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Awethu! network meets at CCS, 20 September |
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‘The job of you in this room is to go back and convince the real people who will make changes in this country that they have to be the participants and not the bystanders. There is no solution other than the hard work of organising our people around the issues that they believe are important. I am appealing to you all: don’t try to figure out everything! Know the direction you are going, know the set of demands you have, and go down to the ground and listen to what people are saying are their bread and butter issues…. We are not looking for a messiah. In fact we are looking for real leaders to emerge from the grassroots… who know what their rights are, know what tools they have, know what power they have, and can exercise that power.’
Jay Naidoo, Awethu! mass meeting, November 2013
The Awethu! platform has been created in response to many calls from progressive organisations and movements to create a broad alliance between all those that want to push South African society in the direction of social justice, equality and a political system that serves all who live in South Africa, not just a privileged minority. Awethu! is not a pre-determined structure. Instead, it is an unfolding process that must grow and develop on the basis of broad democrat participation and mass-based activism for social justice. At the Awethu! mass meeting in November 2013, it was agreed that provincial meetings would be held to deepen and extend the conversation about how to build this broad alliance. You are therefore invited to participate in the Awethu! process by attending the
Kwazulu Natal Provincial People’s Conference
Saturday 20 September 2014
9am – 3pm
Howard College Auditorium, University of Kwazulu Natal, Durban
RSVP: gdharmaraja@gmail.com or awethuplatform@gmail.com by 5 September 2014
PROPOSED AGENDA
1. Introduction (plenary session)
a. Welcome
b. Introductions
c. What is Awethu! and where did it come from?
2. Political discussion of the current situation in South Africa (group work)
a. Discussion: South Africa 20 years after the first democratic elections
3. Discussion of past and present solidarity across organisations and movements (group work)
a. What has been the history of working together for social justice in the region?
b. When has solidarity been successful? Or failed? Lessons learned from collective action?
4. Discussion on the principles and values for Awethu! (group work)
a. What should the core principles and values be of Awethu! as a platform for social justice?
5. Way forward (plenary session)
a. How should Awethu! work as a platform to bring progressive organisations, individuals and movements
together? How do we build on existing organisational work? How will we keep communication going?
b. Outline of proposed activities August 2014 – 2016
6. Closure and thanks
Maurice Smithers, National Coordinator
011 3564114 082 3737705
awethuplatform@gmail.com AwethuSocialJustice
AwethuSocialJus
AWETHU FOUNDING STATEMENT
In the twenty years since South Africa’s first democratic elections, the gains that have been made in law and in policy have not significantly impacted on the experience of inequality in our society.
Our celebrated Constitution mandates government to transform South Africa into a country of equality, dignity and justice. Yet many of us are hungry, unhoused, have little access to basic services and suffer high levels of violence. Our celebrated Constitution calls on us to participate actively in our government. But we are increasingly alienated from government, shut out of decision-making and punished for protest and dissent. We cannot claim with any confidence that we are a democracy when inequalities of class, race, sex/gender and other discriminations persist to the degree they do.
We cannot claim to be a democracy when collective democratic contestation is met with suspicion, police fire and repression.
We are at a critical point in our history. Either democracy must be deepened and greatly extended, or it will be lost to us. We have in our hands our constitution, which provides important instruments we can use to strengthen our struggles for social change. All progressive people and organisations in South Africa need to unite in a clear campaign to retrieve the project of democracy for all who live here. It is time to reassert and reclaim people‘s power over government. It is time to rally a strong political voice, based in communities, workplaces and schools, for social justice, equality, environmental transformation, solidarity, deepening democracy and dignity for all.
Awethu! It is Ours!
Inequality is widening when it should be narrowing.
Women, girls and sexual minorities live in fear of a constant threat of violence.
Poor communities bear the brunt of environmental damage caused by old and new industries.
Mining is increasing land dispossession and destruction of the environment
Large amounts of state funds are legally spent on luxuries for the politically powerful, while many struggle to put food on the table.
Too often, our police force and public service have acted without integrity or justice.
Public health services and schools are failing.
Rural people are marginalised from constitutional rights.
Unemployment is rising.
Corruption is everywhere.
There is no social justice in South Africa.
There are undemocratic tendencies in our government and the private sector. Important decisions are taken behind closed doors in the interests of few and at great expense to the majority.
When people protest about inequality, poverty, pollution, land dispossession and lack of access to basic rights, many senior political leaders do not take their messages seriously, label them and attempt to silence them. Increasingly, the very protests that are a sign of the democratic spirit are met with terrible state violence. In the face of what we describe, the elected representatives of the people in parliament spend more time defending the decisions of their party bosses than promoting the rights of the people.
Business seems happy with a government that cracks down on workers and communities claiming their rights to protest. Business also wants more of our national wealth for itself. It wants policies that protect the wealthy, destroy the environment, and limit our democratic rights.
If we continue on this path, the poor will remain poor for a long time to come. Many more will become poorer. Inequality will grow. The effects of poverty and inequality on other forms of violence will increase. This is not what people fought for, were imprisoned for and died for. This need not be. We are a country rich in resources, leadership and ideas.
We call for a broad, independent civic initiative that puts the political system on trial for failing to improve the lives of millions, that demands a more people-centred, participatory democratic project that holds government accountable to a political process that belongs to, and should serve, all of us equally.
Awethu! It is Ours!
We are organisations and individuals who stand for social justice, equality, environmental transformation, solidarity, deepening democracy and dignity of all who live in our country. We value the democratic principles of accountability, collective deliberation, and inclusive decision-making.
We aspire to a collectively-owned, bottom-up process led by collective conversation about a way forward to a more radically democratic South Africa. All who are compelled by these principles are welcome to join in this platform to transform our democracy.
The Awethu! platform will not become another bureaucratic structure, but will campaign as a nonaligned people’s project. We will stimulate, support and build a movement that consolidates existing democratic conversations and actions across the country into a unified platform, where ideas and solidarities can spread and unseat conservative and anti-democratic political processes.
We call on like-minded organisations and individuals to join our efforts and advance their democratic alternatives on our collective platform. We must, together, generate answers and solutions to address the challenges for the next 20 years of democracy.
To this end, we propose a first campaign around the 2014 national elections and beyond:
Demand full disclosure by all political parties contesting the 2014 election of their funding sources;
Convene provincial meetings to discuss priorities and strategies to realise socio-economic rights, including health, basic education, sanitation, food, land and housing. These may culminate in the compilation of a charter embodying the principles for social justice, equality, environmental transformation, deepening democracy and dignity together with grassroots solutions to make democracy work for all;
If possible, hold national and provincial marches to reclaim the spirit of 27 April 1994 and renew hope in social justice and state accountability.
Awethu! It is Ours!
For further information, or to subscribe to the Awethu! platform & mailing list, please contact
Maurice Smithers on 011 356 4114 or email awethuplatform@gmail.com.
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