TAKING POWER SERIOUSLY

South Africas new progressive magazine standing for social justice.

ISSUE No. 22/23 December 2011

RSA

R2500
incl. VAT

Capitalist crisis deepens | Malema: not dead yet | Simphiwe Dana in brief

contents
Editorial
02 | Two minutes to midnight

National
38 | NHI Green Paper: vital first step forward
40 | Land reform Green Paper: not much food

Letters
04 | Letters to the editor

for thought

International
42 | Whos really South Africas foreign policy

News briefs
06 | News briefs
Q&A
08 | Q&A with Pablo Soln

44
11

ANCYL
10 |Economic freedom in our lifetime:
11

a timely wake up call

|Malemas disciplinary: too soon to write
the youth leaders obituary

COP 17: Conference of

Polluters?
13 | Durban COP 17: failures in the making
15 | The triumph of King Coal: hardening our
17
19
21
23
25
30
32
33
34
35

coal addiction
| The climate change White Paper: the
right colour for South Africa?
| Carbon trading: licence to pollute
| Green capitalism: profiting from nature
| Nukes to cost the earth
| The One Million Climate Jobs Campaign
| Trade and climate change
| Against Shells fracking arguments
| Another shale gas scandal fracking the
Quebec
| Undermining Africa:
Africas role in the global uranium
economy
| Indigenous people: a key to
environmental rescue

master?
| Gaza in siege: interview with Raji Sourani

The crisis reloaded

47 | The crisis comes home
48 | Europe's fall, South Africa's crash
51 | South African economy: the penny drops
53 | The EU debt and the crisis
54 | The G20: hung by its own petard
56 | China cannot save the world from the
economic crisis

Arts & Culture

59 | Another Brick in the Wall: a short
12

biography of the great struggle song

60 | What on Earth is World Music?

Myth or Reality

Reviews
61 | Book reviews
62 | Film reviews
In focus
64 | SimphiweDana in brief

46

38| NHI Green Paper: vital first step forward

44 | Gaza in siege: interview with Raji Sourani
59 | Arts & Culture
We welcome feedback
Email your comments to feedback@amandla.org.za.
Visit www.amandla.org.za for additional articles, news and views.

Front cover illustration:

This issue was inspired by the forthcoming COP 17,the 17th
Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Will it be a
veritable Conference of the Polluters? Or will significant steps be
made for climate justice?
Credit: Donovan Ward

Two minutes
to midnight
Global collision of
the ecological and
economic crises

The financial crisis that broke out

in 2008 is a symptom of a much wider
crisis of the global system. It is not only
a crisis of the neoliberal model, but also
a deeper crisis of the over-productivist,
endless-growth, financial-speculative
model which puts humanity and the
planet at great risk. We are confronted
by a simple but stark reality, namely, that
an economic system based on unlimited
growth contradicts a limited planet.
This dilemma is increasingly evident
as humanity and the biosphere are
confronted by a series of intersecting
crises. Crises around energy, food, water
and the climate place resource depletion
and constraints at the forefront of global
attention. It is not just that we are facing
peak oil and peak carbon the problem
is that we are, metaphorically speaking,
two minutes to midnight and the clock
isticking.

A global problem calls

for global solutions
Consider greenhouse gas emissions.
Unless there is a 90% reduction of
emissions from developed countries
by 2050, the runaway climate change
of 5 degrees will ensure unimaginable
devastation and disruption to life on
theplanet.
2

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

In this context, it is impossible to

leave the problem of the environment to
the environmentalists. Recall how the
slogan think globally, act locally arose
from the challenge of integrating issues of
globalisation into locally based activism
for social justice. Today, the threats of
climate change impel popular forces to
expand their visions and programmes
to integrate environmental justice into
theirstrategies.

Marketisation, a
false solution
The United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (launched in
1992) the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and a host
of multilateral processes were established
to arrest the environmental crisis. Almost
20 years later, the situation is worse. The
UNFCCCs Conference of the Parties and
the discussions in preparation for Rio+20
are in danger of shifting away from
regulating the market. On the contrary,
powerful transnational corporations
and business councils, over-represented
in negotiations, press for the dramatic
expansion of the commercialisation of the
environmental and life services.
We are made to believe that the very
processes that have brought us the crisis
extreme marketisation can somehow
overcome the crisis. The green economy
and extreme technologies (such as geo-

engineering) under the monopoly control

of giant corporations are promoted as
instruments to solve the ecological crises.
This is done instead of paving the way
towards a low carbon economy.
Since we cannot increase the capacity
of the environment to bear the economic,
population and resource burdens placed
on it, it follows that the adjustment must
come entirely from the operating and
structuring of the global economy.
Yet, it is the dynamics of this system
that have set humanity up against the
limits of the plane. As fish need water and
humans need air to survive, the market
economy needs increasing profit rates
and unlimited growth. It is the average
compound economic growth of 3%
that is breaching planetary boundaries.
The process of neoliberal globalisation
accelerates this process while creating
inequality and polarisation between and
within countries.

Shifting the crisis to the poor

The reality of the cascading
economic crisis, triggered by the 2007/8
financial crisis, is not receding. Shortlived recoveries give way to outbreaks
of contagion in new parts of the world
without being contained to these areas.
Even though economic liberalisation and
market fundamentalism are increasingly
seen as the causes of the economic
turmoil, elites push the costs of the
crisis onto the shoulders of the poor
andmarginalised.
All the while, the social crisis
affecting the majority of the population
becomes worse. Mass unemployment,
the dispossession of land and essential
services through privatisation, the
dumping of toxic waste on poor
communities, disorganisation of
community through ghettoisation and
slumification of working-class living
spaces are some of the most obvious
manifestations of the current crisis.
For women who have to bear the
responsibilities of sustaining everyday life,
this situation compounds their efforts to
survive the violence of the economic
system and the consequent social
tensions burst out in intensified forms
of domestic violence to further brutalise
the already unequal relations between
womenandmen.

South Africa in the crisis

South Africa faces many challenges
and pressing problems. It is impossible to
build a united and cohesive society with
the current obscene levels of inequality,
poverty and unemployment. Two worlds
separate township and suburban life
and an even greater divide separates
life in the former Bantustans from the

major metropolitan cities. We face

extreme difficulties in dealing with mass
unemployment and poverty.

of jobs: 5 million over the next 10 years,

300000 in what it calls the green
economy. Green jobs will be created in the
renewable energy sector, manufacturing
and in rural development.
However, these good intentions are
contradicted by the governments plan to
address the current energy crisis where
demand is overtaking supply. South Africa
is listed as the 12th biggest emitter of
carbon dioxide in the world, producing
annually a total of 433527 metric tons per
year. The decision to commission two of
the biggest coal-fired electricity plants,

primary energy needs (50% converted to

electricity, 30% into oil).
The energy crisis of 2008, which saw
a number of blackouts, and which has
Economic decline
led to a new energy plan and a massive
Underpinning this social crisis is
build-programme for increased electricity
the decline of the South African economy.
generation, reduces renewable energy
At the heart of this decline are three interto the margins of overall generation and
related factors:
supply. Essentially it is business as usual.
SAs declining resource base;
In reality, a shift in policy by the
Weak internal markets and demand for
South African government will require
consumer goods;
advocacy and the mobilisation of public
A policy framework that has
opinion on a very high level, given the
encouraged an open and externally
weight of the mineral energy complex in
oriented economy that
shaping energy and economic
facilitates financialisation and
policy. In the current Integrated
capital flight.
Resource Plan 2010, South
While the post-apartheid
Africas energy strategy for the
literature has focused on both
next 20 years, the countrys
the structural weaknesses of the
energy needs are overestimated
South African economy and the
and the possibilities for reducing
neoliberal policy framework
energy wastage underestimated.
as barriers to sustained
The Plan reinforces the role of
development, less focus has been
coal and of nuclear in providing
centred on SAs declining resource
for SAs energy needs while
base. However, unless economic
minimising the potential
growth is decoupled from rising
of renewable energy. The
rates of resource use and negative
reproduction of the minerals and
environmental impacts, economic
energy complex that has been
development will suffer with
so detrimental to South Africas
negative consequences for society
development, especially for poor
and the environment.
communities, is a convergence of
interests of a new elite anxious
Resource degradation
to use its political influence to
and the energy crisis
accumulate wealth and an old
In South Africa there is a
elite heavily invested in the
common pattern of resource
minerals, energy and finance
depletion across a wide range
sectors of the economy.
of key resource sectors, such as
Another energy perspective
energy, minerals, water (by 2004,
is necessary. One that coincides
98% of the total water resource
with an economic policy oriented
had already been allocated) or
to overcoming poverty, inequality
soil fertility (land degradation
and unemployment.
has already occurred on 41%
Yet the alliance of the elites
of cultivated land). Even South
is closing off possibilities for
Africas biodiversity is under
new policies to emerge. Rather
extreme stress from industrial
than breaking with the Mbeki
It is the dynamics of this system that have set humanity up against the limits
processes and climate change.
administration, the Zuma regime
the planet. As fish need water and humans need air to survive, the market
The depletion of these sectors will of
has given greater space for elite
economy needs increasing profit rates and unlimited growth.
have an adverse effect on South
capture and accumulation. The
African exports and drive up the
failure to deal with the structural
input costs of locally produced goods,
Medupe and Kusile, will dramatically
crises gripping the South African social
further undermining the economy.
increase South Africas already very high
formation is fuelling the very same
Against the background of the global
per capita CO2 emissions. The Medupe
tensions in society that emerged under
crisis, South Africas vulnerability to
power station alone will put out about 30
the Mbeki government. These are made
external shocks from the global economy
million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
worse by the impact of the global crisis.
has been successively demonstrated
per annum, which is greater than the total Fundamental economic and energy
through currency crashes, capital flight,
emissions of 130 countries.
alternatives are urgently needed to put
export declines and massive job losses.
On a global scale, the South African
South Africa on a different trajectory.
During the Great Recession of 2008/9, a
economy is uniquely electricity intensive,
million jobs alone were lost.
with levels of consumption comparable
Disclaimer
In these circumstances, the
to those of rich industrialised countries
government has developed a new growth
like Britain. Yet, household consumption
The views expressed in the articles do not
path and established the Ministry of
constitutes a fraction of electricity use.
necessarily reflect those of the Alternative
Economic Development to drive its
Most electricity is consumed in mining,
Information & Development Centre, or the
implementation. A major concern of
mineral processing and related industries.
Amandla! Editorial Collective.
this new economic policy is the creation
Coal is responsible for over 80% of the
A ma n dl a ! I ssu e N o . 22/ 23 | DE CE MB E R 2 0 1 1

letters
4

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o .2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

Sport is political and reflects the inequality of the broader society.

While the socialist left are playing their

violins our townships are bleeding
Dear Amandla!
At what stage is the left going to respond
to the horrendous killings that are a
daily feature of life on the Cape Flats?
Are you not losing an opportunity to
intervene in a meaningful way when you
dont open dialogue with the community
organisations who try to address these
issues? One gets the impression that the
details of the working class peoples lives
are sacrificed at the altar for the latest sexy
Grand National Campaign when often
the potential of building alliances with
the immediate issues affecting the poor is
right under our noses.
Is it not ironic that many on the
left who lambasted and attacked the
UDF in the 1980s now crave a similar
movement but refuse to get their hands
dirty? They rather choose shortcuts and
lofty manifestos and declarations while
lacking any real relationship with those
they claim to represent.
I will refresh your memories on the
building of the UDF: it was a long, slow
grind-along that got down and dirty about
things like young people and gangsterism
it never solved it but it contained it.
Partially because it provided a political
analysis of how the system breeds
gangsterism and conditions that kill
the poor on so many levels. Progressive
movements in the slums of Rio, Mexico
City and Bogota recognise the mobilising
necessity of fighting the scourge of
gangsterism so why not us?
brief timeline of the bleeding on
theCapeFlats:

November 1: Bonteheuwel one-yearold baby caught in the crossfire when

gangsters open fire on a family member
October 31: Wagieda Jabaar, 25, killed in
crossfire while on her way to hospital
October 29: Hanover Park young
mother of two killed in open field
October 23: Lavender Hill William
Borens is shot outside his home and
robbed of R40
October 19: Carmelita Martin killed
after being hit in the neck by a stray
bullet outside her home
July 13: Hanover Park Shamiel
Neil, gang member, killed outside
Hanover Park taxi rank after surviving
assassination a week earlier.
Born in the struggle,

Mariam, David, Hoosein, Angela UDF

Sport is political
Dear Amandla!
How come your very informative
magazine never covers issues related to
sport? Ronnie Kasrils wearing a Springbok
rugby jersey does not count (Amandla!
Issue 21, October 2011).
Sport is increasingly related to politics,
finance and the broader economy. I
would like to read intelligent analysis of
sporting events. But I would also like to
read about why womens sport receives
such miniscule coverage in the media
and support from the state. Why is it not
possible for Amandla! to write about the
crisis of schools sport? Surely if we want
to transform our sporting codes and have
more working class and black players
playing at the highest levels then it would

be necessary to develop school sport and

put much greater energy and resources
into this?
Like most other things in this world,
sport is political, of interest to millions
of working class and poor people and
reflects the inequality of the broader
society. Surely this lends itself to regular
features, articles and columns?

or organisational greed. It is rooted in the

system.
Thank you,

Anonymous

John Dawes

Corruption is rooted in the system

Dear Amandla!
South Africa is a country that has so many
pandemics that have entangled it, in a
way that we cannot see society without
them. They are entrenched in the mindset
of our citizens. The main three are HIV/
AIDS, unemployment and corruption.
Corruption is this a South African
problem only? Is this a new problem that
only started after the false-independence?
We can debate these questions till thy
kingdom come.

Most of our focus is on state

institutions only, when in fact corruption
is everywhere. You find corrupt officials
in the labour movement, cooperatives,
NGOs and in the business sector. There is
no sector or individual that is immune to
corruption. We can track this in SA way
back to 1997 or 1998 when Dr Mandela
was still the president. I am not implying
that he was implicated in the arms deal
saga, but he held the highest office in SA.
Is it because money in itself corrupts
and breeds greediness in those who
have power over it? Well this is another
question I am going to open widely
to the Amandla! readers. I have been
reading about other countries besides
SA and international institutions where
government-related or independent
corruption has been the main problem
that its leaders have been trying to curb.
All I am saying is that money is the
root of corruption. Money (bank notes)
in itself is corruption. Do we think we
would have corruption if there was no
money? Would we have a corrupt official
if the Minister of Human Settlement
was given bricks and cement and all the
necessary equipment to build houses?
The problem is deeper than individuals

could offer these things: many of our kids

are practically minded and enjoy working
with their hands and doing creative
things. Our house has become a haven for
such children, they fix tings like bicycles
etc. but it is still not enough. We try.
Oh how I wish people would realise
what the gang leaders are doing! They
prey on the weakest kids, which is so sad.
There must be community efforts to rid us
of these people but also to build hope in
our area.
Thank you,

Debbie Hofmeister from Hanover Park

Who are the gangs? they are our youth, and they
deserve our help.

Letter from Hanover Park: we must not

give up on our youth!
Dear Amandla!
I am a mother and a community activist
at the forefront of organising around
social issues affecting Hanover Park.
Along with other women we rally the
community to address the scourge of
gangsterism, drugs and unemployment.
There are many reasons for the recent
surges of violence: peer pressure, lack of
hope, broken families, idle youngsters
and unemployment Schools dont
accommodate our young people who
display learning problems or arent
academically inclined; kids are bored by
school and very often feel left out and
frustrated. Who are the gangs? They are
our youth, and instead of condemning
them I regard them as our people, people
that need help. They are very vulnerable
to the temptation of drugs and gangs,
very often coming from single-mother
homes where things are hard, where they
lack affection and love. They get drawn to
company that destroys them, people with
no self worth. Our coloured communities
were devastated by apartheid and it hasnt
ended, it continues in horrible ways.
I have been in Hanover Park for
almost 30 years. I came here as a teen
when we were forcibly removed from
Lansdowne, when it was declared white.
Although there was gangsterism back
then, it was not like now. I was involved
as a young person in youth clubs, music
and lots of activities. It seems to be
different for young people today: even if
extra-murals are offered, the kids dont
go. I feel sorry for them, they have no
ambitions. These young gang members
touch my heart and must not be given up
on. My husband and I started a project
called the Ecosoundmusical Forum to
give hope to young people. We bought
music instruments ourselves and started
a brass band and the kids respond well. It
keeps them off the streets. I wish schools

Let us not forget Linton Kwesi

Johnsons awful political record
Dear Amandla!
In Andre Maraiss appraisal of LKJ in
the previous issue of Amandla! he very
conveniently appropriates LKJ as a
fellow socialist while ignoring the very
real inconsistencies in LKJs brand of
socialism. We must not allow the euphoria
around the recent British riots to blind us
to the awful political record of LKJ and
particularly his involvement with Darcus
Howe and Race Today.
As Andre Marais very well knows
but prefers to omit from his article,
during the 1981 Brixton Riots, LKJ and
Race Today refused to campaign for the
arrested black and white rioters. Rather,
they insisted on holding blacks-only
meetings, and in doing so they passed up
the chance to build black and white unity
against the police. Similarly, LKJs stance
on the miners strike was in political
terms abstentionist. He and Darcus
Howe did not recognise the strike as the
most significant political struggle at that
time, and did not show any organising
support. Race Today and LKJ got much of
their inspiration from the ex-Trotskyist
CLR James and the new wave of writers
influenced by black, nationalist ideas.
It was this understanding and analysis
that paralysed Race Today in relation to
genuine working class struggles and even
on day-to-day race issues.
Throughout the 1980s they continued
on this route, ignoring the struggles that
involved organised and unorganised
black workers on strike. Is it not LKJ
that attacked the British white left for
being the worst kind of white liberal
racists (Independent Intavenshan)?
Also, according to the song, the white
trade union movement was completely
contaminated by racists. Johnsons
assertion that West Indian culture is
a radical political act in itself invited a
justifiable ticking off on television once by
the late Michael Smith, the late Jamaican
dub poet. A healthy reassessment of LKJ
is therefore necessary.
Thanks,

Marius

A ma n dl a ! I ssu e N o . 22/ 23 | DE CE MB E R 2 0 1 1

news
briefs
south africa
Rendition South Africa style
Senior officials in the Hawks and SA
Police Service are conducting illegal
renditions of Zimbabweans, who are
deported from South Africa, handed
to Zimbabwean security forces and
then murdered. Rendition is the illegal
kidnapping and transfer of a prisoner
from one country to another. This
practice has become infamous through
USA operations aimed at people involved
in resisting US operations in the Middle
East and Afghanistan.
According to the Sunday Times (6
November 2011), Police Minister Nathi
Mthethwa claims allegations of renditions
were baseless and imaginative, and
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe believes the
rendition claims were very worrying.
Head of the Hawks, Anwa Dramat,
confirmed that his unit had deported
three individuals, Witness Ndeya, Gordon
Dube and Pritchard Tshuma. All three
were killed, having been in custody in
Zimbabwe. According to Givemore
Nhidze, an MDC activist who was granted
asylum-seeker status in South Africa,
he was arrested in Polokwane by South
African and Zimbabwean security forces
and taken to a torture camp near Mutare
where he was assaulted and left for dead.
He was eventually smuggled back to SA
where he has made a full statement to
a law firm on his rendition and torture
inZimbabwe.
6

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

Israel's practices against the Palestinian people equate to an aggravated form of Apartheid.

Zimbabwean activists are demanding

a full investigation into this practice by
SAs security agencies and for the South
African government to put pressure
on the Mugabe administration to
immediately stop its violent repression of
democratic forces in Zimbabwe.

The Russell Tribunal on

Palestine in Cape Town
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine
held its third international session
from the 5th to the 7th of November
at the District Six Museum in Cape
Town. It explored the state of Israels
practices against the Palestinian
people and determined whether these
actions constituted that of apartheid.
While apartheid is prohibited under
international law and classified as a
crime against humanity, the Tribunal
itself holds no state-sanctioned power
to exercise. As an international citizenbased Tribunal of conscience, its aims are
to create a basis from which to enlighten
and mobilise public awareness, as well
as to pressurise international decision
makers to give agency to the human
rights of the Palestinian people. Residing
on the jury were Alice Walker, Cynthia
McKinney, Ronald Kasrils, John Dugard,
Yasmin Sooka, Mairead Maquire, Michael
Mansfield, Stphane Hessel, Jose Antionio
Martn Palln, Aminata Traor and
Gisle Halimi. Testimonies were given
by a handful of international activists,
academics, legal professionals all
deemed as experts on the matter and a
few Israeli and Palestinian witnesses.
After two days of intense and often
emotionally evoking witness and expert
accounts, the jury found that Israels
discriminatory and abusive practices
against the Palestinian people, particularly
in the Occupied Territories, equates to
an aggravated form of apartheid. While

these abuses vary in degree depending

upon location (i.e. whether in Israel
proper or in the Occupied Territories),
the Tribunal concluded that Israel
unequivocally subjects the Palestinian
people to an institutionalised regime
of domination amounting to apartheid
as defined under international law.
Arab citizens and Palestinians under
occupation have undergone a myriad of
human rights violations which include
sub-par legal status, widespread torture,
forced removals, deprivation of life under
military occupation, targeted killings,
denial of the right to return for refugees,
and so forth. The Tribunal will hold its
fourth and final session in New York City
next year.

international
G20: to the streets
Over 10000 demonstrators marched
on the streets of Nice on 1 November,
to denounce the illegitimacy of G20
and the injustice of economic policies
that it advocates. Indignant Spaniards,
Wall Street occupiers, Greek and
Senegalese rebels, Tunisian and Egyptian
revolutionaries, Latin American, Italian,
English, German, and French global
justice activists all were there. Engaged

in their own battles, they were united

during the demonstration and a summit
of peoples.
To the rhythm of sambas, colourful
and lively marches demanded an end
to tax havens, financial transparency,
a real financial transaction tax, radical
regulation of banks, a citizens audit
of public debt, more funds for social
programmes and ecological transition,
solidarity with the peoples of the South,
food sovereignty, the free movement of
women and men, and so on. Held after
the announcement of a Greek referendum
on the European Unions austerity plan,
this festive demonstration testifies to
an irrepressible demand for real local,
national, and global democracy.

G20: summit failure brings

world recession closer
The G20 meeting held in France has
once again revealed the deepening
fractures in the world economy and the
inability of the ruling elites to tackle
its problems, let alone resolve them.
The meeting began with fears over the
consequences of a Greek default and
withdrawal from the eurozone and in
ended in disarray amid concerns that Italy
was about to take the place of Greece at
the centre of the European debt crisis.
Britains Guardian newspaper
described the second day of the talks
as one of unrelenting gloom. It warned
that a world recession has drawn closer
after a fractious G20 summit failed to
agree to fresh financial help for distressed
countries and debt-ridden Italy was forced
to agree to the International Monetary
Fund monitoring its austerity programme.
In the lead-up to the summit, there
had been talk that the G20 would agree
to boost IMF resources by as much as

$250 billion in order to try to alleviate

the financial crisis. But disagreements
over the proposal the United States and
Britain have been strongly opposed to
additional IMF funding meant that a
decision was put off until a meeting of the
G20 finance ministers next February.
The G20 meeting provided no
assistance. The explosive potential of
the contradictions gripping the world
economy was made clear in the comments
on the Greek referendum proposal and
the prospect of default as the meeting
was convening. British Labour peer Lord
Soley remarked: When the history of
this period is written it may well be that
the Greek decision will be seen as the
economic equivalent of the assassination
of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo in
1914. It will trigger events way beyond
the borders of Greece or even Europe.
At the conclusion of the summit, as on
so many other occasions, the official
communiqu called for measures to
reinvigorate economic growth. However,
as the Financial Times noted, the action
plan for growth and jobs committed
countries to almost nothing they were
not already pursuing. It cited former
IMF senior official Eswar Prasad, who
castigated the G20 for offering nothing
but vague promises for the future and
a series of short-term fixes that are
hostile to the political circumstances in
individualcountries.

The global
unemployment crisis
The International Labour
Organizations report on global
unemployment paints a stark picture of
the global economy. Three years after
the onset of the economic crisis in 2008,
the global jobs situation is disastrous.

Surface smiles at the G20. The Cannes summit achieved nothing and revealed once more the incapacity of the ruling
elite to solve the financial crisis.

According to the ILO, 80 million jobs

would have to be added in the next two
years just to reach pre-crisis employment
levels. Basing itself on extraordinarily
optimistic assumptions, the ILO
anticipates that only half that number will
be created.
In the advanced industrial countries,
including the United States and Europe,
there are 13 million fewer jobs now then
four years ago. Employment in these
countries is not expected to recover until
well past 2016. Youth unemployment is
above 20%, and long-term unemployment
has soared to record heights.
Beyond the immediate indicators of
social distress to which many more
could be added the ILO report points
to an unprecedented build-up of social
tensions that are giving rise to conditions
for new social explosion on a world scale.
One of the ILOs comments is especially
revealing. Its report refers to the paradox
of the past three years; that the impact
of the global economic crisis of 200708
on the financial sector was short-lived
initially despite it being at the very
origin of the downturn.
There is, however, nothing paradoxical
about this. The crash of 2008 was set
off by the collapse of an enormous
speculative bubble. Since that time, world
governments, led by Washington, have
scrambled to ensure the wealth of the very
financial elite that created the crisis, at
the direct expense of the vast majority of
thepopulation.
In South Africa, we should be
particularly mindful that during the
200709 crisis more than a million jobs
were lost. South African corporations,
which have seen profit levels rising, have
been on an investment strike for some
time now, well before the onset of the
current global crisis. The South African
government has been forced, in the face
of lack of investment, to try to crowd in
investment by undertaking a massive
infrastructure investment programme.
But even this has not been able to address
the crippling unemployment crisis that
has precipitated a destabilising social
crisis in the country; crime, substance
abuse and violence against women
and children are only some of its most
visiblemanifestations.
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Q&A
with Pablo Soln

Pablo Solon

COP 17 cannot be a global

suicide pact: we need to end the
apartheid against Nature
Pablo Soln is an international
analyst and social activist. He
served as chief negotiator for climate
change and was ambassador of the
Plurinational State of Bolivia to the
UN from 2009 until June 2011.
Amandla! (A!): If Copenhagen was
a betrayal and Cancun treachery
(the words you used at the Dakar
2011 World Social Forum), what is
shaping up for Durban and how are
we likely to characterise COP 17?
Pablo Soln (PS): The outlook for
COP 17 is even worse than it was for
Copenhagen and Cancun. If there is not
enough social pressure, Durban could
end up formalising an increase in global
temperature of more than 4C that would
burn the planet and devastate Africa.
In the negotiations so far, those
responsible for climate change have made
no attempt to increase their commitments
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To have a hope of keeping temperature
increases limited to 2C, all countries
together need to reduce 14 gigatons (Gt)
of CO2e by 2020. Developed countries
that have a historical responsibility for
climate change are willing to reduce only
between 3 to 3.6 Gt. Developing countries
have committed to reduce by between
3.7 and 5 Gt. So in total there is a gap of

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

around 7 to 5 Gt of CO2e. In other words,

we are less than halfway to even having a
chance of meeting the global commitment
of a less than 2C temperature rise.
However, the reality is that even an
increase in temperature of 2C is not
a good option, particularly for Africa,
island states and mountain countries.
If the average temperature of the world
increases by 2C this means a 4C
increase for Africa. A global increase
of 4C means more than 8C for
thiscontinent.
COP 17 could easily become known
as the biggest collective suicide pact
inhistory.
A!: What are the essential steps to
stop climate change and what is the
time frame that we have before we
will face catastrophic outcomes?
PS: The key question is how much
developed countries are going to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Developing countries are asking for a
reduction of 40% to 50% by 201720.
Developed countries are saying that they
will reduce by only 13% to 17% by 2020.
Climate change is different to any
other global problem we have tried
to tackle because there is no option
to postpone decisions. In this case,
what we dont do today we wont be

able to accomplish tomorrow. As the

International Energy Agency warned
us this month: if the peak level of global
emissions doesnt decline before 2017,
then we are in a catastrophic situation.
Three hundred and fifty thousand people
died in 2010 because of natural disasters
that have to do with climate change
according to a report by the Climate
Vulnerable Forum. So the genocide
has already begun and accompanies an
ecocide that is destroying our biodiversity.
What we are able to accomplish in
Durban and in the following years will
define the future of humankind and life on
Planet Earth.
A!: What do you see as the
most important demands social
movements and popular forces
should be making at COP 17?
PS: The most important demand is for
deep radical emission reductions that
can guarantee a future of decent life for
all people and our Mother Earth. Its not
enough to have a second commitment
period within the Kyoto Protocol. We
have to improve and strengthen the
Kyoto Protocol. Yet the worlds leaders
seem determined to transform it into an
emptyshell.
The second demand is to begin a
process of recognition and defence of
Mother Earths rights. The problem of
climate change is basically due to the
capitalist misconception that everything
man-made and in our environment is
just an input or a resource to exploit to
make money. We must respect the vital
cycles of Nature. We have to treat our
Planet as our home and not as a bundle of
resources that we can exploit, change or
sell without consequences.
In the past, black and indigenous
people were treated as slaves without
rights. Now we need to end the apartheid
against Mother Earth and recognise that
Nature has rights.
The third demand should be for real
emission cuts that are not dependent
on market mechanisms that encourage
cheating and are developed only to
make money at the cost of peoples
rights. The truth is that even the limited
commitments by developed countries
are not based entirely on reductions
within their own borders, but have a
sizeable components that come from
buying polluting permits (certificates of
emissions reductions) from developing
countries worth a total of around 1.1 Gt.
In real terms, developed countries only
intend to reduce less than 2 Gt of CO2e
by 2020.
Corporations that have a strong
influence in some negotiating delegations
are only concerned about the death of
the Kyoto Protocol because they fear the
resulting disappearance of the carbon
market mechanism linked to the protocol

(Clean Development Mechanism and

others).
Durban must not be remembered
as the place where carbon markets were
saved and life was buried.
The fourth demand is to preserve our
forests through a finance mechanism
that is not based on markets but on a
share of a tax of international financial
transactions. We want to save our
forest they want to commodify our
forest through the REDD (Reductions
of Emissions from Degradation and
Deforestation) programme. If REDD
continues, indigenous peoples rights
will be undermined, no matter what
safeguards are included, and countries
will be sued in the future through bilateral
investment agreements, losing sovereignty
over their forests.

