There was a fairly substantial zine scene in late 1980s South Africa around the largely white (and Indian) punk and hardcore scene. Some zines invoked “anarchism” or its symbols, but most were subcultural, devoted to music, tape swapping and “scene” reports and personalities. Almost none discussed anarchism in any real way, or tried to concretely link it to South Africa’s burning class and national questions. … Continue reading “Social Blunder” zine #5 (1990)
This text, written in 1991 or 1992, was a response to people who viewed “anarchism” as a personal lifestyle choice and/ or opposed formal organisation. It argued that, on the contrary, “Anarchism is not just a way of living one’s life. It is the most radical espousal of total social revolution. Anarchists wish to create a society which is libertarian, classless and stateless… Anarchism begins … Continue reading Azanian Anarchist Alliance – undated -“Anarchy and Organisation: For all those that think anarchism is purely a personal thing”
A leaflet (also printed as a poster) for an unsuccessful protest against Unilever, which was recruiting at the University of the Witwatersrand under the heading “Discover a New World at Unilever.” The print quality of the pamphlet is not very good. The boxes in the middle were sourced from a booklet included in the Chumbawumba album of 1986, Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records, which … Continue reading Azanian Anarchist Alliance – 8 August 1991 – “Boycott Unilever”
The Azanian Anarchist Alliance (AAA) was a small group at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in Johannesburg, South Africa, formed in 1991. It was probably the first organised anarchist group in the country in decades. One of the founders, HG, co-published the radical zine Social Blunder with his brother NG, in the Indian townshipof Lenasia, south of Soweto and Johannesburg. The group’s politics were … Continue reading Some notes on the “Azanian Anarchist Alliance,” 1991-1993
One of the first active anarchist formations in South Africa after 1990 was the small Johannesburg-Lenasia-based group around Revolt and later Unrest magazines (or “zines”), a group that at one stage styled itself the “Azanian Anarchist Alliance.” Both “zines” were one-offs (one issue only was published of each, despite the numbering on the covers …). As with other anarchist groups at the time, the overseas … Continue reading Early 1990s: “Revolt,” “Unrest,” “Profane Existence” and the “AYF” information kit …
This pamphlet is a reprint of chapter 7 of Unfinished Business: the politics of Class War, a book published in 1992 by Britain’s Class War Federation in conjunction with AK Press. It takes an openly Platformist approach to the question of anarchist organisation, which was a major reason why the pamphlet was produced by people associated with the class struggle wing of the Anarchist Revolutionary … Continue reading “Revolutionary Organisations” – ARM / Backstreet Abortions distro – 1994
The Rio farce
Revolt number 2 (1992), South Africa.
The Rio Earth Summit was dominated by the very people responsible for the global ecological crisis in the first place. Solutions were not, cannot, and never will be, found by such groups. Grass roots action is the only answer.
As far as the Greens go, 1992 is being heralded as a turning point. The Rio Earth Summit managed to assemble the “leaders” of over 100 countries at a single place at a single time, to discuss the doomsday cause that the planet is on… but is it all a farce. Continue reading “The Rio Farce – “Revolt” magazine, 1992”
Lenin the Revolution Rapist: How Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks were held off by an anarchist Ukraine
Revolt number 2 (1992), South Africa
Recently, criticism has been levelled at Lenin, a man still regarded as a virtual god. Lenin, with his right hand man Trotsky, led the Bolshevik Socialists to victory in the October revolution in 1917. Once you deconstruct the myth of Lenin, you open a very funky can of worms …
In February 1917, there was a Popular uprising in the Russian empire. The Tsar abdicated the principal political parties – most of them Socialist, and began to set up a crude parliamentary democracy, led by the Mensheviks. But Russia was a big, bleak, backward old empire that sprawled across five time zones, communication was bad; the uprisings continued. Radicals were released from prison, dissidents returned from exile, and ordinary people became increasingly aware of the possibilities of communal power. Peasants chased out the landowners, workers took over the factories and many organized themselves democratically through local mass meetings – Soviets.
