• Monthly Review
  • Monthly Review Press
  • Climate & Capitalism
  • Money on the Left
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Mastadon
MR Online
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact/Submission
  • Browse
    • Recent Articles Archive
    • by Subject
      • Ecology
      • Education
      • Imperialism
      • Inequality
      • Labor
      • Literature
      • Marxism
      • Movements
      • Philosophy
      • Political Economy
    • by Region
      • Africa
      • Americas
      • Asia
      • Australasia
      • Europe
      • Global
      • Middle East
    • by Category
      • Art
      • Commentary
      • Interview
      • Letter
      • News
      • Newswire
  • Monthly Review Essays
 | Protesters used the statue of Louis Botha outside Parliament in Cape Town as a vantage point and a pinboard for posters | MR Online Protesters used the statue of Louis Botha outside Parliament in Cape Town as a vantage point and a pinboard for posters and placards (Photo: Barry Christianson, New Frame). September, 5, 2019.

Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life: The Thirty-Seventh Newsletter (2019)

By Vijay Prashad (Posted Sep 14, 2019)

Originally published: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research on September 2019 (more by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research)  |
EcologyAfricaNewswireTricontinental Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

Residents march to the Woodstock Police Station

Residents marched to the Woodstock Police Station on July 30, 2019 to demand an explanation for why the raid took place and why it was done with such extreme brutality. Photographer: Barry Christianson.

Over the past several weeks, groups of angry people in some of South Africa’s poorest areas have been attacking the small spaza, or convenience stores, in their own neighbourhoods. The mood of the attacks has been utterly xenophobic, since the owners or workers at these spaza stores are mainly seen as foreigners. The workers and owners come from as far off as Bangladesh and as close by as Zimbabwe. It took South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa weeks to respond to the violence. ‘There can be no excuse for the attacks on the homes and businesses of foreign nationals, just as there can be no excuse for xenophobia or any other form of intolerance’, he said on 5 September.

Such xenophobic attacks are not new. There is a living memory that traces them back to 1994. But this current cycle began in 2008 when the shock waves of the global credit crisis hit the end of the African continent with significant force. A million jobs were lost, and the unemployment rate went above 25% (it is now at 29%). There has been no recovery since that time, with these xenophobic attacks emerging every once in a while, such as last year, as an indicator of the economic and social malaise. To get the full context for this violence, please read Sisonke Msimang’s ‘Belonging’ from 2014.

Protesters used the statue of Louis Botha outside Parliament in Cape Town as a vantage point and a pinboard for posters

Protesters used the statue of Louis Botha outside Parliament in Cape Town as a vantage point and a pinboard for posters and placards (Photo: Barry Christianson, New Frame). September, 5, 2019.

Bhayiza Miya of the Thembelihle Crisis Committee told Jan Bornman of New Frame that the key factors at play are unemployment, poverty, and political toxicity. ‘Our brothers and sisters from other countries aren’t responsible for that’, he said of these three factors. ‘They are living with us in our community’. Bhayiza explained that it is not migrants who have been elected to exercise power over the communities; rather, the fault lies with those who ‘[w]e have voted people into power, those who are stealing from us today. So whatever frustration or whatever anger we want to vent, we vent it to them because they are the ones holding whatever we want’. Bhayiza’s comments go against the tidal wave of racism, a replication of older racism – as the University of Cape Town student Ivan Katsere writes – ‘which has been made possible by the inability to dismantle the structure that was created during apartheid’.

The xenophobic violence is not authored by other poor people alone, but also by the police. Harsh police raids in early August against traders in counterfeit goods – many of them vulnerable migrants – sets the tone for the xenophobic attacks. The murder of a taxi driver in South Africa’s capital Pretoria led to accusations against drug dealers, who were once more characterised as foreign nationals.

The xenophobic violence comes as part of a chain of violence, and protests against the violence. Every three hours (according to South African police numbers), a woman is killed in South Africa. Recently, a student from the University of Cape Town Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and murdered. From students to mine workers, women took to the streets to protest the violence against them. It is no surprise that in the midst of all this churning, it is women such as Celeste Cameron and Nathalie van Rooyen that form groups to protect the spaza shops. We are gatvol – fed up – said Cameron. The idea of ‘enough is enough’ resonates against the xenophobic violence and the patriarchal violence.