Peoples Conference on Climate Change

and the Rights of Mother Earth in
2010 agreed: The capitalist system has
imposed on us an ideology of progress
and unlimited growth. This regime of
production and consumption is guided by
the search for maximum gain, forgetting
completely the implications of an infinite
growth pattern on a finite planet. This
pattern of development has separated
human beings from nature, establishing a
rationale of domination over nature and
leading to the destruction of Nature.
We need to build society on a
new model that respects nature and
humankind. Our Mother Earth has
enough resources for everyone if we
act on the basis of solidarity and not
competition, respect for, rather than
exploitation of, nature.

A!: If COP 17 continues with

business as usual meaning no
binding agreement for emission
cuts, no real financing of poorer
and developing countries to deal
with the impact of climate change
and to transform their energy
systems, no processes to facilitate
technology transfers where will
that leave the UN multilateral
process? Are there any alternatives
where movements and citizens
should focus their activism?

A!: How should we build on the

Peoples Agreement developed
by thousands of activists from
around the world in Bolivia in April
2010? What are the next steps?

PS: The multilateral process of

negotiation is the result of the balance of
forces at the national and global levels.
We need to strengthen the movement
for Mother Earth and against climate
change in our community and in each
of our countries. The indignados, the
Occupy Wall Street protests, uprisings
against dictatorships, the struggle against
unemployment are all part of a single
fight against the capitalist system. We
need to call for local referendums in our
town, provinces or states to back radical
greenhouse gases emission cuts, enact
the rights of nature, cut military budgets,
tax international financial transactions,
implement participatory democracy and
resolve other local important issues (coal
plants, atomic energy plants, etc).
The key task is to articulate, at a global
level, all the local and national actions that
are taking place in all parts of the world.
We need to practise what we preach and
build a global and horizontal movement
based on diversity of thinking with a
common soul for real change.
A!: What is actually meant by
the slogan system change not
climate change? What are the
strategies that go with such
a slogan building on current
activism and mobilisation?
PS: The real cause of climate change
is the capitalist system. As the World

PS: The Peoples Agreement was

a great step forward by thousands of
activists around the world which needs
to be preserved and translated into our
daily lives. Bolivia stood alone in Cancun
to defend the agreement adopted by
representatives of social movements
from the five continents. We stood firm,
rejecting the diplomatic compromises and
trade-offs that are leading us to genocide
and ecocide.
In the coming months we need to
organise at the local and national level,
analysing the outcome of Durban and
preparing for Rio+20.
A!: What is the importance of the
Rio+20 Summit to be held in Rio
in June 2012 and what is at stake
for humanity and Mother Earth?
PS: On the one hand there are great
opportunities to advance towards
recognition of the Rights of Nature; on
the other hand there is great danger of
a new process of commodification of
nature through what is called the Green
Economy. Many neoliberal governments
are saying that humankinds imbalance
with nature is due to market failures
because the capitalist system didnt fully
integrate the environmental services of
nature. So they are promoting something
like REDD on a huge scale for water, land,
oceans and bees saying that we need to
put a monetary value on the services that
they provide, privatise them as services
and bring them into the market.
Rio+20 will be a fight between
the Green Economy and the Rights of
Nature two different and fundamentally
opposed approaches to the key issue of
the XXI Century: How can we restore
harmony with Nature?
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ANCYL

Economic freedom
in our lifetime:
a timely wake up call
By Amandla! Editorial Staff

The African National Congress Youth League and supporters took their frustration over poverty and joblessness to the
streets on the 27th of October 2011.

ANCYL
The tragedy and most severe
critique of the South African left is
that Julius Malema and the ANC Youth
League were allowed to hijack the
struggle for economic freedom, for
their own opportunistic and demagogic
purposes. It would thus be a big mistake
for the left to dismiss the Youth Leagues
march for economic freedom with the
same cynicism of the mass media. The
media both created the hysteria around
the march and then systematically
downplayed the numbers that participated
and pooh-poohed the central theme
of economic freedom. The media
additionally played the man not the ball
by focusing on the manifest and multiple
contradictions of Malema: marching for
economic freedom today, partying in the
lap of luxury on the next in Mauritius.

The march
Faced with the huge logistical
challenges of marching on the Chamber of
Mines in the city centre, the Johannesburg
Securities Exchange (JSE) in Sandton
and then going on to the Union Building
10

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

some 5060 km away is not the easiest

of undertakings. Yet more than 15000
people participated at different points
on this long march. Those of us working
in the labour movement and with
social movements can appreciate those
numbers. They are not insignificant. This
march required stamina. Some of us
would baulk at a 10 km walk. This was a
march where people suffered for a cause.
Not an everyday occurrence in postapartheid SA.

And the cause was

economic freedom
Yes, economic freedom can mean
anything and, in South Africa, it has come
to mean an exceedingly privileged right
reserved for the politically privileged
elite and those few groups with suitable
connections to the political elite. No one
should make light of the political freedom
won in 1994; most people, however, are
still waiting for their economic liberation
from poverty and open exploitation. The
Freedom Charter the rallying cry and
unifying promises for so many during
the struggle against apartheid remains

impoverished. The mineral wealth

beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly
industries all remain secure in private
hands. The promise of controlling all
other industries to assist the wellbeing of
the people similarly remains empty.
However, workers and the
unemployed throughout the world are
discovering their shared plight. Moreover,
they are discovering further common
features. They are becoming aware of
class, of how capitalist globalisation
has become a central issue everywhere
concentrating wealth and creating 99%
vs 1% societies. The global economic
crisis refuses to go away, despite all the
comforting assurances from our economic
experts. South Africa will become
increasingly infected by the European
form of the crisis and, with a likely new
wave of retrenchments here, more poverty
and misery will be distributed to the
economically disenfranchised majority.
Economic freedom means much more
than just the nationalisation of the mines
and the other heights of the economy
although the left should be chastised for
leaving it to the ANCYL for making this
an issue of national debate. It means a
wage- and employment-led growth path
sufficient to sustain local production of
the goods and services needed by our
people to guarantee a decent life. The
reality of course is that capital prefers
to speculate and disinvest from SA
rather than investing in the productive
job-creating sectors of our economy.
Economic freedom means liberating
the massive surpluses in our pension
funds and investing these in national
priorities such as building a renewable
energy industry, public transport, and
sustainable small-scale agriculture that
can sustain millions of jobs. Ultimately,
economic freedom means socialising
the decision making over investments;
economic freedom means workers
and communities will decide what
is produced by whom, where and in
whatnumbers.
Economic freedom is a slogan for our
time; it might even become a material
force behind which millions rally.

ANCYL

Malemas disciplinary:

too soon to write the youth leaders obituary

By Amandla! Editorial Staff

nyone interested in South

Africa will be asking: What is
the political future of Malema if
he does not appeal his five-year
suspension from the ANC? What is the
future of the ANC Youth League, and
what is the future of the ANC?
A week is a long time in politics,
former leader of the British Labour
Party, Harold Wilson, once said. That
is very true for South Africas Alliance
politics given its factional struggles and
divisions. Nevertheless, it is possible to
suggest some likely scenarios following
Malemassuspension.
Those writing him off should be
more cautious. Karima Brown composed
Malemas political obituary in the
Southern African Report, saying that his
suspension not only brings Malemas
career to a grinding halt (and with it the
challenge he has led against a second term
for Jacob Zuma); it also delivers massive
collateral damage to those in the ANC
who have encouraged and supported him
in mounting his challenge.
It was Mark Twain who said
the reports of my death are greatly
exaggerated. Malema is signalling the
same with his message, the gloves are
off . There is absolutely no doubt that
Malemas suspension is a substantial
blow to the Youth League leader and to
those factions that are campaigning for
regime change in the ANC. However, his
removal from the position of president
of the ANCYL will dent his influence
but not undermine it. He retains mass
support among township youth and
other marginalised layers and is still an
important player in the build-up to the
ANC 2012 Mangaung Conference. He
is a powerful figure in his own right,
having been brought into Zumas inner
circle both in the struggle against Mbeki
and in the post-Polokwane period. He
is backed by senior leaders in the ANC
who gave him licence to develop a radical
profile and rhetoric. This has turned
the ANCYL into the most dynamic
structure in the ANC, providing troops
for its branch structures. During the
recent ANCYL Congress where he was
elected unopposed he signalled that
the strategy of the Youth League was to
determine voting numbers by positioning
themselves strategically at branch, district
and provincial level. In this they have
contested the space and methods of the
SACP that systematically used the post-

Malema and company are not going to idly sit and see their power, influence and access to wealth stripped by an
ANC National Disciplinary Committee.

Mbeki space to strengthen its support

base in the ANC.
Malema and the Youth League
have become an important and useful
instrument of nationalist and other forces
in the ANC wanting to roll back the
SACPs powerful influence in the Zumaled ANC.
Already in October 2009 NEC
member Billy Masetlha railed publically:
I will have a problem with someone
trying to impose a communist manifesto
on the ANC. We fired a lot of [comrades]
in the past who wanted to do the same
thing. He went on to warn Zuma
that if he did not take a firm stand on
the perceived increase in the SACPs
influence, ANC members would revolt
against him as they had against his
predecessor, Thabo Mbeki.
The struggle for position in the ANC
is not just about good jobs but also about
tenderpreneurship and enormous wealth
gains. Malema and the ANCYL have
always been influential in positioning for
state contracts and tenders. As recent
investigations reveal, Malemas personal
wealth has been based on the receipt
of government tenders. His suspension
will limit his influence in the awarding
of tenders, but he is still influential in
determining the awarding of lucrative
tenders in Limpopo without occupying
any official position in the government.
Malema and company are not
going to sit idly and see their power,

influence and access to wealth stripped

by an ANC National Disciplinary
Committee. Apart from appealing the
suspensions, mobilising supporters on
the NEC and mobilising support within
ANC structures, they will emulate
Zuma and mobilise on the basis of a
political conspiracy. But do they have
the numbers? This is far from clear and
will be determined by other battles in
the Alliance and its structures. The
suspended Youth League leaders will have
an increasingly divided ANC to play in
where personal rather than political
differences often determine outcomes.
Lost in all the attention given to
Malema is the chilling verdict against
one of his co-accused, the YLs secretarygeneral: it is now a serious disciplinary
offence for any ANC member publicly to
criticise any member of the government.
Saying that a minister is pleasing
imperialists can get one suspended for
18months.
At this stage, things look good for
Zuma and a second term. The same
coalition of forces necessary to win
the Mangaung Conference that were
built on the road to Polokwane is not
there for Malema and those in the ANC
wanting to mount a challenge to the
Zumaleadership.
However, a year is far longer than
a week. Much water will flow under
the proverbial bridge before we get
toMangaung.
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11

SPECIAL
FEATURE

COP 17:

Conference of
Polluters?
This special feature of Amandla! was inspired
by the forthcoming COP 17,the 17th Conference
of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), occurring in Durban, South
Africa, between the 28th of November and
the 9th of December 2011. This feature is a
collaboration between Amandla! and the
Canadian publication Canadian Dimensions.
We focus on an analysis of what is likely
and unlikely to come out of COP 17, the
Conference of Polluters. We have gathered
reports on grassroots opposition to some of
the worst contributors to green house Gas
(GHG) emissions worldwide and analyse issues
such as shale gas (fracking), uranium mining
and indigenous rights to land. We explore
specific resistance movements in both South
Africa and Canada and expose the shortfalls of
'green capitalism' and market responses to the
climatecrisis.

12

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COP 17

Durban COP 17:

failures in
the making
By Patrick Bond

he failure of Durbans
COP17 a veritable
Conference of Polluters
is certain, but the nuance
and spin are also important.
Binding emissions-cut commitments
under the Kyoto Protocol are impossible
given Washingtons push for an alternate
architecture that is also built upon sand.
The devils in the details over climate
finance and technology include an
extension of private-sector profit-making
opportunities at public expense, plus
bizarre new technologies that threaten
planetary safety.
Politically, the overall orientation
of global climate policy managers,
especially from the US State
Department and World Bank,
eventually will be to displace the
main process to the G20. This did
not happen in Cannes because of
the Greek and Italian economic
crises, but is likely in future. It
entails Washingtons rejection
of any potential overall UN
solution to the climate crisis
which in any case is a zeropossibility in the near future
because of the terribly adverse
power balance and the UNs
dismissal of civil societys varied
critiques of market strategies.
The COP negotiators will also
reject climate justice movements
strategies to keep fossil fuels
in the ground and its demands
for state-subsidised, communitycontrolled, transformative energy,
transport, production, consumption and
disposalsystems.
Recall from last December how
disappointed the progressive movement
was that in the wake of the 2009
Copenhagen fiasco, the primary facesaving at the Cancun summit was
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13

SPECIAL
FEATURE
The Cancun Summits (2010)
Effectively kills the only binding agreement, Kyoto Protocol, in favour of a completely
inadequate bottom-up voluntary approach;
Increases loopholes and flexibilities that allow developed countries to avoid action
via an expansion of offsets and continued existence of surplus allowances of
carbon after 2012 by countries such as Ukraine and Russia, which effectively
cancel out any other reductions;
Finance commitments weakened: commitments to provide new and additional
financial resources to developing countries have been diluted to talking more
vaguely about mobilizing [resources] jointly, with expectation that this will mainly
be provided by carbon markets;
The World Bank is made trustee of the new Green Climate Fund, which has been
strongly opposed by many civil society groups due to the undemocratic make-up of
the Bank and its poor environmental record;
No discussion of intellectual property rights, repeatedly raised by many countries,
as current rules obstruct transfer of key climate-related technologies to developing
countries;
Constant assumption in favour of market mechanisms to resolve climate change
even though this perspective is not shared by a number of countries, particularly in
Latin America;
Green light given for the controversial Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and
Forest Degradation (REDD) programme, which often ends up perversely rewarding
those responsible for deforestation, while dispossessing indigenous and forest
dwellers of their land;
Systematic exclusion of proposals that came from the historic World Peoples
Conference on Climate Change, including proposals for a Climate Justice Tribunal,
full recognition of indigenous rights and rights of Mother Nature.

restoration of faith in carbon markets. The

Bolivian delegation was the only sensible
insider team, and they summed up the
summits eight shortcomings (see box
above on the Cancun Summits).
Nothing will be different in Durban,
but in the meantime all the worst
tendencies in world capitalism have
conjoined to prevent progress on the two
14

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

main areas of COP 17 decisions: financing

and technology. The latter includes
intellectual property rights barriers
which must be overcome, reminiscent of
how militant AIDS-treatment activists
liberated antiretroviral (ARV) medicines
in 2003 at the Doha World Trade
Organisation summit. Before that summit,
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights

provisions allowed Big Pharma to charge

$15000 per person per year for life-saving
ARVs, even though generic drugs cost a
fraction of that sum. A similar push to
decommodify vital climate technology
is needed, but only a few activists have
prioritised this struggle.
After all, technological processes that
threaten the earth have intensified, such
as geo-engineering, shale-gas fracking
(endorsed by the SA National Planning
Commission), tar sands extraction, and
carbon capture and storage schemes
aiming to bury greenhouse gases.
The Johannesburg company SASOL
continues to build up the worlds most
CO2-intensive factory by converting coal
and gas to liquid petroleum, for which it
requests carbon credits from the UN.
And in spite of the Fukushima
catastrophe, the US and South Africa
continue a major nuclear energy
expansion. The mad idea of seeding
the oceans with iron filings to generate
carbon-sequestrating algae blooms
continues to get attention. In October
2010, the Convention on Biological
Diversity in Nagoya, Japan called for a
halt to geo-engineering, but a year later
British scientists began experimenting
with stratospheric aerosol injections
as a way to artificially cool the planet.
As Canadian technology watchdog
Diana Bronson put it, This so-called
Solar Radiation Management could
have devastating consequences: altering
precipitation patterns, threatening food
supplies and public health, destroying
ozone and diminishing the effectiveness of
solarpower.
The financial mechanisms under
debate since Cancun are just as dangerous
because austerity-minded states in the US
and European Union are backtracking on
their $100 billion/year promise of a Green
Climate Fund to promote carbon trading.
That Fund appears set to re-subsidise
carbon markets by ensuring they become
the source of revenues, instead of larger
flows of direct aid from rich countries,
which activists suggest should become
a down payment on the Norths climate
debt. The markets have been foiled

COP 17
by their own internal corruption and
contradictions, as well as by left critiques
in key sites such as California and
Australia, and rightwing climate change
denialism in the US Congress.
But most importantly, the EUs
emissions trading scheme is still failing
to generate even $10/ton carbon prices,
whereas at least $50 would be required
to start substantial shifts from fossil fuels
to renewables. And world financial chaos
means no one can trust the markets
toself-correct.
Even with a rise of 2C, scientists
generally agree, small islands will sink,
Andean and Himalayan glaciers will melt,
coastal areas such as much of Bangladesh
and many port cities will drown and
Africa will dry out or in some places flood.
With the trajectory going into Durban,
the result will be a cataclysmic 45C rise
in temperature over this century, and if
Copenhagen and Cancun promises are
broken, as is reasonable to anticipate,
7Cis likely.
After 16 annual Conferences of
Parties, the power balance within the
UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change continues to degenerate. On the
other hand, growing awareness of elite
paralysis is rising here in Durban, even
within a generally uncritical mass media.
That means the space occupied by
activists will be crucial for highlighting
anti-extraction campaigns including
the Canadian tar sands, West Virginia
mountains, Ecuadoran Amazon and Niger
Delta the hottest spots at present.

The triumph
of King Coal:

hardening our coal addiction

By Fred Pearce

Expanding the
Enviro Fightback
Beyond defensive campaigning,
transformative politics are crucial. Robust
South African community protests
include sustained demands for a better
environment in townships, including
increased housing, electricity, water and
sanitation, waste removal, healthcare
and education. Connecting the dots to
climate is the challenge for movement
strategists, for example by linking the
rising Eskom price to its decision to build
new coal-fired powerplants whose main
beneficiaries are BHP Billiton and Anglo
American. The post-apartheid South
African governments lack of progress on
renewable energy, public transport and
ecologically aware production mirrors its
failures in basic service delivery, which
have generated among the worlds highest
rate of social protest and to link these
via the new Durban Climate Justice
network will offer a real threat, not of
Seattling Durban but of establishing a
counter power that cannot be ignored.
Patrick Bond directs the University of KwaZuluNatal Centre for Civil Society in Durban. His two
most recent books are Politics of Climate Justice
and Durbans Climate Gamble.

When the talks began half a decade ago, 25 percent of the worlds primary energy came from coal. The figure is now
29.6 percent. Between 2009 and 2010, global coal consumption grew by almost 8 percent.

Despite all the talk about curbing

greenhouse gas emissions, the world
is burning more and more coal. The
inconvenient truth is that coal remains
a cheap and dirty fuel and the idea of
clean coal remains a distant dream.
This years UN climate negotiations
are in Durban, South Africa. Many
delegates will already be looking forward
to the chance of going on safari after their
labours, visiting Kruger National Park or
one of the countrys other magnificent
game reserves. But I have another
suggestion. Visit the enemy. Just two
hours drive up the Indian Ocean coast
from Durban is Richards Bay, a huge
deep-water harbour that is home to the
worlds largest coal export terminal.
Anyone seduced by the conference
exhibition halls in Durban, filled with the
latest renewable energy technology, will
get a rude awakening at Richards Bay.
For it may tell the real story of our energy
futures and it is scary.
King Coal is extending his kingdom.
So dysfunctional is the worlds response to

climate change that every year, the dirtiest

fuel of them all is generating a growing
proportion of the worlds energy.
All the talks in Durban will be of how
to kick the coal habit. But as the climate
talks have dragged on from Nairobi in
2006 to Bali to Poznan to Copenhagen
to Cancun and now to Durban we have
been hardening our addiction.
When the talks began half a decade
ago, 25% of the worlds primary energy
came from coal. The figure is now 29.6%
. Between 2009 and 2010, global coal
consumption grew by almost 8%.
South Africa may enjoy green plaudits
for hosting the Durban conference. And,
to be fair, it has offered to reduce the
carbon intensity of its economy. But the
fact is that today the would-be midwife
of a global climate deal has rich-world
emissions in a predominantly poor-world
country. Per head of population, its CO2
emissions are higher than those in the UK,
while its GDP per capita is only a sixth
as much. It is responsible for about 40%
of Africas CO2 emissions from fossilfuelburning.
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Despite all the talk about curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the world is burning more and more coal. Coal remains
a cheap and dirty fuel.

The reason is coal. Making energy by

burning coal produces twice as much CO2
as by burning natural gas. And South Africa
is one of the most coal-dependent nations
on Earth, generating 93% of its electricity
from the black stuff, compared to Chinas
80%, Indias 70% and the USs 45%.
Besides its domestic reliance on coal,
South Africa also helps maintain the
rest of the worlds ruinous carbon fix. It
is the worlds third-largest exporter of
power-station coal. Its giant mines in
Mpumalanga province feed a constant
convoy of coal trains headed for Richards
Bay. Recently expanded, the export
terminal there can now handle 91 million
tons of coal a year enough to produce
more than 200 million tons of CO2.
Mining giants Anglo American and
BHP Billiton ship that coal to Europe,
and, increasingly, to the new industrial
powerhouses of Asia.
The world is in the middle of a coal
rush. That is why last year despite
much political posturing about curbing
greenhouse gas emissions the 5.8% rise
in global energy-related CO2 emissions
marginally exceeded the global rise in
energy consumption. Thanks to coal,
the worlds economy is becoming more
carbon intensive.
Cynics who said tougher carbon
controls in rich nations might increase
global emissions by outsourcing energyintensive industries to poorer nations
with laxer standards are, for now at least,
being proved right. While many Western
economies stall, many developing
economies are growing fast. And the
continuing heavy dependence of many
of them on coal is pushing up the global
economys reliance on the dirtiest fuel.
China may be the worlds largest
producer of wind turbines and solar
panels, but its coal consumption has
16

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doubled in the past eight years. In 2010,

an amazing 48% of all the coal burnt in the
world was burnt in China. The countrys
roads are clogged with coal trucks headed
from mines to power stations. Earlier this
month, there was a 40-mile traffic backup
out of the major coal-mining region in
Shaanxi province. Trucks were taking
a week to get down the main highway,
which carries 160 million tons of coal a
year. Last year, 10000 vehicles were stuck
for days on another coal road, out of Inner
Mongolia.
Meanwhile, Indias coal consumption
has doubled in 12 years. It is expected to
have three times as many coal-burning
power stations by the end of the decade.
India, like China, has huge coal reserves
of its own. But its economy is growing so
fast that its miners cannot dig the stuff out
of the ground quickly enough, causing a
surge in imports. South Africas Richards
Bay is a major supplier, along with
Australia and Indonesia, which is likely
to become the worlds top coal exporter
before the decade is out.
None of this excuses the West. The
US remains the worlds second-largest
coal burner, after China. Japan is the
worlds largest coal importer, and industry
lobbyists use the phrase clean coal to
suggest we can have both our coal and
ourclimate.
Germany is the biggest producer
of brown coal. The sad truth is that
Germanys plan to shut down its
nuclear power plants in the wake of the
Fukushima accident in Japan is already
resulting in resurgent investment in
coal. Analysts Point Carbon predict that
the switch will increase German CO2
emissions during the coming decade by
around half a billion tons.
Why doesnt the world care? One
reason is expediency. The inconvenient

truth is that coal remains the worlds

cheapest fuel for electricity generation
and industrial heat and power. Another is
coals PR.
Clean coal is its cleverest piece
of sophistry. Lobby organisations like
the American Coalition for Clean Coal
Electricity sponsored in the past by BHP
Billiton, Duke Energy and others use
the phrase to foster the idea that we can
have both our coal and our climate. Most
insidiously, the industry has persuaded
many policymakers that dirty coal today
can pay for clean coal tomorrow.
Clean coal is a distant vision, which
could some day be possible through a
technology known as carbon capture and
storage in which CO2 is stripped from
stack emissions, liquefied and buried
underground. But large-scale deployment
of what would be a massive new industry
is at least a couple of decades and tens
of billions of R&D dollars away. And
industry will only do it if forced.
Moreover, since the economic
downturn in the West, investment in the
necessary R&D to develop the technology
has dried up. In September, the
International Energy Agency warned that
government support for CCS around the
world was waning. With current policies,
CCS will have a hard time being deployed,
the agencys deputy executive director
Richard Jones told a high-level meeting in
Beijing. Steve Chu, Barack Obamas greenminded energy secretary, warned at the
same meeting that we are losing time. It is
very important that we get moving.
In the US, the FutureGen clean-coal
pilot project has been stalled since the
Bush administration pulled the plug and
ordered a re-evaluation, in 2008. Under
Obama, a test well is being drilled in
western Illinois, but the first carbon wont
be buried until 2016 at the earliest.
In Britain, once in the vanguard
of action on climate change, the
government is scaling back its green
energy investment. An early casualty
was its flagship $1.6-billion CCS project
in Scotland, which was canceled earlier
this month. That represented four wasted
years. Denmark also canceled a pilot
carbon storage project this month.
Nobody expects a UN climate deal
in Durban this year nor next year, nor
the year after. But meanwhile the coal
keeps burning. Global production is
set to rise by 35% in the coming decade,
according to industry analysts. The
cheapest, most abundant and dirtiest of
all the fossil fuels is extending its grip
on the worlds energy supply system.
And nowhere more so than just up the
coast from Durban.
Fred Pearce is a freelance author and journalist
based in the UK. He serves as environmental
consultant for New Scientist magazine and is the
author of numerous books.

COP 17

The climate change

White Paper: the right
colour for South Africa?
By Jacklyn Cock

False solution: green

climate fund

Changing the system is necessary because capitalism is not compatible with addressing climate change. The
White Paper fails to address South Africas deep development needs and shows no attempt to address the present
inequalities in access to water, for example.

he South African
governments climate change
policy is rooted in a green
neoliberal capitalism: reliance
on market mechanisms,
technological innovation
and expanding markets. Underlying all
these strategies is the broad process of
commodification: the transformation
of nature and all social relations into
economic relations, subordinated to the
logic of the market and the imperatives of
profit. This greenorientation is evident
in the October 2011 National Climate
Change Response White Paper, but there
are shadings of other colours.

