Open letter to all COMSA members from Fazel Khan

In 2007 Fazel Khan was fired from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa, after leading a long strike the previous year for workers' rights, student rights and academic freedom. In this letter to his union he makes a case for a democratic university and, against the extraordinary authoritarianism of much of the South African left, a non-authoritarian radicalism.

Sunday, 29 April 2007

To all COMSA members

Comrades,

As you all know, last week I was finally fired after a 7 month disciplinary process. I am not the first person to have been forced out of this university on political grounds in recent months. When I was fired I was clearly told that I will not be the last.

A Thousand Flowers: Social Struggles against Structural Adjustment in African Universities

A Review by Refilwe Senatla and Fazel Khan

‘A Thousand Flowers’ is a project of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa, and is published by African World Press and edited by Silvia Federici, George Caffentzis and Ousseina Alidou.

The book is a collection of articles that chronicles the social struggles against Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) in African universities from the 1980’s into the 90’s. It deals with experiences that are central to the lived experience on many African campuses but which almost never appear in donor funded ‘research’.