| Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Collective leadership |
| Founded | 1 May 2003 (as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation) |
| Headquarters | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Ideology | Anarchist communism, platformism, especifismo |
| Political position | Far left |
| International affiliation | Anarkismo |
| Official colours | Red, Black |
| Website | |
| Zabalaza.net | |
| Politics of South Africa Political parties Elections |
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The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF, also known as ZabFront or simply as Zabalaza), formerly known as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZabFed), is a specifically anarchist political organisation in South Africa based primarily in Johannesburg. The word "Zabalaza" means "struggle" in isiZulu and isiXhosa. Although when known as ZabFed it had been a federation of collectives, it is now a unitary organisation and describes itself as a "federation of individuals" whereby membership is on an individual basis only. The ZACF is inspired by the The Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft), by the Dielo Truda group, but does not accept the document uncritically. ZACF members are expected to be committed, convinced anarchist communist militants who must be in general agreement with the platformist principles of theoretical and tactical unity, collective responsibility, and federalism. Its activities include study and theoretical development, anarchist agitation and participation in class struggle activism.[1]
As a platformist, especifista organisation, the ZACF subscribes the the idea of an "active minority". This means that the ZACF, unlike anarcho-syndicalist organisations, does not seek to build a mass anarchist movement; nor does it seek to turn existing social movements into anarchist movements. Rather, in the tradition of social insertion championed by FARJ (Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro, or the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro), the ZACF seeks to work within existing movements in order to fight for the "leadership of anarchist ideas" and the implementation of anarchist principles within such movements. This is because the ZACF holds that the strength of trade unions, social movements and other organisations of the working class lies in their ability to unite the greatest number of workers regardless of their political, religious or ideological affiliations.[1]
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| Anarcho-Communism |
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Concepts
Anti-authoritarianism · Anti-capitalism · Anti-statism · Proletarian internationalism · Class consciousness
Class struggle · Classless society · Common ownership · Commons · Commune · Consensus democracy · Co-operative economics · Direct democracy · Egalitarian community · Free association · Free store · From each according to his ability, to each according to his need · Mass strike · Gift economy · Market abolitionism · Mutual aid · Prefigurative politics · Primitive communism · Stateless communism · Stateless society · Workers control · Workers cooperative · Workers council · Wage slavery |
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Organizational forms
Insurrectionary anarchism · Platformism · anarcho-communists also have participated in Synthesis federations
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The ZACF is the latest in a line of anarchist organisations stretching back to the 1990s; from which it has inherited many members. Following the destruction of the syndicalist Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (ICU) in the 1930s,[2][3] anarchism only began to re-emerge as a movement in South Africa with small anarchist collectives, established primarily in Durban and Johannesburg, in the 1990s. In 1993, the Anarchist Revolutionary Movement (ARM) was established in Johannesburg. In 1995, a larger movement, the Workers' Solidarity Federation (WSF), replaced ARM. The WSF incorporated a Durban-based collective which published the journal Freedom; it also produced its own journal entitled Workers' Solidarity. The WSF was plaformist, and focused mainly on work within Black working class and student struggles. It established links with anarchist individuals and small anarchist collectives in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia; and helped to establish a short-lived Zambian WSF. In 1999, for a range of reasons, the WSF dissolved. It was succeeded by two anarchist collectives: the Bikisha Media Collective and Zabalaza Books. These two groups co-produced Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism,[4] which has since become the journal of the ZACF.[5]
On May Day in 2003, the ZACF was formed; initially as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation. The ZACF has since become heavily involved in the so-called "new social movements" which have formed in South Africa in response to the perceived failures of the African National Congress government post-apartheid.[1] The ZACF has been involved in the campaigns of the Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Landless People's Movement. It has also been involved in solidarity work with Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.[6] Following the formation of the Democratic Left Front (DLF) in 2011, the ZACF has become a member organisation of the DLF, although it is critical of the mostly middle-class composition of the DLF's leadership, and of the electoral ambitions of some DLF affiliated organisations.[7]
The ZACF, at the time still known as ZabFed, was involved in the International Libertarian Solidarity (ILS) network.[8] Prior to the founding of the ZACF, the Bikisha Media Collective and Zabalaza Books had also been members of the ILS.[9] Following the disbanding of the ILS, the ZACF became part of its successor, the Anarkismo network.[10]
As such, the ZACF has close links to the member organisations of the Anarkismo network; particularly with the Workers' Solidarity Movement (WSM) in Ireland, Common Struggle — Libertarian Communist Federation (formerly NEFAC) in the United States, the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ) in Brazil, the Federation of Anarchist Communists (FdCA) in Italy, the Confederación General del Trabajo in Spain and Alternative Libertaire (AL) in France. It has also had intermittent contact with the Awareness League in Nigeria and with numerous smaller anarchist collectives in Africa.[11][12]
The ZACF publishes Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism. This journal is the organisation's theoretical journal and contains ideological and analytical articles aimed to benefit the anarchist communist movement in general, as well as in South Africa. Additionally, it publicises and promotes the official line of the ZACF as determined by the organisation's membership. The ZACF's other major publication is the Zabalaza.net website, the official website of the organisation.[5]
Zabalaza Books is an anarchist publishing project linked to the ZACF. It is an anarchist literature mail order project that publishes and distributes classic and contemporary anarchist books, pamphlets, music, and videos in the southern African region. It originated as underground collective in the 1990s at the end of apartheid. The topics covered include: anarchism, revolutionary unionism (anarcho-syndicalism), women's liberation, revolutionary history and many others. It distributes much of the literature in a PDF format on its website.[13]
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