From: "FRANCO BARCHIESI" <029FRB-AT-cosmos.wits.ac.za>
Date:          Sat, 24 May 1997 14:05:43 GMT + 2:00
Subject:       REPORT FROM S.A. MEETING FOR HUMANITY AND AGAINST NEOLIBERA


REPORT FROM SOUTH AFRICAN MEETING FOR HUMANITY AND AGAINST 
NEOLIBERALISM

Dear comrades,

The comrades interested in submitting a South African contribution
to the Second Intercontinental Encounter for Humanity and Against
Neoliberalism (to be held in Spain from 26 July to 2 August) have
met on Friday, 23 May 1997, 16h00, at Wits University Postgraduate
Club, Yale Road, Johannesburg.

Items on the agenda included the discussion of availability from
comrades to write a document to submit to the Encounter, and a
preliminary evaluation of contents and division of tasks. The
following comrades from various organisations were present in a
purely individual capacity:

Franco Barchiesi, Patrick Bond, Rehad Desai, George Dor, Hein
Marais, Lucky Mphafudi, Nape Nchabeleng, Roseline Nyman, John Pape.

The discussion proceeded along the following lines.

Comrades introduced themselves and some of them explained of which
networks of people engaged in critique of neo-liberalism they are
already part. In particular, other experiences that can be
fruitfully interrogated on the contents we want to bring to the
Encounter were indicated. Among these, first, the Third World Forum,
which is engaged in analyses of experiences of Structural Adjustment
in Africa, and of popular regional reactions on issues of politics,
economy, energy, health, etc. from a panafricanist perspective. Part
of this experience is the "Cairo group" - inside which Samir Amin is
notably active, and whereby comrades here have contacts - defined as
carrying forward topics "similar to the Encounter" but structured in
a three-year project for a "world forum for an alternative"
involving the recognition of the role of social and popular movements 
in the continent. Second, the engagement by the Campaign against
Neoliberalism in South Africa (CANSA) for the abolition of the
Apartheid debt. On this issue it is confirmed the public meeting on
Tuesday 27 May (Brian Ashley to present) at 7th Floor Auckland
House, 185 Smit Str. (cnr. Biccard), 12h30. Third, it was underlined
that any general theoretical and analytical relevance of a South
African contribution to the Encounter will not be a product of
abstract reasoning, but of a discussion of the current state and
practical needs of left and progressive forces facing the
neoliberal offensive in this country. This means that the Encounter
is not an end in itself. It is rather an opportunity for us to
regroup and reconnect as comrades from various traditions but who
are all committed to contrast neoliberal policies and the 
commodification of our lives. 

In this way we hope to provide fresh inputs to revive anti-capitalist
and anti-neoliberal opposition here and now. In fact, these Encounter
meetings continue a path of network activist interactions already
inaugurated by initiatives such as "Debate - Voices from the South
African Left". This process, and the informality and free-discussion
climate characterising it, will moreover offer us the possibility to
critically evaluate the positions of existing left-wing organisations
in so far they either second or do not effectively oppose
neoliberalism. On the other hand the Encounter gives us the great
opportunity to start again talking to each other on these issues in a
new and constructive way, by learning at the same time from the
experiences of, and by providing our support to, comrades that all
over the world are struggling over the same issues.

It was then underlined the priority of conceptualising the current
state of neoliberalism in SA social and economic policies and the
position of South Africa in dynamics of globalisation. The rising
hegemony of people and ideas from the IMF and the World Bank inside
SA economic ministries is leaving to the market forces and to an
insufficient level of public intervention ("pit latrine policies")
the solution of the social consequences of apartheid. However, it is
also emphasising embryos of resistance over the provision of
electricity, housing and health care (NGOs, rural movements in the
Northern Province and Mpumalanga, and progressive experiments from
civic organisations and urban social movements such as DRI were
mentioned).

This conceptualisation of neoliberalism and resistance in South
Africa is necessary to answer to the crucial question: how could we
end down to the point we are now - especially if we think that this
country was considered as on the verge of a revolution less than ten
years ago - and what are the possible ways out? This is required to
create those conditions for opposition exemplified, for example, by
the long-lasting political and organisational work by the Zapatistas
in the Chiapas jungle. An emphasis on action against neoliberalism, 
and to provide adequate prospects to it, was placed in many inputs to 
the Encounter.

The importance of an analysis focused on the role of labour was
raised. In particular, it was emphasized the extent to which the
current inaction and lack of criticism over privatisation and
liberalisation in many sectors of COSATU contrasts with the very
advanced position assumed by this trade union federation in its 1995
conference on globalisation. This analysis of organisational
contradictions can be extended to the SACP and SANCO, and to what
was identified as the crisis of the ANC as an organisation outside
the government.

The discussion then turned to the outline of a document to submit to 
the Encounter. The document, whose draft is to be ready by 6 June, 
will contain the following points:

1) (Franco Barchiesi, Hein Marais) Analysis of processes of shift
towards neoliberalism in South Africa. The Growth, Employment and
Redistribution (GEAR) strategy will be discussed as a case of
regional, homegrown structural adjustment. However, fatalism is to
be avoided here. GEAR cannot be assumed simply as a signal of the
victory of neoliberalism. It in fact also provides opportunities for
us to reclaim, and re-elaborate on, basic needs and strategic
perspectives that for too long we have tended to assume for granted.
It will be debated whether the Reconstruction and Development
Programme can still provide arguments for an alternative. In
analysing alternatives to GEAR it will be useful to resort to
arguments appeared on "Debate", such as John Pape's criticism of
East Asian NICs.

2) (Patrick Bond, Lucky Mphafudi, George Dor) Conceptualising basic
needs (social services, rural, urban) and the impact neoliberalism
has on the degradation of basic services and on the disintegration
of communities. This will also provide a non-commonsensical discussion
of the much-debated issue of crime in South Africa. This can be in
fact represented in terms of consequence and un-organised response
to the marketization of the economy, in the broader scenario of the
crisis of the neoliberal state.

3) The already mentioned discussion on the role of labour, its
present weaknesses and potential alternatives.

4) (All) Alternative ways of thinking forms of political organisation 
and action.

Once drafted, the document will be sent for collective editing via 
EMail distribution and discussion lists, along the ways already 
successfully experimented with "Debate".

The meeting ended at 17h40.

Franco

Franco Barchiesi
Sociology of Work Unit
Dept of Sociology
University of the Witwatersrand
Private Bag 3
PO Wits 2050
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel. (++27 11) 716.3290
Fax  (++27 11) 716.3781
E-Mail 029frb-AT-cosmos.wits.ac.za
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~spoons/aut_html
http://pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il/~mshalev/direct.htm

Home:
98 6th Avenue
Melville 2092
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel. (++27 11) 482.5011


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