Anarchism in Central & Southern Africa

In the early twentieth century, there were anarchist and revolutionary syndicalist groups in South Africa and Mozambique. The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (ICU), which operated in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, was also partly influenced by revolutionary syndicalism.

The new anarchist movement in the region began to develop in the 1990s in South Africa. One of the first new groups was the Anarchist Revolutionary Movement (ARM), which was replaced in 1995 by the Workers Solidarity Federation (WSF).

In 1997, comrades from the WSF made links with anarchists in Zambia, and helped establish a Zambian WSF. However, contact was lost and the current status of the Zambian comrades is unclear. The WSF also distributed materials in Zimbabwe and had contact in Tanzania. We'd love any new information about groups in these countries.

The Australian anarcho-syndicalist magazine Organise reports that the XX1 IWA congress in December 2000 was told an organisation was emerging in the Republic of Congo. Portuguese anarchists also report contacts with sympathisers in Angola, but we lack further information.

Despite the difficulties in maintaining contact in the region, we do have several articles written by anarchists, analysing the political developments in the region, especially from the pages of Workers Solidarity, the magazine of the now-dissolved WSF. The new South African anarchist paper, Zabalaza, co-produced by the Bikisha Media Collective and Zabalaza Books, also contains useful material, and has an explicit focus on the region.

• ZIMBABWE - Land Invasions and lessons for the working class

  THE so-called "debate" over the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe over the past year has generated more heat than light. The main reason why this is so is because it completely excludes the voice of the Zimbabwean working class. Zabalaza Magazine - issue 1 April 2001

• Reading by Paraffin: Cracks in the Zimbabwean Mirror

  Article explaining the background to the Zimbabwean land crisis - April 2000

• Zimbabwe unions to launch workers party

  An anarchist analysis of the plan by the ZCTU to launch a political party (MDC).
  Workers Solidarity Magazine - May 1999

• Zimbabwe: "This is Class War"

  As we go to press, riots have broken out in Zimbabwe
  Workers Solidarity Magazine - Winter 1998

• Mass revolt in Zimbabwe

  Mass action has shaken the ruling class headed by Robert Mugabe. The general strike of 9 December 1997, called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) paralysed the country. Workers Solidarity Magazine - Spring 1998

• Workers on the move in Zimbabwe

  1996 saw the most heated class battles in the Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
  Workers Solidarity Magazine - January 1997

• Lessons of the Zimbabwe Liberation War

  An article from the magazine of the South African Anarchist Revolutionary Movement - 1994

• The ANC and the South African White Right in Mozambique

  The Mosagrius agreement between President Nelson Mandela and Mozambique's President Joaquin Chissano has opened the door for the white right to exploit Mozambican peasants
  Workers Solidarity Magazine - Spring 1998

• Zambia : "Democratic" politicians get fat as bosses starve the workers

  86 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the country appears to be near collapse
  Workers Solidarity Magazine - Winter 1998

• The recolonisation of Africa and the future of the left

  Class struggle without borders. A talk given by a comrade of the WSF at the University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia - August 1998

• Zambian workers and poor under attack

  In Zambia, the working class is being brutally attacked by the twin forces of capitalism and imperialism. Wages are falling, education and health are being cut back, food prices are increasing, and at least 100,000 jobs have been lost in the 1990s Workers Solidarity Magazine - Spring 1998

• 1992: New World Order in Africa

  US imperialists setting themselves up in Botswana and Zambia, from the short lived South African Magazine Revolt - 1992

Personal Accounts

• Cameroon, Cameroun, Kamerun

  Account of a trip through Cameroon, from the South West, to Douala and Yaounde and into the Southern forests. From An Irish Anarchist in Africa - July 2000

• CAR - You see how we suffer

  Account of a trip from Yokadouma in Cameroon, to Bangui the capital of the CAR. From An Irish Anarchist in Africa - July 2000

• Bangui - Capital of misery

  A description of the social and economic situation in the capital of the Central African Republic, includes a brief piece on the war in DRC. From An Irish Anarchist in Africa - July 2000