WILL THE LEFTS MARCH TOGETHER IN JOHANnESBURG? A CHANCE FOR THE WORLD

WILL THE LEFTS MARCH TOGETHER IN JOHANESSBURG? A CHANCE FOR THE WORLD.
Hope Gumbo

The civic society in Zimbabwe is getting ready to be part of proceedings at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The focus for some is to be able to link up with the civic movement in South Africa and internationally as common issues are addressed with the hope of sustaining a coherent and permanent civic coalition in the region and internationally. Some are looking forward to making submissions to lobby the leaders of various nations on particular issues.

Inspired by the experiences at Seattle, Genoa, Porto Alegre and other big events where we have seen the re-emergence of the lefts in the anti-globalization movement, a vision and potential towards a sustainable global movement is presented by Joburg 2002. Patrick Bond and Thulani Guliwe ask in the paper, 'Johannesburg Lefts prepare to Summit against the Global Elite': “How mature and unified must a broad left front in a given city become before it establishes a coherent critic of, and hosts demonstrations against the international establishment?”

On which side of the battle lines are the civic organizations in the region going to be? How active are the visiting groups going to be in the activities? These and many more questions that will come have to be dealt with as we move towards building the bridges across the borders and abroad and seeking to unite in the broad left.

As I argue that there is inspiration from Seattle, it is unquestionable that the lefts in the civic movement look forward to Joburg as an opportunity to deal with the rulers of the world and display the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific solidarity of the poor and oppressed. But it is important to examine the state and mobility of the host movement. From without the South African borders, there are big signs written on the wall of huge movements rising in response to the heightening levels of poverty and accelerated cutbacks by the ANC government and its masters. The recent municipal workers strike is still fresh in our minds. Anticipate such a reception at the WSSD. The growth, at a fast pace, of the anti-neoliberal movement in the host nation is joyous to imagine. But how far is this going to be a reality given the current dynamics as viewed by Patrick Bond and Thulani Guliwe when they say: "The main problem from Durban remains: a split between mass-based organizations and the more militant social movements whose exasperation with the African National Congress (ANC) government puts them at the frontline of protest.”

An attempt to reconcile in mid-July, through a proposed South African Social Forum hosted by the SA NGO Coalition (Sangoco), failed largely because of insufficient time for a unity process. That leaves two major blocs:

* the Global Civil Society Forum of unions, churches, Sangoco and a faction of the once-formidable township civics (residents) movement; and
* the Social Movement Indaba which brings together Jubilee South Africa, the Anti-Privatization Forum of radical Johannesburg-area community groups and their allies in other cities, the national Landless Peoples Movement, the Environmental Justice Networking Forum, the First People indigenous nations, the Limpopo Province Movement for Delivery, and a variety of groups which had originally played a role in what was termed the UN Civil Society Indaba hosting committee.

The hope will be to have this polarization neutralised and a common banner established that will galvanize the anti-neoliberal anti-capitalist movement.

The Zimbabwean Civic Society comes to the WSSD from a nation that has a prolonged period of struggle against the neoliberal Structural Adjustment Programmes that have pushed masses into poverty. We have a government that has had an inconsistent posturing locally and internationally on the debates about the future, in many instances talking radically left and acting right. With the current debates in the region and internationally on the NEPAD and the AU the Zimbabwean left should attempt to unmask the reality of the crisis in the region. With the Namibians reportedly in total admiration of President Mugabe for the radical land reform in Zimbabwe and many more groups of the landless drawing inspiration from the Zimbabwean experience many issues await careful deliberation and the WSSD is a chance for the Zimbabweans. It needs to be clarified who Mugabe's friends really are as we seek to build a broad and sustainable anti-capitalist movement in the region and beyond.

The hope is for the establishment of a common fighting stance.

The SA civic society dilemma may not be very much different from the one faced by the Zimbabwean movement. Bubbling with confidence after the successful challenge to the Mugabe dictatorship which nearly threw out the dictatorship in the legislative process of elections, the civic movement will be far from making alliances with the state at the WSSD. But the crisis comes from the presence of the MDC which has a similarly neoliberal approach to the solution of the Zimbabwean economic crisis. The MDC has greater support from the civic movement than the ruling party.

However it openly and officially supports the NEPAD and SAPs. This differs from the public government rhetoric, which has attacked NEPAD and ESAP. The civic movement in general does not support NEPAD. This has resulted in primarily two alternatives for the civic movement. First to attack the government for the current crisis and support the opposition from a background of nostalgic ownership of the opposition birth process, and second to seek to criticize the neoliberal paradigm and NEPAD, but fearing to be labelled the same as the despotic regime of Mugabe. In this there is the generation of paralysis on the objective interrogation of the MDC alternative. But on whose side will a neoliberal MDC be at the WSSD when questions about multinationals or the ravages of SAPs from Chile to Harare are asked? This is a challenge the left will be faced with in the attempt at unmasking the realities of the class contradictions of the world towards equitable and sustainable development with Zimbabwe as a case study.

But is the civil movement in Zimbabwe homogeneous in this agenda? A big section still maintains faith in the possibility of change from the MDC. A popular columnist in the Daily News of Zimbabwe, in his article on the 29 July, said the aroma of the rerun of the presidential election was in the air, meaning that it was possible to have a rerun of the presidential elections. This on its own is naïve. To expect to win an election against Mugabe is an affordable political holiday. It is wishful thinking and a conservative approach to the local dynamics. Mugabe still maintains his illegal election machinery, if not in greater strength than before. He has moved to consolidate his power more aggressively and is ready for any fight. Breaking from this conservative approach will be ideal for uniting the civic movement towards the WSSD.

It is however important to note that a great deal of work has been done in developing critiques of the NEPAD as a neoliberal agenda and some consensus has been reached by most civic organizations. NEPAD will be one of the issues the Zimbabweans will have to talk about in seeking to join the movement in Joburg. The land question will also be dealt with. The AU and the legitimacy of the current crop of despots to own the process of the African Union will have to be shared.

These issues will obviously be viewed in a common way by the civic movement at the WSSD Global Forum. But it will be important to be able to link up broader and particular issues like the privatization process. While some sections of the labour movement in Zimbabwe will argue that privatization is fine for as long as there are consultations, and others reject it totally, it will be important if similar groups from the countries in the region bring up these issues at the forum. The Indaba should equally attract masses in the combative mood.

Therefore the task is left to the movements that are going to Joburg and the hosts in particular to work hard in the next few days to bridge the gaps and find common attacking formulae. Joburg 2002 is an opportunity for us. With lessons we have learnt in the past, we can win.

ENDS