Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 7: The question of the futureon offer, then there is nothing but scavenging scraps from the world’s overflowingrubbish dumps. Yet the numbers of those made destitute through the enclosures andexternalities of accumulation by dispossession grows every day while the potential forexpanded reproduction within industrial capitalism shrinks and is now collapsing.Excluding people from decisions is the pre-condition for externalising costs ontothem or enclosing their resources. At Sasolburg, the waste pickers’ labour itself wasenclosed along with the recyclable materials from the dump and their exclusion fromthe decision making process was necessary for that end. Abahlali baseMjondolo insiststhat recognition is the first priority of their struggle. This is a refusal of exclusionand the necessary point of departure for the struggle for environmental justice. It isnon-negotiable. Those who deny people’s right to speak for themselves as equals withwhomsoever claim power over them and this power finally rests on violence. WithAbahlali’s refusal of exclusion, that violence was made explicit.The first world conference of waste pickers was held in Bogota, Columbia, in March2008. Delegates came from 34 countries where waste pickers are getting organised– most from Latin America, where organisation is strongest, and Asia and with asmall group of delegates from Africa where, for the most part, organising is barelystarted. Chris Bonner of WIEGO 105 , who helped organise the conference, notes thatthe politics and agendas of the different waste picker organisations are very diverse.But the conference declaration highlights their common commitment to “the socialand economic inclusion of waste pickers in solid waste management systems and topromote and strengthen their organisations” [quoted in Bonner 2008: 9]. Delegatesnoted that, in most Southern countries, recycling is the province of waste pickers buttheir contribution is generally not recognised and their livelihoods are everywhereunder threat of enclosure as municipalities privatise waste services through contractswith large corporations.105 Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising.- 182 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation