Widespread opposition to racist
INTRODUCTION
MARK HARPERT
SOUTH AFRICA
ASS political activity has
M once again erupted in most of the major industrial centres of the country. Pushed for-
THE ELECTIONS for the "Coloured" and "Indian" houses in 1984 were the occasion for the mobilization of vast protests and a boycott. Over the following years, the government has run up against unprecedented mobilizations by the Black population, organized essentially by the unions and the community associations. The repression has seriously weakened the mass movement, but it has not managed to stabilize a lasting relationship of forces favorable to the white regime. The latter has been confronted with three constraints - the persistent combativity of the oppressed populations, the economic crisis and US-Soviet pressure for a firm settlement of the "racial conflict."
This was the context in which the recent elections for the white, Coloured and indian houses were held. The struggle in recent weeks has focused around the mobilization of the "African" population, which is still denied the right to vote; a very strong boycott by the Coloured and Indian communities of "their" respective houses; and the campaign for dismantling apartheid and for universal suffrage.
In the white elections, the National Party, in power since 1948, suffered a setback. It got 93 seats out of 178, 40 less than in the last election. On its right, the Conservative Party got 39 seats (17 more) and on its left, the Democratic Party got 33 (13 more). The narrow victory of the National Party (in fact only 6% of adult South Africans voted for it) testifies to the erosion of its credibility, as it faces a challenge both from a part of the whites who reject any reform of the system and by another part that sees no way out of the crisis other than negotiation with the ANC.
The National Party's new leader, F.W. de Klerk, who follows P.W. Botha, presents himself as a champion of reform. But these elections show that he will have to continue to make compromises alternately to the liberal and conservative wings.
Within the anti-apartheid movement, the central question under discussion now is "negotiations." Although no real negotiated settlement can be envisaged in the short term, there is no doubt that negotiations have begun between the regime and the ANC. The big march of September 13, which got precedent-breaking official authorization, was thus an occasion for a demonstration of strength in support of change.
Figures such as Desmond Tutu and Allan Boesak, who have been somewhat pushed to the sidelines over these last three years, came again to the forefront of the democratic movement. And de Klerk said on the same day that he hoped that these events proved that a new spirit could arise in the country. The following article describes the situation on the eve of the elections. International Viewpoint #170 1 October 2, 1989 ward under the mantle of the Defiance Campaign, the mass movement has managed to mobilize widespread opposition to the racist elections for the tricameral parliament and to the Labour Relations Amendment Act (LRA). The mobilizations against apartheid in the hospitals and on the beaches have also kept international attention focussed on the apartheid policies of the regime.
All this comes at a particularly difficult time for F. W. de Klerk who, following on the National Party's election victory, wants to push ahead with his reform programme. Increased mass unrest makes it difficult for him to win the space for his reforms.
Possibility of a negotiated settlement
However, the real significance of the current mass activities must be viewed against the backdrop of the increased tempo of discussions around the idea of negotiations between the government and sections of the liberation movement, and the possibility of a negotiated settlement. Intensive pressure is being placed on the African National Congress (ANC) by its supporters, the USSR, the frontline states and by many Western governments to drop the armed struggle and reach an accommodation with Pretoria. The ANC for its part believes that the South African government can be pressurized into a negotiated settlement.
For this reason, it has welcomed and supported the current Defiance and antiLRA campaigns. This is believed to be crucial to force the regime to the negotiating table. Also, insofar as the resistance is perceived to be ANC-inspired, it serves to increase the latter's leverage in any negotiations. At the same time, the current mobilizations are occurring in a period of unprecedented unity within the mass movement.
Following the imposition of the state of emergency and the bannings and restrictions placed on organizations and individuals, the mass movement suffered real setbacks. Under the onslaught of state repression many grassroots organizations collapsed, becoming shells in comparison to what they had been. 1. Labour Relation Amendment Act - new legislation that further restricts trade-union activity.
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elections
October 2, 1989 1 #170 International Viewpoint
As soon as new organizations were established to replace those banned, they in turn were banned. In response an informal alliance was established that came to be known as the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM).
At the centre of this alliance was the core of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the trade-union federation, COSATU accountability, and who exactly constitutes the MDM, can be expected to become more acute as different positions Within the Movement begin to emerge
But one thing that is obvious is that the intensity of sectarianism, which reached a pinnacle at COSATU's Second Congress
SOUTH AFRICA tiatives must continue.
