ANC Today --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 3, No. 17, 2 - 8 May 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: * Letter from the President: Workers still heroic fighters in the national freedom struggle * Workers' Day History: Over a century of global activism * Burundi: Transfer of presidency a step towards peace --------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Workers still heroic fighters in the national freedom struggle This week, on 1 May, the workers and people of our country and the world celebrated May Day. Once more, we convey our congratulations and best wishes to the working people of our country on the occasion of the observance of Workers' Day. The well-deserved celebrations of our workers and people were seriously marred and disturbed by the tragic death of more than 70 workers who drowned in a dam near Bethlehem in the Free State, while on their way to the COSATU May Day rally in Phutaditshaba. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased, to COSATU, and the people of Kimberley, from where the workers who died in the Bethlehem accident came. We thank the national government and the governments of the Free State and Northern Cape for their speedy response to this tragedy, to give all necessary support to the relatives and friends of those who died. The families and dependants of those who perished will need all the assistance they can get to respond to the consequences of this unexpected tragedy. We hope that the govt, from the local to the national, elected by the same workers who died in Bethlehem, will act with the necessary sympathy, sensitivity and speed to extend as much assistance as possible to the families of the deceased. The celebration of May Day necessarily brings into focus the important matter of the role of the heroic workers of our country in the common effort to achieve the reconstruction and development of our country. Apart from anything else, we have to bear in mind, at all times, that the principal beneficiaries of this process must be the working people themselves, the majority of our population. The black workers of our country played a central role in the struggle led by the ANC to defeat apartheid oppression. They constituted the core of the mass army for national liberation. They understood that they had no choice but to engage in struggle to liberate themselves from national oppression as black people. They also understood very clearly, that the political leader of the struggle for national emancipation was the ANC. Accordingly, they resisted and defeated all attempts to detach and alienate them from the ANC, the one liberation organisation of which they were members, and which they knew represented their political interests as black workers. Life itself dictated that even as they fought for the national rights, these workers also had to engage the class struggle for the improvement of their wages and working conditions and the defence of their general interests as workers. It was therefore natural that they should be keenly interested to form and join their own trade unions. The black workers understood very clearly that these struggles, the national struggle and the class struggle, were connected, interlinked and mutually reinforcing. Accordingly, they also understood that the ANC and their trade unions had to be connected, interlinked and mutually reinforcing. When the late President of the ANC, Chief AJ Luthuli, compared the relationship between the ANC and the unions to being equivalent to that of the spear and shield of a warrior, the workers understood this perfectly. They could see from their own daily experience that their oppression and exploitation derived from the fact that they were both workers and black. For the black workers, the matter was further clarified by the position and role of the white workers. Essentially, these white workers had been co-opted by the ruling group to act as the shock troops in the defence of the system of white minority rule. Already during the 1922 mineworkers' strike, the white workers and their trade unions had demonstrated that they consciously tied their class interests to their national interests as part of a racist white minority that saw it as its national task to oppress the black majority. They called for a white labour policy. It paid them to be white. And literally, it paid them to be white. Jobs were reserved exclusively for them. They benefited from a policy that rejected the principle of equal pay for equal work. Their colour automatically secure their position as die baas. They received all manner of state support to address what was known as the poor white problem. Historically, this left us with the problem of a racially divided working class and a racially divided trade union movement. The majority understood that its class interests would best be advanced by the destruction of the apartheid system and its national emancipation. The minority believed that its class interests would best be advanced by the perpetuation of the apartheid system and the maintenance of its positions of privilege. The black workers understood that the best circumstances under which they could pursue their immediate class interests of higher wages, better working conditions and the advancement of their general interests, would be if we transformed our country into a genuine democracy. Democratic rule was therefore in their direct interest, both as black people and as workers. They have been proved right in this regard. In the period since 1994, the legal framework for the pursuit by the workers of their immediate class interests has changed qualitatively, and therefore the circumstances in which they engage in struggle to protect and advance their interests. On the other hand, the white workers feared democratic rule because it would end the discriminatory policies and practices that