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Introduction |
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The Globalisation, Marginalisation and New Social Movements project was a 3 year project between 2003 and 2006. It was hosted jointly by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and the School of Development Studies, and was funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Ford Foundation. The project is structured around 16 case studies of different social movements which were conducted between June 2003 and July 2004. This work is available in the 2006 volume, Voices of Protest, and in the form of longer research reports below.
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A Summary of the Discussions at Recent CCS/SoDS Social Movement Conference |
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THE PRESIDENT FROM THE SKY AND THE AUNTIE WHO SAYS NO!
by Michael Schmidt
The growth of new social movements in post-apartheid South Africa has attracted a lot of media, academic and police attention over the past decade. The Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and School of Development Studies (SODS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban has specialised in studying these movements and, funded by the Ford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies, put together a project which saw a range of academics between June 2003 and July 2004 analyse 17 of the movements, most of them new, but several of long standing, namely:
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GLOBALISATION, MARGINALISATION & NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
A joint project between the Centre for Civil Society and the School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal
1. REPORTS
Over the coming months a number of research reports will be made available on this site. The first available reports are listed below:
Peter Dwyer (2004) The Contentious Politics of the Concerned Citizens Forum (CCF)
Khan, Firoz & Pieterse, Edgar (2004) The Homeless People’s Alliance: Purposive Creation and Ambiguated Realities
Steven Friedman & Shauna Mottiar (2004) A Rewarding Engagement?: The Treatment Action Campaign and the Politics of HIV/AIDS Short version
Steven Friedman & Shauna Mottiar (2004) A Rewarding Engagement?: The Treatment Action Campaign and the Politics of HIV/AIDS Long version
Stephen Greenberg (2004) The Landless People’s Movement and the Failure of Post-apartheid Land Reform
Sophie Oldfield and Kristian Stokke (2004) Building unity in diversity: Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
Elke Zuern (2004) Continuity in Contradiction? The Prospects for a National Civic Movement in a Democratic State: SANCO and the ANC in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Jacklyn Cock (2004) Connecting the Red, Brown and Green: The Environmental Justice Movement in South Africa
Ashwin Desai (2004) The Cape of Good Dope? A Post-Apartheid story of Gangs and Vigilantes
Baruti Amisi & Richard Ballard (2004) Refugee organisation and struggle in South Africa
Sakhela Buhlungu (2004) The Anti-Privatisation Forum: A Profile of a Post-Apartheid Social Movement
Anthony Egan and Alex Wafer (2004) The Soweto Electricity Crisis
Committee
Cyrus Rustomjee (2004) The Jubilee Movement
Shireen Hassim (2004) Voices, Hierarchies and Spaces: Reconfiguring the Women’s Movement in Democratic South Africa
Reports available directly from the authors:
Annie Devenish and Caroline Skinner (2004) The Self Employed Womens Union
Teresa Dirsuweit (2004) The problem of identities: The lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender and intersex social movement in South Africa
Adam Habib and Imraan Valodia (2004) COSATU
A conceptual paper has been written in order to contextualise these studies. The paper reviews key issues around globalisation, marginalisation and social movements in South Africa. Copies of the paper are available fromballardr@ukzn.ac.za
2. PROGRESS OVERVIEW
After preparatory work in 2002, the project began with full time appointed staff in January 2003. During the first six months were devoted to securing the involvement of researchers to conduct case studies of a number of social movements in South Africa. These researchers gathered in June 2003 for an intensive two day discussion on the objectives of the project. From July 2003 to July 2004 the researchers conducted their field work and wrote up research reports. These were reviewed and revised versions are to be posted on the web site from the end of September 2004.
In October, researchers will be submitting shorter versions of their research reports which will be used to put together a manuscript for an edited book. We anticipate that the manuscript should go to UKZN press in January 2005.
3. INSTITUTIONAL SETTING, RESEARCH TEAM AND PROJECTS
The Globalisation, Marginalisation and New Social Movements project is a joint project between the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and the School of Development Studies (SODS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The project directors are Adam Habib (HSRC) and Imraan Valodia (senior research fellow, SODS). The project manager is Richard Ballard who is on a 2 year joint appointment with CCS and SODS as a research fellow. The project is funded through grants from Atlantic Philanthropies and the Ford Foundation.
The project is structured around 17 case studies of different social movements which were conducted between June 2003 and July 2004. A list of the researchers and the corresponding movements that they are working on is available below
Standing from left: Stephen Greenberg, Peter Dwyer, Edgar Pieterse, Firoz Khan, Ashwin Desai, Geoffrey Nkadimeng, Shireen Hassim, Adam Habib, Steven Friedman, Jackie Cock, Gary Hawes, Sakhela Buhlungu, Cyrus Rustomjee, Kristian Stokke, Anthony Egan
Seated from left: Sophie Oldfield, Caroline Skinner, Richard Ballard, Imraan Valodia
4. CONTEXT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The role of social movements in post apartheid South Africa is a fiercely debated issue by the movements themselves, by politicians and by political commentators. The wake of South Africa’s political transition in 1994 was characterised by optimism that the democratically elected government would address historical structures that created hardship. Social movements were seen by some to be redundant given that the new political order offered many opportunities for democratic engagement. However, the economic and social marginalisation of some groups of society has endured well into the democratic era and popular movements have been amongst those who believe the government’s chosen path is not sufficiently confronting the structures that produce marginalisation. Since the latter part of the 1990s, South Africa’s political landscape has been re-populated by a number of prominent social movements such as the TAC (1998), Concerned Citizens Forum (1999), Anti-Eviction Campaign, Anti Privatisation Forum, Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (2000), the Landless Peoples Movement, Coalition of South Africans for the Basic Income Grant (2001) and the Education Rights Project (2002). These new players need to be understood with regard to the social structures that cause marginalisation, the identity politics they invoke, the solidarity networks and resources that sustain them, the political opportunity structure to which they respond, the strategies and tactics they pursue, and their objectives with regards to the political order within South Africa. It is to these questions that the ‘Globalisation, Marginalisation and New Social Movements in Post Apartheid South Africa’ project is responding.
Research questions
The aims of this study are to enter the world of South Africa’s social movements and to answer initially the following questions:
Describe the basic characteristics of the movement.
Describe the basic social characteristics of the leadership and participants.
To what extent are contemporary social movements products of the structural transformation of South Africa’s economic and political system, and in particular, the increasing material deprivation that stems from the transformation process?
In what way is identity a basis for, and a result of, social action?
What is the role of resources such as international linkages, solidarity networks, individual status, human skills and material resources in the success and sustainability of social movements?
In what way is the post apartheid political environment conducive to or restrictive of social movements? Specifically, what is the relationship of social movements to the state?
What are the strategies and tactics movements pursue and what are the factors (e.g. resources, ideology, the opportunity structure) that determine the kinds of strategies that movements pursue.
What is the gendered nature of the movement?
Do social movements empower the poor and marginalized?
Do social movements facilitate a redistribution agenda and or democratization?
What are the global, regional and national linkages involved in the establishment and operation of the social movement?
Queries: Richard Ballard (Project Manager) School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal
, Durban, 4041
ballardr@ukzn.ac.za
Tel 031 2602266
Fax 031 2602359
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