Satgar Vishwas - Racism After Apartheid

Vishwas Satgar

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Firoze Manji

Ran Greenstein

Fabian Georgi

Aditya Nigam

Nivedita Menon

Peter Hudson

Khwezi Mabasa

Vishwas Satgar

Sharon S. Ekambaram

Challenges for Marxism
and Anti-Racism

Edited by Vishwas Satgar

Series Editor: Vishwas Satgar

The crisis of Marxism in the late twentieth century was the crisis of orthodox and vanguardist Marxism associated mainly with hierarchical communist parties, and imposed, even as state ideology, as the correct Marxism. The Stalinisation of the Soviet Union and its eventual collapse exposed the inherent weaknesses and authoritarian mould of vanguardist Marxism. More fundamentally, vanguardist Marxism was rendered obsolete but for its residual existence in a few parts of the world, as well as within authoritarian national liberation movements in Africa and in China.

With the deepening crises of capitalism, a new democratic Marxism (or democratic historical materialism) is coming to the fore. Such a democratic Marxism is characterised in the following ways:

• Its sources span non-vanguardist grassroots movements, unions, political fronts, mass parties, radical intellectuals, transnational activist networks and parts of the progressive academy;
• It seeks to ensure that the inherent categories of Marxism are theorised within constantly changing historical conditions to find meaning;
• Marxism is understood as a body of social thought that is unfinished and hence challenged by the need to explain the dynamics of a globalising capitalism and the futures of social change;
• It is open to other forms of anti-capitalist thought and practice, including currents within radical ecology, feminism, emancipatory utopianism and indigenous thought;
• It does not seek to be a monolithic and singular school of thought but engenders contending perspectives;
• Democracy, as part of the heritage of peoples struggles, is understood as the basis for articulating alternatives to capitalism and as the primary means for constituting a transformative subject of historical change.

This series seeks to elaborate the social theorising and politics of democratic Marxism.

Published in the series and available:

Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar (eds). 2013. Marxisms in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle.. : Johannesburg:Wits University Press.

Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2015. Capitalisms Crises: Class Struggles in South Africa and the World.. : Johannesburg:Wits University Press.

Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2018. The Climate Crisis: South African and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Alternatives.. : Johannesburg:Wits University Press.

Published in South Africa by:

Wits University Press

1 Jan Smuts Avenue

Johannesburg, 2001

www.witspress.co.za

Compilation Vishwas Satgar 2019

Chapters Individual contributors 2019

Published edition Wits University Press 2019

First published 2019

http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/22019033061

978-1-77614-306-1 (Paperback)

978-1-77614-307-8 (Web PDF)

978-1-77614-308-5 (EPUB)

978-1-77614-309-2 (Mobi)

978-1-77614-359-7 (Open Access PDF)

978-1-77614-463-1 (Hardback)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.

This book is freely available through the OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The publication of this volume was made possible by funding from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and through a grant received from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Project manager: Inga Norenius

Copyeditor: Sally Hines

Proofreader: Inga Norenius

Indexer: Margaret Ramsay

Cover design: Hothouse, South Africa

Typesetter: MPS

Typeset in 10 point Minion Pro

T his volume owes a special debt to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Without that support it would have been impossible to hold a contributors workshop in South Africa and to ensure the manuscript was completed for publication. The use of the conference venue at their office provided a conducive space for engagement during the contributors workshop. We are also grateful for the support given by the Co-operative and Policy Centre (COPAC), which played a central role in organising the workshop and inviting contributors and activists from various social movements and community organisations. The support given by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences has enabled the open access publication of this volume. Moreover, it is important to acknowledge the editorial assistance provided by Jane Cherry from COPAC. Her efforts were crucial for keeping things on track. The input from Sunanda Mathis and Nadia Karodia, working with Jane Cherry, are also appreciated. Special thanks to Professor Michelle Williams for her supportive feedback during this project. Finally, our sincerest appreciation to the team at Wits University Press, particularly Veronica Klipp, Roshan Cader and Corina van der Spoel, for supporting this volume and the Democratic Marxism series.