Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 1: Dust and Ashesinterlaced and, in extreme cases like <strong>the</strong> suburbs of Baghdad, <strong>the</strong> slums ofRio de Janeiro, or <strong>the</strong> shanty towns of Port-au-Prince, <strong>the</strong>y are subordinatedto military planning. [Zibechi 2007]In South Africa, Desai and Pithouse observe that <strong>the</strong> urban poor have found <strong>the</strong>mselves“under armed assault from <strong>the</strong> state” [2004: 2]. In Durban, “The police that do thiswork, are equipped and conduct <strong>the</strong>mselves like soldiers and are popularly knownin fear as amaSosha …” [Pithouse 2006: 8]. Elsewhere, <strong>the</strong> ‘red ants’ have come tosymbolise forced removals but are <strong>the</strong>mselves impoverished casual workers hired byfirms contracted by local government. Even removals are privatised. The objectives,observed in all South Africa’s cities, are to exclude <strong>the</strong> poor from <strong>the</strong> centres where <strong>the</strong>cities hope to sell <strong>the</strong>mselves to foreign investors and to discipline <strong>the</strong>ir consumptionof essentials. The scale of confrontation is escalating. In 2007, 10,000 protests wereofficially registered.The people so excluded have been made <strong>the</strong> waste of <strong>the</strong> global economic system asshown by <strong>the</strong> repeated use of <strong>the</strong> metaphor of cleansing to justify <strong>the</strong> removals ofstreet traders and poor residents. Robert Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe made<strong>the</strong> political stakes clear when it named its assault on people’s livelihoods and dwellingplaces Operation Murambatsvina. This was given <strong>the</strong> English title of ‘Operation RestoreOrder’ but was also known as ‘drive out <strong>the</strong> rubbish’. The Zimbabwean governmentwas widely condemned for <strong>the</strong> action, including by such institutions as <strong>the</strong> WorldBank. Yet this institution itself has been widely associated with similar operationsjustified in <strong>the</strong> more moderate language of globally sanctioned development.People who are seen as waste understand it very well. At Sasolburg, <strong>the</strong> people whopick waste from <strong>the</strong> dump explain why <strong>the</strong> local council did not consult <strong>the</strong>m whenit handed out a recycling contract to a private company: “They say you are just peoplefrom <strong>the</strong> dumpsite. You are just scrap” [see Chapter 6]. This is echoed by casualisedworkers in Johannesburg’s waste system. In 2002, <strong>the</strong>y told researcher Melanie Samson,“You are like <strong>the</strong> thing, which is inside that dustbin. You are just stupid.” [2004: 1].The Kennedy Road settlement in Durban is located next to <strong>the</strong> city’s Bisasar Roaddump. The people <strong>the</strong>re initiated <strong>the</strong> formation of Durban’s shack dwellers’ movement,Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), whose central demand is that <strong>the</strong>y should be addressedas equals, capable of expressing <strong>the</strong>ir own will, and should take <strong>the</strong> central role indeciding <strong>the</strong>ir own future. They make <strong>the</strong> point that <strong>the</strong>y are seen as “stupid, dirty,- 20 - groundWork - <strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong>