part of no part

This is an extensively edited reproduction of Frantz Fanon`s Chapter in his book The Wretched of the Earth. Reproduced here as a contribution to the students struggle and as a quick guide to the challenge facing students as they battle to deal with spontaneity and strategic action. () indicate where I have inserted words. ======================================================================== The shanty town is the consecration of the colonized`s biological decision to invade the enemy citadel at all costs, and if need be, by the most underground channels. These vagrants, these second-class citizens, find their way back to the nation thanks to their decisive militant action. The hopeless cases, all those men and women who fluctuate between madness and suicide, are restored to sanity, return to action and take their vital place in the great march of the nation on the move. The outbreak o the insurrection in the towns modifies the nature of the struggle. The leaders ...

I have seen and heard and listened to the very intellectual, academic and disconnected calls for a reconsideration of the tactics used by marginalized and oppressed groups, especially in South Africa and especially in response to the recent altercations between institutional power and students. All of these calls recognise the institutional and structural violence imposed by the system but fail to foreground it in their analyses. Instead relegating it to a secondary concern. (let me stick to a collective description for the status quo rather than singling out specifically universities as most commentators seem to make the general case for the inappropriateness of the response by those on the side of the oppressed and marginalised who argue that the responses are necessary and inevitable). Let me say firstly. That as much as academia and the middle classes wish for this to be a debate about intellectual concepts, the debate is fundamentally one which cannot be separated from...

* At the Alternative Mining Indaba held in Cape Town in 2014, a community leader stood up and made an impassioned plea for the AMI to be opened up to more community participation and for the AMI to be held closer to where communities are experiencing the effects of mining. By the time the 2015 AMI came around, communities had become so frustrated at their exclusion that they initiated an impromptu protests as the AMI was about to get underway. The organisers were livid and could not understand why the AMI should be the target of community protest. Yet for the 2016 AMI, community funding support to attend the Indaba had been withdrawn resulting in less than 10% of the delegates being made up of community members affected by mining. The AMI states in its objectives that its first aim is “ to provide a platform for communities affected and impacted by the extractive industries to reclaim their rights through the formulation of alternatives”. The theme of foregrounding co...

Many have condemned the burning of "art" at UCT. Students have been roundly condemned, defended or some have even been equivocal on the matter in an attempt to sound reasonable and rational. Yet in the midst of the elitist concern for art we often forget that in the midst of our daily existence there exists, even thrives, a form of violence that is often unseen, unheard and often ignored. It is the violence visited on oppressed and marginalised people everyday, often by the very same elitist intellectuals who abrogate to themselves the right to decide what and who is worthy of support and understanding. Recently in a report on the systemic oppression of mining affected communities Dr. Sarah Malotane outlined this phenomenon for us. The structural and symbolic violence visited on rural and marginalised communities should not be thought of only as a phenomenon that exists in hidden spaces but must be called out as the spaces that exist in the very foundations...

The achievement of equality is, in South Africa, “a constitutional imperative of the first order”.  The Constitution commands us to strive for an equal society in entrenching it as both a founding value and a right which is informed directly by the unjust history of Colonialism and Apartheid.  In the words of former Chief Justice Langa; “In this fundamental way, our Constitution differs from other constitutions which assume that all are equal and in so doing simply entrench existing inequalities.   Our Constitution recognises that decades of systematic racial discrimination entrenched by the apartheid legal order cannot be eliminated without positive action being taken to achieve that result.  We are required to do more than that.  The effects of discrimination may continue indefinitely unless there is a commitment to end it.” ActionAid South Africa`s Precious Metals II, A Systemic Inequality report has shown that through a combination of well-i...

In the SAHRC`s 2008 Report, then Chairperson of the SAHRC, Jody Kollapen points out that “ a number of issues raised by the affected communities, or observed by the SAHRC during this investigation are symptomatic  of systemic inequalities in addition to possible institutional problems in the relocation processes undertaken.”  He however cautions that the “impact of business can therefore not always be determined at one point in time like a snapshot, but is often more accurately reflected over a period of time.” We believe that with the baseline of the first 2008 report and the findings of the second 2015 report, we are now able to draw a much clearer panorama of the “systemic inequalities” that continue to plaque the community of Mapela and the complicity or otherwise of the role players and stakeholders in Mapela. The report thus brings into sharp focus the efficacy of the strategies of all stakeholders, including the SAHRC`s 2008 recommendations and commitments, ...

The Social and Labour Plan (SLP) system, together with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) schemes under the Mining Charter, is the main mechanism by means of which the mines are to channel the proceeds of mining into benefits for the community and transformation of society generally.   The failure of BBBEE to transform mining ownership patterns is currently the bone of contention between the Minister of Minerals, the Chamber of Mines and various other parties before the Gauteng High Court.  The question before the court revolves around the “once empowered always empowered” claims made by the mining houses and which is contested by the DMR and the Minister as well as by a host of civil society formations.  The legal definition of “once empowered always empowered” aside, the question remains to what extent has BBBEE served to bring about “substantial equality”.  The research currently under consideration suggests that this remains an elusiv...

Adopted in 1996, after a tumultuous struggle against the oppressive and exploitative systems of Colonialism and Apartheid, the South African Constitution, presented a new template on which the development of a fundamentally more equal society could be built.   Flowing from the constitution, the state is constituted on an important democratic principle called the separation of powers. That means that the power of the state is divided between three different but interdependent components or arms, namely the executive (Cabinet), the legislature (Parliament) and the judiciary (Courts of law).   A very significant feature of our Constitution is that it sets up several independent bodies to support and safeguard our democracy. Informally these bodies are often referred to as the “Chapter 9 Institutions”, because the most important of these are provided for in Chapter 9 of the Constitution. These include the Human Rights Commission which has been intimately invo...