After the end of apartheid and the wholly democratic election of a new government in 1994, South Africa was hailed as a beacon for democracy. Its new constitution was even widely celebrated as one of the world’s most progressive. Since then it is safe to say the nation has struggled to deliver on the promises made by its leaders to alleviate the poverty in which millions of its citizens live. Despite these ongoing struggles, however, South Africans have fought vigorously for a more equal and free society and won many battles.

On Tuesday, unfortunately, they lost a crippling one.

With a vote of 229-107, the ANC majority in Parliament passed what’s come to be known as “The Secrecy Bill,” a controversial piece of legislation allowing the state to classify documents as secret in the interest of ‘national security.’ The bill also says that anyone in possession of these secret documents could face a jail sentence of up to 25 years. Even further, the bill doesn’t contain a public interest clause so journalists and whistleblowers have no defense for exposing government secrets, including corruption.

In a country hailed all over the world for its largely peaceful transition to democracy just 17 years ago, this is an unequivocal slap in the face to all who spent their lives fighting for equality and human rights for all South Africans.

Fortunately there is substantial civil and governmental opposition to the bill and this is definitely cause for hope that it will not be signed into law next year as currently planned. Mass protests were staged all over the country on Tuesday, which was deemed “Black Tuesday” by the South African news media and the opposition parties in Parliament are planning to petition the Constitutional Court to review the bill’s constitutionality.

Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmund Tutu summarized the collective feelings of South Africans describing the move by the ANC as “insulting to all South Africans to be asked to stomach legislation that could be used to outlaw whistle-blowing and investigative journalism… and that makes the state answerable only to the state.”

I would argue, however, that the bill is insulting not only to South Africans, but also to proponents of democracy everywhere; and it has to be stopped.

Thursday and Friday I attended many of the Africa focused workshops – most were very exciting and engaging. They really brought the African perspective into the ideas of the US Social Forum and made delegates think about the US role in issues affecting communities on the African continent.

24 Thursday 10am-12pm

African Unity Towards What? (Pan-Africanism & Nationalism is not enough!) by: University of Kmt

I still haven’t exactly figured out this group and what they do. They run the Kmt Press which publishes books and journals, but all of their sessions that I attended were focused on teaching with an African historical perspective. Their missions states that they are dedicated to educating the new generation of African leaders. Interesting that they are in Detroit and I wonder if they know of the Detroit Public School (DPS) Initiative starting in 1992 where Africa was integrated into school curriculums from math to literature.

24 Thursday 1-3pm

Prioritizing Africa & the African Diaspora Agenda from Detroit to Dakar (D2D) by: Priority Africa Network (PAN)

This People’s Movement Assembly was geared towards bringing African perspectives into the US Social Forum and continue the discussion as preparations are made for the 2011 World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal. The room was full of delegates from many African countries, Detroit, and US Africa Advocacy groups.

Briggs Bomba, Director of Campaigns at Africa Action, spoke strongly about building solidarity with those most affected in Africa. He said, “corporate led globalization has harshest effects on those in the perifery, the underdeveloped.” He reminded us that all of us the privilege to attend conferences like these and make the policies need to prioritize the communities most affected.

A delegate from South Africa spoke eloquently about the social apartheid of displacement – ideologically, locations, in decision-making and governments; in voting process lack of people power and transformational action, and in the social mainstream. “We cover many issues, but it is the same struggle. We come from different areas, but share common experiences.” (i.e. colonialism)

Some top issues that came out of the PMA:

• Militarization in the Congo (DRC)
• HIV & STDs from Detroit to Africa
• political economy – effects seen in everyday Africa
• African defense (defend communities), liberation (not yet liberated), and autonomy

An exciting and dynamic session that really makes me excited for the World Social Forum in Dakar!

24 Thursday 3:30-5:30pm

The New Africa Command & U.S. Military Involvement in Africa by: African Security Research Project (aka: Daniel Volman)

This session was an interesting overview of AFRICOM by some leading scholars on the topic of US national security interests in Africa. The attendees were less diverse than the Detroit to Dakar session and most people came to learn more because it looked interesting and had studied Africa to some small degree in the past.

Most interesting was when the discussion turned to private military contractors (PMCs) in Africa responsible for fighting wars in Libera, Southern Sudan, and Somalia. A Ugandan delegate actually talked about being trained by PMCs in Iraq to then return and fight the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. Great to hear the perspective of the Ugandan delegate and Dan Volman as well as to see so many people interested in learning more about African issues!

25 Friday 1-3pm

Power-sharing Deals in Africa: Implications for Democracy – The Case of Zimbabwe & Kenya by: Africa Action

This was by far the most organized session that I attended at the US Social Forum. The Africa Action team did an amazing job of gathering great speakers, formatting the session, and bringing people into the room for the discussion. Many African voices were heard from delegates representing Zimbabwe and Kenya.

In both cases of power-sharing, the speakers agreed that the power-sharing deal was a sigh of relief that stopped the fighting and opened their doors to the international community and economy again. However, they also all recognized that power-sharing was a positive in the short-term, but can be positive as in the case of South Africa when Mandela and de Klerk signed a power sharing deal until the national democratic elections.

Here are some take-aways:

• A weak state can and will be manipulated (i.e. Museveni in Uganda – waiting for a similar situation as Kenya and Zimbabwe soon, elections next year)
• “The people” are separated from the power – people-centered in needed
• Power-sharing allows for lessened tensions and time to create national unity towards something better
• Coalition governments show defeat of “people power”