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Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

October 27, 2023

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was a non-racial[1] popular movement[2] made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa.[3][4] It was formed in November 2000[5] with the aim of fighting evictions, water cut-offs and poor health services, obtaining free electricity, securing decent housing, and opposing police brutality.[6][7][8][9]

Official logo of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

The movement was the first of the first generation of so-called 'new social movements' to spring up after the end of apartheid and was known for its direct action style militancy, its refusal of all forms of vanguardism, including NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations) authoritarianism.[4][10][11][12] The movement sought to retain its autonomy from NGOs[13] and publicly refused to work with some local NGOs[14] and insisted that the middle class left respect the autonomy of grassroots movements.

The AEC was a founding member of the Poor People's Alliance and, along with the other members of the alliance, refused all electoral politics and encouraged the development of popular power rather than voting for political parties.[12][15][16][17]

The AEC mobilised against the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the areas where it was strong.[18][19][20]

The AEC opposed evictions related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup.[21]

Communities edit

The AEC is currently an umbrella body for over 10 community organisations,[22] crisis committees, and concerned residents movements who have come together to organise and demand their rights to basic services.[23] The organisations that make up the AEC include but are not limited to:

Affiliated movements and committees in the Western Cape:

Coordinators edit

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is an umbrella structure with an executive committee of a chairperson, a vice chairperson, a secretary, a vice secretary, a treasurer, and five regional coordinators.[26][27]

Activities edit

The AEC opposes evictions and water and electricity cut-offs[28] on many different levels.[4] Activities range from legal actions that challenge the constitutionality of evictions,[29] to mass mobilisation and popular education initiatives, to organisation and capacity building programs.[8][12] The movement has also confronted local gangs and in July 2012 one of its leading activists, Soraya Nordien, was murdered following threats from gang members.[30]

Campaigns edit

Since its inception, the Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC) has called for an end to all evictions and cut-offs of basic services in the Western Cape.[4][31] In 2001, the AEC achieved a 6-month moratorium on all evictions in the Cape Town Unicity.[32][33] Even though the DA had declared the moratorium, illegal evictions continued.[34]

The movement strongly supported the struggle for the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers to resist forced removal to the notorious Blikkiesdorp transit camp and to demand access to decent housing.[35]

No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by autonomous grassroots movements to boycott elections and reject party politics and vote banking in South Africa. In 2009, the Poor People's Alliance voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land! No House! No Vote! Banner.[4][36][37]

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was connected to a large number of evictions in South Africa which many claimed were meant to 'beautify the city'.[38][39][40] The WC-AEC campaigned against all evictions caused by the event. The campaign's hotspots included the anti-gentrification issues in Gympie Street and other parts of Woodstock,[41][42] the national N2 Gateway housing project and its evictions in Joe Slovo and Delft,[43] Sea Point evictions, and evictions in Q-Town next to Athlone Stadium.

The movement is committed to opposing xenophobia and has been particularly active in this regard in Gugulethu[44] where it has set up a forum[45] for these issues to be discussed. According to both the media[46] and the local police[47] the forum has had considerable success in reducing xenophobic hostility. However the movement's anti-xenophobic work has cost it some popular support and resulted in an arson attack on one of the movement's leaders.[48]

The movement produces its own media.[49]

Poor People's Alliance edit

In September 2008 the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, together with Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Landless People's Movement and the Rural Network (Abahlali baseplasini) formed the Poor People's Alliance.[50][51] The poor people's alliance refused electoral politics under the banner 'No Land! No House! No Vote!'.[12][52] It has been reported that "Nearly 75% of South Africans aged 20-29 did not vote in the 2011 [local government] elections" and that "South Africans in that age group were more likely to have taken part in (sic) violent street protests against the local ANC than to have voted for the ruling party".[53]

