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SocialistSocialistSocialistSocialistSocialistWWWWWorororororkkkkkererererer
Quarterly Newspaper of the International Socialist Organisation ZimbabweUS$1Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper P.O Box 6758 Harare iso.zimbabwe@gmail.comUS$2 in bookshops
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Workersdeserve Salariesnot allowancesin Forex
In new Constitution - Women Demand full control your bodies, sexuality andreproductive organs including free and safe state funded abortion whichis currently restricted to rich middle class women alone .
O
ne of the reasons why we had been calling for a newdemocratic people driven constitution is because wehave realised that a constitution made by elites willnever address issues to do with the needs of the generalpopulace rather it only focuses on the protection of theinterests of its crafters. That was the case with theLancaster house constitution that even failed to addressthe interests of the combatants who fought theliberation struggle .The Chidyausiku draft of 2000 wassimilar in the sense that it failed to address the socio -economic imbalances among the social classes in oursociety.Today the Constitutional reform process as stipulatedby Article 6 of the GPA is completely defective and leadsexactly to an end result of none other than a bourgeoisconstitution .The Kariba Draft Constitution shall beused as a cornerstone yet the draft it self is a formalsecret document done by an elite of political partiesrepresentatives without any democratic input bycitizens. Essentially the majority of its provisions areno different word for word with the Chidyausiku DraftConstitution.Movements and organizations fighting for social andeconomic justice are concerned that such Draft in itsDeclaration of Rights absolutely side-lines the socialand economic justice demands of the poor andoppressed including such key rights like the rights tofood security, fair labour standards including a livingwage and the right to strike, the rights of informaltraders, the rights of rural farmers, women and youths,rights to education, housing, social utilities like water,electricity and transport, to health including access todrugs and support for those affected by AIDS/HIV andsocial security for children, the unemployed, thedisabled, war veterans and the elderly.The draft is silent on provisions of economicdemocracy including the rights to equitable economicdevelopment and to national sovereignty over thecountry’s natural resources for the benefit of allincluding financing and subsidies for the socio-economic rights of the ordinary people. What it does inturn is to protect the interests of the elites and the richby providing for massive enhanced protection of theright to private property.The Draft is based on free – market neoliberal principleswhose effects have caused untold misery not just inZimbabwe but across the whole world.
 
 
international ...
A
s Socialist Worker was going to press, South Africa wasvoting in its fourth democratic elections since 1994. But thepolls are also its most divisive – along South Africa’s stillentrenched divides of race and class. According to all thepolls the parties likely to be the top three are the ANC,Congress of the People (COPE) and the Democratic Alliance(DA). It is predicted that they will win about 90% of thevotes combined. But these three also represent the divide inSouth Africa today.The DA represents the interests of the white populationthat is racist. Its leader Helen Zille was open as regards itsbigotry when she argued that crime began in South Africaunder Mandela (a black government). Zille also threatenedto use the army during an intended strike by taxi (kombi)drivers. Non-whites in the poorer areas of Cape Town withoutstanding water bills and who support the ANC have hadtheir water supplies cut while those who do not support theANC had no disconnections. The DA’s campaign is beingdriven and managed by whites – yet claiming to be a partyof colour.COPE was formed when Mbeki was kicked out as Presidentlast year. The Mbekites (as the loyal officials of Mbekicame to be known) were driven out in two stages – thePolokwane conference in 2007 and the firing of Mbeki ninemonths later.The statements as COPE was being formedshow that the Mbekite section wanted to pursue the neo-liberal agenda free from ties to COSATU and the SACP –the militants of whom showed them the door and whomthey wanted to punish. COPE represents the right-wingsection of the black ruling class now embarrassed by theirassociation with the poor blacks of South Africa.Of the 90%, it is predicted that the ANC will get around66%. The figures are debatable but one thing is for sure, theANC is expected to win. Given the state of South Africa’spoor and the still racial divide, this is not surprising. In theANC the masses of South Africa still express their desire fora better life.But here also lies another divide – it is amongst the massesas to the way forward in struggle.Beginning in 2001, a waveof service delivery protests began sweeping across townshipsacross South Africa. The poor of all colours were united intheir anger at the lack of service delivery . And they showedit in militant protests. But this wave has now peaked. Somehave been victorious like the protests that shook Khutsongin Gauteng for a solid two years. They demanded that theirarea be re-incorporated into Gauteng from North-Westprovince and they won resoundingly and unconditionally.Butmost have not had the success they sought to achieve. Thisis reflected in the “No Vote” abstention protest thatthousands are embarking on in townships across the country.It reflects also the frustration at the lack of service deliveryand poverty they are forced to live in. Hundreds of townshipresidents in Gauteng and the Western Cape staged protestson election day and threatened to attack voting stations. Thereis a tiny section that is questioning the electoral processaround delivery failures.Given this scenario, the left in SouthAfrica is also divided as to how to proceed. Some formedelectoral fronts – but failed to meet the half-a-million Randdeposit required for registration. They badly misread thefiring of Mbeki and assumed the masses had written off theANC when Mbeki was fired. They assumed, wrongly, thatthey could compete at least electorally. But they also ignoredtwo critical issues. Firstly the fact that they were notorganised in the rank-and-file of the poor and secondly, thatthe struggle was in fact not rising. They will surely not havesuccess with their elitist sectarian attitudes.Given the failures, for whatever reasons, of the socialmovements over the last 8 years to achieve their goal, andthat some disillusionment exists with the movements as well,this poses the question – what next for the fighting masses?In theory, and in campaign speeches, the ANC representsthe aspirations of the masses. As its campaign postersproclaim “A Better Life For All”. But in reality, the ANCbosses represent the aspirations of the elite minority of SouthAfrica. Mbeki’s successor, Kgalema Monthlanthe,represented the government at the recent G-20 meeting inLondon. Jacob Zuma has given re-assurances at meetingsorganised by US Investor think tanks that their investmentsare safe and the neo-liberal programme is firmly on the agenda.Clearly for the ANC bosses it must be business as usual.These bosses have argued for the electoral process. On electionday Monthlanthe pleaded with protesters to vote.But as Tebza Mokgope of Keep Left argues, we need toemphasise what led to the defeat of Mbeki. He is right. Itwas the service delivery protests that lit the fire under Mbeki’sarse. Keep Left comrades further argue that we need to builda campaign that is not ruled by votes. We need to build linksto the struggles that will inevitably explode as thecontradictions of capitalism sharpen between the politicianand the very people who look to Zuma for change.One thingis clear. The 2009 elections will leave lots of unansweredquestions about the lingering poverty and the best wayforward for the masses. There is an abundance of apparentlyMarxist analysis. But the question of a real Leninistorganisation needs to be urgently posed. The liberation of the working class will be the act of the working class itself and not elitist sectarians or NGOs.
Ashley Fataar
 Keep Left, Cape Town
South Africa’s Divisive Election
 
