(Interesting review of Patrick Bond's books by Gerald Horne, who writes for Political Affairs, a magazine that used to be the CPUSA's official theoreticial journal. In a communication to the swans mailing list, Joel Wendland advised us that the magazine is now independent. However, I would suggest that it is independent in the same sense that Against the Current is independent of Solidarity. Horne makes the argument that Mbeki would push through a more fundamental socio-economic program if his hands were not tied by a domestic opposition--ostensibly the Afrikaner ruling class--that still retains control of the "commanding heights of the economy". Odd that Horne would fail to mention that the ANC itself has been working overtime to get its share of the pie itself. I suspect that the explosion of ANC millionaires has much more to do with its tilt toward neoliberalism than pressure from the white ruling class.)
Patrick Bond. South Africa and Global Apartheid: Continental and International Policies and Politics. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2004. 45 pp. Index. No price listed (paper), ISBN 91-7106-523-7.
Patrick Bond. Against Global Apartheid: South Africa Meets the World Bank, IMF and International Finance. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2003. xxix + 326 pp. Illustrations, notes, charts, index. No price listed (paper), ISBN 1-91-971382-4.
Reviewed by: Gerald Horne, Department of History, University of Houston. Published by: H-SAfrica (September, 2004)
Patrick Bond of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg has developed a reputation as one of the more trenchant critics both of governments in Southern Africa--especially the African National Congress (ANC)-led regime in Pretoria and the ZANU-PF administration in Harare--and of international financial agencies, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). In these works, he combines his two interests in a sweeping critique cum condemnation of both these regimes, along with these international agencies. The author is understandably upset with the difficulty that Southern African regimes have had in resisting the dictates and mandates of the IMF and World Bank.
His works are worth reading, but they contain a major flaw in that, despite his detailed critiques of these ruling parties and of Washington, similar consideration of the domestic opposition is conspicuously missing from his narratives, especially those on South Africa, which is disproportionately comprised of the affluent and conservative from the European minority. One would never know from his writings that not only do they continue to control the commanding heights of the economy in this region, but they also have at their disposal powerful political parties--for example the formation led by the conservative Tony Leon, whose only appearance in these pages comes when the author approvingly quotes him assailing ANC foreign policy. Thus, the naive reader could finish Bond's works believing that the problem in the region is that leaders are knaves--not that there is a powerful, obstructionist opposition with ties to the Washington that Bond so rightly despises.
At times, the author's irritation with the ANC, especially, seems to overcome his analysis. Thus, he cites President Thabo Mbeki's words, "the globalization of economy resulting among other things in rapid movements of huge volumes of capital across the globe, objectively also has the effect of limiting the possibility of states to take unilateral decisions" (Against Global Apartheid, p. viii). The author acknowledges the veracity of these words, but then proceeds to suggest that South Africa's economy would be radically different--but for the knavery of the ANC. He does this, though he writes subsequently, "virtually no single country has the reserves to withstand a co-ordinated attack by financial speculators" (p. 8). Yet his hostility to the ANC and Mbeki is such that when he and they make concrete proposals that all fair-minded observers would support--for example "rejuvenating the UN" by broadening the membership of the all-powerful Security Council--the author simply mentions this point then says a few paragraphs later that this potentially powerful demarche is "beyond my immediate scope to address" (p. 117). I suspect that one reason Mbeki has referred to Bond and his ilk as "ultraleft" is not necessarily because of his and their stiff opposition to many of their policies, but also because when Mbeki and the ANC come up with positive programs--such as reforming the UN--the author either ignores or dismisses the point, instead of helping to propel this initiative forward, which is indispensable for the future of international peace and security.
full: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=168061098689398
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