Thus, it has been in the context of the around negotiations debate and the increased confidence gained through the unity forged by the trade-union movement that heightened resistance has occurred
The Defiance Campaign got off to a relatively peaceful start, with the focus of the protest being segregated hospitals,
WELL... BOTHAS GONE... (Congress of South African Trade Unions). Statements I UNDERSTAND THE would be issued in the name NEW PRESIDENT, DE KLERK, of the MDM by leaders of HAS PROMISED SOME either COSATU or the UDF. GIANTES... Using the slight democratic space opened by the attempt of National Party leader de Klerk to show the world that he was committed to fundamental reform, and the space opened up by the election campaign, able to put itself on the political map by spearheading the Defiance Campaign.
Whether the Mass Democratic Movement includes organizations that have different ideological positions to the Congress [pro-ANC] movement has not been clearly answered self-appointed leaders of the MDM. Some spokespeople claim that the MDM can include all organizations of the broad mass movement; others have stated that it only includes those organizations that support the Freedom Charter.
This raises important issues of democratic practice, mandates and accountability. This came up in a stark way recently over the question of the boycott of the
While everyone was clear about supporting a boycott of elections to the Coloured and Indian parliaments, there was confusion over the white elections. Sidney Mafumadi, the assistant general secretary of COSATU, issued a statement declaring that the MDM would have nothing to do with the racist elections, which should be
This raised consternation among the UD's white liberal supporters who thought it necessary to vote for the Democratic Party. Problems of democracy and accountability
A few days later, UDF leader Murphy Morobe issued a statement in which he said that the official and final position of the MDM was that it was not calling for a boycott of the white elections, only of the "coloured" House of Representatives and the "Indian" House of Delegates. The question is, where did Morobe get the mandate and authority to say that his position was the final and official position of the MDM? Was COSATU consulted? Was the UDF consulted? What about other organizations?
These problems of democracy and
THE CURTAINS ARE NICE... in 1987, has markedly decreased. It seems that the joint campaign between COSATU and NACTU (National Congress of Trade Unions?) against the Labour Relations Act has played a significant part in easing tensions between the different organizations.
Congress for a Democratic
In particular, the unity forged through the Workers' Summit has already had important spin-offs. At the COSATU congress the left-orientated metalworkers' union, NUMSA, proposed and won a resolution calling for the rebuilding of the mass movement in a disciplined and accountable manner, crossing all ideological divisions within the liberation movement. At the same time, the banned anti-apartheid conference has been once again set in motion in the form of the Congress for a Democratic Future, which includes representatives from the UDF, COSATU, NACTU, AZAPO (Azanian Peoples' Organization) and the (CAL) Cape Action League on the organizing commit-
Recently, at a rally to declare the lifting of the ban on proscribed organizations, UDF affiliates invited organizations from the fold of the Black Consciousness Movement to join them. However, this has not been all plain-sailing. At the joint rally held in Johannesburg on June 16, hostility erupted when UDF supporters jeered Muntu Myeza of AZAPO as he
But there is a widespread realization that, in this period of continued repression, unity is perceived as being crucial by many activists coming from different political movements, and that united inibeaches and buses. But as the campaign gathered momentum and the usual cycle of protest was met with police repression, schooling and work became disrupted. This is especially true in the Western Cape, where schools have been disrupted by boycotts and exams have had to be postponed. Resistance more As election day - September 6 - approached, resistance became more militant, with protest marches, barricades and stoning becoming the order of the day. A two-day stay-away was called for September 5 and 6, which was extremely successful. Figures were recorded of 80% in Natal and the Eastern Cape, 70% on the Witwatersrand and 41% in the Cape. For Cape Town this was unusually high, and has to do with the heightened resistance. On the night of the election, 23 people in and around Cape Town were killed in police
Over the past few days there have been reports of more killings by the police, who seem set on brutally massacring protestors. Latest reports from Cape Town say that over 35 people have been killed, many shot at point-blank range. Clinics and hospitals have reported that many young children and women have been treated for shotgun pellet wounds, This scenario was repeated in many other parts of the country, with demonstrators opposing the elections being brutally beaten up by police contingents.