African Guernica by Dumile Feni

Dumile Feni, African Guernica, 1967.

In his last State of the Union Address, President Ramaphosa accepted that South Africa needs ‘radical economic transformation’. But there is none on the horizon. His Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, who was once a Labour Minister, has drifted into the world of IMFundamentalism. Statements of ‘fiscal prudence’ do not offer any hope of ‘radical transformation’. This is classic IMF stuff – budgets that shield the wealthy from taxation and that carve away social welfare projects for the poor. As Michael Nassen Smith of the Institute for African Alternatives puts it, ‘we will enter into a depressing annual cyclical loop: the economy slows, the fiscal belt tightens, the economy slows further, and the belt tightens, and so on, with the poor and the vulnerable shouldering the costs’. In other words, the costs are shouldered by one part of the vulnerable who get poorer and poorer, and then angrily turn on another part of the vulnerable, namely the spaza shop workers.

Bhayiza Miya’s comment about theft is appropriate here. A Report of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa (2018) found that at a minimum $50 billion left the continent per year. This included trade mis-pricing and base erosion, false invoicing, and hawala transactions. The panel, chaired by South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki, said that the actual amount lost is ‘likely to exceed $50 billion by a significant amount’. A large part of this money leaks out from South Africa. Both this kind of fraud and the quotidian extraction of surplus value from workers produce the harsh inequality in South Africa. Fingers are not pointed in that direction. They are misdirected towards vulnerable spaza shop workers. It is these shops that are burnt down, while the quiet theft of capitalism proceeds unchallenged.

Tricontinental Dossier no 20 cover

Tricontinental Dossier no. 20, When You Ill-Treat the African People, I See You: A Brief History of South Africa’s Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (1919-1931).

A hundred years ago, workers across South Africa joined together to form the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU). Soon, tens of thousands of workers flocked to the ICU for its militancy and its steadiness. The workers appreciated the internationalism of the union, which spread outside the boundaries of South Africa into neighbouring African states. J. T. Gumede visited the USSR and was taken – as we write in our latest dossier – ‘with the Soviet attempt to transcend ethnic nationalism’. The revolutionary motion of the ICU is not to turn the strife in the country into race war. ‘Today the Black man and the poor White man are oppressed’, Gumede told an ICU gathering in Durban. ‘The money goes to the Capitalists. Work together for the National Independence of this country’.

The title of our Dossier no. 20 is When You Ill-Treat the African People, I See You: A Brief History of South Africa’s Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (1919-1931). The first part of the title comes from an interview given by ICU leader Jason Jingoes in 1927. He takes the initials of the union – ICU – and gives it a fuller meaning – if the workers are not paid, then I see you (ICU); if the workers are mistreated in public spaces, then I see you.

The second part of the title indicates the importance of histories of workers and their organisations. These histories have been largely erased or neutered, forgotten completely or treated as a benign part of the past. There is little comprehension of how the fights of these workers produced a historical dynamic that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa, and how they produced traditions of dignity that last till this day. It is these organisations – such as the ICU – that fought hard to create a socialist consciousness against the cheap trap of ethnic nationalism. There would be no victory for the South African people against apartheid if not for their hard struggle – which includes the struggle of ethnic minorities and of the neighbouring states which provided the South African fighters with bases and logistical support. To now reduce the imagination in South Africa to xenophobia is a tragedy against history.

South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement was profoundly shaped by its working class and its trade unions. Amongst the many hundreds of thousands of workers and unionists is Emma Mashinini, whose autobiography gives us the title of this newsletter. At fourteen, Emma went to work at a garment factory, where she quickly become a union organiser. She was in the leadership of the National Union of Clothing Workers and of the South African Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers. When she realised that her garment factory was making police uniforms ‘for the slaughter of my people, I felt horrified’. Union organising, she argued, had to be broadly political. Emma was in the tradition of the ICU, a political union with a broad horizon for social transformation.

In 1981, Emma was arrested and held without charge under the 1967 Terrorism Act. ‘In prison you are concerned about everything’, she later said. ‘You kill yourself about being there’, away from the struggle, suffocated.