A green paper pointing

to a new energy regime?
The strengths of the paper are
that, like the earlier Green Paper, it
underlines the seriousness of the threat

of climate change. For example, the Paper

warns that if international action does
not limit the average global temperature
increases to below at least 2 C above preindustrial levels, the potential impacts
on South Africa in the medium- to
long-term are significant and potentially
catastrophic. Also it warns that after 2050
warming is projected to reach around
34 C along the coast, and 67 C in the
interior. With these kinds of temperature
increases, life as we know it will change
completely.
The White Paper states a commitment
to keep well below a maximum of 2 C
above pre-industrial levels. This together
with the exclusion of nuclear power
and the adoption of a carbon budget
approach are considerable improvements
from the earlier Green Paper. Until
the introduction of this science-based
carbon budget approach there was no

The dominance of green neoliberal

capitalism is also evident in acceptance
of the role of the World Bank. The
appointment by the UNFCCC of the
World Bank as interim trustee of the
Green Climate Fund (GCF) has a special
relevance for us in South African, as
Minister Trevor Manuel is the co-chair.
This fund promises that developed
nations will mobilise jointly $100 billion
a year in long-term financing by 2020
to help developing countries adapt to
climate change. In April this year over 90
NGOs protested that this turned climate
change into a new arena of financial
speculation. The sources of this finance
will include loans for adaptation which
could mean further debt and increasing
poverty, as well as carbon trading. As
a Carbon Trade Watch spokesperson
said, while climate finance is intended
to transfer funds from the north to
the south, the Green Climate Fund
essentially creates a new market
infrastructure. Having a larger portion
of the $100billion a year by 2020
generated through the revenues of the
carbon market changes climate finance
from responsibility to profit. Instead of
paying reparations for the climate debt
of the North, the GCF reflects existing
power relations.

clear indication of how carbon emissions

were to be reduced. The South African
governments commitments in 2009
at COP 15 in Copenhagen were weak
andvague.
There is no recognition in the White
Paper that the UNFCCC process has
failed and that globally carbon emissions
are rising. The Paper reaffirms the
governments commitment at COP 15
in Copenhagen to a binding, multiA ma n dl a ! I ssu e N o . 22/ 23 | DE CE MB E R 2 0 1 1

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Energy poverty
While the Paper claims to be guided
by the principle of uplifting the poor
and vulnerable, there is no attempt
to address the present inequalities
in access to water, for example. The
commodification of water in the form of
pre-paid meters, which have devastating
impacts on poor households, is not
mentioned. The logic of sustainability
and cost recovery behind the imposition
of these meters is not challenged. Nor
is the wastage involved in over 500
golf courses using an average of 1
million litres of water a day addressed.
Similarly, as regards present levels of
energy poverty, the post-apartheid
states overall commitment to neoliberal
principles mean the prioritising of
sustainability and efficiency over justice,
and a preoccupation with cost recovery
over high levels of cross-subsidisation
and equity. The principle of social justice
demands that the present life-line
allocation of electricity be extended.
The principle of ecological sustainability
demands that this should take the form
of clean, renewable energy which could
also create thousands of jobs. Now that
the White Paper has been adopted by
Cabinet, there is a glaring contradiction
in the post-apartheid governments
stated policy and actual practice.

lateral international agreement that

will effectively limit the average global
temperature increase to at least below 2
degrees centigrade above pre-industrial
levels. It should be noted that the
Copenhagen Accord was non-binding
andlow target.
However, the 2 C target is, according
to climate scientist James Hansen, a
recipe for disaster. He claims that present
commitments will result in 4 C warming.
The head of the Bolivian delegation Pablo
Soln protested that the weak pledges of
the Copenhagen Accord condemned the
Earth to increases of up to 4 C, which was
tantamount to ecocide and would cost
millions of lives. The emissions targets in
the White Paper are not convincing even
in terms of reaching this 2 C target.
The White Paper is marked by a
reliance on false solutions to climate
change, described as a mix of economic
instruments, including market-based
instruments such as carbon taxes and
emissions trading schemes and incentives.
It implies the promotion of carbon trading
and technological innovation in expensive,
high-risk schemes to create climate
smart resistant crops and carbon capture
and storage (CCS). CCS technology is
a process for separating carbon dioxide
18

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from emissions by industrial and energy

sources and storing it in deep ocean and
geological structures. The technology has
high cost implications. The environmental
consequences still have to be fully
assessed and it remains an unproven
technology. While a carbon tax is to be
welcomed, Eskom has already stated that
the costs of a carbon tax would be passed
on to the consumer.
The government support for clean
development mechanism (CDM) projects
is especially worrying. This enables
a developed country to invest in an
emission reduction project in another
country. Such flexibility mechanisms
enshrined in the Kyoto Protocol mean
that corporations are able to buy the
right to pollute. James Hansen, director
of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, compares these measures to the
indulgences that the Catholic Church
sold in the Middle Ages: The bishops
collected lots of money and the sinners
got redemption. Both parties liked that
arrangement despite its absurdity.

A red paper rooted

in the interests of the
working class?

The White Paper fails to engage

with the full impact of climate change on
the working class especially in relation
to rising food prices, water shortages and
crop failures. While there is reference to
a long term just transition to a climateresilient and lower-carbon economy
and society, this notion of justice is not
developed. A just transition should not
only take account of the need to protect
vulnerable workers but also promote
an alternative vision of a more just and
sustainable ways of both producing
andconsuming.
The White Paper fails to accord any
significant role to organised labour. There
is a vague reference to the potential of
green jobs and the new green economy,
but these are not defined. The White
Paper simply states that adaptation
could create new jobs to which workers
can migrate from sectors affected by
mitigation strategies. The climate change
response will attempt to reduce the
impact of job losses and promote job
creation during the shift towards the new
green economy.

A grey paper reflecting

incoherent policy
and contradictory
government practices

Official policy documents

demonstrate an incoherence. Aspirations
towards reducing carbon emissions are
contradicted by government practices
which involve massively expanded coalfired and nuclear energy. While the White
Paper does not mention nuclear energy,
there is no indication that government
policy has changed. The parastatal Eskom

is committed to building more coal-fired

power stations. The World Banks $3.75
billion loan to Eskom to enable it to do
this will increase the price of electricity
for poor people. This will worsen South
Africas contribution to carbon emissions
and climate change. Overall, policy
displays the continued power of the
corporations at the centre of the mineralsenergy complex to shape development to
their own profit-driven interests.
There is policy incoherence if the
White Paper is compared with other
recent South African policy documents.
Climate change is integral to industrial
development. However, this is not
reflected in the Industrial Strategy
developed by the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI). The Integrated
Resource Plan (IRP2 2010) introduced
some renewable energy into the supply
mix, but beyond Medupi and Kusile
the IRP plans on two or three major
new coal plants between 2014 and
2030, and a fleet of six new nuclear
power plants to be built by 2030. IPAP
identifies the Green Economy as a
major new thrust for the South African
economy which presents multiple
opportunities to create jobs and valueadding industries. It also acknowledges
that increasing energy costs poses
a major threat to manufacturing,
rendering our historical, resourceintensive, processing-based industrial
path unviable in the future. However,
these statements are undermined by
the compartmentalisation of the Green
Economy as an add on, something
separate and therefore different or
additional to a mainstream future South
African economy.

Green: the new black?

Perhaps green is the new black, in
that green neoliberal capitalism is in
many ways attempting to make the
climate crisis the site of accumulation. But
whatever the colour of the White Paper,
the real commitment of government
policy is to economic growth. As David
Hallowes comments, changing the
system is necessary because capitalism is
not compatible with addressing climate
change. Hence, rooted in green neoliberal
capitalism, the White Paper fails to
address South Africas development
needs and lay the basis for an alternative
development path. It is clear that the
South African government is driven
by vested interests and will not solve
the problem of climate change which
threatens us all. Nor will capitalism. The
only rational response to the reality of
climate change is total change in our
methods of production and consumption
in a new kind of ethical, democratic and
ecological socialism.
Jacklyn Cock is a professor of sociology at
WitsUniversity.

COP 17

Carbon trading:
licence to pollute
By Wally Menne

istory is littered with the

fallout from failed financial
schemes that have resulted in
massive losses for ordinary
people and private institutions, whose
investments were plundered by
unscrupulous consultants and bankers.
Such economic crimes have commonly
been resolved through injections of
public money, or extended credit as
in the recent cases of the US and the
EU, where state funds have been used to
rescue affected financial institutions and
struggling governments. With carbon
markets, there has been similar behaviour
that has enriched so-called carbon
cowboys at the expense of state-funded
bodies responsible for the administration
of carbon trading deals.

How carbon trading

works (in theory)
Carbon trading aims to offset
industrial greenhouse gas emissions
continued on next page

CDM carbon sink tree

plantations a case
study in Tanzania
Norwegian-owned company Green
Resources Ltd (GRL) is hoping to
generate carbon credits from a CDM
tree plantation at Idete in southern
Tanzania. It has already established
alien pine and eucalyptus plantations
to replace biodiverse grasslands. The
company intends to sell the carbon
credits generated to the government of
Norway.
Blessing Karumbidza and Wally Menne
investigated and concluded : (i) the
project will not be a net carbon sink
over its lifetime, but it is in fact likely to
be a source of carbon emissions; (ii) the
project is not ecologically sustainable or
economically viable; and (iii) the project
is viable without income from the sale of
CDM carbon credits.
With respect to the social, cultural,
political and economic impacts of
industrial tree plantations, monoculture
tree plantations are unsustainable in
numerous ways, even with marketbased conservation measures such
as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
certification in place. The Idete project
resulted in local communities being
displaced from their land, poor working
conditions, destruction of biodiversity
resources that communities depend on,
reduced water availability, and many
other direct and indirect impacts on
local livelihoods.
Exchanging biodiversity for carbon pollution: Unfair Exchange and Daylight Robbery?
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SPECIAL
FEATURE
through cheaper emissions reductions,
usually in another country. Offsets provide
a way of avoiding making emissions
reductions at source (the place where the
emissions are produced); for example, if
Factory A is required to reduce its carbon
pollution but finds it too expensive or
inconvenient to do so, it may continue
to pollute, or even increase its pollution,
and instead pay Community B to reduce
its emissions through a range of activities,
including energy efficiency, planting
trees as a carbon sink, or investing in
emissions-reducing technologies. The
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
allows countries that have made emission
reduction commitments under the Kyoto
Protocol to offset their emissions through
emission reduction projects in developing
countries. This generates carbon credits
which can be traded on the carbon
markets. Under the Voluntary Carbon
Standard (VCS), less valuable carbon
credits can be produced, and another
offset method planned is in the form of
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation
and forest Degradation (REDD). Offset
projects are supposed to reduce emissions,
while benefiting local communities
through sustainable development.

How it works (in reality)

The role of the World Bank

Carbon trading transfers

responsibility for climate change to poor
communities in developing countries.
The carbon credit price is unpredictable,
and the costs of setting up and managing
the projects are high. In practice it is the
foreign consultants, financial institutions
and dirty industries in already wealthy
countries that derive the financial benefit,
and instead the communities whose
resources have been commandeered for
these projects are left with vague promises
of future payments. The technology that
is transferred is also often old technology
that happens to be newer than what exists
at the time in that particular community
or country, which means that carbon
trading can be another way of dumping
old technology in the South.
Carbon offsets are often dependent
on access to land and its associated water,
soil, biodiversity and people resources in
developing countries. Already CDM tree
plantations as well as REDD-type projects
have led to the appropriation of vast lands,
usually in areas legitimately occupied and
utilised by communities or indigenous
peoples, who are subsequently deprived of
traditional rights of access and usage.

The World Bank has driven an

aggressive campaign to promote and
support carbon trading as a solution
to climate change, together with
bodies such as the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). In
many ways these projects merely protect
big polluters in the North.

REDD another
false solution
By Amandla! editorial staff

One of the key discussions at COP 17

will be around Reduced Emissions
from Deforestation and forest
Degradation (REDD): whether and in
what form REDD will be included in
the Kyoto Protocol or its successor. It
has strong support, particularly from
the governments of forested countries,
because of the attraction of the finances
promised, but implementation of
REDD will be disastrous if pilot
projects are anything to judge by.

Reduced emissions
from deforestation and
forest degradation

Eighteen to twenty-five per cent of

global carbon emissions are a result of
deforestation and forest degradation
about as much as the entire transport
sector. REDD was put on the table in
2007 at COP 13 in Bali, when there was
agreement that there was urgent need to
take further meaningful action to reduce
emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation. It is an incentive mechanism
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for developing countries to reduce

emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation effectively some countries
would be paid to protect their forests.
Where there is enormous financial
value in destroying forest products,
whether for sale or to clear land for crops
such as oil palm, the concept of providing
a financial incentive to protect forests
seems noble. But it is clear that REDD is
less about protecting forests and more
about protecting commercial interests
in the industrialised world paying to
protect forests suggests a neglect of the
real drivers of deforestation such as overconsumption and over-production.
There are significant flaws in the
proposal, not least its definition of
forests, which fails to distinguish between
natural forests and plantations. With the
current weak definition, it is possible
that biodiverse natural forests could be
replaced with monoculture plantations
(green deserts), and still receive REDD
accreditation.
REDD projects are also expected to
be disastrous for the many indigenous
peoples living in the forests. According

What are the alternatives?

Many Southern groups have mooted
the concept of ecological or climate debt
as part of the real solution for addressing
climate change inequity. There must
be genuine compensation for climate
change, based not only on the dramatic
impacts that climate change will have
on current and future generations, but
also in recognition of the debt owed by
wealthy countries to those in the South for
historical colonial exploitation and heavily
polluting activities that resulted in their
indecent wealth.
One alternative to the carbon
market could be one-way transfers of
finance through grants to support the
development of opportunities for decent
to the Food Agriculture Organisation,
60 million indigenous peoples depend
on forests for their survival, and most
forests are found in indigenous peoples
territories. For such communities, forests
are not merely exploitable resources;
they are the source of their lives and
lifestyles. Investigation by Indigenous
Environmental Network shows that
REDD-type pilot projects have already
violated indigenous peoples rights and
exacerbated eviction, fraud, conflict,
corruption, coercion and militarisation
in countries such as Peru and Papua New
Guinea. Unclear land tenure practices
in Africa makes the continent even
more vulnerable to this new wave of
colonisation. REDD is inherently about
commodifying and privatising forests,
trees and land, and it corrupts everything
that indigenous peoples hold sacred.
There is as yet no agreement about
financing REDD, but market mechanisms
have a strong presence in the discussions.
One suggestion is that it be incorporated
into the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM), which would make it possible
for countries with emissions reduction
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol
to benefit from credits generated through
REDD projects in other words, this
would expand the scope for avoiding
emissions reductions at source. Climate
scientist James Hansen shows that
industrialised countries could offset 24
69% of their emissions through the CDM
and REDD, thus avoiding the necessary
domestic cuts that are required to peak
emissions around 2015.

COP 17
work in exploited countries. This should
happen in conjunction with the systematic
writing off of dubious historical loans,
which were often incurred for the benefit
of the lending countries in the first
place. The concept of a green economy
must be rejected by countries that have
suffered under Northern capitalism as yet
another false solution aimed primarily at
preserving the existing economic order.

Climate justice is the way

Developing nations in general and
African countries in particular must stand
together to oppose exploitation by external
economic influences such as the marketbased non-solutions offered by carbon
trading. Another world is possible, but to
make the leap of faith needed to transcend
the present state of our embattled
world needs new vision together with
determination to make it a reality.
Wally Menne is a member of Timberwatch
Coalition, South Africa. The Timberwatch
Coalition is a voluntary alliance of South African
non-governmental organisations and individuals
that are concerned about the negative impacts
of industrial tree plantations on people and the
environment (see www.timberwatch.org).

Today it is possible for European companies to buy CO2 pollution rights from factories in Korea that reduce an
equivalent amount of nitrous oxide. We've put a monetary value to our air.

Green capitalism:
profiting from nature
By Larry Lohmann

At COP 16 in Cancun last year, big

steps were taking towards the realisation
of REDD, with agreement on, amongst
other things, a common goal for REDD,
activities to be included, and the
adoption of the so-called safeguards. The
safeguards are intended to secure the
rights of indigenous peoples and avoid
transformation of natural forests into
plantations; however, they are voluntary,
weak and not legally binding.
The safeguards will be discussed
again at COP 17. Indigenous Peoples
organisations are urging for the safeguards
to be legally binding, and for the adoption
of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the
agreement. Even with UNDRIP, the rights
of indigenous peoples will be at high
risk, because many countries still do not
recognise the self-determination and
rights of indigenous peoples. Financing
of REDD will also be on the COP 17
agenda inclusion into the CDM must
be avoided if REDD is to contribute to
meaningful emissions reductions.
It is clear that there are severe
inherent problems in REDD. Unless
it shifts its alignment significantly
towards protecting forests and forest
peoples and away from protecting carbon
polluters it will serve only to contribute
to the destruction of forests, provide
another opportunity for human rights
violations, and offer yet another escape for
industrialised countries from meaningful
emissions reductions at source. As REDD
is now, it is a symptom of the deeper
driver of climate change capitalism.

Lets put a value on Britains

ecosystem services the slogan
has a nice ring to it. Perhaps we
dont fully understand the value
of the wild plants, animals, and
natural cycles around us, and if
we did, we could appreciate and
protect them better.

ut what is it that we dont

know, exactly? We know that
groundwater cycles are important
because of the droughts and
floods that strike periodically. We know
that the weather is crucial to crops,
because it affects yields every year.
We know the environmental value of
woodlands, as the government learnt to
its cost when its proposal to privatise
Forestry Commission lands was shouted
down by the public earlier this year.
Yes, yes, the answer comes, but what
we dont know yet is the price or economic
value of all these things. For example,
what would business have to pay for them
as commodities or inputs to production?
If we knew via ecosystems markets or
some other means that might give us an
additional incentive for holding on to the
good things that we have.
If the reasoning sounds suspicious, it
should. Environmental service markets
are a response not just to ecological crisis
but also to business crisis in particular
the prolonged profitability crisis that set
in during the 1970s.
That was when returns on many
traditional sorts of investment went

into seemingly permanent decline.

With the help of governments and
international agencies, business reacted
not only by trying to take back some of
the postwar gains made by workers (see
Thatcherism and all that came after), but
also by seeking alternative assets to put
money into. Investors branched out into
dotcoms, biotech and financial services or
plunged into real estate speculation and
infrastructure. Private firms stalked new
acquisitions in the public sector or in the
commons of the global South.
Environmental and financial
regulation was rolled back and new
business-friendly legislation rolled
out. Trade treaties giving Northern
companies special protection and
privileges proliferated, together with new
markets in financial derivatives, helping
profit-challenged business expand in
an uncertain global environment. The
financial sector took over as the profit
leader in both Britain and the US. The
expanded credit it offered helped keep
demand high while offering workers in the
North whose wages had been suppressed
the consolation of the temporary means
of buying goods produced by cheap
labour in China and elsewhere. Ecosystem
services markets are deeply rooted in this
history. For one thing, like many of the
new trade treaties, they loosen regulatory
constraints on business while opening up
new profit opportunities.
Take wetlands banking, which was
developed in the US during the 1990s
as a way of making it easier for builders
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SPECIAL
FEATURE
to comply with restrictions on dredging
or dumping in swampy areas. Instead
of having to move to another site, or
fashion compensatory wetlands on the
same parcel of land they were building
on, developers could buy pre-packaged
wetlands credits from distant locations
credits that had been verified through
specially developed valuation techniques
to provide equivalent ecosystem services.
More recently, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)
has urged that environmental impact
assessments (EIAs) be carried out in
Latin America in a way that would allow
impacts to be compensated for by habitat
credits or biodiversity offsets brought in
from elsewhere. Through techniques for
valuing ecosystem services, environmental
impacts would be redefined in a way
that ensured that EIA requirements,
instead of being a shackle for business,
would create a demand for habitat
banking that could help transform Latin
America into what the UNDP calls a
biodiversity Superpower. Britains
Department of Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs appears
to have been bitten by a similar
bug, judging by statements it
issued last year enthusing over the
economic potential of a market in
conservation projects populated
by a network of biodiversity
offsetproviders.
The emphasis on banking
isnt coincidental. Ecosystem
commodities, with their notional,
electronic nature, are a potential
bonanza for a thrusting financial
sector whose post-crisis annexation
of enormous slices of public treasuries has
only increased its dominance over todays
economies. Unsurprisingly, one of the
earliest types of ecosystem service market,
pollution trading, was developed largely
by derivatives traders from Chicago and
New York, and among the most avid
promoters of markets in forest carbon
services are firms such as McKinsey and
Merrill Lynch Bank of America.
Todays top buyers of carbon credits
(one of the commodities traded on climate
services markets) are headquartered
in the City of London and on Wall
Street. Techniques used to establish the
economic value of ecosystem services,
in other words, aim not so much at
providing new incentives for protection
of the environment as at redefining
that environment in a way that creates
new assets and economic sectors. Like
many other responses to business crisis,
economic valuation of ecosystem services
is, at bottom, a struggle to create and
acquire property rights.
The clearest illustration of this
process to date is the cluster of climate
services markets established under the
Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme (EU ETS) todays
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biggest ecosystem services markets. Early

on, the economic valuation of climate
stability was advertised as a step toward
harnessing the economic system to
environmental goals. Instead, giving an
economic value to the climate turned
out to involve a process for handing
over a large range of public goods to the
private sector that left the global warming
problem behind entirely.
As with all ecosystem services
markets, the first step was to simplify
and quantify the ecological functions in
question, so that standardised increments
of environmental improvement could
be traded for standardised bits of
environmental destruction. In order
to facilitate this exchange, wetlands
markets reduced habitat provision, plant
diversity, peak-flow attenuation and so
forth to a series of numerical scores (and
sometimes simply to an indication of
acreage), obscuring what makes different
wetlands valuable in different ways. So,
too, the new climate markets measured

climate benefits and harms simply by

quantifying flows of molecules, especially
carbon dioxide molecules, ignoring the
fact that a cut of 100 million tons of CO2
through routine efficiency improvements
may be much less climatically effective
in the long term than an equal cut that
comes from investment in non-fossilfuelled technologies. But if the economic
valuation of ecosystems gave short shrift
to many environmental realities, it was
very good at setting off a scramble to
acquire, produce and trade lucrative
assets. Just as wetlands credits were
valuable because they conferred a right
(that would otherwise be curtailed) to
bulldoze unique sites in Illinois, so CO2
pollution rights were valuable because
they allowed their holders to go on
burning fossil fuels at a time of incipient
emissions caps.
So it was no surprise when, under
the EU ETS, the biggest polluting
corporations successfully demanded
that governments give them enough free
pollution rights to cover virtually all,
and in some cases more than all, of their
current pollution output. Many of them
later sold, or charged their customers
for, the surplus rights they had received

gratis, ploughing the proceeds back into

business as usual. The windfall profits
still being made in this way by only ten
of Europes intensive industrial users of
fossil fuels exceed the total EU budget for
environment. Demand for carbon dioxide
pollution rights at a price companies
were willing to pay, meanwhile, touched
off a commercial arms race amongst
entrepreneurial spirits to devise ever
stranger environmental valuation
techniques for manufacturing cheap
equivalents for CO2 reductions. Today
it is possible for European companies to
buy CO2 pollution rights from factories in
Korea that reduce an equivalent amount
of nitrous oxide, or coal mines in China
that burn off methane (a more potent
greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide), or
tree plantation firms in Brazil that claim
their trees can compensate for the carbon
dioxide emitted through the burning of
oil. In addition to entailing further brutal
simplifications of natural realities, these
equations license enclosures of land, air,
water and labour in the global South
to serve the carbon needs of the
North. That is one reason why the
Kyoto Protocol and EU ETS carbon
markets are strongly opposed by the
international farmers network, La Via
Campesina.
Today, the significant political
debates over the EU ETS are not
about whether the scheme has any
benefits for the climate (it doesnt),
but about who owns which goodies.
For example, when millions of tons
of EU pollution rights stolen by
computer hackers earlier this year
were found to be in circulation, the
buzz in the carbon trading community
was largely confined to the labyrinthine
legal question of who had ownership of
the purloined assets, particularly as all of
them had been traded many times over.
More than a decade ago, many
environmentalists who were vaguely
uneasy about the new climate services
markets nevertheless took comfort from
the idea that at least now carbon has a
price, and gave their reluctant stamp of
approval to the Kyoto Protocol and the EU
ETS. Today, such environmentalists have
cause to regret their earlier naivety.
Will the same be true, ten years hence,
of environmentalists who are today
tempted to support biodiversity and
other environmental services markets?
The answer depends on many things,
including the special characteristics of
each particular market. But the disastrous
history of climate services markets
suggests that there is reason to be afraid.
Very afraid.
Larry Lohmann is a scholar and activist who
works with the Corner House, a research and
solidarity NGO in the UK that supports democratic
and community movements for environmental and
social justice. http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk

COP 17

In spite of the Fukushima catastrophe, the US and South Africa continue a major nuclear energy expansion. Instead of R1 trillion spent on nuclear, we could house half the
population of South Africa. Such a project would also create a huge number of jobs, distributed throughout the country.

Nukes to cost
the earth
By Peter Becker

The South African government

is planning to order six nuclear
reactors at an estimated cost
of R1trillion. What would the
consequences of this be?
Before we can understand this, we
need to have some other plan to compare
it to, which requires an understanding
of how electricity is generated in South
Africa at the moment.
About 5% of our grid electricity comes
from nuclear power, about 5% from hydro

power, 0.02% from wind turbines, and

none at all from solar power. The rest,
about 90%, is from coal power stations.
The question facing the country is:
which of these generation technologies
should we spend money on next?
To get an idea of what is possible,
it is useful to look at what has already
been achieved in some other countries.
Germany generates about 20% of its
electricity from renewable sources.
Spain produced 11.5% of its electricity
from wind in 2008, and this increased

to 16% of demand in 2010. Portugal

now produces over 40% of its electricity
from renewables. In 2009 the USA used
renewables and hydro power to generate
nearly twice the total electricity demand
in South Africa in the same year.
So it seems clear what the first step
should be in South Africa: increase the
amount of electricity generated from
wind and solar technologies from the
current base of 0%. Once we see this
component reach about 20%, we will
need to look at things which are new to
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What we need therefore is to change our economic culture. We need an ecological and social revolution. We have
all the technologies necessary to do this.

South Africa, such as smart grids and

energy storage. But since we are currently
at about 0% electricity from wind and
solar sources, this will not be an issue
in the near future. Also, distributing
wind farms around the country ensures
that when there is no wind in one
area, wind farms in other areas will be
generatingpower.
So back to the question: what would
be the effect of allocating R1 trillion to
nuclear power stations? Its important to
note that nuclear power stations are huge
in terms of capital investment and time
to build. It is not possible to build a small
one quickly, just to see how well it works.
The minimum commitment is probably
about R200billion, and about 15 years to
build. In contrast, a 100MW wind farm
could be built for R1billion, and the first
power could be fed into the grid in about
one year. According to Eskoms figures,
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this means wind power is cheaper than

nuclear power.
Of course, the estimated cost is
unlikely to be the final cost, as cost and
time overruns are common with projects
of this size. The infamous arms deal is
an example: the original estimated cost
was R4billion, which has risen to over 10
times that. The 2010 soccer stadiums also
all ended up costing significantly more
than the initial estimates. We cannot be
certain of what the eventual cost would
be, but we can be sure that it will be far
higher than the initial estimates.
So let us work with the published
estimate of R1trillion, as confirmed
by Minister Peters in September 2011.
This is a very big figure, and difficult to
comprehend without some comparison.
We know a low-cost house requires
R70000 to build, and another R100000
could add an off-grid solar PV system to

it. We could add a solar water heater for

R10000, and round up by R20000 to get
R200000. So then R1trillion would allow
5 million such houses to be built. That
could house half the population of South
Africa, and give them free electricity
and hot water for life. Such a project
would also create a huge number of jobs,
distributed throughout the country.
Apart from the huge costs, nuclear
power stations are technologically very
complex, and this technology will need
to be bought from overseas. This means
money leaving the country, and so not
being available to the local economy. It
also means importing labour even
though Koeberg was built around 30 years
ago, to this day there are still some French
technicians employed to operate it.
In terms of number of jobs, nuclear
power requires fewer workers per
generated unit of energy than coal power.
This means that if coal power is replaced
by nuclear power, jobs will gradually be
lost. In contrast, renewable energy requires
less imported technology, and more jobs
per unit of electricity generated. Research
has shown that, for example, wind energy
would generate 10 times the number
of jobs compared to nuclear energy
(Agama Energy: Employment Potential of
Renewable Energy in South Africa).
Another issue is the risk of a major
nuclear accident. Statistically speaking,
these accidents are very unlikely to occur.
However, as Japan has shown us, very
unlikely does not mean impossible. At
Fukushima, a natural disaster resulted
in both primary and secondary safety
systems failing, resulting in the spent fuel
ponds exploding and a vast amount of
radioactive material being released, and
the long-term evacuation of well over
1000km2 in a densely populated area.
The UN Secretary General has warned
that more nuclear accidents like this are
likely to occur in the world.
The consequences of such an
accident are huge, in economic terms
and human suffering. Somehow, nuclear
plant operators have convinced the
governments of the world to put a
maximum on their liability, and if the
cost of a cleanup exceeds this, then the
taxpayers of the country are required to
pay the excess. Note that householder
insurance policies always exclude any
damage or loss of value due to a nuclear
accident.
A recent economic study concluded
that if nuclear power plant operators had
to pay for insurance against the full costs
of a major nuclear accident, the cost of
electricity would be anywhere between
R23/kWh and R670/kWh.
The only way the nuclear power
industry can survive is to externalise
costs, i.e. make someone else pay for
them. That someone is the people of
the country foolhardy enough to install
nuclear reactors.

COP 17

If we set a low target of 15% renewables by 2020, least 76,000 new jobs can be created.

