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The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM - the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS: FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET, LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of publications. We will be putting more of this information out so watch this spot... LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICAN ANARCHISTS FROM APARTHEID TO THE ANC We greet you from South Africa. We have recently taken steps which (we hope) will lead to the formation of revolutionary anarchist movement which, as far as we know, will be the first of its kind in South Africa to operate openly. Given our lack of experience, we are putting together an appeal for help. We have need of advice, written information and, if possible financial aid. We hope that you can help us or contact us. What follows are some of our reflexions on the current situation. ________________________________________________________________________ Contact the group by writing to: Renato and Elli, PO Box 51465, Raedenem 2124, Johannesburg. South Africa. ________________________________________________________________________ It is certain that the biggest advance to have been made is the raising of the ban on political parties including groups as infamous as the ANC. In essence the concept of freedom of expression is relatively new here. The last 40 years were controlled by the National Party. Everything, from its christian education policy to its secret police, was used to suppress and oppress. It is only recently that its armour has begun to crack. With any franchise it still has three or four years of power in front of it before it disappears, in the same way, though perhaps less mysteriously, as so many of its numerous enemies have done. As anarchists, the threat represented by the National Party for us is less great than the coming dictatorship (and we must think of the future) that the ANC will construct. Since its beginnings, the ANC has clearly shown that it will just as happily sell out its ideas as its followers to obtain power. When the ANC made its first political reappearance in the political arena, it allied itself openly with the SA communist party. But threatened with being marginalised by big business it has quickly embrassed capitalist ideas. Today, whilst Mandela relaxes in his 250 000 dollar house and thinks of his daughter's 10 000 dollar marriage, his 'brothers' sleep in shanties of corrugated iron. And whilst the latter take the bus or walk forty kilometers to work Mandela gets into one of his two Mercedes Benz. But this is the stuff of politics. And for such people, meglomaniacs in search of riches, the ANC is the ideal organisation. But only for them. Here's the question: who, apart from the ANC, represents the SA people in this farce which some have proclaimed a 'democracy'? Certainly not the ineffective and stodgily liberal Democratic Party, which represents the ideology of the wealthy in the free market. On the other hand we hope not to have to suffer the extreme of the White Right of the Afrikaner Weestand Beweeging (AWB) or its black equivalent such as the Azanian Popular Liberation Army (Pan African Congress). If there is a place where the need for an anarchist solution can be felt it is here in South Africa. Whatever the future our movement will come up against serious problems. How can we approach the coloured population which distrusts us? The National Party has made sure that it will be impossible to put our message across on the streets without running the risk of prison terms under the ridiculous pretext of 'treason'. In addition there is our lack of finance and experience. Fortunately in the midst of all this we have the hope of eventual triumph. Otherwise South Africa is destined to continue to be the puppet of the countries in the North whilst living conditions continue to deteriorate. LML 13/4/94.