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NEWS & LETTERS, November 2002
Our Life and TimesSouth African strike
In early October, hundreds of thousands of South African
workers heeded a call for a general strike by the Confederation of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU), heretofore an ally of the ruling African National
Congress (ANC). According to COSATU, 180,000 workers marched in the streets. In calling the strike, COSATU targeted privatization, the
resulting layoffs, and the government's overall neo-liberal economic policies.
These have pleased international capital, but caused great suffering among the
masses. The official unemployment rate has reached 30%, nearly double the rate
of a decade ago, when, in a wave of enthusiasm, voters elected the ANC to
establish Black majority rule after decades of apartheid. Another major problem is that, until recently, President Thabo Mbeki has blocked the arrival of anti-AIDS retroviral drugs by casting doubt upon the scientific evidence as to the cause of AIDS, this in a country with one of the highest rates of HIV in the world. |
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