Influence edit

Take Back the Land[54] in Miami and the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign[55][56][57][58] have both stated that their work is inspired by that of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. The Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign has used the slogan 'No House No Vote'.[59]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Manyi and Manuel – Why Apartheid Didn't Die, Leonard Gentle, All Africa, March 2011
  2. ^ The flames of Phaphamani, Pedro Tabensky, Leadership Magazine, 7 March 2011
  3. ^ Anti-eviction in South Africa, WarOnWant
  4. ^ a b c d e Fighting Foreclosure in South Africa , by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, The Nation Magazine
  5. ^ Building unity in diversity: Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Sophie Oldfield & Kristian Stokke, 2004, p.13
  6. ^ Re-launch of the Western Cape AEC focuses on a renewed coordinated fight against evictions, water cutoffs, electricity cutoffs and for decent housing for all!, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, 6 December 2010
  7. ^ What's the Deal With the Toyi-Toyi?, Lisa Nevitt, Cape Town Magazine, September 2010
  8. ^ a b On the Other Side of the Mountain, Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian, 23 December 2010
  9. ^ Housing battles in post-Apartheid South Africa: The Case of Mandela Park, Khayelitsha 24 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, by Martin Legassick, South African Labour Bulletin, 2003
  10. ^ South African Grassroots Movements Rebel Against NGO Authoritarianism, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Indymedia, 9 December 2007
  11. ^ Rethinking Public Participation from Below , by Richard Pithouse, Critical Dialogue, 2006
  12. ^ a b c d South Africa: A Revolution in Progress, Ceasefire, 9 January 2009
  13. ^ Building unity in diversity: Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Sophie Oldfield & Kristian Stokke, 2004
  14. ^ South African Grassroots Movements Rebel Against NGO Authoritarianism
  15. ^ See the article 'Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections' by Aziz Hartley, Cape Times, 5 January 2009
  16. ^ [1] 23 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Grassroots movements plan to boycott South African poll Ekklesia, 29 April 2009
  17. ^ The DA's battle to buddy up to the everyman, Osiame Molefe, The Daily Maverick, 2 July 2012
  18. ^ Deal aims to stop xenophobia, VOCFM, 19 August 2009
  19. ^ AEC and stakeholders in recent anti-xenophobia negotiations head to parliament today, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, 24 August 2009
  20. ^ Xenophobia still smoulders in Cape townships, Mandisi Majavu, Mail & Guardian, 19 June 2009
  21. ^ South Africans fight eviction for World Cup car park, Mohammed Allie. BBC News. 2 June 2010
  22. ^ a b c About Us: Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
  23. ^ Anti-eviction in South Africa
  24. ^ Cape Town Administration Violates the Rights of the Poor, Carmen Ludwig, All Africa, 27 October 2011
  25. ^ Jared Sacks (20 September 2018). "On Militancy, Self-reflection, and the Role of the Researcher". Politikon. 45 (3): 438–455. doi:10.1080/02589346.2018.1523349. S2CID 150093217.
  26. ^ Re-launch of the Western Cape AEC focuses on a renewed coordinated fight against evictions, water cutoffs, electricity cutoffs and for decent housing for all!, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, 6 December 2010
  27. ^ Contact List, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
  28. ^ Muller, Gustav (2019). "Restoring electricity use with the spoliation remedy: A critical comment on Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd v Masinda" (PDF). Pretoria Student Law Review. 13: 1–16.
  29. ^ Muller, Gustav (2015). "Evicting unlawful occupiers for health and safety reasons in post-apartheid South Africa". South African Law Journal. 132: 616–638.
  30. ^ Helen Zille's Hopeless Handling of Cape Gang Violence, Anna Majavu, SACSIS, 13 July 2012
  31. ^ "Stop Forced Removals & Evictions! Stop Privatisation!". Land Research Action Network.
  32. ^ Subjectivity, Politics and Neoliberalism in Post-apartheid Cape Town
  33. ^ "Fighting Foreclosure in South Africa". The Nation. United States.
  34. ^ "WESTERN CAPE ANTI-EVICTION COMMITTEE PRESS STATEMENT".
  35. ^ "Delft-Symphony Pavement Dwellers building a new world – one child at a time".
  36. ^ ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy". Mail and Guardian.
  37. ^ "Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections". Cape Times.
  38. ^ South Africa's poor complain of evictions as country prepares to host World Cup, Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post, 20 June 2010
  39. ^ . Bay State Banner. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010.
  40. ^ Le Monde Diplomatique
  41. ^ "Gympie Street evictions". BushRadio.
  42. ^ "This is not a game!".
  43. ^ "Call to demonstrate at constitutional court". Joe Slovo Task Team.
  44. ^ 'Xenophobia Still Smouldering' by Mandisi Majavu, IPS, 19 June 2009
  45. ^ Gugulethu, traders to hold follow-up meeting, Cape Times, 7 July 2009
  46. ^ 'Xenophobic tensions in Gugulethu calm down', Anna Majavu, The Sowetan, 5 June 2009
  47. ^ Independent Online, 'You could see the anger in their eyes', Caryn Dolley, 15 June 2009
  48. ^ Chance, K. (2010) The Work of violence:a timeline of armed attacks at Kennedy Road. School of Development Studies Research Report, 83, July 2010.
  49. ^ Social Movement Media in Post-Apartheid South Africa, by Wendy Willems,Encyclopaedia of Social Movement Media (Ed. John D. H. Downing, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 2011)
  50. ^ The Struggle for Land & Housing in Post-Apartheid South Africa by Toussaint Losier, Left Turn, January 2009
  51. ^ 'Participatory Society: Urban Space & Freedom', by Chris Spannos, Z-Net, 29 May 2009 6 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  52. ^ The alliance, and its position on electoral politics, is mentioned in the speech by S'bu Zikode at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415682.html
  53. ^ Deep Read: 'Born free' voters may not choose ANC, JON HERSKOVITZ, Mail & Guardian, 29 January 2013
  54. ^ Take Back the Land in South Africa
  55. ^ Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign
  56. ^ Fear and loathing in Obamaland, Niren Tolsi,Mail & Guardian, 23 December 2010
  57. ^ February "Rent Party" Fundraiser for Freedom, Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign
  58. ^ The Death and Life of Chicago By BEN AUSTEN, The New York Times, 29 May 2013
  59. ^ Chicago Communities Demand Eviction Moratorium 13 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, by MILES KAMPF-LASSIN, In these Times, 10 August 2012

