“How many times has a labour movement supported a liberation movement, only to find itself betrayed on the day of liberation?”

Speaking of dissent…  The death of Nelson Mandela appears to have opened the door to some potentially significant criticism of the current leadership of the ANC.  As the BBC reports, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the largest trade union in South Africa, has withdrawn its support for the ruling party of government.  From the BBC report The BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says this should be a wake-up call for the ANC not to take its anti-apartheid support base for …

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The ANC, the IRA and the rise of influence of the left within Sinn Fein…

World by Storm has a nice piece up on the IRA’s role in helping MK, the armed wing of the ANC, in the 1980s. In particular he sees a strange alchemy at work there: …if one can think of a clearly legitimate contemporary struggle it was that against apartheid and it is to the credit of all involved in this latest revelation that Irish people and the IRA played a small part in its overthrow. Furthermore I tend to believe …

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“The alliance is dysfunctional…”

Not, for once, a reference to the alliance that operates mediates our semi-detached polit-bureau – although some similarities may be apparent.  This time it’s South Africa, where the BBC reports on the threatened escalation of strike action by Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi. Some one million civil servants are already on strike but Cosatu’s total affiliated membership is double that. Mr Vavi said work would also halt in the key mining and manufacturing industries, while unions …

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