Freedom was in the air. Much of the population had tasted it or at least had a whiff of it, it seemed to be out there for the taking. There seemed nothing to fear but the fear of freedom. Lenin (of the minority Bolsheviks) was one of the first politicians to sense the mood of the people. He realized that by adopting the popular slogans of the masses – “land to the peasants,” “‘worker control,” and “all power to the soviets,” the Bolsheviks, under his leadership could seize power and move to the next phase of the “Marxist” revolution – “The dictatorship of the Proletariat. Continue reading “Lenin the Revolution Rapist: How Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks were held off by an anarchist Ukraine – “Revolt” magazine, 1992″
Revolt number 2 (1992), South Africa
More people are dying in Apartheid’s fall than at its height. The cause of the violence is not “tribalism” but a destabilisation campaign by the State and its Inkatha ally. The solution is not, however, a new government…
[Note: between 1990 and 1994 – the years between the unbanning of major anti-apartheid parties such as the African National Congress, the Pan-Africanist Congress and the SA Communist Party- a wave of political violence against mass democratic structures and organised labour swept the country. Such violence had taken place in Natal since the late 1980s; now it spread with terrifying speed to the Witwatersrand/ Reef industrial heartland. This article examines how much of the violence was orchestrated by the Apartheid state and its armed wings and vigilante and moderate allies as a low-intensity war against the mass democratic movement, and draws out the strategic implications of this analysis.]
While the politicians play around at negotiations, our communities have experienced the worst features of violence in their daily lives, be it on the trains, taxis or busses, on their way to and from work; during nightwatches and at funerals; at work, at home; even during festivities. Continue reading “The Violence: The State’s Bloody Hands – “Revolt” magazine, 1992”
Revolt number 2 (1992), South Africa
The South African police continue to assault, torture and kill people in custody. The brutal death of Simon Mthimkulu in July [1992] in one example amongst many.
In the final hours of his life, 19 year old Simon set out on an errand with his friends Joubert Radebe and Sikhalo ‘Lucky Boy” Maseko. It was a sunny afternoon in Sebokeng township that fatal Tuesday, July 14.
The three friends were on their way to fetch some money owed to Radebe’s father when, as they were crossing an open space, a stolen white Mazda came up against a barricade of rocks blocking the road. The driver, unable to manoeuvre the vehicle around the rocks, abandoned it and disappeared. Continue reading “SA Police: to serve and protect … to torture and kill – “Revolt” magazine, 1992”
The South African police continue to assault, torture and kill people in custody. The brutal death of Simon Mthimkulu in July [1992] in one example amongst many.
More people are dying in Apartheid’s fall than at its height. The cause of the violence is not “tribalism” but a destabilisation campaign by the State and its Inkatha ally. The solution is not, however, a new government…
The New World Order is on our doorstep with the US imperialists setting themselves up in Botswana and Zambia. Washington, following the end of the Cold War, is placing renewed emphasis on projecting itself into Third World “flashpoints.”
During the uprisings and reaction that followed the October Revolution, the fertile earth of the Southern Ukraine was trampled under the boots of at least four advancing and retreating armies.
The Rio Earth Summit was dominated by the very people responsible for the global ecological crisis in the first place. Solutions were not, cannot, and never will be, found by such groups. Grass roots action is the only answer. Continue reading ““Revolt” – a South African Anarchist Paper from 1992 [UPDATED]”
The New World Order is on our doorstep with the US imperialists setting themselves up in Botswana and Zambia. Washington, following the end of the Cold War, is placing renewed emphasis on projecting itself into Third World “flashpoints.”
Recent reports in left wing journal Work in Progress * show just how close to home the US “new world order” really is: Botswana is being groomed as a forward staging base for the US in the region whilst Zambia’s “democrat” President Chiluba has recently signed a military agreement with the US for the training of military personnel in technical fields. Continue reading “1992: New World Order in Africa – “Revolt” magazine, 1992″
SAASHA 