Milagro Sala speaks in July 2019

Milagro Sala speaks in July 2019.

Last week, I interviewed Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, the lawyer of Milagro Sala. Sala, an indigenous Argentinian woman, was arrested in 2013, spent time in prison under pre-trial detention, and is now under house arrest. She is the leader of the Túpac Amaru Neighbourhood Association and is a major political figure in Argentina’s left. Gómez Alcorta told me that, ever since Sala’s arrest, there has been no real militant activity from her association. The chilling power of State repression should not be underestimated. It is what Emma worried about, and it is what Sala experiences. The attack on the indigenous – whether the Mapuche in Patagonia or Sala in Jujuy – Gómez Alcorta said, is a ‘war against those who do not exist’.

Gómez Alcorta says that Sala remains an emblem of struggle for four reasons. First, she has been moved from pre-trial detention in the prison to her home. Second, she remains alive – not an inconsequential matter when you consider the assassinations of so many militants (from Santiago Maldonado to Rafael Nahuel). Third, the government went after the Túpac Amaru association and its members, destroying eight thousand houses, three schools, and a health centre. This level of repression has not dented the feeling amongst the community in Jujuy that Sala is their leader. Fourth, the case has not disappeared. Posters and drawings of Sala can be seen across Argentina. Free Milagro (Liberen a Milagro) say the signs.

‘The story of Milagro Sala is not finished’, says Gómez Alcorta. When she is released, Milagro Sala will emerge once more as the leader of her region and now – because of the case – as a symbol of the fight against the old order. It would be a tremendous thing if Milagro Sala – an indigenous woman – could ascend from her prison to the heights of Argentina’s political world.

Strikes have followed Sala all her life, as they followed Emma Mashinini. These are militants who understand that social divisions favour the wealthy, while social unity favours the poor. Those fires in the South African spazas mirror the attacks on the houses, schools, and health centres in Milagro Sala’s Jujuy province. Tears are not enough to put these fires out.

Warmly, Vijay.

Monthly Review does not necessarily adhere to all of the views conveyed in articles republished at MR Online. Our goal is to share a variety of left perspectives that we think our readers will find interesting or useful. —Eds.

About Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is an editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest books are Struggle Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism and (with Noam Chomsky) The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.
Tricontinental Newsletter
The larger ramifications of Netanyahu’s latest annexation plan
Green Fascism: A far-right ecology movement is on the rise in Germany, and it’s spreading here
  • Also by Vijay Prashad

    • They are making Venezuela’s economy scream: The Eighteenth Newsletter (2025) by Vijay Prashad May 02, 2025
    • Two hundred years ago, France strangled the Haitian Revolution with an inhumane debt: The Seventeenth Newsletter (2025) by Vijay Prashad April 28, 2025
    • Waiting for a new Bandung spirit: The Sixteenth Newsletter (2025) by Vijay Prashad April 18, 2025
    • The Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated by Communist prisoners: The Fifteenth Newsletter (2025) by Vijay Prashad April 11, 2025
  • Also By Vijay Prashad in Monthly Review Magazine

    • The Actuality of Red Africa June 01, 2024
    • Africa Is on the Move May 01, 2022
    • Preface January 01, 2022
    • Introduction January 01, 2022
    • Quid Pro Quo? October 01, 2011
    • Reclaim the Neighborhood, Change the World December 01, 2007
    • Kathy Kelly’s Chispa December 01, 2005

    Books By Vijay Prashad

    • Washington’s New Cold War: A Socialist Perspective November 15, 2022
    • Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations September 16, 2020

    Monthly Review Essays

    • US Imperialism in Crisis: Opportunities and Challenges to a Global Community with a Shared Future
      Sam-Kee Cheng  | A late 1940s Soviet poster showing a US military service member lounging on top of a German factory smoking a cigar The text beneath reads DER DOLLARIMPERIALISMUS dollar imperialism | MR Online

      1. Introduction The predominance of US economic, political and military power in the world was established at the end of the Second World War.1 With just 6.3 percent of global population, the United States held about 50 percent of the world wealth in 1948. As the only power which had used nuclear weapons on civilian […]

    Lost & Found

    • Journalism, democracy, … and class struggle
      Robert W. McChesney  | Bob McChesney on Saving Journalism | MR Online

      Our job is to make media reform part of our broader struggle for democracy, social justice, and, dare we say it, socialism.