The way in which the police have responded seems to confirm that now that the elections are over, the mass movement can expect a harsh crackdown with increased detentions, bannings and so on. The regime is anxious to create a calm climate in which to release Nelson Mandela, and continue the process of co-opting sections of the majority into their reform pro2. NACTU is the second-largest union federation (COSATU being the largest) comprising independent unions. 3. The Workers' Summit was held in March 1989 -see /V 164, May 29, 1989. 4. AZAPO - Black political organization that developed out of the "Black Consciousness" current; CAL — Left political organization. Both AZAPO and CAL describe themselves as socialist.
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SOUTH AFRICA • EASTERN EUROPE
For their part, the Mass Democratic Movement has pledged to step up its campaign of defiance. Many on the left at first took a distant approach to the Defiance Campaign. Many saw the campaign as "petty bourgeois", restricted to defying petty-apartheid. Clearly, this is the project of the forces around Bishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Alan Boesak, who have sought to direct the Defiance Campaign in the direction of a civil rights movement, stressing non-violence and passive resistance. Many analogies have been drawn with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the USA.
### Campaign had little working-class content
But in the context of the political situation in South Africa, it was almost inevitable that a campaign that depended on extensive mobilization could not be contained in a civil rights framework. Given the defensive position of the liberation movement, the emphasis on the nonviolent aspect of the campaign and passive resistance seems correct. In fact, at the start of the campaign, it was precisely this aspect that forced the authorities initially to act with restraint.
The authorities, for example, allowed black patients to be treated in the white sections of the hospitals. Marches were stopped short of their destinations, but selected leaders were allowed to pass on their petitions and demands to the targeted authorities. This gave the space for the campaign to gather greater momentum.
Yet, at the same time, it is true that the campaign had very little working-class content. In some ways the Defiance Campaign tended to deflect energy and focus away from the campaign against the Labour Relations Amendment Act. Some organizations on the left, like the Cape Action League, have focussed their involvement in the Defiance Campaign on the LRA. Pickets and placard demonstrations have been held, drawing attention to the Act. Marches undertaken by students were directed to the factories of striking workers, like National Panasonic, where workers of the Electrical and Allied Workers' Union are strike. These attempts to link student and worker struggles are embryonic, but suggest ways in which the Defiance Campaign can be given greater working-class content.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been taking the Defiance Campaign into the mines, with workers opposing segregated canteens and other practices. At Rustenberg, a stronghold of the Conservative Party, a white worker was so enraged by the actions of the workers that he shot a leading NUM steward and then shot himself.
Very few other unions have become involved as such in the Defiance Campaign. The majority are concentrating International Viewpoint #170 • October 2, 1989 their efforts at putting into practice the programme of action decided by the recent Workers' Summit around the LRA
This limited included the 48-hour stay-away around the elections, a month-long consumer boycott and an overtime ban.
That there were problems in carrying out this programme is apparent from the last-minute postponement of the consumer boycott, which was to have started on September 13. To send a telex to the unions two days before the boycott was due to start was bound to create massive confusion, as there was little chance of communicating the decision to the mass of workers and their broader communities. This led to some areas going ahead with the boycott, and resulted in it being enforced by violence. This is already having the effect of turning communities on themselves, and creating disillusionment in some quarters.
Up to now, the objectives of the Defiance Campaign have not been spelt out, except for some MDM spokespersons saying that it will continue until there are negotiations with the government over scrapping apartheid. However, if the tremendous mobilization is not to be simply dissipated, the campaign must be linked to some short-term demands that can strengthen the movement as a whole.
### Rebuilding the mass movement
Certainly, the first objective should be to link it to the scrapping of the LRA. Secondly, it could be directed to rebuilding the mass movement along the lines of the COSATU resolution. These would represent significant gains for the movement in the present repressive period.
However, the next few weeks should answer the question as to whether we can expect the level of struggle that has exploded in the Western Cape to spread to the other areas of the country. It seems unlikely at this stage that one can expect the country to be gripped in a generalized uprising, as occurred after the 1984 elections. For the time being the Eastern Cape, Soweto and the other East and West Rand townships are relatively quiet. *
BULGARIA Authorities preparing crackdown? OVER the past months, tens of thousands of ethnic Turks have left Bulgaria to escape official repression of their national identity. Now, according to Kayana Trencheva, wife of arrested dissident Konstantin Trenchev, the Bulgarian authorities are "using the Turkish issue as a cover for a more general crackdown on human rights activists." (Washington Post July 21, 1989)
Trenchev is the founder of a small "independent trade union movement", and banners on officially organized demonstrations in support of the regime's line on the issue of the Turks have accused the "Trenchevites" of fomenting the unrest. Trenchev, along with five other dissidents, has been held since the end of May without trial on charges relating to subversion. Another of those arrested, Anton Zapryanov, made a public statement on May 21 in support of the democratic demands of the Turks. The delay in holding the trial suggests conflict in high places over whether to proceed in the campaign against human rights activists - and by implication in the campaign against the Turks.
