“Now I am brave”

Oscar Olivera – an unassuming but forceful protagonist in the fight against water privatization in Cochabamba, Bolivia – spoke to a packed audience of 300 community activists, unionists, NGO-types and academics in Johannesburg two weeks ago as part of the Municipal Services Project’s “Services For All?” conference (see www.queensu.ca/msp for details).

Weaving between critiques of international capital and the daily grind of poverty, Olivera delivered a talk that was at once universal and personal. With his own political odyssey wrapped in the particular struggles of the Bolivian highlands he has transcended these boundaries and made links with the international struggle against neoliberalism.

His dynamism was clearly contagious. One elderly community representative from a township in the Johannesburg area stood up after the talk to announce: “Now that I have heard Oscar, I am brave. I too will fight the multinational corporations”.

Not that South Africans need much incitement in this regard. The anti-neoliberal movement is very much alive and growing in the country, with Anti-Privization Forum organizations popping up throughout South Africa. There are also teams of people “illegally” reconnecting water and electricity to tens of thousands of low-income households that have had their supplies cut off due to the fact that they are too poor to pay.

What the quote about “being brave” does exemplify is the growing internationalization of the anti-privatization movement in South Africa and the potential for these international movements to support and reinforce one another.

Other international guests at the conference made these same links. Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow from Canada. Colin Leys from the UK. Njoki Njehu from the USA. Medha Patkar from India. And many more. All brought the international struggles to South Africa and made it real to conference delegates.

But in the end it was the South African experiences with cost recovery and privatization of services such as water and electricity that made up the bulk of the conference presentations and discussion. In this regard the conference was a rich and penetrating overview of the state of the privatization debate, with heaps of analysis from NGO workers, community activists and academics alike.

In fact, it was this blend of conference delegates that made it the success that it was. With protest songs and dance an integral part of every plenary session there was an energy and “vibe” seldom found at research-oriented conferences. Detailed critiques of tariff structures mixed with emotional narratives of forced removals from houses made for a potent mix of discussion. And lots of discussion there was, with questions and comments pushing every session well into overtime and into the wee hours of the night.

In this respect the conference was something of a watershed in post-apartheid South Africa, bringing together a diverse range of people into a common front against neoliberalism. The honeymoon is clearly over for the ANC in South Africa, with tough questions being asked from a wide range of participants about the party’s past and future plans on service provision. For three days the false divisions of intellectual labour fell away as elderly activists with little formal education, NGO-types and academics all dove into the hard work of understanding the juggernaut of international capitalism.

Fun was had as well. There was a three-part film festival bringing together the best of independent documentaries in the region, as well as a cultural festival in Soweto on the closing afternoon. In preparation for the latter, children had been given cameras to take photos of “municipal services” in the township, with backed-up toilets, broken sewerage lines and faulty wiring being common subjects. There were poetry workshops and performances as well as dance and music – all on the themes of municipal services.

It was an electric conference (in every sense of the word!) and will hopefully contribute to the vibrant and fast-growing “new left” in South Africa and the region.

David McDonald
Co-Director, Municipal Services Project