Films and Books edit

  • Kleider, Alexander (Director) and Michel, Daniela (Director). (2009). When the Mountain Meets its Shadow [Documentary]. Germany: DOK-WERK film cooperative.
  • No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers (2011)
  • Tin Town – Documentary

External links edit

  • Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
  • Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Twitter page
  • Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Facebook Page
  • Oukloof forced removals in the Western Cape of South Africa – A community web site documenting the known history of the forced removal of the residents of Oukloof in the 1960s

October 27, 2023
western, cape, anti, eviction, campaign, racial, popular, movement, made, poor, oppressed, communities, cape, town, south, africa, formed, november, 2000, with, fighting, evictions, water, offs, poor, health, services, obtaining, free, electricity, securing, d. The Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign was a non racial 1 popular movement 2 made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town South Africa 3 4 It was formed in November 2000 5 with the aim of fighting evictions water cut offs and poor health services obtaining free electricity securing decent housing and opposing police brutality 6 7 8 9 Official logo of the Western Cape Anti Eviction CampaignThe movement was the first of the first generation of so called new social movements to spring up after the end of apartheid and was known for its direct action style militancy its refusal of all forms of vanguardism including NGO Non Governmental Organisations authoritarianism 4 10 11 12 The movement sought to retain its autonomy from NGOs 13 and publicly refused to work with some local NGOs 14 and insisted that the middle class left respect the autonomy of grassroots movements The AEC was a founding member of the Poor People s Alliance and along with the other members of the alliance refused all electoral politics and encouraged the development of popular power rather than voting for political parties 12 15 16 17 The AEC mobilised against the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the areas where it was strong 18 19 20 The AEC opposed evictions related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup 21 Contents 1 Communities 2 Coordinators 3 Activities 4 Campaigns 5 Poor People s Alliance 6 Influence 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Films and Books 10 External linksCommunities editThe AEC is currently an umbrella body for over 10 community organisations 22 crisis committees and concerned residents movements who have come together to organise and demand their rights to basic services 23 The organisations that make up the AEC include but are not limited to Tafelsig Mitchell s Plain Blikkiesdorp Informal Committee Delft 24 The Crossroads Anti Eviction Campaign Nyanga The Delft Integrated Network Delft The Eastridge Anti Eviction Campaign Mitchell s Plain The Gugulethu Anti Eviction Campaign Gugulethu The Hanover Park Anti Eviction Campaign Hanover Park The Mandela Park Backyarders Khayelitsha Newfields Village Community Representative Committee Hanover Park Nyanga East Anti Eviction Campaign Nyanga The Symphony Way Anti Eviction Campaign Delft The Woodridge Anti Eviction Campaign Mitchell s Plain Zille Raine Heights Parkwood 22 Affiliated movements and committees in the Western Cape QQ Section Concerned Residents Khayelitsha 25 Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape Sikhula Sonke Women Farmworkers Union Joe Slovo Liberative Residents Langa Hangberg Solution Seekers Association Hout Bay KTC Concerned Residents Movement Nyanga Mitchell s Plain Concerned Hawkers and Traders Association Mitchell s Plain Gugulethu Informal Traders Gugulethu Gatesville Informal Traders Association Athlone 22 Coordinators editThe Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign is an umbrella structure with an executive committee of a chairperson a vice chairperson a secretary a vice secretary a treasurer and five regional coordinators 26 27 Activities editThe AEC opposes evictions and water and electricity cut offs 28 on many different levels 4 Activities range from legal actions that challenge the constitutionality of evictions 29 to mass mobilisation and popular education initiatives to organisation and capacity building programs 8 12 The movement has also confronted local gangs and in July 2012 one of its leading activists Soraya Nordien was murdered following threats from gang members 30 Campaigns editSince its inception the Anti Eviction Campaign AEC has called for an end to all evictions and cut offs of basic services in the Western Cape 4 31 In 2001 the AEC achieved a 6 month moratorium on all evictions in