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From The Socialist newspaper, 29 August 2012
Notting Hill carnival-goers support Lonmin miners
Socialist Party members joined thousands of Londoners at the Notting Hill carnival on Bank Holiday Monday, campaigning for solidarity with South African Lonmin mineworkers.
The excitement of the carnival didn't prevent a steady flow of people, particularly from Caribbean and southern African countries, from approaching the stall.
Clearly the memory of the anti-apartheid struggle and the role the miners played in that period still resonates with people who became politically aware in the 70s and 80s. Many people we spoke to on the stall were quick to point out the similarities between the behaviour of the old regime towards workers' struggle and the massacre at the Lonmin mine where at least 34 miners were shot by police.
Two South African workers described how little the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa since 1994, had done to change the day-to-day lives for the majority of people there.
Although some people we discussed with saw the struggle as a battle between white mine owners and black workers, other carnival goers were well aware of ex-trade union leaders and ANC apparatchiks being on the board of the mine company.
There was wide support for the Socialist Party's call to nationalise the mines and use the enormous mineral wealth of the country to raise the living standards for South African workers.
Neil Cafferky
- See www.socialistworld.net for more on the Lonmin dispute
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In The Socialist 29 August 2012:
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Paralympics, Atos scandal, Remploy closures... Con-Dems win gold for hypocrisy!
Build for a 24-hour general strike!
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Socialist Party workplace news
Building workers fight pay cut threat
Sparks protest at London Crown House site
Local government pension scheme
Sheffield recycling workers to resume strike action
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Lobby the TUC for a 24-hour general strike
East Midlands: Save our ambulance service
NHS: Unions must defend national pay bargaining
TUSC councillor rejects Walsall cuts 'consultation'
Prisons
Prison work - £3 a day is exploitation for profit
Women's prisons - Con-Dems' 'reforms' mean cuts and privatisation
International socialist news and analysis
Norway: Mass murderer Anders Breivik gets life sentence
Kazakhstan: Human rights campaigner Vadim Kuramshin freed
Reviews and comments
Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life
Fight council tax benefit cuts
The 'madness' of building homes
Socialist Party news
Notting Hill carnival-goers support Lonmin miners
Why I joined the Socialist Party
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