Landless People's Movement (South Africa)

The Landless People's Movement in the Constitutional Court, May 14, 2009

The Landless People's Movement was an independent social movement in South Africa . It consisted of parts of the rural population and residents of cottage settlements in the cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and has had frequent conflicts with the African National Congress throughout its history . The Landless People's Movement was part of Via Campesina on an international level . Its Johannesburg branch had links with the Poor People's Alliance in South Africa.

history

On July 24, 2001, rural representatives of the local landless movement met with regional organizations to jointly complain and jointly strive for changes that should ease the resistance. The Landless People's Movement was founded at this meeting.

The goals stated there were:

• Strengthening the rural landowners' means of effective organization and self-representation
• Accelerating land reform and holding the government accountable for their promises
• To establish another South / South network to support initiatives of the landless population in South Africa
• To increase public awareness of the needs of rural landless communities in South Africa at the national and international levels

The movement was first formed and supported by a non-governmental organization, the National Land Committee (NLC), but broke with the NLC in 2003 and henceforth operated autonomously.

On November 13, 2003, the movement handed over a memorandum to then President Thabo Mbeki , in which they wanted to know "why development through weapons and terror would be brought to them" and called for an immediate stop to the evictions of farms and occupation camps in cities.

In 2008, the Protea South Branch in Johannesburg reached a verdict against the city council.

The Landless People's Movement was awarded success in combining the similarities of rural and urban land expropriations.

Branches in Johannesburg

The Johannesburg Landless Peoples' Movement had branches in the following cottage settlements:

• Protea South
• Harry Gwala
• Freedom Park
• Thembelihle
• Precast
• Lawley
• Protea Glen

State repression

In April 2004, 57 members of the movement were arrested for voting under the banner "No country! No vote!" marched. Some of the arrested activists were tortured, which was later dealt with in a trial against the police.

In September 2007, the Freedom of Expression Institute reported the following about a peaceful protest by the Landless People's Movement:

"SAPS members fired at random in the direction of the protesters, leaving the ground covered with the blue covers of rubber bullets. The police also used a helicopter and water cannon. At least two police officers were also seen using live ammunition. A resident of Protea South, Mandisa Msewu, was hit in the mouth with a rubber bullet and several others had to be treated by paramedics for police violence. "

In February 2009 the movement reported that eight Landless People's Movement activists from Protea South had been arrested after a peaceful protest. The movement alleged serious repression - including arrests, arson and murder - in Johannesburg in 2010. Also in 2010, a member of the movement's activists, Terrance Mbuleo, 33, was killed by middle-class vigilantes in Soweto .

Poor People's Alliance

In September 2008 the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign formed the Poor People's Alliance together with Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Johannesburg branch of the Landless People's Movement and the Rural Network (Abahlali basePlasini) in KwaZulu-Natal . The Poor People's Alliance rejected the electoral policy, with the slogan "No country! No house! No vote!"

See also

• Homeless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
• Naxalitesin India
• Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico
• Via Campesina

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bhambra, Gurminder K., Shilliam, Robbie, 1969-: Silencing human rights: critical engagements with a contested project . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [England] 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-22276-2 .
2. ^ The Jacob Zuma Cargo Cult and the "Implosion" of Alliance Politics , by Michael Schmidt, Anarkismo , 2009
3. ↑ The seed of a new opposition? Business Day , February 7, 2011
4. ^ World Social Forum - Thursday, February 10 , The Guardian
5. ↑ Ballard, Richard, 1972-, Habib, Adam., Valodia, Imraan .: Voices of protest: social movements in post-apartheid South Africa . University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Scottsville, South Africa 2006, ISBN 1-86914-089-3 .
6. ^ Crisis in South Africa Land Reform Movement . Land action. Archived from the original on August 27, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2019. 
7. ↑ Memorandum To President Thabo Mbeki . Land action. Archived from the original on November 19, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2019. 
8. ↑ Landless Peoples' Movement Protea South . Abahlali baseMjondolo . Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2019. 
9. ↑ Gurminder K. Bhambra; Robbie Shilliam: Silencing human rights: critical engagements with a contested project . Hampshire Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2009, ISBN 0-230-22276-5 (English).
10. ^ LPM Members Arrested on Election Day . Land action. Archived from the original on August 27, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2019. 
11. ↑ 2005 Annual Report on South Africa . Amnesty International. Archived from the original on November 29, 2008.
12. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on November 19, 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
13. ↑ FXI welcomes opening of trial in Landless Peoples' Movement torture case , Freedom of Expression Institute, 2005
14. ^ Police repression in Protea South an indicator of a national trend . Freedom of Expression Institute.
15. ↑ 8 Landless People's Movement Comrades Under Arrest in Johannesburg
16. ↑ Political tolerance on the wane in South Africa , Imraan Buccus, SA Reconciliation Barometer , September 2010
17. ^ Independent Report into Political Violence Against the Landless People's Movement , International Alliance of Inhabitants, 2010
18. ↑ South Africa: Landless People's Movement Activist Killed by Police in Johannesburg . People of Color organize !. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010.
19. ↑ To Be Betrayed By Your Brother ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Rosaleen Ortiz, City University of New York , 2010 
20. ^ The Struggle for Land & Housing in Post-Apartheid South Africa by Toussaint Losier, Left Turn, January 2009
21. ^ The alliance, and its position on electoral politics, is mentioned in the speech by S'bu Zikode at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415682.html