Marikana: the Massacre and its Meaning - 22 April 2013

The Faculty of Humanities invites you to attend the following seminar:

Prof Peter Alexander, Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, where he holds the South African Chair in Social Change.

Title: Marikana: the Massacre and its Meaning

Date: Monday 22nd April 2013

Time: 5pm

Venue: Faculty of Humanities Seminar Room, Cnr Somerset & Prince Alfred Streets

Discussants:

Camalita Naicker, MA Candidate, Political and International Studies

Nosipho Mngomezulu, MA Candidate, Anthropology

Class in Soweto Seminar & Book Launch with Peter Alexander 19 April 2013

A massive rebellion of the poor

by Peter Alexander, Mail & Guardian, 13 April 2012

On March 19, Minister of Police Nathi Mthetwa informed Parliament of the number of "crowd management incidents" that occurred during the three years from April 1 2009. Table 1 compares the new data with similar statistics for the preceding five years.

In 2010-2011 there was a record number of crowd-management incidents (unrest and peaceful) and the final data for 2011-2012 are likely to show an even higher figure. Already, the number of gatherings involving unrest was higher in 2011-2012 than any previous year. During the past three years, 2009 to 2012, there has been an average of 2.9 unrest incidents a day. This is an increase of 40% over the average of 2.1 unrest incidents a day recorded for 2004-2009.

Rebellion of the poor: South Africa’s service delivery protests – a preliminary analysis

by Peter Alexander, March 2010

Since 2004, South Africa has experienced a movement of local protests amounting to a rebellion of the poor. This has been widespread and intense, reaching insurrectionary proportions in some cases. On the surface, the protests have been about service delivery and against uncaring, self-serving, and corrupt leaders of municipalities. A key feature has been mass participation by a new generation of fighters, especially unemployed youth but also school students. Many issues that underpinned the ascendency of Jacob Zuma also fuel the present action, including a sense of injustice arising from the realities of persistent inequality. While the inter-connections between the local protests, and between the local protests and militant action involving other elements of civil society, are limited, it is suggested that this is likely to change. The analysis presented here draws on rapid-response research conducted by the author and his colleagues in five of the so-called ‘hot spots’.