How Imperialism and Postcolonial Elites have Plundered Africa: And the Class Struggle, Anarchist-Communist Solution

July 28, 2016 / Sifuna Zonke

by Lucien van der Walt

Published in “Tokologo: Newsletter of the Tokologo African Anarchist Collective”, numbers 5/6, November 2015

africa_plundered Roughly 50 years ago we saw the dismantling of most of the European colonial empires in Africa. High hopes greeted the “new nations” that merged – and certainly, a move from colonial rule, with its racism and external control and extractive economies, was progressive.

However, many of the hopes were soon dashed. Politically, most independent African states moved in the direction of dictatorships and one-party systems, normally headed by the nationalist party that took office at independence – and, over time, the military became a major player too. Many of these states were highly corrupt, even predatory, and the gap between the rising local (indigenous) ruling class, and the masses, grew ever vaster.

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Zabalaza #14 (August 2015)

October 3, 2015February 3, 2016 / Sifuna Zonke

Zabalaza #14

[Download the PDF here]

South Africa and the DRC: Has Rhodes passed on the baton? by Shawn Hattingh (ZACF)
Class Rule Must Fall! More Statues, More Working Class by Leroy Maisiri
For How Long can South African Elites Keep Misleading the People? by Philip Nyalungu
SPEECH: Working Class Struggle, Blazing a Path to Freedom by Lucien van der Walt
The General Approach of Anarchists/Syndicalists to the United Front and NUMSA by Jakes Factoria and Tina Sizovuka

International

In the Rubble of US Imperialism: The PKK, YPG and the Islamic State by Shawn Hattingh (ZACF)
The State of Climate Change by Bongani Maponyane (ZACF)
Building a Mass Anarchist Movement: The Example of Spain’s CNT by Thabang Sefalafala and Lucien van der Walt
Imperial Wars, Imperialism and the Losers: A Critique of Certain ‘Labour Aristocracy’ Theories by Lucien van der Walt

Black Stars of Anarchism

Domingos Passos: The Brazilian Bakunin by Renato Ramos and Alexandre Samis

Book Review

Review: Spanish Revolution Remembered: Peirats’ “The CNT in the Spanish Revolution” by Jakes Factoria

Theory

The Anarchist Road to Revolution by Bongani Maponyane (ZACF)
Putting Politics into Practice: The Importance of Democracy and Education in Unions by Pitso Mompe (ZACF)

Counter-Culture

Anarchism and Counter-Culture: The Centrality of Ideas by Warren McGregor (ZACF)

Regular:

What does the ZACF stand for?

In the rubble of US imperialism: the PKK, YPG and the Islamic State

September 25, 2014November 19, 2014 / Sifuna Zonke

This article highlights how the US state created the conditions in the Middle East in which a right-wing reactionary force like the Islamic State (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) could emerge. Along with this – and central to the article – it discusses how the US state is refusing to back the only two effective forces that are fighting the Islamic State: the Kurdish Workers’ Party and the People’s Protection Units. Indeed, this article is also written to express solidarity with the People’s Protection Units that are currently fighting a key battle against the Islamic State to hold onto the city of Kobani in Syria.

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The Story of the Korean Anarchists and the Anarchist Revolution in Manchuria, 1929-1931

January 22, 2014July 20, 2014 / Sifuna Zonke

The Korean anarchist movement wanted to build an independent self-governing anarchist society, a cooperative system of the masses of the Korean people. They wanted to take civilisation from the capitalist class, and return it to the popular classes. By doing so, the capitalist and colonial society that existed in Korea (as elsewhere in Africa and Asia and east Europe) would be replaced with a new society. This new society would be based on the principles of freedom and equality, that guarantee the independent self-rule of the producing classes: the working class and the peasantry.