Abahlali baseMjondolo

Abahlali baseMjondolo
NicknameiButho labampofu (The army of the poor) & Ulwandle olubomvu (The red sea)
Pronunciation
  • Zulu pronunciation: [aɓaˈɬali ɓasɛm̩dʒɔˈndɔːlo]
Formation2005
Founded atKennedy Road, Clare Estate, Durban
PurposePoor people's movement
Location
  • KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape
Websiteabahlali.org
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Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, Zulu pronunciation: [aɓaˈɬali ɓasɛm̩dʒɔˈndɔːlo], in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which primarily campaigns for land, housing and dignity, to democratise society from below and against xenophobia.

The movement grew out of a road blockade organised from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and has since expanded to other parts of South Africa. As of October 2022 it claims to have more than 115,000 members in good standing in 81 branches in four of the nine provinces of South Africa - KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng.[1]

It has links with similar social movements elsewhere in the world, such as the Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil. It has faced sustained, and at times violent, repression. More than twenty of its leaders have been assassinated, something it blames on the ruling African National Congress.[2][3][4]

The assassinations of Abahlali baseMjondolo members and leaders has been noted by international organisations such as Amnesty International[5] and was discussed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022.[6]

Academic work on Abahlali baseMjondolo stresses that it is non-professionalised (i.e. its leaders are non-salaried), independent of NGO control, autonomous from political organisations and party politics[7][8] and democratic.[9][10][11][12][13] Writing in 2009, SJ Cooper-Knock[14] described the movement as "neurotically democratic, impressively diverse and steadfastly self-critical".[15] Ercument Celik writes that "I experienced how democratically the movement ran its meetings."[16]

A 2006 article in The Times stated that the movement "has shaken the political landscape of South Africa."[17] Academic Peter Vale writes that Abahlali baseMjondolo is "along with the Treatment Action Campaign the most effective grouping in South African civil society."[18] Khadija Patel has written that the movement "is at the forefront of a new wave of mass political mobilisation".[19]

  1. ^ Abahlali baseMjondolo demands justice for its members lost to “the politics of blood” Archived 27 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Peoples' Dispatch, 3 October 2022
  2. ^ The bloody battle for land and rights in Cato Manor, Greg Arde & Benita Enoch, GroundUp, 11 October 2022
  3. ^ More than twenty activists killed in eThekwini battle for land, Paddy Harper, Mail & Guardian, 13 October 2022
  4. ^ Abahlali BaseMjondolo: Living Politics Archived 13 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, September 2022
  5. ^ Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The state of the world’s human rights, 27 March 2023
  6. ^ UN member states call for the protection of SA’s human rights defenders and whistle-blowers Archived 23 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Simphiwe Sidu and Bongani Ngwenya, Daily Maverick, 21 November 2022
  7. ^ examining the refusal of electoral politics in Abahlali Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Raj Patel
  8. ^ Analysing Political Subjectivities: Naming the Post-Development State in Africa Today by Michael Neocosmos, Journal of Asian & African Studies, pp.534–553, Vol. 45, No. 5, October 2010
  9. ^ Patel, Raj (2008). "A Short Course in Politics at the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 43: 95–112. doi:10.1177/0021909607085587. S2CID 145211004.
  10. ^ Gibson, Nigel C. (2008). "Upright and free: Fanon in South Africa, from Biko to the shackdwellers' movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo)". Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture. 14 (6): 683–715. doi:10.1080/13504630802462802. S2CID 55905865.
  11. ^ Nigel Gibson. "Zabalaza, Unfinished Struggles against Apartheid: The Shackdwellers' Movement in Durban". Socialism & Democracy. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  12. ^ Settlement Informality: The importance of understanding change, formality and land and the informal economy, Marie Huchzermeyer, 2008
  13. ^ Nigel C. Gibson, Living Fanon: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (2011: London, Palgrave Macmillan)
  14. ^ "Cooper-Knock, SJ". 6 April 2023.
  15. ^ Symbol of hope silenced Archived 14 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Sarah Cooper-Knock, Daily News, 13 November 2009
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference ReferenceC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Clayton, Jonathan (25 February 2006). "Stench of shanties puts ANC on wrong side of new divide". The Times. p. 46. Gale IF0502965359.
  18. ^ Peter Vale – Insight into history of SA an imperative 2010/04/09 Daily Dispatch. Dispatch.co.za Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Shack dwellers take the fight to eThekwini – and the ANC takes note Archived 20 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Khadija Patel, The Daily Maverick, 16 September 2013