the Cape Town Unicity 32 33 Even though the DA had declared the moratorium illegal evictions continued 34 The movement strongly supported the struggle for the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers to resist forced removal to the notorious Blikkiesdorp transit camp and to demand access to decent housing 35 No Land No House No Vote is the name of a campaign by autonomous grassroots movements to boycott elections and reject party politics and vote banking in South Africa In 2009 the Poor People s Alliance voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land No House No Vote Banner 4 36 37 The 2010 FIFA World Cup was connected to a large number of evictions in South Africa which many claimed were meant to beautify the city 38 39 40 The WC AEC campaigned against all evictions caused by the event The campaign s hotspots included the anti gentrification issues in Gympie Street and other parts of Woodstock 41 42 the national N2 Gateway housing project and its evictions in Joe Slovo and Delft 43 Sea Point evictions and evictions in Q Town next to Athlone Stadium The movement is committed to opposing xenophobia and has been particularly active in this regard in Gugulethu 44 where it has set up a forum 45 for these issues to be discussed According to both the media 46 and the local police 47 the forum has had considerable success in reducing xenophobic hostility However the movement s anti xenophobic work has cost it some popular support and resulted in an arson attack on one of the movement s leaders 48 The movement produces its own media 49 Poor People s Alliance editIn September 2008 the Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign together with Abahlali baseMjondolo the Landless People s Movement and the Rural Network Abahlali baseplasini formed the Poor People s Alliance 50 51 The poor people s alliance refused electoral politics under the banner No Land No House No Vote 12 52 It has been reported that Nearly 75 of South Africans aged 20 29 did not vote in the 2011 local government elections and that South Africans in that age group were more likely to have taken part in sic violent street protests against the local ANC than to have voted for the ruling party 53 Influence editTake Back the Land 54 in Miami and the Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign 55 56 57 58 have both stated that their work is inspired by that of the Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign The Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign has used the slogan No House No Vote 59 See also editAbahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in India EZLN in Mexico Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti Homeless Workers Movement in Brazil Movement for Justice en el Barrio in the United States of America USA Narmada Bachao Andolan in India Take Back the Land in the USANotes edit Manyi and Manuel Why Apartheid Didn t Die Leonard Gentle All Africa March 2011 The flames of Phaphamani Pedro Tabensky Leadership Magazine 7 March 2011 Anti eviction in South Africa WarOnWant a b c d e Fighting Foreclosure in South Africa by the Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign The Nation Magazine Building unity in diversity Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Sophie Oldfield amp Kristian Stokke 2004 p 13 Re launch of the Western Cape AEC focuses on a renewed coordinated fight against evictions water cutoffs electricity cutoffs and for decent housing for all Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign 6 December 2010 What s the Deal With the Toyi Toyi Lisa Nevitt Cape Town Magazine September 2010 a b On the Other Side of the Mountain Niren Tolsi Mail amp Guardian 23 December 2010 Housing battles in post Apartheid South Africa The Case of Mandela Park Khayelitsha Archived 24 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine by Martin Legassick South African Labour Bulletin 2003 South African Grassroots Movements Rebel Against NGO Authoritarianism Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Indymedia 9 December 2007 Rethinking Public Participation from Below by Richard Pithouse Critical Dialogue 2006 a b c d South Africa A Revolution in Progress Ceasefire 9 January 2009 Building unity in diversity Social movement activism in the Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Sophie Oldfield amp Kristian Stokke 2004 South African Grassroots Movements Rebel Against NGO Authoritarianism See the article Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections by Aziz Hartley Cape Times 5 January 2009 1 Archived 23 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Grassroots movements plan to boycott South African poll Ekklesia 29 April 2009 The DA s battle to buddy up to the everyman Osiame Molefe The Daily