Editor’s Note: The Burning Spear newspaper online is publishing this economic development plan from the comrades of the African People’s Socialist Party in Azania (South Africa) led by Azania (South Africa) Party Chair Tafarie Mugeri. The Azania-based comrades are building Thuthukani, a project of the Party’s mass organization, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) in the townships where colonized and impoverished African workers are forced to live on our own stolen land.
Reason
The Party has a need to win the masses of African (black) people to the position of political independence, scientifically designated as the first step of making a revolution. The Party has thus instituted the mass organization (InPDUM) in order to achieve this. Since the mass organization is strategically based on the aforementioned goal, the best tactical way to move has been to start an association which would help win more people to solving our day-to-day colonial problems as a class. The Better Life Association is the strategy of building InPDUM in the townships. Its projects are thereby aimed at solving the problems of health, education and skills development.
Below is a description of one such project, Thuthukani, which deals with the removal of waste matter from our living spaces and the creation of economic development from this process.
Briefing of Project Thuthukani
Project Thuthukani is specifically dealing with the environments within which African people are trapped, as well as the lack of economic development with which our communities are faced. In this regard, we recognize that there is no such thing as an “unemployed” slave during slavery—meaning that the conditions where most of us find ourselves in the ghetto, without any way of participating positively to the creation of life for ourselves and our community, is part of the slave master’s plan for the slave.
We often see the African working class demoralized and ashamed for not gaining from our participation in the capitalist economy. We spend our days getting by in all kinds of ways, whether spending that time in the house and neighborhood under forced idleness or doing odd-jobs/hustling daily as a way to eek out a living—things that politically put the African community further in submission to this parasitic capitalist system.
The effects of the impositions of colonialism into our lives is the reason we live with harmful waste all around us. We are only certified as “employed” when and if we are getting up daily to solve problems in the white community or for the white community, ie. removing waste and cleaning up after them.
Our solution was found within the problems facing the African community, namely unregulated waste and reserve/unpaid labor (so-called unemployed Africans). According to our Movement, these things should go together—the unregulated waste should be removed by the workers who are already looking for work and a source of income. What better way to fight capitalism than to take away our human resources from it and empower ourselves through taking care of our own lives as a people?
This is something that is going to require political education, however, so it can result in the revolutionary impact we want. This means the more political education we give to the people, the better our results will be.
The long term goal of this project is to help the African community understand how to turn inward for anything we need—be it employment or health. It is with this understanding that we must look at this project.
The Practice
We are bringing the African community into the process of wiping out the dumpsites through regulated daily pickups and cleaning campaigns by African workers as a form of employment. We will, however, use the word “volunteer” as opposed to “employee” so as to avoid colonial law’s attempts to criminalize this project of African self-determination.
How we are doing this is through:
- Putting out physical communal agreements to get community members to pledge donations (R1 a day or R5 a week or R20 a month) for the project. These papers should be put out in such a way that they invite commitment to the cause, ie. the money used for printing a page should be the amount it costs for the agreement to be handed out and signed (R2).
- Each volunteer must sign a volunteer’s agreement, which will enable them to know the kind of work we will be doing, as well as our source of income–our own community. Volunteers will be given free waste management training and be included in our contact list so that they have monthly access to digital information and resources, ie. our health pamphlets and the Burning Spear newspaper.
- We will register houses by number so as to know which houses are on the list and thus measure the growth of the project. Assigning house numbers will also help us stay on route during our morning pickups.
- Morning pick ups (8:00 AM-10:00 AM) are made with wheelbarrows, mobile bins or picked up by hand. (In order to see how waste will be received, see “People’s Tips” on Health and Wellness.) Routes leading to the dumpsites and gardens should be made within work hours. There should be division of labor, with a team on the dumpsite burning the waste (see “People’s Tips”) and a team in the community collecting and educating in order to win more people. The project will operate Monday through Friday.
- Payment is due every Friday at the end of the work. A leading member of InPDUM (in good standing) should be in charge of this process so that there is no liberalism. We are very strict on this issue because we are NOT trying to join the sinking ship of South Africa capitalism; we have no respect for liberalism in terms of our people having access to our own resources. We are going to not be liberal about money and payment because we recognize that money is nothing compared to the human and mineral resources; every cent must be accounted for. The office of Economic Development will be in charge of developing the payment systems, as well as appointing people in this office. (We accept all donations from any businesses and organizations that sympathize with the African community, on that basis alone, with no submission to any of them).
- The goal we wish to achieve with Thuthukani is the complete reliance of the African community on African labor in order to bring life to the masses of African people. This includes showing the people that it is only us, the African working class, that can bring life to Africa and our whole people through making this revolution.The revolution is a daily process in which we must all partake.
Join the BLA’s project Thuthukani! Build the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in Occupied Azania! Uhuru!
