Today is Mayday

Comrades and Friends,

Today is Mayday. It is a historic day and it marks the struggles over the
centuries of working people against exploitation by their employers. It is
worth remembering that Mayday marked the day over 120 years ago when
workers in the United States were murdered by the police because they were
on strike.

Since then, this day reminds us of the ongoing struggle of the workers, the
unemployed and the oppressed peoples who still do not have a stable and
adequate life for themselves and their families.

We have every need to commemorate those struggles in Azania. (Even the name
of our country has not yet been liberated.) Although the struggle for
political democracy was achieved in 1994, it has not even got close to
achieving economic liberation for the vast majority of the people.

We have massive unemployment "in the Eastern Cape" and the poverty is
the reason for cholera and kwashiorkor in our province.

The land has not been redistributed and it remains in the hands of the
settlers and their descendents. Landlessness promotes poverty and it was
created by the colonial regime to drive men to become migrant workers on the
diamond and gold mines to work for starvation wages. This government shows
no urgency to correct this theft of the land and the Constitution only
guarantees the return of land taken after 1913. The truth is that land was
stolen from the time that Jan van Riebeeck put his foot down in the Cape in
1652.

The ANC government has also shown no concern to deal with the HIV/AIDS
epidemic. They have continued to ignore the demand for it to save the lives
of those who are HIV +ve and have lied and distorted the facts for many
years now to avoid facing this devastating epidemic head-on.

It was 4 years ago that the PAC began to demand that the government be
charged with culpable homicide for causing the deaths of babies by not
providing pregnant women with AZT to protect their babies. In those days we
were a lonely voice and we sounded like extremists! Today we have been
followed by many people and organisations who are demanding that the ANC
save the lives of millions of people by spending money on the safe and
effective treatments that are now available.

It is also clear that the main reason for their indifference to the deaths
comes from Thabo Mbeki. He has never been convinced that the HI virus causes
AIDS and has also adopted the GEAR economic policy. That policy has
impoverished our nation and he has served up our future to the United States
and other foreign investors. He has created a new black elite to help him
and his backers to control the poor. This elite are the only beneficiaries
of his administration. They can afford the treatments for HIV/AIDS and so
can the MP's in Parliament because they have medical aid to cover them if
they get infected. But if you are poor and go to a state hospital, all they
can do is to help you to die comfortably. There are 600 deaths every single
day from AIDS. Imagine that. It means that there are 10 Sharpevilles every
single day. Every single day. But they die quietly at home and in hospital
and they are ignored by this government which is only interested in buying
arms and deepening the corruption which exists everywhere.

We must continue to demand that the anti-retroviral drugs be available to
the 5 million people who are HIV +ve. It is cheaper to save their lives than
to let them die. It also happens to be in line with their Constitutional
right to life. This Constitutional right is ignored by this government which
only wants to control every aspect of our lives.

This latest campaign to get every driver to have an expensive smart card has
criminalised about a million people. The traffic police are now preparing to
arrest people who do not have these new licenses. This measure does nothing
to improve road safety or to uncover those with false licenses. It only
leads the state to have more control on our lives. it is very reminicent of
the enthusiasm with which the pass laws were enforced by the apartheid
regime.

The new Prevention of Terrorism Bill which is now before parliament is also
going to further erode our rights. The government can designate any
organisation as a "terrorist" organisation and if you give a cup of tea to
one of their members, you can be jailed for 5 years. Yes, this bill will not
stop terrorism but is aimed to stifle opposition to the ruling party. It has
to be vigorously opposed.

The "war against terrorism" that was launched by George Bush and his gang
who are ruling the United States is nothing else but a war to ensure that
the American Empire will dominate the world and lead to the re-colonisation
of the developing nations like South Africa. Their invasion of Iraq was
nothing more than a barbaric act meant to teach us all a lesson not to
oppose their interests. They have killed thousands of Iraqis using barbaric
weapons of mass destruction to get hold of the oil that lies under Iraqi
soil. They have lied constantly about their reasons for invading that
country and now pretend to be "liberators". But the resistance to their
occupation is mounting and they have stepped into a snakepit. In the last 2
days they have killed dozens of civilians, including children who threw
stones at them and they will have to pay a price for their barbarism.

The United States has become the greatest threat to world peace. They are
the greatest threat to the poor of the world and are enriching themselves
while the rest of the world is getting poorer. They have trampled the human
rights of the people in dozens of countries by bombing them or subverting
their legitimate progressive governments and destroying their economies with
unfair trading practices. The so-called globalisation we have today is
actually corporate globalisation which intensifies the exploitation of the
poor by US-controlled corporations.

The peoples and governments of the world must unite to stop the US
juggernaut. Many initiatives are needed to do this. We must stop Denel from
trading with the US and selling arms to them and their closest allies. We
must boycott American goods like Coca Cola and MacDonalds so that they do
not make money to attack more nations and spread their oppression. We must
trade more with other African states and other developed nations of the West
which do not pose such a dangerous threat to us.

Make no mistake. What happens in Iraq and in Israel will affect us. We
cannot pretend that they are not our problem. The world is one and what
happens in the Middle East could also happened here. The other day the US
Ambassador visited Zimbabwe and said that he wants to see "regime
adjustment" in that country because he claimed that the elections were not
free and fair. It will not be long before Zimbabwe is added to the list of
the "axis of evil" states that need to be attacked.

The PAC needs to be supported to get rid of the President and his GEAR
policy. We need to unite with each other and sort out our leadership issue
at the Congress next month. We also need to be part of an alliance to show
the voters that we can work together with other progressive parties to get
better policies in place that will be an alternative to the reactionary
policies of the ANC. We can unite with AZAPO, BCF, SOPA and the UDM in this
regard, and there is a possibility of working with the IFP on some issues.
Although Patricia de Lille has left us to form her own party, we share many
concerns. Also we are not opposed to all the members of the ANC but only to
the leadership which is dragging it towards serving the rich.

M'Afrika, the struggle is far from over. Nurses at Frere Hospital have been
demanding their rights and so have student nurses in Umtata. They face
imprisonment as their reward. People with HIV have been in the struggle to
get proper treatment and to defend and improve the health service. We must
demand proper jobs with proper pay, the end of corruption and waste, the
availability of land and resources to work it, free water and cheaper
electricity, strong houses and well-resourced schools. Communities must
stand up to demand these things and to struggle for them, otherwise the
deprivation will continue.

IZWE LETHU!

Costa Gazi

1/5/03