elites who mediate relationships of patronage upwards and who impose ideas on others and to exclude ordinary people from thinking politically. This politics is not anti-theory - it just asserts the need to begin from lived experience and to move on from there rather than to begin from theory (usually imported from the Global North) and to impose theory on the lived experience of suffering and resistance in the shacks. The second key aspect of a living politics is that political thinking is always undertaken democratically and in common. People's politics is opposed to party politics or politicians' politics (as well as to top down undemocratic forms of NGO politics) and it is argued that the former is a popular democratic project undertaken without financial reward and with an explicit refusal of representative roles and personal power while the latter is a top down, professionalised representative project driven by personal power. [58][59]

[edit] Harassment

The South African Police break up a demonstration by the Squatters' Movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, 28 September, 2007

In the early days of the movement individuals in the ruling party often accused Abahlali of being criminals manipulated by a malevolent white man, a 'third force', or a foreign intelligence agency.[60]

The movement, like others in South Africa[61], has suffered sustained illegal harassment from the state[62][63][64] that has resulted in more than 200 arrests of Abahlali members over the last 3 years and repeated police violence in people's homes, in the streets and in detention. On a number of occasions the police used live ammunition, armoured vehicles and helicopters in their attacks on unarmed shack dwellers. In 2006 the local city manager, Mike Sutcliffe, unlawfully implemented a complete ban on Abahlali's right to march[65][66] which was eventually overturned in court.[67][68] Abahlali have been violently prevented from accepting invitations to appear on television and radio debates by the local police. The Freedom of Expression Institute has issued a number of statements in strong support of Abahlali's right to speak out and to organise protests.[69][70] The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions [71] and a group of prominent church leaders[72][73] have also issued public statements against police violence, as has Bishop Rubin Philip in his individual capacity[74], and in support of the right of the movement to publicly express dissent.[75]

In March 2008 the Mercury newspaper reported that both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were investigating Human Rights abuses against shack dwellers by the City Government.[76]

[edit] Church Support

The movement has received strong support from some key church leaders. In a speech at the AbM Unfreedom Day event on 27 April 2008 Anglican Bishop Rubin Philip said that:

"The courage, dignity and gentle determination of Abahlali baseMjodolo has been a light that has shone ever more brightly over the last three years. You have faced fires, sickness, evictions, arrest, beatings, slander, and still you stand bravely for what is true. Your principle that everyone matters, that every life is precious, is very simple but it is also utterly profound. Many of us who hold dear the most noble traditions of our country take hope from your courage and your dignity."[77]

The Italian theologian Brother Filippo Mondini has attempted to develop a theology based on the political thought and practices developed in Abahlali baseMjondolo.[78]

[edit] The Poor People's Alliance

In September 2008 the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, together with Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Landless People's Movement and the Rural Network (Abahlali baseplasini) formed The Poor People's Alliance.[79][80] The poor people's alliance refuses electoral politics under the banner 'No Land! No House! No Vote!'.[81]

[edit] Criticisms

According to eThekwini City Manager Dr. Michael Sutcliffe the essence of the tensions between Abahlali baseMjondolo and the City lie in the fact that the movement "rejects the authority of the city." When the Durban High Court ruled that his attempts to ban marches by Abahlali baseMjondolo were unlawful he stated that: "We will be asking serious questions of the court because we cannot allow anarchy having anyone marching at any time and any place."[82]

According to Lennox Mabaso, spokesperson for the Provincial Department of Housing, the movement is "under the sway of an agent provocateur" who is "engaged in clandestine operations" and who has been "assigned to provoke unrest". [83]

