23 August 2012 Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Marikana Massacre Memorial Service
Abahlali baseMjondolo has held a number of serious discussions about the Marikana Massacre within our movement and with
our comrades. It has also been very important for Abahlali to send a delegate straight to Marikana in the North West
province to meet directly with striking workers and struggling residents of the Wonderkop shack settlement. We, together
with the Unemployed People's Movement, were also able to send two delegates to the meeting held to discuss the massacre
at the University of Johannesburg last night. We wish to set the record straight and to say clearly that the account of
what has happened that has been given in the media has mostly come from the state. The views and experiences of the
striking workers and struggling residents of Marikana has been silenced. It is essential that the media must talk to the
striking workers and struggling residents of Marikana and not just about them.
What has also concerned us about some media reports as well as what the state has been saying is that it seems now as if
communities are violent and that what we must all pray for is an end to community violence. They say that we are violent
nation. They say that this is a tragedy. But they do not say that for a long time the police and various anti-land
invasion units and private security companies have been waging a war against the poor. They have been driving us out of
the cities and into transit camps and they have especially attacked, beaten, tortured and killed those of us who are
still struggling for real freedom, equality and justice. This has been the reality for struggling communities for years.
But most middle class people only started to understand when they saw Andries Tatane being killed by the police on
television. Now the truth of our democracy is here for all with eyes to see.
The police do not act as peace keepers when there is disagreement between employers and employees or citizens and
government officials. They take sides. They are there for the employers and the government officials. They are not there
for the people.
And we all know that we are living in a country where every police action is intelligence driven. The police have their
spies everywhere and are listening to all the activists' phones. Their intelligence is not used to keep the peace. It is
used to repress us.
The reality of police violence against poor people and especially against poor people that are resisting their life
sentence of poverty raises difficult questions. Why does the government that so many poor people vote for repress the
poor? Why are our votes wanted but not our presence in the cities or in the discussions? Why is the government trying
responding to the protests that are happening everywhere with violence rather than support? It is clear that they want
to respond to all this anger and protest by beating us back into the dark spaces where we are supposed to be kept. They
want us in the bantustans and transit camps. They want us silent.
They want a solution to the reality that this society does not provide for everyone and include everyone that takes the
form of violence and intimidation. The only real solution is to work with the poor to build a society in which everyone
can participate in decision making and the land and wealth of the country is shared fairly. That is the only way to
build a just peace. A peace built on state violence will never be just or democratic.
Abahlali basemjondolo will be holding a Memorial Service in Durban on Friday, 24 August 2012. We need to mourn the dead
and strengthen ourselves for the struggles to come.
We are inviting all churches, shack dwellers, progressive movements, and individuals to attend this service. We are
happy that Bishop Rubin Phillip has confirmed his attendance.
Venue: Emmanuel Cathedral, corner of Victoria Street and Queen Street, Durban
Time: 17:00pm to 18:30pm
Sekwanele! No House! No Land! No Vote! Everyone Counts
-- For more, please visit the website of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign at: www.antieviction.org.za and follow us on www.twitter.com/antieviction
Visit Abahlali baseMjondolo at www.abahlali.org and www.khayelitshastruggles.com
The Poor People's Alliance: Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with with Landless People's Movement (Gauteng), the Rural
Network (KwaZulu-Natal) and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, is part of the Poor People's Alliance - a unfunded
national network of democratic membership based poor people's movements.
ENDS