News – Page 33 – ACT Ubumbano

A Church Land Programme Initiative to Share Resources for Our Journey

Padkos 2020 gets off to a cracking start as internationally renowned Fanon-scholar, Nigel Gibson, returns to CLP on Monday, 2nd March! Nigel’s visit comes as a result of our ongoing collaboration with the Paulo Freire Project* with whom we’re co-hosting this discussion on Frantz Fanon and a ‘politics at a distance from the state’. Get yourselves to the CLP offices on 2 March and we’ll start at 10:30am. Stay after for a light lunch too.

Padkos 2020 gets off to a cracking start as internationally-renowned Fanon-scholar, Nigel Gibson, returns to CLP on Monday, 2nd March!

Nigel’s visit comes as a result of our ongoing collaboration with the Paulo Freire Project* with whom we’re co-hosting this discussion on Frantz Fanon and a ‘politics at a distance from the state’.

Get yourselves to the CLP offices on 2 March and we’ll start at 10:30am. Stay after for a light lunch too.

CLP has worked & experimented for a long time thinking about a ‘politics at a distance from the state’, prompted by struggles that are being thought on the ground, as well as various writers from elsewhere who we’ve found helpful (including Fanon, but others too like Alain Badiou, Wamba dia Wamba, Jacques Ranciere, Michael Neocosmos, John Holloway, Richard Pithouse and the like). Indeed, throughout 2019, padkos focused on John Holloway’s approach where it is clear that “the idea that the world could be changed through the state was an illusion” (Holloway 2005. ‘Twelve Theses’).

In notes for an exciting forthcoming book project (see below), Nigel Gibson points out that

“Fanon was one of the first theorists of the anticolonial revolution to warn that the counter-revolution was not simply caused by external forces. … The tragedy of the anticolonial struggles, Fanon continues, is framed by the macro-political outlooks of the anticolonial movement leaders, and by the intellectuals who fetishize political power, seeing access to the colonial apparatus (and the state) as their prize”.

So we’ve asked Nigel to share some thoughts about (a) what Fanon’s thinking brings to this task and (b) his own reflections around contemporary ‘politics at a distance from the state’.

You may remember that Nigel was a central player in CLP’s big ‘Fanomenal event’ in 2011 that we organised to mark the 50th anniversary of Fanon’s death. We had the pleasure of welcoming Nigel back in 2017 when he facilitated a padkos conversation on ‘Fanon, our current context, and the praxis of emancipatory politics’, and he addressed a public seminar, co-hosted with the Paulo Freire Project, on ‘Fanon, politics and psychiatry’.

At the moment Gibson is working on a really exciting new Fanon-focused collection that he will edit, to be called Fanon Today: The Revolt and Reason of the Wretched of the Earth (forthcoming from Daraja Press, 2021). Check out your padkos attachment where Nigel describes the new book’s key motivations, themes and contributions.

RSVP – Please let us know if you’re coming on the 2nd March by calling Cindy at the office (033 2644 380) or emailing padkos@churchland.org.za

*Paulo Freire Institute – South Africa / Paulo Freire Project, of the Centre for Adult Education, School Education, University of kwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Resources

Fanon Today: The Revolt and Reason of the Wretched of the Earth

Nigel Gibson – Background from Wikipedia

Women & Climate Change – December 2019

Refugees in Cape Town

Abandoned Mine Creates Death Trap in Vosman, Mpumalanga

By Vusi Mabaso

On Sunday the 7^th July around 15h00 at Vosman in Emalahleni Local Municipality – Mpumalanga, a 17 year old boy was playing street soccer with friends. The ball fell in a dam created by an abandoned mine.

The clean dam water tempted the boy to attempt to swim, then he disappeared. Police were called but they could do nothing except to call divers from Nelspruit who promised to come the following day at 08h00.

The boy was rescued the following morning, he was unfortunately found dead. The abandoned mine is Sinosi Mining.

The Effects of Climate Change

By Mmabore Mogashoa

It is September in Limpopo, South Africa. Some days feel like it is still winter, very cold, or it is August because its windy and dusty is everywhere. Some days are extremely hot, and the temperatures keep rising.

The climate has changed because of the effects of what is done in the country, now we experience climate change. Today is the last day of September but the land is still dry. Despite the few hours of rain in parts of Limpopo, it is not enough for us, the animals and our land. Many animals are very thin and dying of hunger as a result.

Agriculture is in trouble as more and more of our plants are dying. The climate change is not good for our planet and everything that lives on earth. Rivers have dried up from mining and the lack of rain. Is time to stand up for climate change and save our heritage.

UN Youth Consultation Workshop, Pretoria 12-13 August 2019

By Njabulo Togane, PACSA

I attended a two-day Youth consultation workshop which was coordinated by UN South Africa to discuss the challenges, gaps and recommendations towards the National Development Plan’s (NDP) 7 pillars from a youth perspective.

Robust and constructive conversations took place to explore different channels that the youth of SA could use to work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda.

A recommendation was made to the UN by young people under a theme NOTHING FOR US, WITHOUT US. That means as young people, we want to participate in decision making platforms and have youth in strategic UN positions to drive the youth agenda.

House breaking in the neighbourhood of Palm Springs

House breaking has become fashionable. In some cases, it’s not about being unemployed or that one cannot create work for themselves, but it’s a case of being hooked up in drugs.

Someone in his 30’s was caught breaking in at house in the neighbourhood of Palm Springs in the Vaal. The community beat him up with the intent to kill him. They refused to even listen to the police till his mother came from work and rescued him from the mob. The police then arrested him. The community says they have had enough with nyaope and other crimes taking place in the neighbourhood, in particular that the troublemakers get arrested and they get bail to then come back in to the same communities.

Unemployment Driving the Selling of Fake Products in Soweto

Unemployment is a serious problem growing daily, many people loosing their jobs through restructuring and other reasons that affect mostly poor people.

In many cases people often seek for other ways to create employment for themselves once they are out of jobs. Unemployment rate in South Africa affects South Africans and people from other countries who come to South Africa to look for a better life, jobs or even start small businesses.

The issue at hand is Nivea products sold in street corners R20 for 3 which one may look at these as a bargain and at the stores one 50ml of Nivea roll-on is R20 or so, Nivea products sold in street corners are fakes and could damage the skin and people should be careful about these products although these is a way for the sellers of these products to provide for their families and pay rent if they renting or their needs.

These Nivea roll-ons are water like that looks like powder soap added in water, when it is shaken there’s a lot of foam showing at the top.