Socialist Worker 2009 2
 
.......Politics of ISO........
E
verywhere you go where discussions on how peopleare being oppressed, normally heated debates erupt asto the inclusion of the term Women’s oppression. Mostpeople feel there is nothing special about women’soppression hence their oppression should be treatedequally like other form of oppression like oppression of the disabled, youths, workers, vendors, traders etc.We cannot obviously deny that such groups also suffera lot under capitalism (neoliberalism), but what makesthe oppression of women unique is its age and howinbuilt it is into class society.
The oppression of women is the oldest form of oppression in class society now and yesterday.
Whilst all oppression is unfair, the oppression of womenof women is the unfair of all forms of oppression.The oppression of women is passed off as ‘normal’,‘usual’ and ‘acceptable’. Even some women themselvesseem to accept this position as being “natural”.Scientific evidence shows that while women’soppression, is the oldest form o f oppression, it is only5000 years old. Anthropologist Richard Lee summarisesthe findings of the science: “Before the rise of the stateand the entrenchment of social inequalit
y,
people livedfor millennia in small-scale kinship-based social groups,in which the core institutions of economic life includedcollective ownership of land, resources, food and equalpolitical relations (between the sexes)”.In other words, people shared and helped each other.There were no rulers, no ruled, no rich and no poor.Women and men occupied the same status in societywith regard to decisions over all life giving andsustaining matters.This was society for about 95,000 years. Thenabout 5,000 years ago something happened. Classsociety and social inequality arose and with it, whatKarl Marx’s lifelong friend and collaborator FriedrichEngels, refers as “the world historic defeat of the femalesex”. The status of women changed from being co-decision makers with men into positions of beingdependent and sub-ordinate (junior). The degree of women’s oppression varies from place to place andsociety to society, but it now exists everywhere.In places like Afghanistan, even after the invasion in2001women were still forced to wear bhurkas (doekies)covering their faces. In countries like America, womenhave choices concerning their reproductive rightsrestricted .In Zimbabwe women wearing miniskirts arepublicly degraded and attacked .The use of femalecondom is also restricted due to the dependency onmen.The place of women began to be restricted. Womencould go hunting and gathering trips with men, theycould still use a hoe (badza)-even when still pregnant.But the use of ploughs and the herding of horses andcattle was now restricted to men. While the ploughrelieved women of the most demanding labour, it alsodeprived women of the monopoly over cereal crop[sand the social status it conferred.Key decisions about the future of the family becamemale decisions. Other changes had a similar impact.While women could still take part in local trade and
playing some part in warfare, long distance trade andserious soldering became monopolised by men.
IN THE PROCESS THE KINSHIP BASED SOCIALGROUPS BROKE UP. The individual adult woman nolonger became part of the wider network of relationships which gave her a say of the use of productive means and protection against arbitrarytreatment .Instead , the woman simply became a wife – asubordinate in strange household .She became apossession of a man , a valued ornament of beauty , asource of sexual pleasure and a breeder of heirs .Whilstthey would be protected from hardships and externaldanger , they would be closed off from any interactionwith the outside social world –turned into housewives.The imprint of women’s oppression was to be found inall ideologies and religions. Christianity teaching thatthe woman was formed from the man (Adam and Eve)yet everyone is born from a woman , Islam teachingthat a man (Mohammed )was the messenger of Allahwhilst Christianity teaches that another man ( Moses)collected the ten commandments .Similarly Buddhismand Judaism statues are of men while men leadVapositori in this region.The oppression of women continues with class societytoday with an image, universally portrayed byneoliberalism of the family as the father being thebreadwinner with the woman at home tending thechildren. Women feature in adverts for laundryproducts and men for adverts for cars. Sexy images of women are also used in advertising. The sexist cattleparades of Miss Zimbabwe, Miss World, Miss Parade,Miss Malaika and other modelling contests continueto reinforce the oppressive image of women with theideal body shape.Yet a global study shows that only 3% of women firthese images. This has led to the furthering of women’soppression with breast reduction and enhancement andother body changing techniques and methods.In summary such is the oppression of women. Racismarises only about 200 years ago with the conquest of South America, Africa and Asia by European powers.The oppression of women arises thousands of yearsbefore.As the Great Russian revolutionary , Leon Trotsky veryclearly puts it
,”We can only measure the socialadvancement of any society by the practical measuresthat the society takes in protecting its women andchildren
” 
He is absolutely correct .the oppression of women isrooted into class society therefore oppression of women can only be ended by the destruction of classsociety .
W
omen`s
O
ppression
 
Socialist Worker 2009 3
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