"It is certainly not our task to build up the future in advance and to settle all problems for all time, but it is just as certainly our task to criticise the existing world ruthlessly. I mean ruthlessly in the sense that we must not be afraid of our own conclusions and equally unafraid of coming into conflict with the prevailing powers."
Karl Marx, 1844

Slide One

This article before you was written shortly after Cyril Ramaphosa’s victory at the ANC elective conference at Nasrec at the end of 2017, but before revelations came to light of how his road to victory at Nasrec was paved with millions of rands. This article was originally part of a much longer article on South Africa’s (white) bourgeois oligarchy – otherwise known as white monopoly capital (WMC).

Slide One

CONTEXT MATTERS

In a predictable turn of events, after the initial ‘shock’ of Adam Habib’s suspension as Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, the South African elite establishment is putting out a stream of defences for Prof Habib and demanding his reinstatement.

Slide One

MUMBAI RESISTANCE 2004: TOWARDS A NEW INTERNATIONAL?

Oupa Lehulere* takes a critical look at Mumbai Resistance 2004, and argues that it fails to contribute to the debate on building an international anti- globalisation movement. Since its first meeting in Porto Alegre a few years ago the World Social Forum (WSF) has generated a lot of debate. By the end of its second meeting in 2002, left militants began to advance many criticisms of the WSF.

Slide One

THE LONG SHADOW OF THE DE KLERK REGIME

February 1990 stands out as the most important month in South Africa’s history. This month divides South Africa’s history into two parts. The first, 1652 to 1990, represents the period of institutionalised racism and political oppression of black and indigenous people.

Slide One

THE PRESIDENT, THE FINANCE MINISTER, AND THE ECONOMISTS

On 30 March about 76 economists and 29 other academics and experts in various fields of study published an Open Letter to President Ramaphosa on the COVID-19 crisis.

"Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and forever." -Leon Trotsky