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Global Environmental Crisis: From Gordon Plaza to South Africa, Uniting the Struggle

By Sanashihla

On September 18, residents of Gordon Plaza were able to break bread together, and exchange experiences with environmental activist Desmond D’Sa, of South Africa. Residents of Gordon Plaza told D’Sa about their decades long struggle for a fully funded relocation off of the toxic soil that the city of New Orleans built their homes on.

D’Sa shared with the residents the many ways in which our struggles are local AND global, and he cited many examples of actual wins that demonstrated people power. The working class people who are organizing and fighting on the front lines in South Africa have been able to shut down over 40 harmful chemical plants and win improved conditions and social services for workers.
D’Sa made it clear that the struggle was not simply about winning single issue fights, but about ensuring that each win was connected to a broader fight for freedom from the cause of the crisis that we contend with. Capitalist exploitation of workers’ labor, and the pursuit of expansion and profits are not concerned with the future or the health of humanity. Why? Because each crisis gets turned into an opportunity for disaster capitalists. For every sickness that exists, there is someone waiting to prey on the sick, to charge a fee for the repair or the remedy. Disaster capitalism feeds on the desperation, trauma and despair of wounded people.

D’Sa also spoke specifically about the ways in which the environmental movement ought to be in full solidarity with the workers movement. Workers have power! He spoke of the necessity to build across geographical lines, and struggles, and rise up to fight collectively. “Don’t fight alone. Go together!”, D’Sa said.

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South African Miners Strike Against Sexual Harassment


In June, South African miners carried out an underground sit-down strike in response to the sexual harassment of a women worker and the subsequent protection of her abuser by human resources and the management of the Lanxess chrome mine outside Rustenburg, South Africa. Led by women, more than 200 miners participated in the 9-day sit-down strike. The following is from a statement by Ruth Ntlokotse of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa.

NUMSA HONOURS LANXESS WORKERS ON WOMEN’S DAY

On this Womens’ Day the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is honouring our members at Lanxess mines, both men and women, who came together to fight against sexual harassment and tyranny in the workplace. From the 19th of June to the 27th of June 2019, two hundred of our members suffered underground, breathing in potentially toxic fumes, sleeping in the biting cold, sacrificing time away from the comfort of their families and their homes, they risked their lives in order to stage a sit-in to protest against a cruel and vicious management. Because of their selfless struggle, they were victorious against their oppressors. The alleged sex pest who was terrorizing a worker has been placed on suspension and is facing criminal charges. The Human Resources manager and the Security Managers who were terrorizing the victim have left the company. These were just some of the achievements they secured by uniting and fighting together against oppression.

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South African Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party Founded

04 April 2019: Members of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg during the launch of the party. Picture: Ihsaan Haffejee
On April 4-6, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) held its Launch Congress in Boksburg, South Africa. Over a thousand worker delegates from provinces across the country and international guests met to announce their party’s intention to participate in upcoming national elections under the slogan “equality, work, and land.”

The party draws its strong base from the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), which has over 800,000 members throughout South Africa. Last year SAFTU organized a nationwide strike—one of the largest in recent history—to demand reforms to the country’s labor laws and an increase in the national minimum wage. More generally, SAFTU organizes for the “creation of JOBS for all, a living minimum wage, return of LAND, good housing for all and free quality education.”

SAFTU was formed as an initiative of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) who broke the ruling African National Congress (ANC)-led ruling alliance after the Mari-kana Massacre of 2012, during which 34 striking miners were killed by police.

The ANC once led the heroic struggle to bring an end to apartheid (the Jim Crow system of white political rule) but has since betrayed the poor and working masses. The ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa, a billionaire and current South African president, was found to have egged on the police responsible for the massacre. The ANC has pursued anti-worker labor laws and has implemented widespread privatization of public resources which have worsened the conditions for the working class of South Africa.

The Workers Party stresses that history has shown that human dignity and rights for workers cannot be guaranteed by the ANC or any other capitalist government. In a party statement, the SWRP declared “for all the world to know that we as Socialists are committed to building the organ-ization of a revolutionary working class. A class aware of its own interests. A class that will over-throw the capitalist parasites. A working class that will seize power for the project of building So-cialism, in which no human will be exploited by another.”

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Developments in South Africa

In February there was rapid succession of major political developments in South Africa. Under the intense pressure from the public and his party, President Jacob Zuma stepped down and was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa. Soon after his appointment, the new president announced that the African National Congress government would move to confiscate European land without compensation. This has always been a popular demand of native South Africans, but the government had previously hesitated to carry it out because of the power that rich whites still hold. The country also officially cut off diplomatic ties with Israel, recognizing the similarity between the brutal apartheid system that exists in occupied Palestine today and the apartheid regime that South Africans lived under until the nineties.