    Trending

    • Cpt. Ibrahim Traoré
      The rising star of Cpt. Ibrahim Traore – Burkina Faso’s spirit of Sankara
    • Why does the US support Israel?
      Why does the U.S. support Israel? A geopolitical analysis with economist Michael Hudson
    • BAP demonstration in Washington DC gathered outside the Embassy of Burkina Faso, in defense of the Alliance for Sahel States, October 2024.
      Now is the time for all anti-imperialists and all justice loving people to stand unequivocally in defense of Burkina Faso
    • New York City retirees protest attempts to priviatize their Medicare.
      Medicare Advantage: The $1.2 trillion in government waste that Trump won’t cut
    • US President Donald Trump
      Yemen – U.S. concedes Maritime defeat
    • ‘Our position on Palestine is not fringe’
    • BRAIN DRAIN slideshare.net
      America’s great brain drain
    • [Source: blog.pmpress.org]
      Legendary peace activist was transformed by experience in Vietnam
    • Columbia University Student Protest
      Columbia University suspends 65 anti-genocide students over library protest
    • No to the New Cold war with China
      U.S. imperialism and the project of New Cold War

    Popular (last 30 days)

    • Langley/Burkina Faso
      The U.S./EU/NATO’s Regime change playbook for Burkina Faso and Captain Ibrahim Traoré
    • Cpt. Ibrahim Traoré
      The rising star of Cpt. Ibrahim Traore – Burkina Faso’s spirit of Sankara
    • Tump and Putin
      Russia rejects Trump’s freeze of the war in Ukraine
    • Refugees walk down a road in Gaza, surrounded by ruined buildings.
      War Above, War Below
    • National Museum of African American History and Culture
      Trump orders purge of Black History from Smithsonian, targets African American Museum
    • Trump's Tariffs: Economic Warfare or Winning Strategy?
      The Trump Tariffs and the U.S. Labor Movement
    • Why does the US support Israel?
      Why does the U.S. support Israel? A geopolitical analysis with economist Michael Hudson
    • BAP demonstration in Washington DC gathered outside the Embassy of Burkina Faso, in defense of the Alliance for Sahel States, October 2024.
      Now is the time for all anti-imperialists and all justice loving people to stand unequivocally in defense of Burkina Faso
    • Illustration by MintPress News
      Wiz acquisition puts Israeli Intelligence in charge of your Google data
    • A Political Life by Hugo Ott
      Heidegger’s feeble excuses

    RSS MR Press News

    • JOIN US MAY 17: The Marxist Education Project to host the author of Roses for Gramsci April 22, 2025
    • On the brilliant Bob McChesney April 21, 2025
    • NEW! ROSES FOR GRAMSCI by Andy Merrifield (EXCERPT) April 7, 2025
    • EXCERPT: Colonial dreams, racist nightmares, liberated futures (from the introduction to A Land With A People) April 4, 2025
    • Towards inclusive science and technology (Knowledge as Commons reviewed in ‘Counterfire’) April 1, 2025

    RSS Climate & Capitalism

    • Humans have observed less than 0.001% of the deep seafloor May 8, 2025
    • Ecosocialist Bookshelf, April 2025 April 10, 2025
    • Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World April 2, 2025
    • Will Mpox be the next global threat to human health? April 2, 2025
    • Under Trump, climate denial is official US policy March 26, 2025

     

    RSS Monthly Review

    • May 2025 (Volume 77, Number 1) May 1, 2025 The Editors
    • The MAGA Ideology and the Trump Regime May 1, 2025 John Bellamy Foster
    • Neoliberalism and Neofascism May 1, 2025 Robert W. McChesney
    • Decolonization and Its Discontents May 1, 2025 Pranay Somayajula
    • China’s “Triple Revolution Theory” and Marxist Analysis May 1, 2025 Cheng Enfu

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
    Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

    Creative Commons License

    Monthly Review Foundation
    134 W 29TH ST STE 706
    New York NY 10001-5304

    Tel: 212-691-2555