Maverick 2 July 2012 Deal aims to stop xenophobia VOCFM 19 August 2009 AEC and stakeholders in recent anti xenophobia negotiations head to parliament today Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign 24 August 2009 Xenophobia still smoulders in Cape townships Mandisi Majavu Mail amp Guardian 19 June 2009 South Africans fight eviction for World Cup car park Mohammed Allie BBC News 2 June 2010 a b c About Us Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Anti eviction in South Africa Cape Town Administration Violates the Rights of the Poor Carmen Ludwig All Africa 27 October 2011 Jared Sacks 20 September 2018 On Militancy Self reflection and the Role of the Researcher Politikon 45 3 438 455 doi 10 1080 02589346 2018 1523349 S2CID 150093217 Re launch of the Western Cape AEC focuses on a renewed coordinated fight against evictions water cutoffs electricity cutoffs and for decent housing for all Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign 6 December 2010 Contact List Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Muller Gustav 2019 Restoring electricity use with the spoliation remedy A critical comment on Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd v Masinda PDF Pretoria Student Law Review 13 1 16 Muller Gustav 2015 Evicting unlawful occupiers for health and safety reasons in post apartheid South Africa South African Law Journal 132 616 638 Helen Zille s Hopeless Handling of Cape Gang Violence Anna Majavu SACSIS 13 July 2012 Stop Forced Removals amp Evictions Stop Privatisation Land Research Action Network Subjectivity Politics and Neoliberalism in Post apartheid Cape Town Fighting Foreclosure in South Africa The Nation United States WESTERN CAPE ANTI EVICTION COMMITTEE PRESS STATEMENT Delft Symphony Pavement Dwellers building a new world one child at a time No Vote Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy Mail and Guardian Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections Cape Times South Africa s poor complain of evictions as country prepares to host World Cup Sudarsan Raghavan The Washington Post 20 June 2010 In South Africa evicted residents struggle Bay State Banner Archived from the original on 13 September 2010 Le Monde Diplomatique Gympie Street evictions BushRadio This is not a game Call to demonstrate at constitutional court Joe Slovo Task Team Xenophobia Still Smouldering by Mandisi Majavu IPS 19 June 2009 Gugulethu traders to hold follow up meeting Cape Times 7 July 2009 Xenophobic tensions in Gugulethu calm down Anna Majavu The Sowetan 5 June 2009 Independent Online You could see the anger in their eyes Caryn Dolley 15 June 2009 Chance K 2010 The Work of violence a timeline of armed attacks at Kennedy Road School of Development Studies Research Report 83 July 2010 Social Movement Media in Post Apartheid South Africa by Wendy Willems Encyclopaedia of Social Movement Media Ed John D H Downing Southern Illinois University Carbondale 2011 The Struggle for Land amp Housing in Post Apartheid South Africa by Toussaint Losier Left Turn January 2009 Participatory Society Urban Space amp Freedom by Chris Spannos Z Net 29 May 2009 Archived 6 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine The alliance and its position on electoral politics is mentioned in the speech by S bu Zikode at http www indymedia org uk en 2008 12 415682 html Deep Read Born free voters may not choose ANC JON HERSKOVITZ Mail amp Guardian 29 January 2013 Take Back the Land in South Africa Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign Fear and loathing in Obamaland Niren Tolsi Mail amp Guardian 23 December 2010 February Rent Party Fundraiser for Freedom Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign The Death and Life of Chicago By BEN AUSTEN The New York Times 29 May 2013 Chicago Communities Demand Eviction Moratorium Archived 13 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine by MILES KAMPF LASSIN In these Times 10 August 2012Films and Books editKleider Alexander Director and Michel Daniela Director 2009 When the Mountain Meets its Shadow Documentary Germany DOK WERK film cooperative No Land No House No Vote Voices from Symphony Way by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers 2011 Tin Town DocumentaryExternal links editWestern Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Twitter page Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign Facebook Page Khayelitsha Struggles Oukloof forced removals in the Western Cape of South Africa A community web site documenting the known history of the forced removal of the residents of Oukloof in the 1960s Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign amp oldid 1181347766, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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