placed them in a privileged position relative to their black counterparts. Logically, it was in their interest to fight against the birth of democracy. Since our liberation, the political representatives of these white workers have expressed their desire to maintain their privileged positions by campaigning against our affirmative action policies, that are intended to ensure that those who were disadvantaged catch up with those who were privileged by white minority rule. To frighten us into inaction, they threaten us with mass emigration of white skills - the so-called brain drain. Because of their different interests, the black and white contingents of our country's working class fought on different sides of the barricades. The question whether it is possible at this stage of the process of the evolution of the democratic revolution, to speak of a united role of the workers of our country in the effort to realise the goals of reconstruction and development. Whatever the answer to this question, there can be no denying the fact that the black workers of our country saw themselves as liberation fighters, and consciously participated in the struggle for our freedom as such fighters. The new questions that must be answered arise from the fact of our liberation. At the centre of these is the question whether the organised black workers of our country have a specific role to play in the further pursuit of the goals of the national democratic revolution, now that white minority rile has been defeated. To answer this question, we must understand that the national democratic revolution, for whose victory the black workers fought, does not consist in the single act of the defeat of white minority rule. The national democratic revolution entails a protracted struggle to change our country into a non-racial and non-sexist democracy. Our national oppression did not consist only in the exclusive exercise of political power by the white minority. National oppression meant a comprehensive system of racist domination - racism in politics, racism in the economy, racism in the social sphere, racism in the institutions of the state, and so on. Accordingly, the victory we sought was not only the defeat of the apartheid regime and the transfer of power to the people, important as this was. Its focus was not only the defeat of racism in politics. Our national oppression also consisted in the systematic impoverishment and dehumanisation of the black majority. This has left us with the legacy with which we are all familiar, in terms of which we have to continue to live with the racial and gender imbalances and inequalities of the past. These place the black majority where it was intended to be, at the bottom, in terms of wealth, income and opportunity. Necessarily, therefore, one of the central tasks of the national democratic revolution is the eradication of the racist legacy. The national democratic movement, of which the black workers have been and are an important constituent part, has to use its political power to address the other elements of racist domination. It has to use the victory it scored in the area of racism in politics, and therefore its access to state power, to secure new victories against racism in the economy, racism in the social sphere, racism in the institutions of state, and so on. These victories will be an integral part of the national democratic revolution, goals that were central to the struggle for national liberation, for which the black workers fought. Without these victories, it would be correct to say that the national democratic movement has not fully realised its historic mission. It is therefore obvious that it would be fundamentally incorrect to say that the black workers, heroic combatants for the defeat of the apartheid regime, completed their task as liberation fighters when political power passed into the hands of the people in 1994. Necessarily, their struggle for their own complete national emancipation has to continue. This also means that the historic relationship between the ANC and the black, progressive trade union movement remains central to the completion of the mission of our national democratic movement. It means that any argument that the black and progressive workers no longer have an interest or role in the furtherance of the national democratic revolution, this having been superseded by the class interests of these workers, is wrong. In any case, the sphere of practice and objective reality, as opposed to the theoretical, both on the shop floor and in the community, daily confirms to the black and progressive workers that the society in which they live continues to emphasise the interconnection between the national and the class struggles. As we enter the final year of our First Decade of Liberation, we will finally have to answer the question of what the national democratic tasks of the progressive trade union movement are, in a situation in which political power is in the hands of its pre-eminent political representative in the national democratic struggle, the ANC. The political victory of the democratic revolution has given the working class greatly improved possibilities to pursue its immediate class interests. The question that must be answered, practically, is what the tasks of the progressive workers are with regard to the accomplishments of the remaining strategic objectives of the national democratic revolution. Thabo Mbeki --------------------------------------------------------------------- WORKERS' DAY HISTORY Over a century of global activism Workers' Day, which is marked as a public holiday in South Africa, has been celebrated around the world as May Day for over almost 120 years. The tradition of celebrating May Day as a workers' holiday began with the struggle for an eight-hour day in the United States and Canada. On 1 May 1886, during national strikes for an