[edit] Films About Abahlali baseMjondolo

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ [1]Article in the Sunday Tribune newspaper by Fred Kockott describing the road blockade
  2. ^ [2] Struggle is a School by Richard Pithouse, Monthly Review, 2006
  3. ^ [3] 'Delivery and Dignity' by Jacob Byrant, Journal of Asian & African Studies, 2007
  4. ^ [4] 'ANC to shift to the Left after South Africa's presidential election', The Telegraph, London
  5. ^ [5] Article in the Sowetan newspaper on the launch of the Cape Town branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo
  6. ^ [6]'South Africa's Poor Have Had Enough' Carol Landry, Agence France-Presse, December 2005
  7. ^ [7] 'The State of Resistance: Popular struggles in the Global South' edited by Francois Polet pp.139-140, McMillian 2007
  8. ^ [8] iPolitiki ePhilayo
  9. ^ [9] Matt Birkinshaw Abahlali baseMjondolo: A homemade politics, 2009]
  10. ^ Joel Kovel, 'The Enemy of Nature', 2007 Zed Books, New York, p. 251
  11. ^ [10]'Stench of shanties puts ANC on wrong side of new divide' by Jonathan Clayton 25 February 2006
  12. ^ [11] United Nations Statement on Housing Rights Violations in South Africa
  13. ^ [12] Guardian: World Cup 2010: football brings defining moment for South Africa, 12 June 2009
  14. ^ [13] 'Business As Usual', Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions (Geneva), 2008
  15. ^ [14]COHRE report to the United Nations, 2008
  16. ^ See the COHRE report again
  17. ^ Speech by S'bu Zikode
  18. ^ These are detailed in some of the academic work and there is reference to some of the legal actions in the report on Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions (Geneva) which is online at http://www.cohre.org/southafrica. The papers from many of the court actions are also archived on the Abahlali site
  19. ^ [15] Niren Tolsi, 'I was punched, beaten' Mail & Guardian, 16 September 2007
  20. ^ [16] AbM statement on police harassment
  21. ^ [17] A statement against police violence against Abahlali by 11 church leaders
  22. ^ Relevant Letter and Full Report
  23. ^ [18] 'Shack dwellers' victory bus' by Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian', 2009
  24. ^ [19] Collection of articles on the Macassar Village Land Occupation
  25. ^ [20], Article by Raj Patel examining the refusal of electoral politics in Abahlali
  26. ^ 'A Short Course in Politics at the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo', Raj Patel
  27. ^ [21] Nigel Gibson, 'Upright and free: Fanon in South Africa, from Biko to the shackdwellers' movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo)', Social Identities (Volume 14, Issue 6 November 2008 , pages 683 - 715)
  28. ^ [22] 'Zabalaza, Unfinished Struggles against Apartheid: The Shackdwellers’ Movement in Durban', Nigel Gibson, Socialism & Democracy
  29. ^ [23] AEC statement on the SMI
  30. ^ [24] Resistance from the other South Africa by Neha Nimmagudda in Pambazuka News(2008-07-17]
  31. ^ See 'Rights, democracy, social movements: Abahlali baseMjondolo - a living politics' Masters Thesis by Matt Birkinshaw, University of London, 2007
  32. ^ [25] Text of Speech at Diakonia Economic Justice Forum - Please follow the link to the PDF for the full content of the speech
  33. ^ 'Abahlali baseMjondolo – The South African Shack Dwellers Movement' by Suzy Subways, 2008
  34. ^ ‘The poor need proper homes’ - article in the Sowetan by Mary Papayya 1 September 2008
  35. ^ [26] Article by M'du Hlongwa examining the refusal of electoral politics in Abahlali
  36. ^ [27] Article by Xin Wei Ngiam in Critical Dialogue (Vol.2, No.1, 2006) that includes interviews on conceptions of democracy amongst Abahlali militants.
  37. ^ [28]This emerges clearly in the archive of the movement's memoranda and press statements
  38. ^ There is reference to some of the legal actions against evictions in the 2008 report on housing rights in Durban Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions (Geneva) which is online at http://www.cohre.org/southafrica. The papers from many of the court actions are also archived on the Abahlali site
  39. ^ a b [29]This also emerges very clearly in the archive of the movement's memoranda and press statements
  40. ^ [30] For a discussion of a key court victory against evictions see the article 'Chetty Champions the Poor' in 'South African Legal Brief', 24 September 2008