The One
O
Million
Climate
Jobs
Campaign
We are facing a global environmental
crisis and a global economic crisis.
We need solutions to both now.

ver three million new

jobs can be created in
combating climate change,
according to a civil society
proposal for a just transition
to a new economy. Many millions more
can be created if we commit to more
ambitious targets to reduce our carbon
emissions, improve human wellbeing and
protect nature.
South Africa has one of the highest
levels of unemployment levels in the
world. This severe crisis underpins a
more generalised social crisis of extreme
poverty, hunger, crime, substance abuse,
and domestic violence. This in turn affects
our health and education system. Women
and children pay the heaviest price for all
of this. Trade unions, social movements
and environmental organisations in
South Africa have formed an alliance
to campaign for a million climate jobs,
now, to jointly address the crises of
climate change and unemployment. We
believe that it is feasible and affordable
for government to directly create or
oversee the creation of at least one million
climatejobs.
Our campaign has two starting points.
First, we need work. We paid a heavy price
for the global economic crises through job
loss and lost state revenue, and there is
no end in sight for this crisis more job
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About the One Million

Climate Jobs Campaign
The Million Climate Jobs Campaign is
an alliance of labour, social movements
and other civil society organisations in
South Africa who recognise the value
of a joint approach to the problems of
unemployment and climate change.
It is based on well-researched
solutions for how South Africa can
immediately progress to a low-carbon
economy. Given that climate change
will exacerbate inequality and poverty
in South Africa by reducing access
to adequate food, water, energy and
housing, the One Million Climate Jobs
Campaign is mobilising thousands of
South Africans around real solutions to
stop climate change and measures that
protect and enhance human quality of
life and the natural environment.

losses can be expected. There are already

more than seven million unemployed
people in South Africa, and more than
six million in the informal sector. This
excludes many millions of unemployed
who have given up looking for work or are
involved in various survivalist activities,
such as begging.
Our second starting point is that we
have to stop the advance of climate change
and build our defences against its impacts.
South Africa is the 12th biggest carbon
polluter in the world, and the largest
in Africa. To stop catastrophic climate
change we urgently need to reduce our
carbon pollution, as do all other big
polluters across the world. This, together
with building our defences against the
impacts of climate change, will require
many actions.
We must use our natural wealth in a
climate friendly way to create jobs and
livelihoods
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We can and must:

Produce our electricity from wind and
solar power in a way that is driven by
people, meets the energy needs of all,
and protects nature.
Park private cars and get onto our feet,
bicycles, trains, taxis and buses.
Convert our homes and public buildings
so that they use less energy and use
water more efficiently.
Produce enough food for all people
through techniques such as agroecology that are labour intensive, low
in carbon emissions, protect soil and
water, and produce healthy food.
Protect our natural resources, especially
water, soil and biodiversity, to make
sure that we can continue to meet the
basic needs of all people.
Address the legacies of apartheid and
build the resilience of our people to
withstand the effects of climate change
by providing decent basic services
(e.g. water, electricity and sanitation)
that meet our development challenges
in a climate-friendly and labourintensiveway.
This will take government regulation and
international agreements. It will take a lot
of work meaning many jobs and we have
many people who need decent work.
A million climate jobs are not nearly
enough, but will go some way to reducing
poverty and restoring dignity. Moreover,
the campaign will stimulate important
economic sectors, which, in turn, will
stimulate employment growth. This
gives effect to the long-standing strategy
of trade union movements to stimulate
sustainable development and growth
through redistribution.
We know that South Africa alone
cannot stop climate change, but by
creating a million climate jobs in our

What do we mean by
climate jobs?
Climate jobs are decent, people- and
publicly driven jobs that reduce the
causes and impacts of climate change.
Climate jobs are based on three
principles: ecological sustainability,
social justice and state intervention.
Climate jobs:
cut down the amount of greenhouse
gases we put in the air so that we
slow down climate change and avoid
catastrophes;
build our capacity to adapt to the
impacts of climate change (e.g.
jobs activities that improve our food
security);
provide and secure vital services,
especially water, electricity and
sanitation. This includes reducing
wasteful over-consumption.

country, we will provide a model for

genuine responses. This is more and more
important given the repeated failure of the
global elites to secure a binding agreement
to slow down climate change through
cutting carbon pollution.
In making these proposals to stop
further climate change we have no
illusions that this comes easy. We face the
opposition of powerful vested interests
who make super profits from the existing
mining- and energy-intensive system in
South Africa. It is the foundation upon
which the capitalist economy in South
Africa was built and continues to develop.
Our campaign will only succeed through
the mass mobilisation of millions of

If we supplied electricity from renewable energy options such as wind and solar, we would be meeting an important
development need, decreasing our overall emissions, and creating new jobs.

COP 17

Small-scale family farmers and peasants use farming techniques that protect their natural resources, are more labour intensive, more productive per hectare, and driven by
meeting social needs rather than profits

people workers, unemployed people

andactivists.
We are clear that, in the long-term,
climate change requires a massive change
in how we live, how we produce and
consume, and how we relate to nature
and each other. We need systems change.
But we need a bridge between where
we are now and this vital but longerterm outcome. The million climate jobs
campaign offers such a bridge.

Why renewable energy?

South Africa has excellent potential to
produce energy from wind and sun.
Compared to coal, renewables have
considerably less carbon emissions, few
external costs, especially environmental
and health, and result in significantly
less air and water pollution. Compared
to nuclear, it is significantly cheaper
and safer, and produces less waste.
Renewables can be built in less time
than either coal or nuclear create, and
use less water than either. It improves
energy security by mitigating peak oil
and coal. It also enables decentralised
energy production, which means that it
can be built off-grid and reduce poverty,
in rural areas.

How we can create a

million climate jobs
Our preliminary research shows
that more than three million climate jobs
can be created, and we believe that many
more jobs will be created if we make
ambitious commitments to cut our carbon
pollution and enhance our resilience to
climate change.

New jobs in energy

Renewable energy reduces both
carbon emissions and the environmental
and social costs of electricity generation,
and creates more jobs than either nuclear
or coal power stations. If we commit to
producing half our electricity from wind
and sun by 2020 and couple this with
energy efficiency, we will reduce our
emissions by more than a fifth, and create
at least 150 000 jobs.
Access to adequate electricity and
other cleaner forms of energy is critical
for improving human welfare and the
quality of life, but almost a quarter of poor
South African households experience
energy poverty and rely on polluting
and often more expensive fuels such as
paraffin and coal. If we supplied adequate
electricity for heating and cooking, we
would ensure not only a reduction in
immediate household pollution, but
also a higher quality of life. And if we
supplied this electricity from renewable
energy options such as wind and solar, we

would meet an important development

need, decrease our overall emissions, and
createnew jobs.
We should also provide other
technologies that can give energy services,
such as heating in non-electrified
households. Solar water heaters would
contribute significantly to improving
peoples lives, reducing demand for
energy, and creating climate jobs. Roll out
of solar water heaters must be undertaken
in low and high income households.

We can produce at least

half of our electricity
from renewable energy
by 2020 and all by 2040

In the next ten years, many of our

old coal power stations will have reached
the end of their lifespans. By that time, we
could supply at least half our electricity
needs through harnessing the wind and
sun. Renewable energy power plants
can be installed faster and more safely
than coal (there are already delays with
building Medupi and Kusile). If we fasttrack renewable energy, we could reduce
the need for Kusile, and even shut down
some of the heavily polluting old coal
power stations.
A number of detailed studies show
that there is strong potential for job
creation in renewable energy. Modeling
for 15% renewables by 2020 shows that
at least 76000 new jobs can be created.
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SPECIAL
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A target of 50% renewables by 2020 will
create at least 150 000 jobs.
From 2020 onwards, we should
continue to build and develop our
renewable energy plants so that by
2040 we are producing all our energy
requirements from renewable sources.
If we implemented energy efficiency
alongside renewable energy, we would
reduce the demand for electricity and
lower the costs. There is huge potential
for job creation in energy efficiency. If
we implemented a 20% energy efficiency
target by 2025, at least 27000 new jobs
could be created.

Transport
Transport is a significant
contributor to carbon emissions, and our
current transport system has enormous
social and ecological costs. Small but
significant shifts in how we transport
ourselves and our goods could create at
least 460000 jobs. There is potential for
even greater job creation and emissions
cuts if we commit to more ambitious
targets and actions.
Transport currently accounts for more
than 10% of South Africas greenhouse
gas emissions; 85% of this is from road
transport, and of this, half is from private
cars. Across the entire transport sector, a
number of actions can be taken to reduce
emissions and improve environmental and
human health.
By 2040, we could have zero emissions
from transport if:
we developed and used new forms of
transport that are based on non-carbonbased fuels; and
we designed our city and urban spaces
so that we would not need energyintensive forms of transport.
A very large number of new jobs must
be created to:
greatly expand the rail passenger and
general freight network;

Sustainable urban food

gardens: Abalimi Bezekhaya
Abalimi Bezekhaya (Peoples Garden
Centre) in Cape Town is a community
of organic, urban, micro-farming
household and community projects.
They documented that if a person
converts 250500 sq m of urban
wasteland to organic food gardens,
he or she could sell his or her produce
at street prices to earn an income of
R1500 per month (after costs). Abalimi
also showed that a family of five or
six people could provide all its fresh
produce needs all year round from a
garden of 100 sq m. Overall, the project
supports about 3000 micro-farmers at
a cost of R100 per farmer per month.
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Bicycles for everyone! We should expand and improve non-motorised forms of transport like bicycles which emit no
carbon and keep people healthy.

manufacture new rail rolling stock,

buses and taxis;
maintain or adapt existing transport
fleets either to be more energy efficient
or accommodate cleaner or alternative
fuels;
construct bus rapid transit lanes;
manufacture bicycles and construct
cycle lanes;
meet operational interventions to
reduce shipping emissions.

Increasing commuter
public transport
In the transport sector, the most
obvious and immediate climate change
action is to get people out of their cars and
into public transport. If we encouraged
only 10% of car commuters (1.5 million
people) to use taxis, buses and trains, about
70000 new jobs would be created in direct
transport operations and indirect jobs such
as maintenance and manufacturing.

If 200000 more people caught taxis,

there would be an additional 18000
jobs.
If 500000 more people rode buses
to work and school, there would be
an additional 3500 buses and 42000
more workers in bus operations, vehicle
maintenance and part supply, as well as
in bus building.
If 800000 more people used Metrorail
trains, we would need an additional 113
train sets and about 10000 new jobs.

Expand rail general freight

Rail trumps road freight hands
down in terms of carbon emissions, costs
and capacity to move large and heavy
volumes.

Reducing emissions
from trucking:
Emissions can be reduced in the
trucking industry simply through

COP 17
using less fuel by reducing speed,
improving driver handling, and improving
maintenance regimes.

Paying for One Million Climate Jobs

Initiative

Estimated financing

Increasing shipping and

developing coastal shipping:

Increased company taxation or forced lending

R47.9 billioni

We can reduce our freight

transport emissions and create jobs
by promoting a South Africanowned
and controlled shipping industry, and
developing coastal shipping. Shipping
is the lowest emitting form of freight
transport and there is also considerable
scope for emission reductions through
new technology and changing operational
practice.

Reducing emissions
from aviation:
Emissions from flying can be
reduced through technological changes,
and through cutting down short-haul
flights. Much of the energy used in
flying is spent in take-off and landing.
Short-haul flights, therefore, have more
emissions per kilometre than longer
flights.

Cycling and walking:

We should expand and improve nonmotorised forms of transport like
bicycles and walking which emit no
carbon and keep people healthy. This
means constructing bicycle lanes and
improving conditions for both cyclists and
pedestrians. It also means manufacturing
affordable bicycles in South Africa that
are suitable for our conditions.

Jobs to secure our

food supply
Industrial agriculture is a
significant carbon polluter, mainly
because it is energy intensive and
wasteful. Climate-friendly food
production would reduce our carbon
pollution, improve food security and food
sovereignty, protect the natural resources
that we depend on, and create hundreds
of thousands of jobs.
Industrial agriculture is responsible
for 11% of South Africas emissions.
Industrial farms, which are dominated by
large corporations, are highly mechanised
and use high levels of ecologically and
socially costly chemicals such as oil-based
fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides.
Industrialising food production led
to a loss of 750000 agricultural jobs
between 2000 and 2010 as a result of
mechanisation and casualisation of labour.
In addition, this sectors contribution
to climate change is much greater when
we include carbon emissions from
transporting food not only from one
end of the country to another but also
between countries.
In contrast, small-scale family farmers
and peasants use farming techniques
that protect their natural resources, are
more labour intensive, more productive

10% of accumulated corporate bank deposits of R479 billions in 2011,

presently not used for investments
Increased progressive taxation Alternative One:

R13.5 billion per year

Increasing the tax rates:

from 38 to 40% for the income between R400 000 and R750000
from 40 to 45% for the income between R750000 and R1 million
from 40 to 50% for the income above R1 million a year
Increased progressive taxation Alternative Two: A Transition Tax
on high incomes

R20 billion per year

Repeating the Transition Tax of 1995, which today would be 5% for income
above R150000 per year and directed to climate jobs
Financial Transaction Tax

R48 billion per yearii

Extending the tax of one quarter of a per cent that already exists on stock
trading to the bond market
Carbon Tax

R82 billion per year

at R165/t CO2 instead of the proposed R75/t CO2

Halting or curbing unrecorded and illicit Capital Flight

Upwards of R100 billion per year

Reallocating Investments to Renewables and questioning the

ferrochrome and aluminium industry electricity demand hike

Hundreds of billions of rand in

spending and tens of billions of
rand in interests on loans

Cancelling half of current power plans (R450500 billion up to 2017), as

well as household electricity price hikes and the hunt for foreign loans for the
nuclear programme (R1 trillion)
Restructuring Eskoms Tariffs

R8,5 billion/year

A 10c per kWh levy on the largest Key Industrial Consumers

Pension funds and prescribed assets

R140 billion

Prescribe 10% of the PIC funds and 5% of the private retirement fund
industry as assets to be used to combat climate change
UIF under-spending
The yearly R69 billion under-spending of the money paid by workers to
the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has resulted in an accumulated
R40billion surplus which can be used to kick-start the climate jobs
programme

R40 billion in accumulated funds

and an additional R69 billion per
year

TOTAL for the explicit numbers above

R258265 billion per year

(italics refer to yearly financing)

An additional R200 billion to be

borrowed at low interest rates

i) Or more, depending on political will

ii) Assuming trading remains at the same level

per hectare, and driven by meeting social

needs rather than profits. In South Africa,
we must support communal landowners
and the beneficiaries of land reform to
realise the potential for localised food
supply from small-scale farmers. We must
ensure food security and sovereignty in
rural and peri-urban communities and
shift the pattern of production away from
methods that poison the land, deplete
nutrients in the soil, and pollute water
resources to one that uses organic farming
techniques, relies on traditional seed
varieties, allows for seed saving and seed
security, and diminishes corporate control
over the food chain.
Agro-ecology is recommended as a
low-carbon, resource-preserving type of
agriculture that is less damaging to the
environment and can boost economic
activities and employment in rural areas.

Agro-ecology results in food production

that is delinked from fossil energy and
avoids greenhouse gas emissions by
reducing energy use. Shifting to agroecology could halve greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture.
Urban agriculture supports food
production that is collectivised and
socialised. Collectivisation could involve
not only production but also consumption
of healthy foods in community restaurants
and food kitchens, which would also
create employment opportunities.
Food sovereignty should be an
important basis for food production,
and means that different regions should
protect their supply and access to food.
Doing so would encourage investment
in regional food systems, which would
promote job creation and economic
development.
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29

SPECIAL
FEATURE

The problem is not that international trade is inherently opposed to the needs and interests of the poor but that the rules that govern it are rigged in favour of the rich.

Trade and
climate change
One Million Climate Jobs Campaign
Theres an unacknowledged elephant in the climate
change debate: trade agreements. These agreements
are major unrecognised obstacles to what would
otherwise be urgent, rational and fair mitigation
or adaptation measures to climate change.

conflict is certain
between the objectives of the
One Million Climate Jobs
Campaign and the myriad
of multilateral, regional and
bi-lateral trade agreements involving
South Africa. Despite this certainty,
specific predictions cannot be made in
the absence of concrete climate change
policies by the South African government.
This is because of the technical
complexity of the trade nexus and the
ambiguity of many of the provisions of the
variousagreements.

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It is these various factors that make

trade law such a lucrative profession.
Nevertheless, the Campaigns focus
on local production to both create jobs
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
allows conjectures on the form of the
loomingconflicts:
In the first place, local production of
renewable energy (RE) sources will require
initial protection, in the form of import
tariffs and subsidies to local producers in
order to make foreign products expensive
and therefore uncompetitive. Protection
measures would also have to be used to

ensure that locally available minerals

used in RE are not exported but instead
kept in the country and transformed into
finished products. Both the subsidies and
the tariffs could be non-compliant with
a host of trade agreements because of
discrimination against foreign companies
and investments. Non-discrimination is
a cardinal principle of neoliberal trade
law (even though not consistently or
equallyapplied).
However, even certain nondiscriminatory measures would fall foul
of some trade agreements. One example
is preference to the public sector, a
Campaign objective, which would be
challengeable even though it affects local
and foreign-owned businesses equally
since trade agreements would allow the
foreign-owned companies, and not local
ones, to take legal action.
Similarly, preference given to smallscale agriculture in the form of non
price competitive supply contracts an
essential support to promote labourintensive farming methods as well as to
reduce the distance food travels from
farm to consumer and, hence, the amount
of CO2 emitted would, besides arguably
being an unlawful subsidy, discriminate
against the dominant supermarkets,
regardless of whether they are supposedly
South African or foreign. Again, it would
be foreign investors who would be able to
take legal action.

COP 17
Moreover, the General Agreement
on Trade in Services (GATS), which is
notable among trade agreements for the
extent to which it explicitly serves the
interests of transnational corporations
and for locking in agreements against
changing circumstances, increases the
risk of legal action being taken in the
above example, as Walmart has already
indicated. In the above case, everything
except the actual growing of the food is
considered a service. A concession made
under GATS is designed to be permanent,
with little if any regard to whatever
changes in national interest, the view of an
electorate or, indeed, what climate change
may necessitate.
As no more than an example of
the threat GATS poses to national
sovereignty, South Africas recent decision
to impose a moratorium on natural gas
drilling in the environmentally sensitive
Karoo region could be challenged under
proposed additional GATS restrictions.
Perhaps even more chilling in terms of
the extent to which trade rules supersede
both national sovereignty and national
social policy are the two most recent
actual decisions by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) which found
violations in US measures to reduce
teenage smoking and dolphin-safe
voluntary labels!
Transforming transport to prioritise
rail and public road transport and to
create a large number of Climate Jobs via
the local manufacture of trains, coaches
and buses which are all major Campaign
demands is, besides the WTOs general
provisions, also likely to fall foul of GATS
(since transport is a service under GATS).
Our governments rationale for
most of its trade agreements is that they
provide agreed rules with anarchy being
the alternative. By far the most succinct
of the counters to this claim was provided
in 2005 by Trevor Manuel, the then
Finance Minister: The problem is not that
international trade is inherently opposed
to the needs and interests of the poor but
that the rules that govern it are rigged in
favour of the rich.
Rules rigged in favour of the rich
crowd out such quaint notions as justice
and reason, even in the face of a threat to
our continued existence on earth.
The struggle for sustainable climate
safety is thus at once a struggle against the
trade rules rigged in favour of the rich.
The good news is that we have reason
to believe that at least some in our
government understand the need to join
us in this struggle against the rigged
trade rules. This is because, as early as
2004, the government recognised the
need to reform the WTO, with its many
imbalances prejudicial to the interests
of developing countries.
As recently as last year, the
Government elaborated its critique in
even more forthright terms:

South Africa is the 13th biggest carbon polluter in the world, and the second biggest in Africa, after Nigeria.

As an economy with high

unemployment and an abundance of
unskilled workers, mainstream trade
theory would suggest that South Africa
would have a comparative advantage in
unskilled-labour-intensive goods.
South Africas experience has not
conformed to the assumptions of
mainstream trade theory an open
trade regime has not addressed high
unemployment and inequality.
What is clear is that the South African
experience of liberalization, since the
mid 1990s has had adverse impacts on
the poor.
Rules are important. But current
rules are imbalanced and prejudicial.
However, as imbalances in the global
economy are perpetuated by inequities
in the systemic rules of the game,
existing multilateral governance
structures should be reformed to
ensure equity.
When addressing the issue of
Developmental Trade Policies, the
Governments New Growth Path policy
document of November 2010 calls
for the protection of policy space for
development strategies.

The strategies of the One Million

Climate Jobs Campaign are at once
development strategies. Moreover, we
dont shy away from the huge problem
caused by the already huge loss of policy
space. If the above pronouncements are
not mere rhetoric, then the Campaign
has good reason to expect government
readiness to resist claims that its climate
change policies and practices conflict with
trade agreements.

This is a shortened version of a research paper for the One

Million Climate Jobs Campaign. The full text, with footnotes and
references, will shortly be published on the Campaigns website
(www.climatejobs.org.za).

Contact the One Million

Climate Jobs Campaign
PO Box 1139, Woodstock,
Cape Town, 7925
Tel: 021 4475770; Fax : 021 4475884;
Email: info@climatejobs.org.za
Website: www.climatejobs.org.za

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31

SPECIAL
FEATURE

Against Shells
fracking arguments
By Jonathan Deal

Three oil companies, Royal Dutch

Shell, Falcon Oil & Gas, and
Bundu Oil & Gas, see massive
opportunities in the exploration
of natural gas trapped in the
underground shale formations
in the Karoo, a semi-desert area
in South Africa. The Karoo is a
sparsely populated area of 300000
people. Shell recently applied for
exploration licences for an area of
90000 km2 roughly three times
the size of Lesotho. In the face of
resistance by local communities,
the government has placed a
temporary moratorium on fracking,
pending impact assessments.
In this article, Jonathan Deal,
chairperson of Treasure Karoo
Action Group, sets out the
arguments against Shells hard sell
for fracking.

ocal communities in the

Karoo are angry and concerned.
Angry because they have no
say about what happens to
the minerals below their land. And
seriously concerned because of the
damaging environmental effects of shale
gasexploitation.
Shell is full of grand plans for South
Africa. And the way that Mr Jan-Willem
Eggink of Shell puts it across makes it

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sound as if the company is actually just a

large philanthropic organisation. Shale
gas mining will be the answer to SAs
energy needs and create lots of jobs, he
says. But in eight months of this year
Ive heard nothing new that could cause
any reasonable-thinking person to want
fracking in this country. Even while our
government has imposed and extended
a moratorium on fracking with a view to
investigating the technology, Shell are
intensifying their lobbying of business,
community and government from behind
their billion-rand exploration budget.
But there are no answers to our
questions. Where will you find the water?
How do you know that you can drill and
frack in the Karoo without polluting
precious underground water? Where
will you dispose of toxic and radioactive
fracking fluid? How will roads and towns
cope with literally thousands of truck trips
in areas where there is presently very little
traffic? How long does your gas last before
the wells are dried up and you move away?
What about the impact on tourism in
an area and country where tourism is a
growing source of revenue? What about
farming operations that will be affected
by dust, light and noise? What about the
airborne and waterborne risks to the
health of our communities? How do you
intend to leave the Karoo, as you claim,
better than you found it?

Shell asserts that shale gas is a much

better option than coal but they dont
talk about all of the extra CO2 emissions
that are produced when drilling, fracking,
extracting, flaring, piping, refining and
distributing gas. They dont talk about the
fact that when CO2 on drill sites combines
with methane it forms ozone and how
dangerous ozone is to humans. No, all
they can talk about is the advantages from
their viewpoint probably much the
same as they would have said in Nigeria if
the Nigerian activists were able to stand
up without being executed by their own
government.
Renewables? No, says Shell, we are
not in that business. And anyway, solar
takes too long and it cant supply the
base load, they add. But to come back to
jobs they tell the hopeful unemployed
of this country that jobs will be there
for the picking but those people dont
understand that the jobs few and short
will be ten years in the coming.
Weve got the fifth biggest gas reserves
in the world. Really? Says who? The
United States Geological Survey (USGS).
But their first estimate was 1000tcf
(trillion cubic feet). Now its 485tcf. How
come? What does our own petroleum
agency (PASA) say? 5tcf. Thats a variance
of 90 times. Meanwhile in the United
States, according to a 24 August report
in the Pittsburgh Tribune, government
geologists, updating previous assessments,
have slashed their estimation of
undiscovered Marcellus shale gas reserves
by nearly 80%. Their first estimates were
410tcf, and these have now been reduced
to 84tcf. An 80% reduction? In an area
where they have observed, measured,
recorded and sampled for years. If they
cant get it right in America, how can they
expect us to believe that they can get it
right in South Africa?
Pollution incidents in fracking are
caused by smaller, less professional
companies (not global standard setters
like Shell), they say. What about Shell
in the Marcellus shale area in the US?
Between 19 January and March 2011, they
were cited for a variety of environmental
violations, which included pollution of
waters (streams and rivers) and drilling a
gas well without a permit.
If we dont do it, youll have smaller,
less professional companies fracking
in SA, they warn. No, Shell. You have
underestimated the spirit of South
Africans. We will not stand by and
watch you or any other oil and gas
company worm your fracking way into
SouthAfrica.
Jonathan Deal is the chairman of the
Treasure the Karoo Action Group, a non-profit
organisation opposed to the introduction and
licensing of fracking in South Africa in the
absence of conclusive proof that fracking is the
only and the best answer to our energy and
employmentneeds.

COP 17

Another shale gas scandal

fracking the Quebec

By Kim Cornelissen

Grassroots movements in Canada face the same issues as in South Africa. They have media and public support but
no resources to fight the industrial lobbyists and governmental support to the energy complex.

irtually unknown only

a couple of years ago,
shale gas has become a
very controversial issue.
Considered the new oil,
thousands of wells have
to be drilled and fracked with millions
of litres of water laced with chemicals to
extract what is called unconventional gas.
This new fossil gas boom has become a
source of nightmares for communities
and citizens who want to protect natural
habitats, their health and the overall
quality of life, especially in rural areas.
As early as April 2009, the
AQLPA (Quebec Association Against
Atmospheric Pollution) had begun to
do research and raise awareness on the
shale gas issue. However, in the summer
of 2009, Quebecers woke up to find
strange white trucks in the quiet towns of
Richelieu and Mont-Saint-Hilaire, close
to Montreal. All of the Saint-Lawrence
Valley (where most Quebecers live) had
already been claimed by gas/companies.

Resistance!
Grassroots strategies include:
networking with scientists and
citizens groups;
sharing information internationally;
using all media and communication
tools possible to inform the public
and organise conferences and
workshops;
fighting some issues in court;
getting out on the streets regularly to
keep the level of awareness high.