A further sign of disquiet about the regime's strident chauvinism is a letter written in mid-June by 121 leading intellectuals blaming the Bulgarian authorities for the exodus of the Turks, calling for an end to attempts to suppress national identity and urging citizens who feel themselves to be Turkish" to stay in the country. (Radio Free Europe Bulgarian Situation Report September 1, 1989) * EAST GERMANY Coordination of opposition movements REPRESENTATIVES of 500 opposition circles met in East Berlin on August 13 to launch a national movement. According to their spokesperson, Hans-Jürgen Fischbeck, "a democratic opening inside our society is the only way to begin to dismantle the Berlin Wall." (Die Tageszeitung, August 15, 1989) The initiative
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ABUSINESS AS ISA
We look forward to your continued support."
October 2, 1989 • #170 International Viewpoint originated among Christian groups, but is not formally tied to the Evangelical Church, which has served as the main focus for all kinds of opposition to the Stalinists for many years.
There are a number of currents in the opposition movement, which is divided on what should replace East Germany's bureaucratic system. A major difference is over the issue of German reunification, demanded by some groups and rejected by others. But all oppose the official policy of Abgrenzung (delimitation) from West Germany and want more political and cultural freedom. Generally speaking, East German dissidents - whether Christians or not — oppose the restoration of capitalism and support a "return to true socialism."
Some see Gorbachev's USSR as showing the way to "real socialism" in East current leadership opposes the reforms in the Soviet Union. According to Pastor Friedrich Schorlemmer, Gorbachev's policies mean "the end of dogmatic and bureaucratic socialism" and the start of a "an authentic and creative socialism". (Frankfurter Rundschau July 14, 1988). SOVIET UNION What will they tell the children? THE present re-assessment of Soviet history has posed problems for history teachers. In early 1988, school graduation examinations in Soviet history were abolished for a period. In September 1988 a new secondary school history textbook was produced, but was already out of date by the time it appeared. Figures such as Bukharin, who had just been rehabilitated, were condemned in the book for right-wing deviationism, and Stalin was praised.
A new book is now out which "rehabilitates" many of those murdered by Stalin and his supporters, condemns forced collectivization and gives an estimate of 40 million people repressed under Stalin. The new book, however, is expected to be obsolete by 1990 and plans for a replacement are planners of Soviet education! * Soviet criticism of Gorbachev's foreign policy IN AN article in Les Nouvelles de Moscou (August 3, 1989) two leading Soviet foreign policy specialists Aleksei Izyu-
Andrei Kortunov, radical revision of Soviet foreign policy.
They want Soviet foreign policy to be more in line with Western public opinion. This would involve ending support to Panama's General Noriega, denouncing Iran over its death threats against author Salman Rushdie, and abandoning diplomatic silence over issues such as the situation of the Turkish minority in Bulcriticize the Soviet media's "even-handed" reporting of the massacres in Beijing last June. At the same time they call for a "radical democratization of foreign policy decisions...[which could] begin with the publication of the complete figures of our economic and military assistance to other countries" as well as the opening of the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and regular reports on foreign policy to the Congress of People's Deputies. Anti-Gorbachev forces organize ON September 8 and 9, 1989, a constituent congress of a "United Council of Russia" took place in Sverdlovsk in the
20 "patriotic Russian" organizations were involved.
The aim of the council is to bring
"Russian formal and informal organizations who can make, on the basis of the constitution, a contribution to the reinforcement of Russia as the core of
CUTE
EASTERN EUROPE the USSR [and to] the consolidation of the Soviet state, historically constituted as a single multinational, socialist coun-
The report appeared in Sovietskaya Rossiya, a paper that reflects the views of the anti-perestroika sections of the Soviet bureaucracy.