  41. ^ Matt Birkinshaw 'The Big Devil in the Jondolos: The Politics of Shack Fires in Pambazuka News (2008)
  42. ^ See http://abahlali.org/search/node/fire
  43. ^ [31]Speech by S'bu Zikode, December 2008.]
  44. ^ [32]See Raj Patel,'Electing Land Questions: A Methodological Discussion with Reference to Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Durban Shack dwellers' Movement', Codesria, 2007
  45. ^ Text of the Slums Bill and other Documents
  46. ^ The complete text of the Act, and the legal papers from Abahlali and the state are all archived at http://abahlali.org/node/1629
  47. ^ [33] Shack dwellers take on Slums Act by Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian, 14 February 2008
  48. ^ Constitutional challenge to law on slums, Ernest Mabuza, Business Day, 4 May 2009
  49. ^ South Africa shanty town bill row, BBC, 15 May 2009
  50. ^ Shack Dwellers Fight Demolition in S. Africa Court, One World, 15 May 2009
  51. ^ See http://www.abahlali.org/node/3582
  52. ^ [34] See the article 'The Africa that Pushes Back' by Mukoma Wa Ngugi in Foreign Policy in Focus, 24 December 2008
  53. ^ [35] 'The politics of fear and the fear of politics' by Michael Neocosmos, Pambazuka, 2008
  54. ^ See the 'The Politics of Fear and the Fear of Politics: Reflections on Xenophobic Violence in South Africa', an article by Professor Michael Neocosmos from Monash University in Australia in the Journal of Asian & African Studies Vol. 43, No. 6, 586-594 (2008)
  55. ^ 'The May 2008 Pogroms: xenophobia, evictions, liberalism, and democratic grassroots militancy in South Africa' by Richard Pithouse, in Sanhati, June 2008.
  56. ^ See, for instance, Against Police Brutality - March On Glen Nayager, 10 April 2007
  57. ^ Richard Pithouse' Thinking Resistance in the Shantytown', Mute Magazine, August 2006
  58. ^ The movement's philosophy is clearly articulated in a number of statements on its website - see, especially, the statements at http://abahlali.org/node/3208 It is also usefully summarised in the academic work by Nigel Gibson
  59. ^ [36]Also see 'Taking poverty seriously: What the poor are saying and why it matters' by Xin Wei Ngiam in Critical Dialogue, Vol.2, No.1, 2006
  60. ^ [37] Article by S'bu Zikode written in response to Third Force allegations
  61. ^ See a report in illegal police repression in South Africa by the Freedom of Expression Institute
  62. ^ [38] An eyewitness account of police violence in the Mail & Guardian newspaper
  63. ^ [39] Article on police violence by System Cele
  64. ^ [40] Article on police violence by Philani Zungu
  65. ^ This is discussed in the Journal of Asian & African Studies Feb 2008; vol. 43: pp. 63 - 94.http://jas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/43/1/63
  66. ^ Also see a letter from the Freedom of Expression Institute, 23 February 2008, which gives a detailed chronology of the banning of one march
  67. ^ [41] Article in the Daily News
  68. ^ Statement by the Freedom of Expression Institute
  69. ^ [42] Freedom of Expression Institute statement
  70. ^ [43]Also see 'Free expression means nothing if it’s limited to the media' by Na'eem Jenah, Thought Leader, 18 October 2007
  71. ^ [44]Open Letter to Obed Mlaba & Mike Sutcliffe by COHRE
  72. ^ [45]Testimony by Church Leaders
  73. ^ [46][47]Sunday Tribune article on church leader's statement
  74. ^ [48]Unfreedom Day Speech by Bishop Rubin Philip, April 27th 2007
  75. ^ [49]See'Why we must keep our eyes on the ground' by Professor Stephen Friedman, Business Day, 17 October 2007
  76. ^ Mercury article by Imraan Buccus, 8 March 2008
  77. ^ The speech was printed in the May issue of 'Anglican News' and it can be downloaded at http://www.anglican.co.za/archives.htm
  78. ^ [50] 'Abahlali basemjondolo Theology' by Filippo Mondini, Korogocho, 26 June 2008
  79. ^ [51] The Struggle for Land & Housing in Post-Apartheid South Africa by Toussaint Losier, Left Turn, January 2009
  80. ^ [52] 'Participatory Society: Urban Space & Freedom', by Chris Spannos, Z-Net, 29 May 2009
  81. ^ The alliance, and its position on electoral politics, is mentioned in the speech by S'bu Zikode at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415682.html
  82. ^ [53], Press Statement by Sutcliffe
  83. ^ [54], Sunday Tribune article by Mabaso
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