Quebecers learnt that, with the consent

of the government, 20000 thousand
wells were to be drilled over 20 years.
Even worse, mayors and town councils
found out with dismay that they couldnt
act against it because the Mining Law
supersedes the municipal and regional
laws. Quebecers informed themselves very

quickly about shale gas and its numerous

impacts: air and water contamination,
increased levels of GHG, use of explosives
and cocktails of chemicals, impacts
on landslides, deterioration of roadand water-related infrastructures (e.g.
water treatment plants), conflicts with
ecotourism, and loss of property value.
The grassroot movement won the
right to a general inquiry from le Bureau
daudiences publiques sur lenvironnement
(BAPE), but the mandate had been
quite narrowed: BAPE would study only
how the shale gas development can be
done in Quebec in a sustainable way
and not if it should be done. Because
the BAPE mandate could not include
a recommendation for a moratorium
on shale gas, a two-year Environmental
Assessment Study (EES) was suggested,
but this is without representation from
the grassroot movement, and all of the
information has to remain confidential.
The picture is clear: on one side, the
industry has government support, lots of
money, many former public employees
from the oil and gas public sector, an
ex-Quebec prime minister, a strong lobby
and even the Mining Law. On the other
side, the grassroot movement has public
support, the ear of the media and almost
no money.
As of September 2011, there is still
no moratorium, and the drilling of
wells is happening, even while the EES
committee is working. The grassroot
movement is fighting without success to
get representatives on the committee and
to convince the government that the EES
must include a comparison of shale gas
with the alternatives (green energy) and
to assess whether shale gas development
is worth pursuing in Quebec. There
is no doubt that this analysis would
show that the alternative is humanly
and environmentally more valuable
and less risky than shale gas, with the
sameresults.
Kim Cornellison is an independent
researcher, consultant and vice-president of
the Quebec Association Against Atmospheric
Pollution(AQLPA).
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33

SPECIAL
FEATURE

Undermining Africa:
Africas role in the global uranium economy
By David Fig

economic sanctions
against South Africa.
In landlocked Niger,
a country with the lowest
human development
index in the world,
French government
owned company Areva
has had longstanding
interests in mines near
the villages of Arlit and
Akokan. It also wants
to expand by opening
a third mine in Niger.
For the last 40 years,
extraction of uranium
has left a legacy of
contamination of air,
soil and groundwater.
Local Touareg people
are paying a high price
for the pollution: their
health statistics indicated
that they are twice as
vulnerable as other
citizens to respiratory
diseases, birth defects,
Most of the financial benefits of uranium mining in Africa are not retained by governments, but instead flow out to the coffers of the
leukaemia and cancer.
transnational mining corporations.
Last year a Greenpeace
frica is a major supplier of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
report indicated the extent of the
uranium to the world nuclear
South Africas own gold mines contained
problems and challenged Areva to clean
industry. And yet, apart from
uranium as a by-product. When the US
up its act.
South Africa, the continent has
and UK tried to source uranium for their
At the Peoples Dialogue sessions,
little or no stake in going nuclear itself.
Cold War nuclear bomb programmes in
entitled Africa in Crisis, Africa Resists,
Should Africa be saying no to the global
the 1950s and 1960s, they signed secret
held during the World Social Forum
development of this technology, or should agreements with Witwatersrand gold
in Dakar in February 2011, a voice
it continue to provide the industry with its mines to extract their uranium. The
from Niger explained the problem.
raw material?
independent French weapons programme Almoustapha Alhacen, who heads
In the wake of the serious accident
obtained uranium from Niger and tested
Arlits environmental and human rights
at Fukushima in Japan, we need to
its weapons in the Algerian desert.
campaign Aghir inMan, told the audience:
question the continents role in assisting
As civilian nuclear power took off
With each passing day, the contamination
this controversial industry to survive.
from the mid-1960s, much of the uranium of our villages intensifies, while Areva
Most of the financial benefits of uranium
came from various parts of Africa. The
continues to make hundreds of millions
mining in Africa are not retained by
biggest suppliers were Namibia, Niger
by extracting our resources. Radioactivity
governments, but instead flow out to
and South Africa. The largest openfrom the mines ruins our livelihoods and
the coffers of the transnational mining
cast uranium mine on the continent
increases our poverty.
corporations. Therefore the advantages
was in the Namib desert at a site called
South Africa has seen over 60
to African communities are negative.
Rssing, about 100km from the town of
years of uranium extraction. From
Instead of a development dividend,
Swakopmund, Namibia. When Rssing
the 1950s, most of the Witwatersrand
communities get saddled with problems
was built in the 1970s, Namibia was
gold mines also produced uranium.
of the grabbing and contamination of land still under illegal South African control.
Today the gold is mostly mined out,
and water resources, and diseases arising
The mine was run by an Australian/
but there are a few uranium mines that
fromradioactivity.
UK mining multinational called Rio
continue to be viable. Although South
Because of Africas plentiful uranium,
Tinto, and was co-owned by the South
Africa claims to have a sophisticated
the continent has always been linked
African and Iranian governments, who
nuclear industry, the National Nuclear
to the nuclear industry. From the
still own shares in the mine. Contracts
Regulator (NNR) is underfunded and
Shinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo
were made with the French and Japanese
underskilled, and cannot oversee in detail
(now DRC) came the uranium for the first nuclear industries to import the uranium
the questions of worker health, public
nuclear weapons dropped by the USA on
produced at Rssing, effectively breaking
health or environmental contamination.

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COP 17
In February 2011, a contaminated
community on the West Rand, at Tudor
Shaft, had to be relocated by the local
municipality. The NNR had recently
declared that people were not at risk, but
subsequent inspections conducted for
the NGO Federation for a Sustainable
Environment proved the opposite.
In countries like Namibia and Malawi,
where new mines have recently been
opened, there is even less state regulation
of levels and impacts of radioactivity.
Both countries have endorsed investment
by the Australian company Paladin
Resources, which had little prior record of
involvement in the industry. In Namibia,
Paladin was given permission to open
a mine inside the very fragile NamibNaukluft National Park, while in Malawi
it set up a mine at Kayelekera in the
extreme north of the country. Paladin has
been extremely reticent about making
information about its operations public,
and its taking advantage of the low level
of regulation to avoid high standards of
worker protection.
These investments were stimulated
by the sudden rise in uranium prices in
the mid-2000s. After many years, the
spot price rose from around US$20 per
pound to over US$130 per pound. This
unleashed a uranium rush, which saw
new prospecting in places like Tanzania,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Central African
Republic and the Democratic Republic of
Congo (whose uranium mines in Katanga
were recently revived). Even though the
price has since clawed back to around
US$60 per pound, the invasion of Africa,
often by fly-by-night companies, coupled
with states that facilitate the uranium
mining operations at all costs, has meant
that environmental and worker protection
are at a minimum. Countries like Namibia
have refused to join the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative, which
tries to ensure that mining companies
uphold some ethical standards.
In 2009, at a meeting in Tanzania,
environment, labour and human rights
organisations from around the continent
formed the Africa Uranium Alliance to
cement ties and call for environmental
and social justice relating to the question
of uranium mining. AUA hopes to
have a presence at the Durban climate
conference, and invites like-minded
organisations to attend its sessions. From
its wide experience, the AUA knows the
considerable damage caused to African
communities by the largely transnational
uranium mining operations. It is raising
its voice to challenge the legacy of
pollution and disease and to challenge
governments to seek development
paths that are less destructive locally
andglobally.
Dr David Fig is s a South African environmental
sociologist, political economist, and activist.

Defenders of the Land is a new initiative that was created to provide a forum for the most radical land-based First
Nations struggles in Canada.

Indigenous
people: a key to
environmental
rescue

A 60 000-year track record on ecology

Interview with Clayton ThomasMuller, founder of Defenders of the
Land in Canada.
Michael Welch (MW): Clayton
Thomas-Muller, youre on staff
with the Indigenous Environment
Network and a founder of
Defenders of the Land. What
distinguishes them from other
indigenous organisations?
Clayton Thomas-Muller (CTM):
Defenders of the Land is a new initiative.
It was created to provide a forum for the
most radical land-based First Nations
struggles here in this country. For the
last three years weve been convening an
annual gathering, setting up a governance
structure comprised of members of
frontline First Nations communities
that have been engaged directly with the
state over land disputes, asserting treaty
rights, aboriginal rights, over asserting
land claims. The goal has been to develop

a grassroots-led base-building strategy

with our native people to really invigorate
a young generation, to connect them
with some veterans of the movement,
to make some serious moves forward,
and to provide an alternative to the
current PTOs (Provincial and Territorial
aboriginal Organisations). Many of these
organisations have become co-opted
because of their arms length relationship
with the federal government in the
context of funding. Many people feel
that they have become unable to address
some of the most critical issues that were
facing.
The Indigenous Environmental
Network, where I work as Tar Sands
campaigner, has been around for about
20 years. It is an environmental justice
network in the United States and more
recently in Canada. In recent years, weve
taken our work all across the planet
supporting indigenous communities to
protect the sacredness of Mother Earth
from toxic contamination and corporate
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35

SPECIAL
FEATURE

Indigenous people are the key in this struggle. We know how to take care of this land. Green jobs? Damn, we've had green jobs for 60 000 years.

exploitation. We do this through

grassroots-led strategies around base
building. We engage in civil disobedience.
We work with tribes, fighting against
the fossil fuel regime, the false solutions
that are being put on the table by the
US government and the Canadian
government to try and address climate
change, and fighting for climate and
energy justice for our people.
MW: Talk about the Tar ands
campaign in particular, about
what theyve been doing to
frustrate tar sands development.
CTM: The Tar Sands campaign is
part of our Native Energy and Climate
Program. [Tar sands are a type of
unconventional petroleum deposit used
for oil. Its extraction and production is
extremely controversial, causing mass
displacements and with huge impacts on
the environment. The tar sands mining
project in Canada is possibly the largest
industrial project in human history and
critics claim it could also be the most
destructive.] Im one of five staffers spread
out across the continent supporting
frontline communities fighting against Big
Oil. We started about four and a half years
ago when we understood the immense
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impacts that downstream communities

are facing as a result of living so near the
worlds largest construction project. Weve
been initiating action camps, trainings,
lobby trips, bringing community voices
all the way up to the halls of the United
Nations and the international climate
negotiations to exert pressure on the
Canadian government over its energy
policy and the human rights impacts that
that policy has had on local communities
in terms of loss of food security, loss of
access to traditional hunting and fishing
grounds, and the cancer clusters that so
many communities in northern Alberta
are now having.
Whose endgame?

to work with the unique political and

legal status that First Nations peoples
have. Theyre just trying to get the next
big story, or stop a particular policy, but
its not necessarily with an endgame of
having First Nations peoples controlling
their lands. You have conflicting intense
strategies and thats whats playing
out in the tar sands as well. There are
different groups with different agendas
and everybody wants to say they work
with First Nations, but not everybody
understands what the endgame is for First
Nations peoples.

MW: Could you discuss the issue

of indigenous peoples forming
those alliances with urban-based
environmentalists who want
solidarity with the indigenous
peoples? What are the challenges
with these sorts of alliances?

CTM: The endgame for indigenous

peoples is that we dont want to have to
choose between our way of life and being
able to get paid in this cash economy.
Over half of First Nations peoples live in
urban centres, and its not because cities
provide such great opportunities, its
because so many of our communities have
been devastated by mega-development,
whether its the tar sands, or hydro, or
other forms of development like clear-cut
logging. This has severely impeded our
ability to continue to practice sustainable
economies like weve done for thousands

CTM: One of the challenges is that

different conservation groups and
different mainstream NGOs have different
cultures of organising. In many instances,
a lot of these groups havent taken the
time to truly understand what it means

MW: What is the endgame

for indigenous peoples?

COP 17
of years. Ive heard from First Nations that
they want the tar sands projects to stop:
they want to be able to continue to hunt,
fish and trap.
MW: At the same time, people,
not unreasonably, want to be able
to make a good living. I wonder
if you could talk a little bit about
the pushback, which you pointed
to earlier. People who want to
expand the tar sands, Im sure,
try to flash the dollars in front of
indigenous people to say that this
is best for their people. Heres
a way of creating jobs and so
forth. How do those sorts of
potential schisms get dealt with?
CTM: Theyre difficult to deal with. I
dont stand on podiums and say that all
native people are against the tar sands or
mega-development in general. You know,
people gotta eat. People gotta put food
on the table for their kids. And so theyre
presented with hard choices. For us its
about the system that is being pushed by
this government, formerly minority, to
elevate tar sands as the primary backbone
of the Canadian economy. In a time of
climate change, in a time when science
has proven climate change is caused
by man-made CO2, here we have our
government doing everything it can to
stall a post-Kyoto climate treaty, doing
everything it can to market dirty oil sands
fuel to Europe, to the United States, to
Asian markets, and to really stifle the
voice of local communities who are dying
as a result of this policy. For us, its about
working with our people to identify
alternative economic solutions while
addressing the real crisis thats happening
right now in terms of the human health
impacts and ecological impacts that the
tar sands has.
A 60 000-year track record on ecology
MW: You pointed out that we do
need to change our whole system,
Aurora tarsands mine in Canada.

Over half of First Nations peoples live in urban centres, not because cities provide great opportunities, but because
our communities have been devastated by mega-development, like tar sands and pipelines.

and we need to wean ourselves off

of carbon-based fuels and carbonbased energies, but in the mean
time, people have to eat, they
have to get gas in their cars
CTM: If you look at Canada and the
immense work ahead to change our
infrastructure to be zero-carbon, the
economic stimulus and the job-creation
potential is incredible. The amount of
workers it takes to maintain sun-farms
or wind-farms, versus the amount of
workers it takes to maintain a pipeline,
is about 12:1. The green economy, as a
transitionary economy to something even
better and more sustainable down the
road, is the way out. It presents us with
incredible opportunities for each citizen
to have decent work, in unison with the
sacred circle of life, to design our local
communities sustainable economies in a
biological, bio-regional way.
MW: I want to ask about the
role, historically, of indigenous
peoples in these environmental
movements and how far back they

go. Could you point out what it is

about the indigenous component
in particular that may be key to an
ultimate victory in this struggle?
CTM: We are the key. I dont want to
come off un-humble or anything, but
indigenous peoples have a 60 000-year
track record on ecology. We know how
to take care of this land. We understand
our sacred relationship with our plant
and animal relatives. Green jobs?
Sh*t, we had green jobs for millennia.
Eventually, the mainstream environmental
organisations are going to understand
that. We will continue as First Nations
and aboriginal people to acquire more
precedent-setting legal victories in the
courts of Canada, asserting our rights,
and big NGOs, conservation groups,
industry, government, will have to accept
it. Theyd better get with the programme
and understand that yes, technology
and Western solutions play a key role
in addressing the complex global issues
we face today, like climate change, like
the end of cheap energy, like the loss of
natural capital to sustain this economic
paradigm we live in called capitalism,
but its only Western solutions coupled
with indigenous traditional ecological
knowledge that can give us the future
we all deserve. Until people deal with
their race, class, and all these different
dysfunctions that keep our movement
fractured, theyre going to get left in the
dust. And a lot of people are starting to
understand as were seeing in North
America and globally. There is a global
fight against austerity measures, because
the banks have all ripped us off and
climate change will be one of the catalyst
issues within that social movement to
drive a popular uprising. We will see
indigenous peoples play a key role for
the economic paradigm and vision of the
future, one that will allow us once again as
human beings to understand our role in
the sacred circle of life.
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37

national

There needs to be a shift of resources from the private to the public sector. A real change in the health system can only take place if this occurs.

NHI Green Paper:

vital first step forward
By Alex Muller

The release of the Green Paper on

National Health Insurance (NHI) has
rekindled the heated debate around
reforming South Africas health
system. After a decade of denialism
and neglect in the public health
sector, it is evident that health is
in a state of crisis and that urgent
change is necessary.

he critical state of
healthcare is not accidental,
nor just the result of a massive
burden of disease. Policy
decisions taken by government
over the last 15 years, including the
introduction of GEAR, fiscal discipline,
privatisation, retrenchment of health
workers and deliberate strengthening
of the private sector, have contributed
to bringing us to where we are today.
South Africa spends 8.3% of its GDP
on healthcare. Half of that is spent on
the 16% of the population covered by
the private sector, with a per capita
expenditure of R11150. For the other 84%

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of the population that are served by the

public sector, the per capita spending
is R2766. The vast majority of South
Africans that rely on the public sector are
served by less than 30% of the medical
specialists working in the country. This is
a direct consequence of neoliberal policy
decisions, which have resulted in the
continuous undermining of the public
sector and subsidisation of the private
sector. All South Africas doctors, nurses,
specialists, physiotherapists, pharmacists
and other health workers are trained
in the public sector yet the majority
work in the private sector. Medical aid
contributions are tax deductible, which
effectively subsidises private medical
schemes and results in a massive loss of
public tax revenue. The private sector
frequently treats patients until the medical
aid funds are exhausted and then relegates
them to public hospitals for further care.
This is highlighted by the ground-breaking
case of Mr Soobramoney vs Minister of
Health, wherein the Constitutional Court
denied Mr Soobramoney access to dialysis
services in the public sector following

the exhaustion of his private medical

aidbenefits.
The Green Paper on NHI correctly
outlines many of these problems and takes
into account the current burden of disease
in South Africa. It outlines a philosophical
approach to ensuring universal access
with a focus on primary health care.
It is founded on the right to access to
healthcare, social solidarity, equity and
affordability. Its strengths are its emphasis
on primary health care; the inclusion
of practical strategies to implement
this following the Re-engineering
Primary Health Care approach; and the
recognition of the social determinants of
health, which shape all health inequalities.
However, we need to look beyond these
approaches and ask whether the proposed
NHI will truly reverse the processes that
have led to the current health crisis. If
we assume that this crisis can only be
overcome by a single national health
service which is free at the point of
service and funded collectively, the Green
Paper in its current form is only a vague
statement of intent from the Department

national

Health is an investment!
There is controversy regarding the
cost of NHI amongst economists
with different class interests pushing
different figures. Real costs are difficult
to estimate, and certain doomsayers,
predicting the collapse of the South
African economy, have vested interests
in making NHI look totally infeasible.
The Green Paper estimates that NHI will
cost R255 billion by 2025. The 2011/12
budget for health was R125 billion.
This appears to be a massive increase,
but the real annual increase in health
expenditure at current trends would
have reached approximately R180 billion
by 2025. If government implements the
WHO recommendation of increasing
health expenditure from 12 to 15% of
the national budget, health expenditure
would be over R200 billion in 2025. The
2010 total private and public sector
expenditure on health was R227 billion.
While there is clearly a need to generate
additional resources, the gap is not as
massive as portrayed in the media and,
if appropriate strategies are adopted,
a significant part of this will come from
a shift of resources from the private to
the public sector. A real change in the
health system can only take place if
thisoccurs.

of Health. Its lack of clarity

on the crucial issues of
financing and implementation
reflect the conflicting vested
interests within the health
sector between the financial
interests of the private sector
and the need to deliver
health care for all. This
conflict is also evident within
government itself, notably
between the Department of
Health and Treasury. The
Green Paper provides the
opportunity to build a health
system that allows universal
quality healthcare for all
South Africans but this
opportunity threatens to be
undermined by the powerful interests of
the privatesector.
Public facilities in South Africa charge
user fees from patients with any form of
income above R4 000 per month. This
mainly affects lower income workers
who cannot afford medical aids and use
the public sector only to be faced with
crippling hospital bills. Last years ANC
discussion document on NHI clearly
states that user fees need to be abolished
to provide free services at the point of
delivery. This confirms a large body
of evidence that shows how user fees
significantly impede access to healthcare.

However, the Green Paper does not

specifically mention the abolishing of
user fees, nor does it give a timeline
for when this would occur. Even more
worrying is the mention of co-payments
within NHI under certain circumstances.
Co-payments are not payments for
services outside of the NHI health
package, such as purely cosmetic surgery
or expensive spectacle frames, but are
additional payments for services within
the package of care, which are as yet
unspecified. While there is a statement
that co-payments are discouraged, a
loophole is left for certain undetermined
circumstances. Co-payments have been
used extensively in other NHI systems
in the world, where they have resulted in
limiting access to care. They undermine
the core principle of universal coverage
and must therefore be opposed.
The Green Paper proposes that NHI
will provide a benefit package which
will be specific to each level of care:
district, regional and tertiary hospital
level. The aim is to make this package
comprehensive and rational. The details
of the package are not specified, and
it is difficult to comment on whether
or not it will truly be comprehensive.

The content of the benefits package

will ultimately determine the form and
quality of the health system. In order
to provide universal quality care for all,
the package needs to include not only
curative services by medical professionals
but also preventive and promotive health
strategies by community and other health
workers. It is important to note that in
the Green Paper, the right to access to
healthcare is limited to South Africans,
legal permanent residents, refugees and
asylum seekers this leaves immigrants
without papers no chance of accessing the
health system.

NHI will pool vast sums of money

into a single fund. These resources will be
used to purchase services from health
providers both private and public. All
facilities contracting with the NHI will
have to be accredited by the Office of
Health Standards Compliance. Facilities
of sufficient quality will be mainly private
hospitals or urban-based public hospitals.
Hospitals and clinics in rural and poor
urban communities will struggle to
meet these standards and run the risk of
not being accredited. This could mean
that public funds earmarked for the
health sector could end up benefiting
only private facilities and already wellrun public facilities. In the worst-case
scenario, NHI could end up strengthening
the private health industry. As the money
in the NHI fund is public money, it is
imperative that it is used to upgrade and
build the public sector. Therefore public
facilities (especially in rural and poor
urban areas) need to be upgraded and
accredited first. Another part of the NHI
implementation plan is the building of six
flagship academic hospitals. Many of the
hospitals named already exist, so it must
be assumed that a significant renovation
and revitalisation of these facilities is
envisaged. It is of concern
that the Green Paper implies
this will be done through
private public partnerships
(PPPs) without providing
further details. The building
of public hospitals should
not be a source of profit
for private companies
and should remain wholly
owned and managed by the
publicsector.
We need to identify the
critical areas of struggle,
critique the inconsistencies
and identify dangerous
areas within the Green
Paper. Issues that have been
identified above need to be
closely monitored in the
process leading up to the White Paper and
the actual NHI Bill. Unless we implement
a truly universal NHI with a strong public
sector, the glaring health inequalities in
South Africa will persist.

Dr Alex Muller is the coordinator of the Peoples

Health Movement South Africa (PHM-SA). This
article is based on PHM-SAs position paper, for
which Dr Lydia Cairncross, Pr Leslie London,
Pr David Sanders and David Lewis provided
significant support and input.
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39

national

Land reform
Green Paper:

not much food

for thought
By Stephen Greenberg

The ANC has drifted a long way away from the days of liberation struggle. Today it uses the state to manage the
capitalist land market. We need to place the self-activity of the landless and land hungry at the centre of land transfer.

In 1994 the Reconstruction and

Development Programme (RDP) set
a target for the transfer of 30% of
land to black ownership within 5
years. But 17 years later, no more
than 7% has been transferred.
What are the causes of this dismal
performance?

irst, the willing seller,

willing buyer policy of the ANC
government determined that the
market was to drive land reform.
In conditions where a small minority of
the population owned the vast majority of
land, land owners could respond to this
new demand for land by hiking prices or
by not selling to the state or black owners
if they didnt want to. It kept control over
what land was redistributed, how and to
whom in the hands of white land owners.
State grants to assist blacks to buy land
did not remedy this imbalance. At best

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they allowed blacks to participate on the

margins of the market.
The second cause for the bleak
performance was a reliance on the state
bureaucracy to facilitate the transfer
of land. Despite the political rhetoric
surrounding land reform, the entire land
affairs department has never received
more than 1% of the overall national
budget. This money was not only to buy
land, but also to manage the system of
private property through recording the
extent and legal ownership of property.
This small budget was not enough to
pay for what was needed even to achieve
the modest targets for transfer established
in the RDP. To this day, posts remain
unfilled, especially at provincial and
local levels where staff is most needed to
implement land reform.
But even more importantly, the state
stood in for the activity of the population.
The message of land reform was that the
state will deliver. Rural people, who once

fought vigorously against encroachments

on their access to land (even if they
did not always win these battles), were
exhorted to wait patiently in the queue
for their turn. They were demobilised,
and their turn to receive land never came.
The newly released Green Paper on
Land Reform recognises some of the
shortfalls in the policy. It points to the
land acquisition strategy, fragmented
support, the way beneficiaries are
selected and a problematic restitution
model as key policy weaknesses.
But none of this is fleshed out. Six
years after the Land Summit, which
called on government to scrap the willing
seller, willing buyer policy, and two and
a half years after the first announcement
that a new Green Paper was to be written,
the Department of Rural Development
and Land Reform (DRDLR) has produced
an 11-page document, essentially
consisting of bullet points.
The Green Paper offers three
principles underpinning land reform.
We should agree with the first principle
on deracialisation of the rural economy,
even as we should also acknowledge that
deracialisation within a capitalist context
will produce widening class inequalities.
Our opposition to class inequality
notwithstanding, we should support
deracialisation of ownership and power
inprinciple.
The second principle on democratic
and equitable allocation and use is spot
on. Unfortunately it is not carried through
into the remainder of the document. It
becomes no more than an abstraction.
The third principle on strict
production discipline for guaranteed
national food security is somewhat
more problematic. While we can agree
that land reform must not disable the
production of enough food for everyone,
we must also be cautious of adopting a
conservative approach suggesting that
the only way to realise food security is to
carry on with the production patterns we
haveinherited.
South Africa does produce enough
food, in general, to meet domestic market
needs. But this national level food security
goes hand in hand with increasing hunger
among the poor, who are not in the
market because of their lack of resources
to buy. Thirty-two per cent of children
in South Africa regularly go hungry at
present. Our national food security,
using advanced production techniques
and concentrated landholdings, does
not translate into enough food for all at
household and individual level.
Rhetorically at least, agricultural
policy is gradually shifting towards
recognition of the importance of
smallholder agriculture as a necessary part
of the response to rising social inequality
and ecological destruction. Land reform
has a critical role to play in this shift,
in particular by breaking up farms on

national

17 years after the end of Apartheid, no more than 7% of land has been transferred.

transfer so that many people can gain

access to land. It is here that agriculture
and land reform are thoroughly entwined.
If farms are subdivided, this must go hand
in hand with the provision of appropriate
infrastructure for those with access to
use the land productively. For example,
water infrastructure needs to be extended
to each subdivided portion of a brokenupfarm.
But the Green Paper does not deal
with this question at all. We can anticipate
that farms will continue to be transferred
using outdated boundaries, some of which
were constructed in the late 1800s with
the express purpose of excluding Africans
from the land. The myth that South
African farms are constructed on the
basis of some kind of ideal, scientificallyestablished economic size must be
dismissed. Although an Act repealing the
1970 Subdivision of Land Act has been
passed, it has not been signed into law by
the President. The 1970 Act determines
the minimum size for farms based
onincome.
The Green Paper does attempt to tie
land reform more closely to the new rural
development programme, one strand of
which is strategic investments in social
and economic infrastructure that will
benefit entire rural communities. If this
signals a shift from support to individual
farmers towards broader infrastructural
support that can make smallholder
farming a realistic option for the rural
poor, it must be welcomed. But again,
there is no further substance in the Green
Paper. If the vision of state investment
remains in the frame of the National
Spatial Development Perspective, we can
expect the continuation of investment
decisions that force the rural poor to
move from where they live, or to remain
but expect limited public support.
The Green Paper makes a few
very superficial proposals about land
ownership. State land will be consolidated
so that there is one system for land owned
by national, provincial and municipal
government. This land will remain under
state ownership but will be leased out.
This is not very different from what
already happens. If any lessons have
been drawn from practice in leasing state

land to date, they are not shared in the

Green Paper. For example, leases have
often wound up with white commercial
farmers or with relative elites among
blackproducers.
Privately owned land is divided into
land owned by citizens and that owned
by foreigners. The Green Paper proposes
that regulatory limits may be imposed
on private land, and gives examples
such as land ceilings or sustainable use,
but offers no details whatsoever about
what specific limits are proposed. There
may be room to make demands on what
types of limitations should be imposed
on privately owned land. Foreigners will
only be able to acquire land through
leasehold and not through freehold title.
This means they will only be able to lease
land for long periods rather than own it
outright. They will also be excluded from
owning sensitive or national security
land, including coastal, communal, rural
and agricultural land, amongst others. The
Green Paper does not indicate whether
multinational corporations are considered
to be foreigners.
Communal tenure is a fourth
ownership system which remains

very poorly defined in law. The state

remains the de facto owner of this land,
despite efforts to transfer ownership
to traditional authorities under the
Communal Land Rights Act. This Act
was struck down by the Constitutional
Court in 2010 for removing historical
tenure rights of individuals and groups
living in those areas. The Green Paper
proposes dealing with this but provides
no details of what approach it might
take. It points out the need to consider
governance arrangements between
traditional authorities, local government
and communal property institutions, but
makes no concrete proposals.
The rest of the Green Paper outlines
various new institutions to manage land
and to conduct valuations. The proposals
aim to tweak the existing system rather
than fundamentally transform it. There
are no proposals about how to affect a
more rapid transfer of land from white to
black, or how to overcome the weaknesses
in policy that it noted at the outset.
Ultimately the Green Paper is not actually
about land reform at all, but about
landmanagement.
The ANC has drifted a long way away
from the days of liberation struggle. Today
it uses the state to manage the capitalist
land market. Land reform has long ago
dissolved into a bureaucratic exercise in
containment. Its revival will require a
return to the mass struggles that place
the self-activity of the landless and land
hungry at the centre of land transfer and
agrarian transformation. The Green Paper
offers not a glimpse of such a picture.
Stephen Greenberg is a researcher and an
editor in the fields of agriculture, food, land and
rural development, working extensively with
research and environmental organisations.

Our national food security does not translate into enough food for all at household and individual level. Yet South
Africa does produce enough food to meet domestic market needs.

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41

international

Minister of Defense Joe Modise of South Africa inspects US troops in Washington in 1997.

Whos really South

Africas foreign
policy master?
By Dale T. McKinley

f one has been relying solely on

more recent mainstream press
coverage and associated NGO
academic interpretations to
understand and analyse South
Africas foreign policy/diplomacy, then is
be only a slight exaggeration to say that
the overwhelming conclusion must be
that China has become our new foreign
master. Whether its the Dalai Lama
saga, the Libyan conflict, the situation in
Zimbabwe, trade issues, general North
South politics or diplomatic positions
taken at the United Nations, the dominant
line appears to be that almost everything
that South Africa does these days on
the foreign front is linked, in one way or
another, to Chinese interest and influence.