eight-hour day called by the Knights of Labour, Chicago police attacked striking workers, killing six. The next day a bomb exploded at a demonstration against the police brutality, killing eight policemen. Eight trade unionists were arrested and put on trial. They were labelled agitators, accused of fomenting revolution and stirring up the working class, found guilty and executed. In Paris in 1889, to commemorate these murdered workers, the International Working Men's Association declared 1 May an international working class. The red flag symbolises their blood in the battle for workers' rights. This started an international tradition that continues to this day. By the 100th anniversary of the Chicago events, in 1986, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was barely six months old. Yet May Day celebrations in South Africa that year were the biggest ever, with huge rallies all over the country. By then South African workers had embraced the day as their own. Most unions had campaigned for and secured May Day as a paid public holiday in plant and industry agreements. But the apartheid government steadfastly refused to officially recognise the day. Its attempts to decide for workers on which day they should observe Workers Day became a joke spanning four years. Before 1 May in 1987, the government declared that Workers Day would be on the first Friday of May. Conveniently for the government, 1 May fell on Friday in 1987. The following year, in 1988, 1 May fell on a Sunday. Workers observed the occasion on that day but also took off the government-designated worker holiday on the first Friday of May, which was 6 May. Employers were livid and the government embarrassed. But still the state didn't learn its lesson. In 1989, before 1 May, government declared Workers' Day to be the first Monday in May. That year, 1 May fell on a Monday. Only in 1990, and to avoid further embarrassment, did the state proclaim that, henceforth, a workers' holiday was to be observed on 1 May. Following the democratic breakthrough of 1 May, the new government confirmed 1 May as Workers' Day - so that South African workers would be able to celebrate on the same day as millions of workers around the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------- BURUNDI Transfer of presidency a step towards peace Burundi took another step towards ending its decade-old civil war this week, as Domitien Ndayizeye was inaugurated as president to lead the second half of a three-year transitional power sharing government. He takes over from Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, who led the country during the first 18 months of the transitional government. Ndayizeye, a Hutu, will rule until presidential elections are held at the end of the transitional phase. The transfer of the presidency strengthens confidence in the peace process, and in the Arusha peace accord signed in 2000. The accord was the culmination of negotiations, led by the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere. The talks resulted in a transitional government that brings together 19 Burundian political parties for the three-year transition phase prior to democratic elections. Under Buyoya, the government was charged with securing a ceasefire with non- signatories to the Arusha Accord; beginning reformation of the judiciary, administration and the security services; repatriating refugees and beginning reconstruction of the war-shattered country. Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who has helped facilitate the peace process, said the transfer of power would be an important landmark and showed how much progress had been made toward peace: "I think the Burundian people should celebrate that we have moved so far." However, he said: "The last period is going to be more testing because there is nothing that we can leave untouched, but I think people should be convinced that the Burundians are ready for peace and now that the peacekeeping force is coming, we must say that the situation is changing." Zuma was joined at the inauguration ceremony by former President Nelson Mandela, who took over as facilitator after Nyerere's death, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu. Burundi has endured a civil war since 1993, with government forces dominated by the minority Tutsi ethnic group fighting Hutu rebels. The conflict has claimed more than 200,000 mainly civilian lives over the past 10 years, according to the United Nations. Peace talks attended by most Burundian parties, and mediated by Nyerere, began in June 1998 in Tanzania. After Nyerere's death in October 1999, Mandela took over the role of mediator. While the main political groupings signed the Arusha Accord in August 2000, two rebel groups - the FDD and FNL - denounced the agreement and stepped up their military campaigns. The transitional government nevertheless came into being on 1 November 2001 with Buyoya as President and Ndayizeye as Deputy President. This was followed by the deployment of over 600 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops to act as a special protection unit for members of the government returning from exile. A ceasefire between the government and the FDD was signed in December last year, though both sides have reported violations. An African peacekeeping force is to be deployed in the country by the beginning of June. It will comprise South Africa, Mozambican and Ethiopian troops. According to the Arusha Accord, Ndayizeye will rule as president for the next18 months, which will be followed by the country's all inclusive elections. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2003/at17.htm To receive ANC Today free of charge by e-mail each week go to: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/subscribe.html To unsubscribe yourself from the ANC Today mailing list go to: http://lists.anc.org.za/mailman/listinfo/anctoday