South Africa

45 striking miners shot dead in South Africa

North London Solidarity Federation reproduce a powerful statement by Ayanda Kota - a member of the militant South African shack dwellers organisation, Abahlali baseMjondolo, in protest at the murder of 45 striking miners by the South African police force and the role played by the ruling ANC party (once presided over by Nelson Mandela) in allegedly facilitating the police to carry out such acts of violence.

If you wish to express your anger at this, consider phoning the South African embassy in London at 0207-451-7299 and emailing them at london.general@dirco.gov.za .

If Voting could Change the System . . . the libertarian case for direct democracy

Politics is the art of
governing mankind by deceiving them.

Benjamin Disraeli

One of the defining tenets setting libertarian socialism apart from authoritarian political traditions of both left and right, is an unshirking commitment to the principles of direct democracy. This is the means advocated by anarchists for exercising and enabling genuinely participative decision making in all domains of human life. Rejecting hierarchical organisation, we argue that both parliamentary “democracy” and totalitarianism have the same intensions – to maintain the distinction between leaders and led, rulers and ruled. Both, in the final analysis, are designed to ensure our passive acceptance of a system that oppresses us.