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Predictably, though, there is a great

deal of difference between appearance
and reality. To put it bluntly, the China
syndrome argument is more hot air than
anythingelse.
First things first, though. In our era
of neoliberal globalisation and capitalist
power politics, no countrys foreign policy
is really independent, although this does
apply in varying degrees depending on the
countrys global pecking order. And yes, it
also very directly applies to South Africa,
despite President Jacob Zuma doing his
best a few weeks back to convince us all
otherwise when responding to widespread
criticism over the Dalai Lama debacle.
If anyone is naive enough to swallow
Zumas foreign policy explanation that

we look at what is of benefit to the South

African people and what will advance our
domestic priorities at that given time,
then read no further.
Most certainly, China has a great deal
more political influence and economic
weight both globally and in respect of
South Africa than it did back in the late
20th century. Further, there can be little
argument that the ruling ANC and the
government it runs takes that increased
influence and weight largely due to
Chinas ravenous appetite for Africa
and South Africas bountiful natural
resources on board when it comes to
consideration of some of its foreign policy
and diplomatic decisions. But if we take
the time and effort to actually look at the
principal source of (foreign) influence
and weight on the core of South Africas
foreign policy, then China definitively
takes a distant back seat to the worlds still
main imperialist power, the USA.
While Chinas contemporary toxic
cocktail of Stalinist-infused political
authoritarianism, free market capitalism
and social engineering might well appeal
to many within the ANC and government,
the USA and its associated Western
junior allies not only has a much deeper
historical socio-cultural, economic and
political boot print in South Africa (also
across the sub-continent), but its present-

international

day imperial candy store is better set up,

stocked and deployed.
On the economic front, besides the
fact that the USA has had from almost
the very beginnings of South Africas
capitalist development serious and
sustained miningindustrial corporate
presence, the dominant trope of South
Africas post-apartheid capitalist economy
has been symbiotically tied to the global
circuits of US capital. Seventeen years on
and the USA remains by far the largest
source of foreign direct investment (FDI)
in South Africa, with some of the worlds
largest (public and private) pension and
portfolio funds leading the way. Even
though much has been made of the fact
that China is now South Africas largest
trading partner (remembering that the
USA is a close second), the variegated
and more easily shifting nature of FDI
is a great deal more strategically placed
as a political shaper and influencer than
mostly predictable bulk trade, which
is largely driven in the longer term by
objectivematerial need.
More specifically, though, the
economic relationship between
South Africa and the USA is far more
institutionally embedded than that
with China. Confirmation of this can
be found in the establishment of the
SAUS Bilateral Cooperation Forum in
2002. In the ensuing years, the Forum
has been a hive of activity with ten
separate committees focusing on: trade
and investment, agriculture, justice and
anti-crime initiatives, defence, energy
development, health, human resource
development, housing, science and
technology, as well as conservation and
environmental matters. Add to this
the long-standing Bi-lateral Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement
between South African and the USA,
the 1000+ US companies with a physical
presence in South Africa, the USA-driven
support for NEPAD and the African
Union, the domestic and continental
economic importance of the American
Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA),
as well as the widespread involvement
of outfits such the US Agency for
International Development (USAID).
Combine all of this with the economic
and political dominance of the USA
and its Western allies within the United
Nations as well as within key international
financial institutions such as the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund
and the World Trade Organisation, and it
does not take an expert to figure out the
degrees to which an economy like South
Africas is intricately intertwined with the
character and content of US global (state
and corporate) capitalism. The reality is
that despite all of the ANC-government
rhetoric about the centrality of South
South economic (and political) solidarity,
the USA and its associated junior allies
remain the biggest and most influential

Hillary Clinton on a visit to Khayelitsha. Seventeen years on and the USA remains by far the largest source of foreign
direct investment (FDI) in South Africa.

capitalists in South Africas (and southern

Africas) economic and, by association,
foreign policy sand pit.
As crucial as the economic front is,
the militarysecurity side of things also
looms large; after all, the viability of a
system requires protection and projection.
Again, while noting the historic military
security relationship between the USA
and South Africa, the last few years in
particular have seen this relationship
grow from strength to strength. South
African military forces have participated
actively in the USAs Africa Commands
(not surprisingly, the only one of its kind
in the world) annual Africa Endeavor
exercises, described by the US military
as multinational communications
interoperability exercises and involving
the armed forces of many other African
countries as well as NATO and European
Union nations. In 2008, through the
African Union and the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC),
South Africa also participated in USinitiated and financed military exercises
of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS). In 2009, the
South African Navy held week-long joint
exercises with the USAs guided-missile
destroyer, Arleigh Burke.
The last three years have seen the
relationship being extended much more
directly and bi-laterally. In 2009, enlisted
non-commissioned officers (NCOs) from
the Special Forces division of the USAs
Army Africa visited SANDF Special
Forces headquarters. This was soon
followed by an early 2010 visit to South
Africa from the Army Africa commander
who, according to the US military,
observed preparation for training under
the US State Department-led African
Contingency Operations Training and

Assistance program. The commander was

quoted as saying that our task now is to
expand this relationship into an enduring
partnership between the US Army and
the South African Army. No surprise
then that during 2010 the expansion
included officer and NCO professional
development activities, a leader exchange
program, and various engagement
activities including military medicine,
military police, facilities management and
helicopter operations.
The cosiness has not stopped with
the military, though. In late 2010 some
of South Africas top police officers went
to the USA to receive training in crisis
response skills as part of the US State
Departments Antiterrorism Assistance
Programme. Then SAPS Special Task
Force Commander Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
(recently promoted by President Zuma to
acting National Police Commissioner) told
the media: This training recognises
the solid relationship law enforcement in
South Africa has with the United States.
What all of this translates into is a
contemporary foreign policy and largely
also a national policy which continues
to reflect dominantly the realities of South
Africas (and the sub-continents) historic
and systemic relationship with global
capitalism, and thus also its main political,
economic, socio-cultural and military
driver, the USA. Yes, there are spaces here
for degrees of independent economic
action and competition (e.g. China) as
well as politicalideological point-scoring
(e.g. anti-imperialism), but the dominant
core still remains intact.
Dr. Dale McKinley is an independent
writer, researcher and lecturer as well as a
politicalactivist.
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43

international

Gaza in siege:
interview with Raji Sourani
Raji Sourani is Gazas
foremost human rights
lawyer, and the founder and
director of the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights.
Amandla! (A!): You have said
that the Palestinian bid for
UN membership has brought
together the divided Palestinian
factions of Hamas and Fatah.
What is the state of their relations
following the unity agreement?
Raji Sourani (RS): I think the Israeli
government leaves no other choice than to
be united. Our differences have been ruled
out and the possibly of reconciliation
exists right now better than any time
before. Palestinians see no difference at
the political level between Hamas and
Fatah; there is no reason to keep this
split and the institutionalised weakness
anymore. There were initial reservations
following the bid for statehood by Abbas,
most particularly regarding the issue of
representation of refugees, as the PLO
wants to represent Palestinians both
outside and inside the territories. We
are asking for a state, which implies a
critical issue for refugees. Abbas made it
44

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

clear in his speech that the PLO would

take up the representation of Palestinian
refugees. This means that a major
obstacle and disagreement with Hamas
has been overcome. Its a very significant
improvement in relations between the
twofactions.
Abbas is very clearly committed to
a two state solution and he was one of
the first who claimed for it more than 40
years ago. He recently decided that the
situation is completely unacceptable and
he is showing that he will not compromise
anymore with the bid to statehood. That
is why he initiated a real political process
for a unified position. The issue wasnt so
much about a state or no state, it was a
political issue of unification.
A!: Is there a political space
for civil society to organise in
the Palestinian territories?
RS: Civil society was born under and
because of the Israeli occupation, and
since its creation it has been perpetually
harassed. Israel has always tried to crack
down by all means on civil society. Even
when the direct occupation was at its
strongest, under Arafat, civil society was
at its most robust and effective. Arafat
himself tried to contain its efforts but

he was unsuccessful. Some have tried to

limit the workings of Fatah but still, civil
society in the West Bank and in Gaza
is very much respected and has a huge
role to play. After 63 years of the Nakba
Palestinians want very basic, fundamental
primitive human rights: right of life, right
of movement, right of medical care, right
of education and we are extremely far of
achieving our right of self determination
and independence.
A!: How have the Arab
uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia
etc. impacted Palestinians?
RS: We could say that the Arab Spring
began in Palestine after the elections of
2006. It was one of the most wonderful
democratic processes I have seen with
transparent and fair elections and the
highest turnout ever. Palestinians wanted
democracy and delivered it even under
the occupation. Since then, Israel has
tightened restrictions and started its
policy of siege. When it boycotted the
elected government of Hamas, it had a
snowball effect: the economy of repression
started, with its huge social impacts.
Now we, as Palestinians, are in support of
struggles that are against the occupation.
We are very alert, and show great
solidarity to people who are also suffering
from dictatorships. Of course, Tunisia,
Egypt, Libya etc. will have a very strategic
and positive impact on Palestinians. All
of these uprisings are in our interest and
it was expressed boldly and clearly during
the Arab Spring. I would expect that
Palestine will benefit quite a lot from the
Arab world revolution.

international

A!: Where did Palestinians

stand in relation to the
NATO attacks in Libya?
RS: It was a highly complicated
situation, one that oscillated between
human right commitments and politics.
We have to remember what Gaddafi
said: that he would destroy and kill
everyone, until the very last gangster
and rebel. That was his position. There
was very legitimate fear that he was
going to commit atrocities, and he did
effectively try, so when the people of
Libya, and the so-called TNC (National
Transitional Council), tried to get help,
the intervention was justifiable. Even if we
dont agree with the way it was given.
I do think NATO went too far and
that time will soon show that they went
miles beyond their mandate, which was
the protection of civilians. NATO raids
caused the destruction of entire military
and civilian infrastructure. While there
was reason for the intervention, it was
highly misused. If the intention was
genuine and good, it will be proven very
soon as Libyas liberation unfolds. We
have to see how everyone shares the
cake and ensure that the revolution isnt
captured away from the Libyan people.
A!: How do you imagine the
reconstruction of infrastructure
in Palestine following the
socioeconomic suffocation
and the Israeli onslaught?
RS: All that Palestinians really need
now is the free movement of goods and
individuals. Let us remember that Israel
justified its siege with such things as Gilad
Shalits arrest (an Israeli soldier who was
detained in Palestine for five years). Shalit
is now back with his family and enjoys
his freedom. While we are very happy
for our prisoners who are back home, my
point is that civilians in Gaza are under
constant arrest. Not only do we have more
than 5000 prisoners in Israel, we are
1.8 million individuals constantly under
siege. It is time to get our freedom back.
The international community has given
5 billion dollars that will be invested in
the rebuilding of Gaza, and we will finally
have the opportunity to shape our destiny.
We need the liberty to rebuild ourselves.
A!: What scenarios will most
likely bring an end to the conflict
and how will Palestinian freedom
be achieved (i.e. on the basis of
a single state or two states)?
RS: In a few words: by stopping the de
facto apartheid system and the invasion
of settlements. If Israel continues with
its policies as such, it will lead to very
specific results and there will only be one
solution: one state. But this isnt even the
Palestinian position anymore. We had to

What does the international community really want? One or two states? Us Palestinians cannot call for a one-state
solution when Israel wants the purity of the Jewish state.

abandon the idea a long time ago, back in

1965, when Arafat was pressured by the
international community. They told him:
If you call for one state, this will mean
the destruction of the state of Israel. In
order to get support, Palestinians had to
recognise the state of Israel.
However, the two-state solution has
failed, repeatedly. The deaths of Rabin and
Arafat were two huge symbolic losses for
peace. So we have to ask ourselves, What
does the international community really
want? One or two states? Us Palestinians
cannot call for a one-state solution when
Israel wants the purity of the Jewish state.
We are against one state where we will be
second-class citizens. In concept and in
principle, Palestinians wanted one state,
but it doesnt seem workable anymore.
A!: Can you explain the meaning
of the Palestinian bid to selfdetermination? What can you
say about its potential denial?
RS: The non-alienable right of
Palestinian people to self-determination
has been stated many times before. This
is yet another legal and political attempt
to see the recognition of the Palestinian
state, through a UNSC resolution. There
is an essential geopolitical reality we have
to understand if Palestine is denied the
bid, and that is that the US is a major
obstacle, by its absolute support to
Israel. The United States protection of
Israel and the occupied territories affects
international law and a whole array of
influential intellectuals: this is realpolitik
at its best, the rule of the jungle, not
the rule of law. If people really cared,
they would do something practical and
ask Israel to be accountable for its war
crimes and crimes against humanity,
those recognised by every international
human rights organisation and fact
missions, NGOs, courts, etc. The lack
of action against Israel encourages it to

continue its occupation. The EU is as

guilty when it comes to making Israel
immune. More than 70% of Israeli goods
are sent to Europe. This is the cheapest
occupation in the world: nobody is
taking real measures against Israel like
they did against South Africa during
apartheid and no one is even asking
forsanctions.
Why is Israel part of the Eurovision?
Of internationally recognised soccer
teams? Why is there such a level of
academic and technical cooperation with
Israel? Israel has the best of relations with
the US and the EU. It is obliged by no one
to give up the occupation. This immunity
is the real shock. The speech made by
Abbas at the UN was a very positive step:
the thunder of applause shows some
support of the world community.
A!: For more than 30 years you have
worked in Palestine as a lawyer.
You have documented countless
violations of human rights and
other forms of domination. If Israel
is an institutionalised regime of
systematic domination, what are you
hoping can be concretely achieved
at the Russell Tribunal (RT)?
RS: RT was created to raise awareness
when governments conspire. It strives
to move popular consciousness in
order to pressure for measures against
atrocities and crimes against humanity.
As I mentioned, the US and the EU
serve as a real protector for Israels
belligerent occupation, providing it
full immunity, with no accountability
whatsoever. Having the Russell Tribunal is
quintessential in maintaining the pressure
and momentum and it shows that there
is a true and genuine support for the
Palestinian people, and their right to self
determination. There are efforts to impose
real sanctions and measures against the
occupation.
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45

SPECIAL
FEATURE

Protests on Wall st. This crisis is not only a banking crisis. It is a systemic crisis. The entire system of finance-led capitalism is at stake

The Crisis
Reloaded
The global economic crisis is
unravelling and the global economy has
every possibility of falling again into
recession. There have been a number of
pivotal points in the crisis:
Outbreak of the credit crunch in 2007;
Collapse of Lehman Brothers;
Outbreak of Eurozone crisis in 2010;
Stock market collapses in 2011;
Spreading of the financial crisis to
Europes main economies, namely Italy
and France.
This snowballing prompted Martin
Wolf, chief economic commentator
of the Financial Times to admit what
most have known for some time: Many
ask whether high-income countries
are at risk of a double dip recession.
My answer is: no, because the first
46

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

one did not end. The question is, how

much deeper and longer this recession
or contraction might become? The
point is that, by the second quarter of
2011, none of the six largest high-income
economies had surpassed output levels
reached before the crisis hit, in 2008.
Employment, sales, consumer confidence
and house prices data show that the main
centres of advanced capitalism, the USA,
EU and Japan, are slowing down to a near
standstill, or worse. The recovery from
the 20089 recession is stalled. Behind
the European debt crisis lies the earlier
bailout of the banks. Saved with tax payers
money, they now demand further bailouts
and enforce brutal cuts in public spending;
they have become so emboldened as to
enforce the replacement of democratic
governments in Greece and Italy. Though

China resisted the initial stages of the

global recession, it is not in a position to
drag the world out of the crisis because
of its growth imbalance and the growing
restlessness of the working class. South
Africas neoliberal policies have ensured
that, as in 2008, the global crisis will
have a severe impact on our economy.
The first official recession brought
with it a collapse of exports, a drop in
revenue and a wave of retrenchments
that saw more than a million workers
expelled from their workplace. A
sustained attack on wage levels resulted
as employers sought to restore profit
levels. Now we have come full circle and
a new wave of retrenchments can be
expected. Except this time our economy
is even more vulnerable to global
capitalismscontagion.

The Crisis Reloaded

The Crisis
comes home
By William K. Tabb

he global political economy

is likely to remain in crisis for at
least another three to five years,
with high unemployment and
slow growth. The character of this period
makes a grim cyclical crisis worse by
adding to it both a financial component
and a deeper structural crisis which
challenges a model of accumulation
dependent on financialisation and
corporate globalisation. A year ago, then
European Central Bank president JeanClaude Trichet expressed the view that
the next ten years could be a lost decade.
Median income in the US declined by
7% between 2000 and 2010 and the Wall
Street Journals poll of 50 leading business
economists expects the losses will not
be made up before 2021. These are not
the testimonies of radical Marxists (who
generally hold similar opinions).
It is obviously the worst crisis since
the Great Depression and so is likely
to go on for longer. There have been 88
banking crises over the last 40 years in a
wide range of developing and developed
countries. IMF economists conclude that
on average in these countries output levels
were 10% below pre-crisis levels, seven
years after the crisis started. The crisis we
are facing now will have more damaging
consequences than that.
There has been an over-accumulation
of capital that cannot find productive

outlets in increasingly unbalanced

national economies (in which the rich
demand and command more and more)
within an unbalanced global economy.
As a result, surplus flows to speculation
which produces bubbles rapidly rising
prices that feed on euphoria and greed
and then collapse, leaving many ordinary
people suffering.
For the first decades of neoliberalism,
the suffering was confined to the global
South. Now, in the countries of the core
of the world system, once relatively
privileged workers are increasingly
jobless and homeless. The Right blames
government spending and, even in the
face of unacceptably high unemployment,
demands austerity. In reality, there are
greater demands on government in a
downturn, while at the same time its
income falls: with less economic activity
less taxes are collected. It doesnt help that
governments throw money at capitalists
in the misguided expectation that this will
create jobs. In fact it simply fuels more
speculation and increases inequality. As
Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff and
former IMF chief economist Carmen
Reinhart show, on average a modern
banking crisis is responsible for an 86%
increase in government debt in the three
years following the crisis. With consumers
unable to spend and businesses cutting
employment until they see a market for

increased production, only government

spending can create jobs.
Behind this rapid increase in debt is a
falling rate of profit in the real economy
that produces goods and non-financial
services. At the same time, transnational
capital has continued to expand globally
and quite profitably. In the neoliberal
era (1980 or so to the present), corporate
globalisation was highly dynamic,
incorporating vast numbers into a
single labour market that expanded by
anything from 100% to 300%, depending
on how conservative you are with your
assessment. The incorporation of these
workers in China, India and elsewhere
has pushed wages down for other
workers who now face the effects of
this vast increase in labour supply on
wages and job opportunities. The result
has been a world-changing departure
from a social democratic world in which
labours share in productivity increases
was stable. Now capital appropriates
these increases almost entirely and,
finding that it cannot invest it all in
real investment, turns to speculative
investments. The workers, hurt by these
developments, are increasingly in the
same boat regardless of where they live
or who employs them.
We are now seeing the banks receiving
back the effects of the continuing crisis
of the rest of the economy. It is now
clear that many European banks cannot
withstand losses from expected defaults.
They carry assets at unrealistically
inflated paper valuations. This is why
governments are doing so much to save
Greece and prevent contagion to other
countries in crisis and potential crisis,
including the much larger economies
of Spain and Italy. The banks could be
strengthened by raising more capital
something they should have been
forced to do a long time ago. To do this
would mean that they would have to
sell shares. This would dilute the value
of the shares of their present owners,
so they dont like this idea. They prefer
governmentbailouts.
Another way to save the banks is to
have the European Union as a whole
guarantee the unpayable loans. This puts
the taxpayers further on the hook. A
great deal of the delay in allowing Greece
to write-down its debt has been to allow
time for the banks to dump these bonds
by selling them to public authorities. The
negotiated settlement to the Greek debt
is for those who own the bonds to take a
haircut, as it is called (the bondholders
will get less than the debtors owe in the
case of Greek debt maybe 40 to 60% less.
The more they squeeze the Greek working
class the more they will get). The reason
the European governments cannot easily
agree on how to address the crisis beyond
short-term expedients is that they have
conflicting interests as to who will end up
paying for the mess.
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47

SPECIAL
FEATURE
What they do agree on is squeezing
the working class as hard as they can.
Austerity does two things:
It protects capital from being forced
to write off debts it cannot collect. The
strategy is to squeeze the working class
to the limit and then have government
assume as much of the rest of the
unpayable debt as they can (collecting
again from the working class this time
in their role as tax payers).
It prolongs and deepens the economic
crisis as people have even less money
to spend and there are fewer jobs in
both the public and private sectors.
Corporate profits are maintained and
in many cases increased in a period of
crisis by closing plants, firing workers,
and forcing more concessions out
of those afraid of losing their jobs.
Governments also make concessions,
appearing to understand no other way
to promote economic activity than to
accept corporate blackmail. As a result
the crisis drags on.
If austerity creates unemployment and
slow growth, what is its purpose? The
bond holders who lent to governments
are mostly wealthy people and large
financial institutions. If Greece defaults,
French banks dont get their money back.
France doesnt have enough money to
bail out its banks once panic develops,
so the government and the banks lobby
together to avoid having to face up to
reality. Instead they propose tax increases
on working people and service cuts. They
stress the need to encourage savings (that
almost always favour those with the most
money) and presume that what is holding
back investment is lack of savings that can
be used by investors. This is not the case.
The world is awash with surplus capital. A
borrower rated as a good risk can borrow
at minimal cost. Investors are buying US
treasury securities at close to 0% interest
rates, clear evidence that they can find no
better place to put their money.
We cannot know the future but we might
imagine three main possibilities:
The ruling class will respond with
overwhelming repression and violence
where it finds it necessary.
The ruling class will be forced by the
strength of progressive forces to make
tactical concessions that may or may
not satisfy the movements.
If economists are right about the
prolonged severity of the crisis,
dramatic change is possible.
We cannot know, but a Gramscian
optimism of the will can encourage
effective class mobilisation and radical
rejection of the system. As the crisis
continues much will be up to us.

Europe's fall,
South Africa's
crash
By Amandla! Editorial Staff

Close to one third of South Africas exports (30%) goes to the 27 member states of EU. When the Euro falls in value,
there will be a massive drop in SA export sales to Europe.

The economic storm triggered by the 2008 financial crash

in the USA and Europe led to the loss of more than one
million jobs in South Africa. Today we know that the crisis
never really abated.

William K. Tabb is the author of The

Restructuring of Capitalism in Our Time, which
is to be published soon by Columbia University
Press and can be pre-ordered now. He can be
reached at wktabb@earthlink.net.
48

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

ow could it? Claims

for hefty profits, wheedled
through strange and
complex chains of debts,
were never cancelled
they were shifted, along
with private debts, onto governments and
their publicsectors.
In the US, banks were bailed out
with borrowed money and money
that was newly created by the central
bank. But this latter option is not really
possible for other countries, which
dont enjoy the status of the dollar as
international reserve currency. In the
European Union (EU), failing banks
paid off creditors with governmentsponsored funds in turn borrowed from
new creditors in the form of loan
contracts called bonds.

Paying old loans with new

Since then, these new loans have,
with compound interest, continued to
grow as claims on the governments.
This process is snowballing, with EU
governments first taking new loans to
pay off the old, then taking new loans
just to pay the interests on old loans,
and then not paying at all when new
creditors demand higher and higher
interest rates. EU governments with the
weakest flow of tax revenues like Greece
are succumbing to these snowballing
demands for payment. The EU then steps
in to force austerity, making the public
sector pay for the rescue of the banksters.
Consequently, Part Two of the global
economic crisis has arrived. Countries
in EU are cutting back on everything
to pay our debts in general, but in

The Crisis Reloaded

particular to save the Euro as the common
currencyofEU.

Drop in SA exports
With the turmoil in Greece
triggered by the EUs decision to impose
a giant austerity package on the country,
the Euro is mortally wounded. Public
sector wages in Greece have already been
cut by a third. New state bankruptcies are
in the pipeline, starting with Italy the
tenth largest economy in the world. In the
middle of November, the interest rates
on Italian state bonds were reaching the
magic 7% limit. So far, no state in the EU
has endured such high interest rates on
its debt without a bailout. Next up are
the indebted governments of Portugal
and Spain, as nervous and profit hungry
creditors and private banks demand
higher interest rates on state bonds they
own. Even France is now in the firing line
of the financial speculators.
Close to one third of South Africas
exports (30%) goes to the 27 member
states of EU. When the Euro falls in
value, when wage cuts and austerity hit
the working population and when public
spending is increasingly redirected to the
coffers of the financial elite and insatiable
for-profit institutions: there will be a
massive drop in SA export sales to Europe.
As Amandla! has argued before:
South Africa is in for a hurricane as global
capitalism limps from crisis to crisis. The
export-led growth path has failed and
will continue to fail. Without a change in
policy, South Africas mass unemployment
will only grow bigger in 2012.

The economic storm triggered by the 2008 financial crash in the U.S.A. and Europe led to the loss of more than one
million jobs in South Africa. Today we know that the crisis never really abated.

SA Treasury:
joining the wage
austerity choir
As expected, and despite the
mounting global crisis, SAs Treasury
announced no fundamental shifts in
economic policy in its Medium Term
Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The
policy rests on the assumption that private
business will be the main creator of jobs.
And Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan
deems it necessary to repeat what no

An Amandla! economic policy brief

The ANC governments economic
policy subsumes the countrys internal
mass unemployment disaster to
South Africas external relations with
globalcapital.
The coming crisis must be used to
do the opposite. It must be used to turn
this policy around and subsume the
countrys relations with foreign interests
(investors, the WTO, the World Bank
and the global economy) to SAs internal
economic situation. The pressing needs
for a steep increase in employment,
social investments, and broad-based
working-class consumption must take
priority over foreign economic interests.
Such a turnaround can only be led by the
publicsector.

Holding on to GEAR
This makes imperative an increase
in taxes, disproportionately drawing
on the incomes and wealth of big
corporations and the rich. And for this
it is necessary to lift the unofficial tax

revenue cap, first spelt out in the 1997

GEAR policy document.
Budget decisions and outcomes show
that the cap was already firmly in place
in 1994. It fell off or was lifted from 2006
to 2009. But as can be seen in Treasurys
October 2011 MTBPS, the government
has returned to the policy of pegging
the total revenue from all forms of taxes
at25% of GDP.
A 25% of GDP tax cap limits SA to a
public sector of the same size as the USA,
relative to the private sector. America is
well known for the meekness of its social
spending and the sheer panic that taxes
inflict on its ruling classes. Its unfair

one else believes that the economy

eventually will start to grow by more than
6% per year.
Yet as the global crisis unfolds, the
government defers its wildly optimistic
predictions further and further into
the future. The Treasury looks into the
fog and predicts 4.3% growth by 2014,
as global uncertainty subsides and
confidence strengthens.
Yet in light of the impending
stagnation or dissolution of the EU, the
debt crisis and political gridlock in the US,
the constantly increasing world oil prices
based on resource depletion, the global

health system is divided between rich

and poor, just as in SA. Alternatively, we
could compare the South African tax
regime with bankrupt Greece. The 25%
of GDP rule lies 34 percentage points
lower than tax revenue to GDP in Greece,
a country now universally criticised for its
inadequate tax revenues and inability to
curb upper-class tax evasion.
The low tax rates in SA cannot be
defended with the usual too narrow
tax base argument. The more unequal
a society is, the narrower becomes its
tax base, and the higher must be the
tax rates on the top income earners and
the middle class. The alternative is to
accumulate state debt, which is precisely
what the government is doing right now,
at dangerous levels.

Tax revenue as share of GDP

2010/2011

2011/2012

2011/2012

2012/2013

Outcome

Budget

Est. Outcome

Budget

24.5%

24.9%

24.5%

24.6%

Source: The Treasurys 2011 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and Amandla! calculations
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49

SPECIAL
FEATURE

failure to regulate speculative finance

or halt accelerating climate change, the
growing food crisis, the widening gap
between rich and poor and the potential
for a hard landing of the Chinese
economy everything points in the
oppositedirection.

The Treasury plan: attack

public sector wages
But if the muddled thinking in the
MTBPS is disturbing, far worse is the
Treasurys attack on the public sector
wages, both because of the political
timing and the threat it poses to economic
recovery by slashing effective demand
for consumer goods and services in a
timeofcrisis.
The burgeoning labour broker
industry, now comprising 30% of the
job market, already compounds the
problem by putting downward pressure

on real wages with just-in-time

employment and constant renegotiation of wage agreements
under conditions of hard
competition for jobs. Added to
this is a proposed youth wage
subsidy allowing further cuts,
and the 30% wage rebate deal for
new employees in textile factories
struck by SACTWU and the
subsequent (next day!) demand
from the National Employers
Association of SA for a 50% cut in
the minimumwages.
Finally, Treasury is saying that
the 2012 Budget provides for a 5
per cent cost-of living adjustment
for public-sector employees,
implemented with effect from
April each year, also implying a wage
contract over several years. The unclear
adding of a built-in pay progression
of 1.5 per cent and improvements in
overall remuneration doesnt change the
impression of a de facto wage freeze.

An impossible and
harmful wage freeze
Firstly, when announcing this quasi
wage freeze, the Finance Minister had to
presume that consumer prices (inflation)
will stabilise at 5.5% per year. This was
already exceeded before the speech with
a September Stats SA report citing a
yearly inflation rate of 6.56.8% for 80% of
the households, i.e. for a majority of the
public sector employees.
Secondly, we cannot have different
wage developments in the public and
private sectors, without provoking
flight from already heavily understaffed

Along with Greece, Italy is now at the heart of Europe's debt crisis. Silvio Berlusconi resigned in November
as prime minister of Italy, after dominating the country's politics for 17 years.

professions like teaching and health care.

