Jason
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11 months ago
in Viva Zuma? on Life is grand
The important issue is what Zuma's election means to South Africans. The most interesting analysis I have found is here:
Arrow in the wind
The decisions at the ANC's Polokwane Conference, including the election of Jacob Zuma, have increased the likelihood, not merely the possibility, of a better world.
Jacob Zuma's accession to the post of President of South Africa is by no means a done deal. If the Scorpions get their way, by 2009 Zuma could be taking up residence in the Qalakabusha Prison rather than in Pretoria's Union Building. And even if Zuma does become South Africa's head of state, it is by no means clear that this would lead to a radical change in the course of the country's capitalist economy- a course which has further enriched the white elite, and created a new wealthy black elite, while leaving millions in abject poverty.
But whatever eventually flows from it, the fact of Zuma's election, together with the other candidates supported by the trade unions and the communists, to the leadership of the African National Congress, is a matter of significance to the world, not just to South Africa.
The clean-sweep change of leadership within South Africa's ruling party is the organisational expression of a change of understanding and a change of mood. The cruel myth of 'trickle-down' has already been exposed, and it is no longer controversial to observe that neo-liberalism delivers only misery to the majority of the people. Yet neo-liberal policies have been tolerated, even in South Africa where the political representatives of the mass of the people hold state power, because these policies have been seen as essential for national economic survival in our globalised world. The way that the 4,000 delegates at the ANC's conference at Polokwane voted signifies a further shift. Among the activists there is no longer merely a view that neo-liberalism is bad, but a feeling that something can be done about it.
For more, click here: http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/arrow_i...
Arrow in the wind
The decisions at the ANC's Polokwane Conference, including the election of Jacob Zuma, have increased the likelihood, not merely the possibility, of a better world.
Jacob Zuma's accession to the post of President of South Africa is by no means a done deal. If the Scorpions get their way, by 2009 Zuma could be taking up residence in the Qalakabusha Prison rather than in Pretoria's Union Building. And even if Zuma does become South Africa's head of state, it is by no means clear that this would lead to a radical change in the course of the country's capitalist economy- a course which has further enriched the white elite, and created a new wealthy black elite, while leaving millions in abject poverty.
But whatever eventually flows from it, the fact of Zuma's election, together with the other candidates supported by the trade unions and the communists, to the leadership of the African National Congress, is a matter of significance to the world, not just to South Africa.
The clean-sweep change of leadership within South Africa's ruling party is the organisational expression of a change of understanding and a change of mood. The cruel myth of 'trickle-down' has already been exposed, and it is no longer controversial to observe that neo-liberalism delivers only misery to the majority of the people. Yet neo-liberal policies have been tolerated, even in South Africa where the political representatives of the mass of the people hold state power, because these policies have been seen as essential for national economic survival in our globalised world. The way that the 4,000 delegates at the ANC's conference at Polokwane voted signifies a further shift. Among the activists there is no longer merely a view that neo-liberalism is bad, but a feeling that something can be done about it.
For more, click here: http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/arrow_i...