Therefore the message from the Treasury
is a wage freeze signal to the whole
labourmarket.
Thirdly, the Treasurys presentation
misleads the reader into believing that
the wage increases for ordinary public
employees have been excessive and
this line has been mimicked by the
business press. In fact, real growth in
compensation for an average public
employee has been less than 2.5% per
year since 2007/08. This is 0.5% below
overall productivity growth and 1.1%
below private sector productivity growth,
which is the more relevant measure. It
is the private sector that pays for the
public through taxes. The MTBPS decries
the growth of wages as a proportion of
state revenue (42 percent up up from
31 percent four years ago). But looking
at it purely in these terms is irrelevant
what counts is the wage increase for
individual workers (a modest average of
2.5%), and that it is spurious it fails to
account for reductions in state revenue
as a result of the crisis. Even with frozen
public sector wages and frozen number of
employees during these years, the public
wage bill would have grown from 31 to
34.4% of total revenue! Spending from
the additional employees helped lift the
economy out of recession by holding up
demand when it was being drained by
private sector layoffs.
A progressive government ought to
understand that affluence, super profits
and high incomes in the private economy
should be taxed at a rate and scope
that make it possible for public services
to expand at least at the same rate as
everything else.

2009: saved by the

public sector
Just as for the private sector, elite
wages to state officials are a huge problem,
but it is irrelevant and politically biased
to say that it is a problem that publicservice remuneration and increases in
employment have raised the wage bill to
about 42 per cent of government revenue,
up from 31 per cent four years ago. As
mentioned above, the average wage
increases were 2.5% per year. The number
of employees grew by 4% per year since
2007. That is all there is to it, and it was
precisely the economic demand created
by this public sector growth that saved the
economy from collapsing completely in
2009.

Dangerous debt
the real reason
Public sector employment growth
isnt just good for the economy in terms of
upholding demand for goods and services
in a time of crisis (as in 2009), it is also
good for the people if the expansion takes
place in areas like health, education or
as this magazine argues in the form of
50

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The Crisis Reloaded

one million climate jobs, rather than as
excessive administration or bureaucracy.
Just like capital investment, labour
should go toward socially useful ends like
building housing instead of giant coal
power stations.
Projects of the latter kind now force
the state to borrow hundreds of billions
of rand every year. In October, the credit
rating institute Moodys downgraded
SAs credit rating to negative outlook.
This can soon mean higher interest rates
for state bonds, following the same logic
as in Europe. The growing debt and the
fact that interest payments on this debt
next year will exceed a staggering R100
billion per year are the real reasons for the
Treasury targeting public sector wages.

South African
economy:
the penny drops
By Patrick Bond

Health and education

are investments
The Treasury describes its wagecurbing plans as a shift from public
consumption to investment. But with
11% of the population infected by HIV
and a massive education crisis, public
spending on wages and the staffing of
health and education is not consumption,
but an investment in the future. If the R1.5
trillion megalomaniacal plans for dirty
and dangerous coal and nuclear energy
production were shifted to wind and
solar and scaled down to fit real needs
for electricity; and if tax revenues were
allowed to go above 25% as a share of
GDP (see previous article), South Africa
would be better prepared to confront the
upcoming crisis.
Thus the obvious alternatives to
borrowing more and attacking wages
are increased taxation and reconsidering
investment plans. But instead of
announcing tax increases which affluent
households should expect without
blinking in this situation, and which was
also predicted by Business Report (24/10)
Pravin Gordhan and the Treasury
remained completely silent on the issue.

Protecting the rich

A table in the MTBPS indicates 1115%
increases in revenue from income tax,
corporate tax and VAT. This is a result of
the Treasurys deluded predictions that
economic growth will accelerate again,
not of a change in tax rates.
But the most egregious Treasury plan
is the 32% drop in tax revenue from taxes
on dividends i.e. the tax on the income
from stock market investments, called
STC. According to a study published by
the OECD (2010), these incomes comprise
more than 10% of the total income
of the richest 10% of SA households.
The overwhelming majority have no
suchincomes!
A new wave of economic crisis is
coming. If the Treasury has it its way, the
richest households will be completely
protected from its repercussions instead
of contributing to its mitigation.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers the Medium

Term Budget Policy Statement in October 2011.

slow dawn of
realisation is setting in
among sensible elites: that
the world economy isnt
going to recover according
to any prior experience, that financial
markets are rigged to transfer from the
99% to the 1%, and that ecological barriers
are emerging fast on the horizon.
Take it from the man nicknamed Dr
Doom because of his prescient warnings
about the financial meltdown of 2008,
Nouriel Roubini. In August the Wall Street
Journal asked the New York University
business professor, What can government
and what can businesses do to get the
economy going again or is it just sit and
wait and gut it out?
Businesses are not doing anything,
replied Roubini: They claim theyre doing
cutbacks because theres excess capacity
and not adding workers because theres
not enough final demand, but theres a
paradox, a Catch-22. If youre not hiring
workers, theres not enough labour
income, enough consumer confidence,
enough consumption, not enough
finaldemand.

According to Roubini, In the last

two or three years, weve actually had a
worsening because weve had a massive
redistribution of income from labor to
capital, from wages to profits, and the
inequality of income has increased.
And the marginal propensity to spend
of a household is greater than the
marginal propensity of a firm because
they have a greater propensity to save,
that is firms compared to households.
So the redistribution of income and
wealth makes the problem of inadequate
aggregate demand even worse. Add to
this that the supposed prosperity of the
middle class was ultimately a fiction based
on consumer debt.
South Africa is a case in point, as
debt-to-income rates soared over the last
five years, and impaired credit status
rose from 37% of all borrowers in 2007
to nearly half this year (an additional 2.3
million). What with worsening inequality
since the end of apartheid, extremely
militant labour and community battles
against capital and state, and more than a
million jobs lost since 2009, the country is
frontline in the world-class struggle.
Some of this struggle is displaced,
for example into currency markets,
where the 200810 rand slide from R6
to the US$ to R8/$ marked the sixth
such crash since 1994, the most volatile
of any major country. Hot money is only
kept in the country thanks to the worlds
second highest interest rate, trailing
only Greece. At the same time came an
unprecedented hike in foreign debt: from
$80 billion in mid-2010 to $104 billion
nine monthslater.
That debt partly goes to pay outflows
of profits and dividends by a few large
companies that disinvested just over
a decade ago, pushing South Africas
current account deficit to levels among
the worlds highest. As Moeletsi Mbeki
explained in September, Big companies
taking their capital out of South Africa
are a bigger threat to economic freedom
than ANC Youth League president Julius
Malema.
In 1995 these firms lobbied hard
for the abolition of the Financial Rand
A ma n dl a ! I ssu e N o . 22/ 23 | N OVEM B ER / DE CE MB E R 2 0 1 1

51

SPECIAL
FEATURE

(finrand) dual exchange rate and then

for permission to relocate financial
headquarters from Johannesburg and
Cape Town. Mbeki complained that
there was never an explanation for why
companies like Anglo American and
Old Mutual had been allowed to list in
London. On what basis did they allow
them to go, to move their primary listing
from South Africa to London? Why did
they approve it? What did they get out of
it? Add to the list DeBeers, SABMiller,
Mondi, Investec, Liberty Life and BHP
Billiton (formerly Gencor).
But while some elites like Mbeki
and Roubini get it, those commanding
Pretorias Treasury and Washington
financial agencies obviously dont. The
September 2011 International Monetary
Fund Article IV Consultation with
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was
aimed at the gradual imposition of
austerity, because Discussions centred on
the timing and strength of the required
exit from supportive policies, which
translates into cutting the budget deficit.
Staff recommended stronger fiscal
consolidation beyond the current fiscal
year than currently being considered.
Orthodox ideology typically blames
workers and the IMF was true to form,
advocating policies to moderate real
wagegrowth.
As for capital flight to London, New
York and Melbourne, IMF staff are not
perturbed: Relatively low public and
52

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

external debts, mainly denominated

in domestic currency, and adequate
international reserve coverage offset risks
from currency overvaluation and current
account deficits funded by portfolio flows.
But in reality, the increase in foreign
reserves from $40 billion to $50 billion in
201011 offset only half the rise in foreign
debt over the same period.
What does the IMF know about debt
crises, anyhow? Orthodox thinking left
the institution utterly unprepared in
2008 for the worlds worst financial crisis
since 1929, so its lackadaisical attitude
should ring alarm bells in Pretoria. The
IMF praised the Reserve Banks prudent
policies together with a flexible exchange
rate, which allegedly helped dampen the
adverse effects of those global cycles.
The diabolical implications of IMF
logic are now clear: when it comes to the
exchange controls we need to address
Moeletsi Mbekis concerns. For if you
suggest merely a small tax on inflows to
try to curtail inflows or at least change
their composition, IMF staff point out
significant drawbacks: it likely would
raise the governments financing costs.
Second, even if this were to help engender
nominal rand depreciation, absent wage
restraint, it is unlikely this would enhance
competitiveness.
The rebuttal is easy: put exchange
controls on outflows of capital, to address
capital flight, and then systematically
lower interest rates and manage the

appropriate decline in the rands value, to

the point where workers can return to at
least the wage/profit share they had won
by the end of apartheid: 54/46, compared
to just 43/57 today.
In his Wall Street Journal interview
Roubini reminded us, Karl Marx had
it right. At some point, capitalism can
destroy itself. You cannot keep on shifting
income from labor to capital without
having an excess capacity and a lack
of aggregate demand. Thats what has
happened. We thought that markets
worked. Theyre not working.
At the University of KwaZuluNatalhosted Peoples Space during the
first week of December, a series of Rosa
Luxemburg Foundationsponsored
teach-ins will make the links between
dysfunctional financial markets and the
carbon trading strategies that the UN
Conference of the Parties 17 believes can
address the crisis. In many ways South
Africas experience confirms that the old
ways of Washington have reached a dead
end, and the challenge for progressives
is to make the demand for genuine
alternatives.

Patrick Bond directs the University of KwaZuluNatal Centre for Civil Society in Durban. His two
most recent books are Politics of Climate Justice
and Durbans Climate Gamble.

The Crisis Reloaded

than 60% of GDP, which will mean even
more austerity.
More privatisation of public services:
Greece is selling off its railways and
postal and water services; Portugal
is privatising 17 enterprises; Spain is
selling off state assets such as airports
and the lottery.

The EU
debt and

Less democracy: Without any national

public and parliamentary debate, the
European Parliament and the EU
Council of Finance Ministers rushed
through a decision in Autumn 2011
which will mean all national budgets
must now first be approved by the
Commission, before they are even
seen by each countrys parliament.
If countries do not reduce their
debts fast enough or refuse the
budgetary suggestions from Brussels,
enforcement measures will kick in. In
the case of France, with a GDP of about
1900 billion, the Commission could
demand a deposit or a fine of between
20 and 100 billion.

the crisis
By The Transnational Institute

Austerity measures have led growth

to collapse across the EU. In Greece,
GDP fell by 7.3% in the second
quarter of 2011. Austerity has reduced
governments capacity to pay back
spiralling debts, leading to even higher
debts. And, as speculators encouraged
doubts on certain countries abilities
to pay, the rates of interest soared
as happened to Greece, Ireland
and Portugal making the debts
completelyunaffordable.
The European Union, more than three
years after the crisis, still has not reregulated the banks. No restrictions have
been imposed on the size of banks. Little
attempt has been made to separate highstreet retail banking from investment
banking which exposed ordinary people
to the enormous risks taken by gambling
investors. Prohibitions on the speculative
trading instruments that caused the crisis
in the first place are not yet in place or
agreed. Finally, watered-down measures

Bring the financial sector back

under public control.
Tax the rich, the speculators and
the polluters.
Make corporations accountable to
people.
Cancel the debt and socialise the
banks.

Consequences of the crisis

UNICEF has warned of the irreversible

Enshrine human rights and nature
impacts of wage cuts, tax increases,The social implications in Greece have been catastrophic.
rights in international law above
benefit reductions and reductions inEntire communities have been devastated by unemployment,
corporate
rights.
losing
the
means
to live as well
as the norms, customs and
subsidies that will bear most heavily
respect of regular
workCostas
Change
EU Lapavitsas,
treaties SOAS/
to putResearch
on the most vulnerable in low-income
for Money and Finance
nations particularly children.
democracy and people above
Unemployment in Greece is
corporations.
approaching 900 000 and is projected
As austerity
swept
Europe,privatisation
the numbers of the
Stopcuts
and
reverse
of
to exceed 1.2 million, in a population of
wealthy in Europe with more than $1 million in cash
social
services.
Put
citizens
and
actually
rose
in
2010
by
7.2%
to
3.1
million
people.
11 million.
workers
in charge.
Together
they are worth
US$10.2 trillion.
In Spain, youth unemployment is
The
biggest banks
Europe made(banks
profits of and
five
Localise
theineconomy
running at more than 40%.
28 billion
in 2010.
These are figures reminiscent of the
businesses).
Great Depression of the 1930s.
There
are 15,000 professional
lobbyistsbudgeting.
in Brussels,
Introduce
participatory

Shocking facts

By blaming the crisis on government

spending, politicians and bankers
argued that the only solution was
to cut public spending, but this has
actually worsened the debt crisis.

Alternative solutions:

The European Unions

answers to the problem

the vast majority of them representing big business.

Transition to a Just Low Carbon

Economy.

Today only the foolhardy would dismiss a movement

reflecting the anger and frustration of ordinary citizens from
More austerity: In the UK, 490000 all walks of life around the world the fundamental call
article isofextracted
from be
theignored.
PocketThe
Guide on
public sector jobs are being cut; in for a fairerThis
distribution
wealth cannot
Ireland, wages for low-paid workersconsequence
EU Crisis,
as part
of TNIs
Economic
[of the published
crisis] has been
growing
inequality,
and Corporate
sacrifice byPower
those least
to bear it all
have been reduced; in Lithuania, rising poverty
Justice,
and able
Alternatives
failing to deliver
economic growth. The cry for
the government plans to cut public of which are
programme.
www.tni.org
spending by 30%. The EU is planningchange
to is one that must be heeded. Financial Times, Editorial,
16 October 2011

impose requirements by
2013, which means that
no European member
state countries can
have a budget deficit of
more than 3% of GDP
or a public debt of more

Much of the so-called debt crisis

was caused not by states spending too
much, but by states bailing out banks
andspeculators.
EU government debt had actually
fallen from 72% of GDP in 1999 to 67% in
2007. It rose rapidly after they bailed out
the banks in 2008. Irelands bank bailout
cost them 30% of their national output
(GDP) and pushed debts to record levels.

that will force banks to lower their

borrowing and increase capital reserves
will not be in place until 2018.
As austerity cuts swept Europe, the
numbers of the wealthy in Europe with
more than $1 million in cash actually
rose in 2010 by 7.2% to 3.1 million
people. Together ,they are worth US$10.2
trillion. The five biggest banks in Europe
made profits of 28 billion in 2010, and
there are 15000 professional lobbyists
in Brussels, the vast majority of them
representing big business.

The economic crisis that has shaken

the world may have started in Wall
Street, but it has been made much
worse by the actions of both the
European institutions and European
member states.

Occupy
the
EU!
Make the Bankers pay!
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53

SPECIAL
FEATURE

A slow dawn of realization is setting in amongst sensible elites: that the world economy isnt going to recover according to any prior experience.

The G20:

hung by its
own petard
By Peter Wahl

he financial crisis, which is

haunting the industrialised
countries with heavy effects
on the entire world served as
a catalyst for the emergence of the G20
as the premier forum for economic
cooperation, as the G20 defined
themselves in their mandate.
But the roots of the new body lie
deeper than the present crisis. The G20
reflect fundamental changes in the global
balance of power: the role of emerging
markets in particular China, Brazil,
India and a resurrecting Russia is
steadily increasing, whereas the position
of the West is relatively weakened.
Already today China is a super power.

54

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

The unilateral dominance of the US after

the end of the Cold War was, in historic
terms, only a short summer. The world is
developing towards a multi-polar system.

End of the tunnel

not in sight
The crisis, which had started as a
crash of the global financial system, has
now become a crisis of public finance
of the Northern countries. At the same
time, we are witnessing the surfacing
of a financial crisis. Dozens of banks in
the EU are threatened by default with
unforeseeable domino effect while
governments make desperate attempts
to rescue them. In the meantime, all

indicators point at gloomy perspectives

for the global economy in the
comingyears.
The crisis management of the EU
has been nothing more than muddling
through. No substantial solution has been
processed. Governments have been driven
by the financial markets all the time.
This highlights another dimension of the
crisis: the erosion of democracy by the
dictatorship of the markets.
The end of the tunnel is not yet in
sight. And darkness will prevail as long as
breaking the dominance of finance over
politics remains a taboo. This crisis is
not only a banking crisis. It is a systemic
crisis. The entire system of finance-led
capitalism or, as Keynes would have
called it, casino capitalism is at stake.
The neoliberal paradigm, which has
been preached to the world in the last
three decades, is bankrupt. As the UN
Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) has put it: Nothing short of
closing down the big casino will provide a
lasting solution.

G20 rapid slowdown

after a promising start
To be fair, the first G20 summits
were rather promising, in particular the
one in Pittsburgh, in 2009. The first steps
of the crisis management were to a certain
extent successful, because, unlike during
the Great Depression in 1929, there was

The Crisis Reloaded

a concerted anti-cyclical reaction, which
used two basic instruments:
rescue packages for the banking sector;
stimulus programmes for the
realeconomy.
Many details of these measures have to
be criticised. In particular, they were too
timid vis--vis the financial industry,
socially unbalanced and they gave away
the chance for structural changes as in the
case of the old-fashioned programmes to
promote the automobile industry. But at
least they did not make the fundamental
mistake of 1929 and leave the crisis to
the market. The bankruptcy of Lehman
Brothers was the last instance where the
market settled the problem.
The G20 also contributed to building
a consensus for a stimulus response to the
crisis (rather than the standard neoliberal
one of cutting public expenditure) and
showed that multilateral cooperation can
make a difference. Unfortunately, once
the worst had been prevented, the illusion
emerged that the crisis was over and the
world could return to normal.
The proposal of the Pittsburgh summit
for financial reforms contained a large
package of reform steps, which went in
the right direction, such as:
improvement of supervision;
increase of capital requirements;
ending shadow banking;
regulating risky instruments such
as credit default swaps and other
derivatives;
regulating rating agencies.
The US and the EU has tried to initiate
reform processes. However, the results are
meagre. These reforms:
are too slow and have come too late;
are watered down by the lobby of the
financial sector;
are blocked by political opponents, such
as the Republicans in the US or the UK
government in the EU.
Even the German minister of finance
acknowledged this failure: We have
not even made it half way, was his
terseassessment.
The main problem is that the reforms
remain from the beginning far below what
is required by the dramatic situation.
It is like stopping a big fire with water
buckets. The proposals are limited to
re-establishing financial stability. Of
course, financial stability is a public
good and deserves support also from
civil society. But stability is not enough.
The dominance of speculation and the
rule of finance over the real economy
mustbebroken.

Conflicts
The exclusion of 174 countries is
justified with the claim that involving
all 194 countries would be inefficient.
So much for democracy! However, if
small is efficient, the bi-polar system
of the Cold War with its two main
actors would have been highly efficient.
Obviously, the configuration of interests
is more important than the sheer
numberofactors.
With this perspective, we realise that
there are considerable differences and
conflicts of interests among the G20
members, such as:
the upcoming rivalry between the US
and China, which in its essence is a
conflict over global hegemony in the
future;
the conflict of interests between the
newcomers and the established
powers, the latter ones trying to
preserve their position, the newcomers
to climb up the ladder;
the economic competition and the
competition for strategic resources
between the major transnational
corporations and countries;
the different degrees of affectedness
by the crisis and hence the different
strategies to overcome them;
the different development models such
as the state-centred and interventionist
concept of China, Russia and to a
lesser extent of India and Brazil, or the
Continental European model of social
market economy and the Anglo-Saxon
model of free market capitalism;
the different political cultures, ranging
from the Western type of democracy,
via post-communist rule based on
majority vote like in Russia, to a feudal
regime (Saudi Arabia) and finally the
Chinese version of what was once
supposed to be socialism.

As a consequence of this heterogeneity,

the national interests are still stronger
than multilateral cooperation as soon
as the vital interests of a country are
involved. The heterogeneity of interests
and big power rivalries risk turning the
G20 into an arena for the fight for global
hegemony and the pursuance of national
interests. The summits in Toronto and
Seoul seem to confirm this apprehension.
There was and agreement to not agree
over important issues, such as the global
trade imbalances or the strategy to exit
from stimulus packages.
Most emerging countries will be aware
of the contradictions inside the G20, and
it seems as if some of them develop a
strategy of their own. Thus, the so-called
BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China,
South Africa) try to organise themselves
in a separate platform. This process is
at the very beginning, and it is not yet
clear where it will lead. In terms of power
politics, on the one hand it could be an
attempt to create a power centre outside
the G20, which then might be used to
influence the G20 more efficiently. On
the other hand, the differences and the
heterogeneity of interests among the
BRICS are also considerable.
All these are new developments
and it is difficult to predict their
outcome. But behind the background
of a heterogeneous and conflictive
configuration in the G20, the expectations
around the capacity of the institution to
deliver substantial solutions should not
be too high. What remains is an old and
adapted truth: No G20 will save us from
misery. We must do that ourselves!
Peter Wahl is director of the department for
Financial Regulation of the German NGO WEED
(World Economy, Ecology and Development) and
founder of Attac Germany.

Over 10 000 demonstrators marched on the streets of Nice to denounce the illegitimacy of the G20 and the injustice
of economic policies that it advocates.

The limits of efficiency

It has been said very often that the
G20 has a democratic deficit. In fact, it
excludes 174 non-member countries and
further deepens the marginalisation of
the UN a marginalisation legitimised
by the support and presence of the
emergingcountries.
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SPECIAL
FEATURE

Domestic services like education, health, housing, culture and leisure are still needed by the vast majority of Chinese people.

China cannot W
save the
world from
the economic
crisis
By Jean Sanuk

56

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

hile North America and

Europe were hard hit, China
survived the international
crisis of 2008, thanks to
huge public spending, a low interest
rate and consumption subsidies.
Chinas growth rate reached 9% in 2009
and 10.4% in 2010; in its wake, China
dragged Asia and Latin America out of
the crisis. It has also managed to keep
unemployment at a sustainable level.
China even overtook Japan in 2010 as the
second economy in the world in terms of
GDP and is closing the gap with the US.
On the whole, the rise of China seems
unaffected by the subprime crisis of
2008. However, a closer look shows that
real problems lie ahead. Chinese workers
no longer accept exploitation. A wave
of strikes spread during the summer of
2010. Workers fought for wage increases,
better working conditions and the right
to organise and bargain.
Inflation, especially of food prices,
has accelerated since the middle of 2010,
adding a new problem for workers and a
concern for the government, which fears
worker discontentment.
On top of all this, the government is
doing its best to prevent any contagion
from the democratic revolutions in
Arab countries. Although the overall

The Crisis Reloaded

situation in China is completely different,
these democratic revolutions have shown
Chinese workers that it is indeed possible
to topple even the worst and most
powerful dictatorships.

Chinas response to the

first stage of the recession
The impact of the crisis on China
and Asia has so far been limited. Unlike
European banks, Asian banks had little to
do with subprime loans or toxic products.
With the exception of South Korea, Asian
countries did not rely on short-term
capital and bank loans for financing their
economies. They were not caught in a
debt trap like Eastern European countries
or Greece. Most of them, and China in
particular, had accumulated huge amounts
of currency reserves and were able to
cope with the capital flights at the end
of 2008. Asian countries were primarily
affected by the decline in their exports
because of the slump in demand in North
America and Europe. As a general rule,
the recessive impact has been stronger
in the most open Asian countries, those
whose exports and for whom the USA
was an important customer. But the three
largest and most populous countries
in Asia China, India and Indonesia
have not experienced a single quarter of
recession between 2008 and 2009. The
resilience of these three countries and
above all of China, among the top trade
partners of most Asian countries led
to a quick rebound in 2009 and a much
stronger V shape recovery than in the
rest of theworld.
Several factors explain Asian
countries resistance to the crisis and the
speed of their recovery.
First, to absorb the shock of the fall
in exports, Asian countries launched
unprecedented rescue plans in the region
(in marked contrast to the Asian crisis of

Chinese workers no longer accept exploitation. Waves of strikes are spreading throughout the country.

199799, when IMF-sponsored structural

adjustment plans worsened the crisis).
The Chinese rescue plan is striking in its
magnitude: US$ 585 billion, amounting
to 13.3% of GDP, to be spent in two years.
On average, the rescue plans announced
by Asian countries amounted to 7.5%
of GDP, as against 2.8% of GDP for the
G7countries.
Furthermore, Asian rescue plans were
focused more on public expenditures than
on tax cuts. On average, Asian countries
dedicated 80% of the rescue funds to
increases in public spending, as compared
with 60% on average in G20 countries.
The only exception is Indonesia, where tax
cuts dominate.
Those public expenditures were
accompanied by an expansionary
monetary policy. The median interest

Impact of the crisis in Developing Asia and the rest of the world
Annual growth rate of the GDP in precentage

China

Advanced Economies

Developing Asia

World

15
12
9
6
3
0

The myth of Asia decoupling

from the rest of the world

-3
-6

rate of Asian central banks decreased by

2.25 points, five times more than in the
previous crisis. This had a positive impact
on growth.
In countries like Vietnam and China,
the expansionary monetary policy
played a dominant role. In China, public
spending increased. But on the whole,
public expenditures did not play a crucial
role in absorbing the shock. It was in fact
the expansion of credit that took the lead
in 2009, with a spectacular increase of
31%. This too fell with -4% in 2010, when
the Chinese government decided to cool
down the economy because easy money
was inducing a new speculative bubble.
Households consumption kept steady
as employment did not collapse during
the crisis. Workers who lose their jobs
in industry try to find jobs in services,
or become self-employed, or return to
the family farm when possible. In China,
hundreds of thousands of migrant workers
went back to the interior in the winter of
2008 or stayed there after the end of the
New Year celebrations in February 2009.
When the economy recovered in spring
2009, many of them returned to the cities
to find urban jobs, which pay more.
Defying many sombre predictions,
Chinese exports did not collapse and
recuperated thanks to the recovery in
world trade. Given the high import
content component of Chinese exports
(about 50%), imports fell in the same
proportion. This reveals Chinas resilience
to external shocks, and at the same time
its weakness.

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: World Economic Outlook, IMF, October 2010

China has a role as an assembly

centre of components made elsewhere
in Asia, mostly in Japan and South Korea
and to a lesser extent in South East Asia.
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57

SPECIAL
FEATURE

The final products assembled in China are

mostly destined for the rest of the world,
in particular Europe and North America.
To be less vulnerable to a crisis originating
in the USA or Europe, East and South
East Asia should be able to absorb a major
and growing part of their production of
final products. East Asian internal trade
has not yet reached a stage where it could
cushion worldwide trade contraction.
Although China has become the second
largest economy in the world, bypassing
Japan in 2010 and catching up with the
USA, China and the rest of Asia are still
far from replacing the USA as the biggest
market of the world. If we take into account
the total Chinese population, Chinese
income per capita would catch up with US
income per capita somewhere between
25 to 50 years ahead, depending on the
assumptions made. If we take into account
only the richest regions of China, home
to 42% of the Chinese population in 2005,
the catch-up could occur in 10 to 20 years.
The most optimistic hypothesis of the
Asian Development Bank shows that at the
present pace, the 22 Asian countries which
form developing Asia, according to the
ADB classification, should overtake OECD
countries consumption outlays by 2030.
All these predictions are far from certain.
To be able to decouple from the rest
of the world, at least to a degree (there
is no such thing as complete autonomy),
Asia and above all China should be able to
rebalance its economy away from exportled growth and in favour of the domestic
58

The Crisis Reloaded

Placeholder text

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o . 2 2 /23 | D EC EMBER 2011

market. This can only be achieved if three

conditions are fulfilled.
China must revalue its exchange rate to
reduce the price of imports, and hence
the cost of goods it produces for the
internal market, and to make exports
less profitable than they now are.
China must significantly raise the real
wages of urban and rural workers so
that internal consumption can recover
from its present extremely low level
(35% of GDP). This is the most difficult
decision because Chinese capitalists
and bureaucrats are used to the huge
profits that state-owned and private
enterprises are making on the backs of
overexploited workers.
China must increase the interest rate
from its present low level in order to
discourage the very high investment in
capital-intensive industry and reorient
the economy toward domestic services.
Domestic services like education, health,
housing, culture and leisure are needed by
the vast majority of Chinese people. They
are labour-intensive and could generate
the millions of jobs that China needs, and
they consume less energy and pollute
less than industry. China has made some
progress in this direction but is far from
the objective.

in the USA is not much better. Today,

there will be a new slump in world trade.
Chinese and Asian exports will be hit
again. Will China and Asia be able to
resist the new trade contraction with
another massive rescue plan? There are
reasons for pessimism.
China and other Asian countries
cannot launch massive public
expenditures and greatly expand credit
every two years. The last rescue plans
have already created problems: in the
Chinese case, a sharp increase of nonperforming loans in the banking sector,
along with inflation and speculative
bubbles in real estate and on the stock
exchange. Chinese banks will have to
be rescued with public money. And as
in the USA and Europe, it is always to
workers that governments present the
bill. In China, rescuing heavily indebted
banks and local authorities would cost a
lot of money, and if workers have to pay
for it in one way or another, the objective
of rebalancing growth in favour of
domestic demand would be postponed
to the long term, and with it would go
the myth that China can drag the world
out of crisis.

Can China resist

another recession?
In 2011, the international crisis
entered a second stage. The crisis in
Europe is very serious, and the situation

Jean Sanuk is an economist specialising on

Asia. He is the Southeast Asia correspondent of
International Viewpoint.

ARTS & CULTURE

Another Brick in the Wall:
a short biography of the
great struggle song
By Andre Marais

hen they protested in

the winter of 198081, high
school students fighting
apartheids gutter education
had a brand new marching song in their
arsenal. This song became the trademark
of the tumultuous events of that year and
the succeeding decade, as opposition to
apartheid shifted from political organisers
to students, following the critical moment
of June 76 when student power burst
onto the political stage. It was the catchy
tune from the British rock band Pink
Floyds 1979 release, The Wall.
Although the themes of Another
Brick in Wall, Part 2 made no direct
reference to apartheid, it could be heard
in dark school corridors and playgrounds
and struck a chord amongst youth
everywhere, particularly in Cape Town.
It captured the moment of discontent in
a country where most of the population,
including the youth, had no voice. It could
be heard echoing on the daily marches
and during confrontations when the
apartheid police hit with teargas, vicious

police dogs, and brutal actions that came

to characterise the period.
While Roger Water, who penned
the song, wrote it in a different context,
its major themes of alienation and
detachment were, and still are, universal.
This is no accident. The song equates
education with thought control. That is
exactly how education is used in pretty
much every dystopian literature ever
written, as in George Orwells 1984. So
while Waters may have suffered at the
hands of his teachers, the song also
spoke to people who had problems on a
larger scale. Remember that apartheids
deeply racially segregated school system
was designed to prepare blacks for lives
as second-class citizens. So the songs
warning had real meaning for us. After
all, did Verwoerd not utter those famous
words: What use is teaching the Bantu
child mathematics when it cannot use it
in practice?
The uncharacteristic disco beat of
The Brick was unusual for a Pink Floyd
song, and it was initially hated by the hard
Floyd fans, who were more used to their
epic reflective offerings. But be that as it
may, the ditty found mass appeal amongst
a whole new audience of angry young
people in Cape Town. The use of the
willing accompaniment of Islington Green
School from North London on the chorus
line of The Brick was a master stroke and
added to its power.
Amandla! asked some of the
participants of that remarkable period to
reflect on how they remember the song.
The album was released in 1979, and
being part of a large group of friends
who were ardent Rock and Pink Floyd
fans, we were among the first to have
a copy. It was top of our charts for
several months, and by the end of that
year (my Matric year) the neighbours
surrounding our hangout at number
40 Goldsmith Road, Salt River, were all
familiar with it. We knew all the lyrics
and sang them defiantly as our anthem
in response to our overbearing parents

and the oppression of formal schooling

and inequality in education under
apartheid. I was disappointed that the
song wasnt around when we protested
and rioted in 1976 against gutter
education, but I was very happy to hear
it as a student boycott anthem on the
Cape Flats in 1980. Martin Jansen
(trade unionist)
I was a student teacher at Livingstone
High in 198081, so I have fond
memories of the song. I used it in
guidance class with my students (one of
them was Clarence Ford, later a popular
radio personality). For me, the song
captured the alienation of growing up
with apartheid schooling and gutter
education. I often used music in the
classroom and this song was very
popular. We would have some great
singalongs, with us trying to learn the
simple guitar chords. The kids really
responded well. Akki Khan (sound
engineer and music producer)
I was at Bridgetown High during
this time. We used to change some
of lyrics into Afrikaans. It was such
an important song for us. David
Abrahams, student and founding
member of the Committee of 81
I was at Fairmount and was introduced
to the song and Pink Floyds music
by my teacher Nigel Penn (he later
became a famous historian at UCT).
It was an extraordinary time and
an amazing song. Cecil Prinsloo,
student and founding member of
the Committee of 81
I remember it throughout my life
as a student in the 1980s. We sang it
on one occasion in defiance of our
principal a collaborator and we
got expelled for a few weeks. We got
back to school and I wrote the lyrics
and some lines on the toilet walls of
our school. The principal found out,
and we got suspended again. Mo
Jagger Peterson, student leader
I remember it raining and drizzling a
lot, and the weather always overcast,
thats my memory with the song,
especially during that long June/
July student boycott and stayaway
when the song became popular.
Because of the weather we did the
awareness programmes indoors,
and taught each other the song. One
day the Boere shot teargas into the
hall and we all went flying. Some
of us got very badly injured, but we
continued to sing through it all
Fazlin Naidoo
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59

What on Earth is World Music?

Myth or Reality
By Andre Marais

t is not unusual these days to walk

into any music store and find a
category called World Music
most commonly displayed
alphabetically, according to
country and not artist, quite
unlike the other products in the shop.
The term has become a marketing ploy
and a category supposedly meant to
introduce the wider record-buying public
to sounds from around the world. On
further scrutiny you will find an array of
colorful, beautifully packaged CDs with
titles like the American-based Putumayo
series Music from the Chocolate Lands,
Latin Lounge or Arab Groove. Also in
this category is the popular British series,
the Rough Guide to World Music, with
titles like Desert Blues and Highlife
these sometimes with bright illustrations
of alluring, brown-skinned, seductivelooking women against a backdrop of
deserts, palm trees, marketplaces and
cafs, which apparently represent the
landscape, main export commodity and
flavour, of particular regions of the world.
Obviously, this is a case where
music marketing agents are advertently
regressing into crude, debased concepts
about people from Africa, Asia and South
America. These images are often already
existent in the minds of the major target
audience of these products, such as
Europeans and North Americans.But I
60

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o .2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

would argue further that these

images entrench and deepen
racist perceptions not dissimilar
to 19th-century colonial
imagination and imagery of
the other. Does they also
not reduce what are complex
music creations into watereddown consumable products
expressly meant and directed
at the mass music markets
in the metropolitan cultural
axisof New York/London/Paris/
Berlin/Tokyo? It replays the
colonial encounter because it
resembles the work of original
ethnographers in the colonies
and the codified reports that
were sent to the mother country
of primitive customs of unruly
natives. World Music fulfills and
taps into a need and a desire to
engage with the faraway.
The idea and strategy of
packaging completely divergent music
styles and musicians into headings like
African or World Blues is seriously
problematic. Although the late Malian
guitarist Ali Farke Toure produced
many collaborations with American
blues musicians like Ry Cooder and
Taj Mahal, he always insisted and
mantained that his own music could not
be called Blues because it sprang from
completely different origins. Yet an earlier
compilation by the London-based Rough
Guide to World Music series throws him
together with Cape Verdean Cesaeria
Evoria and fellow Malians Oumou
Sangare and Rokia Troare, even though
their music has completely different
sensibilities. This implication suggests
that this highly varied music from Africa
can be simplified, grouped, understood
and absorbed under the same banner
while using a music description akin to
what emerged from the southern USA
during slavery.
The criticism of the labeling must
not be confused with misguided efforts
to preserve the purity of tradition and to
have music untouched by other influences
and fusions. These cross-influences are
inevitable and should be welcomed, but
the corralling of divergent countries
from diverse continents into an ensemble
does these artists and music a disservice.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan has

nothing to do with Gilbert Gil from Brazil;

they have their own music and styles in
their own right.
The labeling of music of artists from
over a dozen separate countries, in
sites that remain untranslatable to us,
with terms borrowed from an explicitly
North American market idiom (Blues,
Lounge, Groove and so on) shows that
this has less to do with actual musical
techniques or established genres than
with atmosphere. People who buy these
CDs usually look for a service, and want
to be ensured by the selection made that
they never have to leave a certain welldesigned mental space. The CD becomes
an object of utility that is meant more to
establish mood (Mike in New York feels
like a bit of Lounge today). It is not only
ambiguous but also ultimately offensive.
While there is no doubt that many
artists, like Salef Keita, Yousef Ndour
Salief Keita, Cesaria Evoria, Simphiwe
Dana and Mariam Makeba have achieved
international fame and benefited from
likeminded publicity, it has been more
in spite of this than because of this. It
becomes debilitating for both artist and
listener. The late South African jazz singer
Miriam Makeba always rejected the term
World Music: It is a polite term for Third
World music and an excuse to pay us less,
she once said. World music inevitably
colludes with the dehumanisation,
depersonalisation and marginalisation of
the complex tapestry of creative output of
various artists.
It is of course necessary to see
world music against the backdrop of
unequal trade and economic relations.

ARTS & CULTURE

Mariam Makeba: it is a polite term for Third World

music and an excuse to pay us less.

Whatever the commodity, its always

about dependency and imperialism. The
dependent dead-end that Americanand British-dominated popular music
has reached leads to a yearning for
different and new sounds. These markets
now rely heavily on the creativity of
foreigners. The explosion of World Music
is a welcome antidote to the numbing
effects of recycling the same play charts;
there is a longing in these metropolitan
heartlands for music that is not from
Europe or America a growing curiosity
and positive interest in the cultural life
of the rest of the planet. How bizarre! All
of this curiosity for foreignness happens
ironically at a time when a single world
culture is said to be emerging, the nation
state is an obsolete construct, and there is
a non-defined common cultural currency.
Forging an alternative to this
misrepresenting and distortive marketing
is challenging. This is more about who
controls the music distribution channels:
inevitably the multinationals whose
major driving engine is profit at all costs.
Yet, perhaps educating and challenging
listeners and buyers of World Music
to dig deeper and go beyond these
simplistic categories could be a good start.
World Music, despite its distortions, is a
progressive development and more often
than not represents global solidarity or at
least a deep yearning for it. So listen and
enjoy it is our common humanity; dont
let them destroy it and commodify it.
(This articlewas influenced by many of
Timothy Brennans ideas and his seminal
book Secular Devotion Afro-Latin Music
and Imperial Jazz (Verso, 2008).)
Andre Marais presents the music programme
ROOTZ 2 FRUITZ on Bush Radio 89.5 fm, every
Wednesday between 22h00 and 24h00 (also
available on audio stream). He is also the arts
editor for Amandla! magazine.

BOOK REVIEWS
By Andre Marais

TALKING DIRTY

Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of

Garbage, Heather Rogers
New Press, 2005

On average, each American produces

almost 4.2 pounds (2 kg) of garbage a
day, almost a third of it in packaging.
This staggering statistic starts Heather
Rogerss book on garbage, a beautifully
researched book with a lot of numbers,
facts, and figures without burying its
central argument. The stats are actually
essential because the scale of the garbage
problem is incredible. Americans
produce 500 billion pounds of garbage
every year; the country consumes 30%
of the worlds resources and produces
30% of all its wastes. In this galvanising
expos of our consumer culture and
its built-in-obsolescence and treadmill
obsession to acquire the next best thing,
Rogers takes us through the enormous
ecological toll thereof. I think perhaps a
more accurate subtitle could have been
The Social Consequences of Garbage.
The book offers lessons for emerging
societies like South Africa in the throes of
conspicuous consumption, where critical
anti consumerist voices are few and
farbetween.
In asking where it all goes, Rogers
tells us about the fascinating history
of rubbish, although she concentrates
essentially on the last 100 years. She
debunks the myth that garbage has always
existed. Instead she shows how people
had to be taught to waste. Before, people
were either so poor that their belongings
had to be used over and over again, or,
more significantly, their belongings were
designed to be used over and over again.

Rogers introduces us to the

roles that developed in a time of low
garbage levels: the men and women
who collected human waste to sell to
farmers, and the people who swept
roads clear of horse manure to facilitate
an easy crossing. Yet, the central theme
of Rogerss book is the way in which
modern capitalism created our garbage
problem. In its desperate drive to sell
commodities, it found that objects that
lasted did not make as much money,
so capitalism invented disposability,
selling it to consumers as convenience.
Hence we have disposable bottles,
disposable razors, and disposable
nappies. This flawed logic organises
our production and consumption
patterns.
It was after WW2 that the idea
really took off. The car industry was
the most innovative in this respect.
In the 1950s, Detroit could build far
more cars than it could sell. Rogers
describes how car manufacturers
convinced car owners to get rid of
still functioning vehicles by tapping
into the psychology of aesthetic
desire. General Motors planned to
overhaul the entire design for each
model every year. In the words of
a Ford executive, the change in
appearance of models each year
increases car sales.
To combat waste we are often
urged to recycle. However, this is
very much a diversion. The please
recycle this product when finished
label that often reads on the outside
of a drink gives the manufacturer
some green credo, even though
they are producing millions of
use once tins. The recycling
industry gives the false impression
that something is being done
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61

about waste and makes people stop

questioning why the stuff is produced
in the first place.
So why dont we have reusable bottles and why do we need
disposable razors? In a fascinating
chapter, Rogers examines how
packaging companies in 1950s
America were well aware of these
questions. Keep America Beautiful
is the most famous anti-litter
campaign in history. Contrary to
popular belief, it was not started
by an environmentalist, but by
packaging companies that wanted
to shift the blame for waste onto the
individualconsumer.
In the obscenity of all of this,
competing companies soon found that
extra packaging, disposable containers
or ever-changing marketing materials
gave the competitive edge over rivals
who remained stuck in the same old
re-usable bottles stage. Companies
like McDonalds, with their send
it back policy, found that recycle
containers allowed them to continue
manufacturing disposable commodities
and claim that it was eco-friendly.
Recycling can never be the answer, as
Greenpeace discovered that 50% of
plastic sent abroad was so contaminated
it could not be recycled.
This book is a useful resource
and strengthens our argument that
capitalism is inherently wasteful.
If we are to save our planet we will
fundamentally have to change how the
society uses, produces, and regards
material goods that currently occupy our
lives in such a huge way. In short we will
have to reexamine our very relationship
with commodities. Few books have such
immediate relevance in our daily lives.
As Heather Rogers concludes, all those
traded appliances, cars, clothes, and
the mountains of wasted packaging are
actually not the product of an economy
that delivers its benefits to most people.
On the contrary, the biggest beneficiaries
of trash-rich-marketplace are those at the
top. Garbage is the detritus of a system
that unscrupulously exploits not only
nature, but also human life and labour.
So comrades, the next time you
BUYask WHY!

REVOLUTIONARY
MESSAGE(ING)

SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in

Africa, edited by Sokari Ekine
Pambazuka Press, 2010

The recent role of SMS technology in the

revolutions in North Africa is perhaps
overstated at times. It no doubt played
a complementary role rather than being
a central component in the revolutions.
This book predates those events and
contains essays and case studies that
examine how SMS has been used in
62

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o .2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa a useful book for activists in an otherwise under-researched area.

Africa for activism and mobilisation.

Essays include a report by Amanda
Atwood on Kubusana experiences in
Zimbabwe setting up mobiles as a means
of sharing much-needed news outside
of government propaganda. Another
essay deals with the collection of data on
childrens rights violations in the DRC
in 2004. A fascinating piece by Tanya
Notleys and Becky Faiths called Mobiles
in a Box Developing A Toolkit with
Grassroots Human Rights Advocates
recounts the work and tests mobile
support systems for activist groupings
fighting for social change.
The book provides readers with a
decent understanding of the state of
mobile SMS usage in Africa today. The
essays are written by developers, activists,
and researchers who are committed to
the continent, and they cover the various
ways in which SMS can be applied for
advocacy work everything from alerts
about political unrest to sharing health
information. Instead of projecting
technology as the panacea and solution,
it is modest in assessing its uses in social
organising. A useful book for activists
everywhere in an otherwise underresearched area.

BATTLE OF THE CLASSES

Dear Paulo: Letters from Those Who

Dare Teach, edited by Sonia Netto
Paradigm, 2008

This book is for any teacher caving

under the pressure of the job and at
the end of their tether, feeling defeated,
isolated and demoralised by the system.
It is a heartfelt response from teachers,
academics, and community workers to
the work of the internationally renowned
Brazilian revolutionary education theorist
Paulo Freire. It brings together new
teachers terrified of having to confront
their first day in the classroom with
seasoned academics whose work has
largely been inspired by Freire. It is both
a loving memorial and a call to action to
work and strive for social justice, praxis
and democracy ideals championed,
envisioned, and brilliantly articulated
byPaulo.
Teachers around the world currently
find themselves in a precarious situation

subjected to privatisation and rigid

accountability agendas, deskilled and
robbed of autonomy. I think what this
book does is inspire hope. The letters
in the book come from a wide range of
teachers, from pre-school to graduate
school teachers from urban, suburban
and rural settings, with students who
are both poor and privileged an
amalgam of teachers from all countries.
Highlyrecommended.

IN BED WITH EDWARD

Edward Carpentier A Life of Liberty

and Love, Shiela Rowbotham
Verso, 2008

Before the South African writer Olive

Schreiner returned from Europe in the
late 1800s, she was part of a close circle of
intellectuals that included Eleanor Marx
and the person that is the subject of this
magnificent biography written by one of
Britains leading feminist writers.
The gay socialist writer Edward
Carpentier had an extraordinary impact
on the cultural and political landscape of
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A
mystic advocate of free love, recycling,
nudism, womens suffrage and prison
reform, his work anticipated the sexual
revolution of the 1960s. This universally
acclaimed biography portrays his life and
ideas in relation to the social aesthetic
and intellectual movements of his day
and explores his friendships with figures
such as Walt Whitman, EM Foster,
Isadora Duncan and Emma Goldman.
Carpentiers books were burnt by the
Nazis and other fascist regimes and
remain controversial to this very day. I
learnt a lot from this book and highly
recommend it.

FILM REVIEWS
By Andre Marais

THE TROUBLE WITH TRUTH

Director: Marion Edmunds, 2010

This engaging documentary tells the story

of the Guardian newspaper which was
banned by the Nationalist government in
the 1950s as part of its general onslaught
on the anti-apartheid media and anticommunist hysteria. The newspaper

ARTS & CULTURE

reemerged throughout that decade under
different titles: Clarion, Peoples World,
Advance, New Age, and finally Spark. The
documentary portrays the papers critical
role in uniting disparate opponents of the
apartheid regime. The films contemporary
relevance goes without saying and raises
critical questions about the value and
vulnerability of press freedom worldwide.
Issues that have returned on the agenda
with a vengeance!
Lyn Carneson (daughter of the
papers editor, Fred Carneson) led
the rich discussion that followed
Amandla!s screening of the film in our
Black Wednesday commemoration in
October. This magazine has pledged its
commitment to getting the film seen
by the widest audience possible. Not
only because it highlights a forgotten
moment of our history, but also because
it champions the individuals and
movements that fought for press freedom
under extremely difficult and repressive
circumstances. Theres got to be a lesson
in that for all of us.

played by James Franco) and brief

dramatisations of Ginsbergs life and the
landmark obscenity trial that surrounded
the birth of a trendsetting piece of
literature and signaled the beginning of
a new poetic expression and form one
that broke barriers in how we see the
creative process and experimentation, the
poet and his art.
The fragmented narrative approach
of the film mimics the experimental
disjointedness of the original poem, but
I suggest you stick with it. It promises
to be an incredibly satisfying journey.
The films release is still uncertain, which
is really unfortunate, because it would
deprive the public of a truly magnificent
piece of filmmaking about a figure that
revolutionised literature both in style
andcontent.

ORANGES AND SUNSHINE

Director: Jim Loach, 2011

BLACK BUTTERFLIES
Director: Paula van der Oest, 2010

HOWL
Directors: Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein, 2010

Premiered recently at the Out in Africa

Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, this
historical dramatisation takes up the
obscenity trial of American beat poet
Allen Ginsberg following the publication
of his poem Howl. The film mocks
commercial filmmaking techniques by
using a challenging style around the
prosecution of a revolutionary poem. In a
deeply conservative Eisenhower Cold War
era the poem hit America like a literary
H bomb. The film mounts an attack using
animation, simulated interviews with
Ginsberg (masterfully and imaginatively

actors, including Carice van Houten as

Ingrid and Rutger Hauer as her father.

Ingrid Jonker took her own life by walking

into the sea in 1965. Her famous poem
Die kind (The child) captured her outrage
at the Sharpeville massacre. Her tensionfilled relationship with the intolerant,
staunchly Afrikaner Broederbond and
her apartheid-supporting father has
become a thing of legend. Jonkers
Bohemian lifestyle was at odds with
conservative Afrikanerdom, and her
poems and rebellion were considered
pure heresy by the establishment.
Her work was frequently curtailed by
apartheid censorship apparatus headed
by her father. Black Butterflies brilliantly
portrays the stormy and fraught interplay
between Jonker and her unforgiving,
unyieldingdad.
This Dutch production recreates the
period perfectly, and has outstanding
performances by a fine ensemble cast of

Jim Loach is the son of the British

socialist filmmaker Ken Loach, and
if this movie is anything to go by, I
predict another promising career of
committed filmmaking. In this film,
Emily Watson portrays a social worker
from Nottingham, England, who
exposed a shameful national crime
that remained buried for decades. As
recently as 1967, but especially in the
1940s and 1950s, as many as 130000
English children were removed from
orphanages and childrens homes
in Britain and deported to various
locations in the Commonwealth,
particularly Australia. Very few of
these children were adopted in their
new countries, so they remained in
orphanages. One grown-up deportee
recalls being told that he was being
sent to a sunny paradise where
you could pick oranges from trees.
Many victims were lied to and told
that their parents were dead, and
many of the mothers were equally
deceived by the state and told
that their children were placed in
betterhomes.
I found this a heart-wrenching,
true-life horror story that doesnt
exploit a tragic reality for cheap
shock. It is a beautiful story
of a relentless campaign and
crusade for justice. It wasnt until
recently that the Australian and
British governments formally
apologised for the forced and illegal
deportation of these children. A
must-see.
A ma n dl a ! I ssu e N o .22/ 23 | N OVEM B ER / DE CE MB E R 2 0 1 1

63

In Focus

inequalities in our country great wealth

disparities. I supported this march
because it highlighted these issues. It also
brought lots of young people onto the
streets, which is a good thing.
AM!: You are also an activist
and a social commentator.
Can you comment briefly
on these other roles?

SimphiweDana
in brief
By Andre Marais

Andre Marais (AM!): What

does Simphiwe Dana stand for?
Simphiwe Dana (SD): I stand for
justice. I stand for peace.
AM!: What inspires your music?
SD: : The human condition. My roots are
everything. I am passionate. I was born in
Africa.
AM!: How did growing up in rural
Transkei influence your work?
SD: : A great deal. I learnt at a very
young age to be responsible to respect
and be in touch with my environment.
AM!: Your One Love Movement
on Bantu Biko Street contains
some powerful songs. How were
you and your music influenced
by the ideas of Biko?
SD: : He formed a major part of my
identity.
AM!: Would you describe
yourself as a political artist?
SD: : Well, more of a social activist. It is
part of my being about who I am. I dont
separate my art activism from my music.
AM!: Many of the aspirant
young female jazz vocalists at
a music project in a township
in Delft, Cape Town, credit you
for giving them confidence in
singing in their own languages.
Do you think there is a growing
acceptance of using indigenous
languages in popular music?
SD: : I think language is our identity.
It contains all the knowledge of who
we are, and how we relate to our
environment. For me it is a tragedy that
an artist cant do that. I mean, there is so
64

A m a n d la ! I s s ue N o .2 2 /23 | N OVEMBER/ DEC EMBER 2011

much information contained within our

languages. If the artists and we dont use
them, not only do we lose out, but the
whole world loses out.
AM!: You seem to float with
great ease between music styles:
traditional, classical, jazz, etc.
Was this always the case, and
what style do you prefer?
SD: : I dont think I prefer one style over
the other. That is why it is so difficult to
box into any genre. I have learnt from
different disciplines musically, but I am
first and foremost an African.
AM!: Your Live in Concert
release this year features a
27-piece orchestra accompaniment
doing some amazing renditions
of your songs. What gave
rise to this collaboration?
SD: : My music lends itself to different
interpretations. This collaboration helps
bring out the multilayered texture of my
work. I enjoyed working on it.
AM!: You often describe performing
live as spiritual experience.
What do you mean by this?
SD: : Yes, studio work can bring on a
hollow sound, with the richness of voice
and instruments losing its quality. The
presence of a live audience and live band
bring on a totally different experience a
connection of being in the moment. I love
it. It is more real.
AM!: On Twitter and Facebook
you openly support the Economic
Freedom march initiated by
the ANCYL. Can you say
something about this?
SD: : I dont think we should ignore
poverty and the gap between the rich
and the poor. There are still enormous

SD: : I am both. How can an artist not

be this in our country? I am committed to
these roles. It is not one or the other.
AM!: Your very critical views of
Helen Zille earlier this year: can you
expand on them for our readers?
SD: : Yes, I dont like her claims of being
a multiracial party and Cape Town being
a home for all. It is not true. It is still very
difficult to be black in Cape Town; like
finding a job, etc. I live here, and it can be
very unwelcoming. In many ways it is the
most repressed province in the country.
It also does not afford black language
and culture the recognition and dignity it
deserves.
AM!: Can you talk a little
about your latest CD Kulture
Noir and how it differs from
your previous releases?
SD: : It is more emotional and heartfelt
than the others. It reveals more about who
I am.
AM!: Any other projects
in the pipeline?
SD: : The launch of my latest CD will
be on 3 December and will be live at the
Lyric Theatre.
AM!: Any comments
about the upcoming COP 17
conference in Durban?
SD: : I think it is really scary what is
happening to the earth, particularly
because poor third world countries will be
most affected. Any gathering looking at
the problems and genuinely trying to find
solutions must be important, so I will be
following it keenly.
AM!: Amandla! magazine
supports the One Million Climate
Jobs Campaign in its demand on
government to create sustainable
employment in repairing the
environment. What do you
think of such a campaign?
SD: : Well, it must go along with
changing our behaviour and educating
us about new ways of dealing with our
garbage and recycling. It needs to be
about all these things as well.

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Editorial advisory board

SOUTH AFRICA: Aswell Banda, Patrick Bond,

Yunus Carrim, Jacklyn Cock, Jeremy Cronin, Ashwin
Desai, Farid Esack, David Fig, Pregs Govender,
Stephen Greenberg, Jonathan Grossman, William
Gumede, Adam Habib, Ferial Haffajee, Pat Horn,
Dot Keet, Leslie London, Hein Marais, Darlene Miller,
Sipho Mthathi, Phumzile Mthethwa, Andrew Nash,
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Pearson, Tebogo Phadu, Devan Pillay, Vishwas
Satgar, David Sanders, Christelle Terreblanche,
Salim Vally, Mike van Graan INTERNATIONAL:
Gilbert Achcar (Lebanon/Britain), Asghar Adelzadeh
(Iran/USA), Alejandro Bendana (Nicaragua), Camille
Chalmers (Haiti), Noam Chomsky (USA), Mike Davis
(USA), Rhadika Desia, Wim Dierckxsens, Nawal El
Saadawi (Egypt), Ben Fine (Britain), Bill Fletcher (USA),
Alan Freeman, Gillian Hart (USA), Arndt Hopfmann
(Germany), Claudia Katz (Argentina), Joel Kovel
(USA), Edgardo Lander (Venezuela), Michael Lowy
(Brazil/France), John Saul (Canada), Helena Sheehan
(Ireland), Issa Shivji (Tanzania), Hillary Wainwright
(Britain), Suzi Weissman (USA), Ed Sadlowski (USA)

Editorial collective

CAPE TOWN: Donna Andrews, Brian Ashley, Terry

Bell, Sheila Barsel, Jamie Claassen, Roger Etkind,
Dick Forslund, Prakashnee Govender, Jeanne Hefez,
Mazibuko Jara, Sidney Kgara, Hamied Mahate, Andre
Marais, Richard October, Feroza Phillips, Niall Reddy,
Jeff Rudin, Mark Weinberg JOHANNESBURG:
Jacklyn Cock, Hein Marais, Phumzile Mthethwa,
Devan Pillay, Tengo Tengela, Vishwas Satgar
MEMBERS AT LARGE: Frank Fried (USA), Richard
Kuper (Britain), Elsa Auerbach (USA)

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Amandla! editorial staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Brian Ashley EDITORIAL

ASSISTANT: Jeanne Hefez WRITER/RESEARCH/
PRODUCTION: Dick Forslund, Jeanne Hefez ARTS
EDITOR: Andre Marais ASSISTANTS: Charlotte
Hilliger, Susanne Hyldgaard

Art

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Lawrence Fick MOBILE:

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Bronwyn McLennan

Proofreading
Bronwyn McLennan

Cover illustration
CREDIT: Donovan Ward

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EDITOR: Brian Ashley, brian@amandla.org.za

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Talkin bout
a revolution
Dont you know
Theyre talkin bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Dont you know
Theyre talkin about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While theyre standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take whats theirs
Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin bout a revolution
Tracy Chapman (1988)
Picture: Indignados movement, Spain May 2011