----- Original Message ----- From: "Louis Proyect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Horne on moi: > 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.
Yeah, there's a division of labour, so I don't feel bad about that crit (Gerald was reviewing just some internationalist writings). Actually, I did three obscure books devoted specifically to the problem of local class apartheid, including attacks on local white capital (Elite Transition, 2nd edn 2005 from Pluto; Unsustainable South Africa, 2002 from Merlin; and Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal, 2000 from Africa World Press). All emphasise agency and name the names, but within a marxian framework of structural crisis. You know, there are so many fantastic works on South Africa just these last four years or so, explicitly contradicting Horne's assumptions of a liberation-oriented government. Here are the ones I usually cite: Legassick, M. (forthcoming), Towards Socialist Democracy, Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press; Saul, J. (forthcoming), The Next Liberation Struggle, New York, Monthly Review Press, London, Merlin Press, Halifax, Fernwood Press, and Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press; Seepe, S. (2004), Speaking Truth to Power, Johannesburg, Vista University Press; Bramble, T. and F.Barchiesi (Eds)(2003), Rethinking the Labour Movement in the 'New South Africa, Ashgate, Aldershot; Kimani, S. (Ed)(2003), The Right to Dissent, Johannesburg, Freedom of Expression Institute; Alexander, N. (2002), An Ordinary Country, Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press; Jacobs, S. and R.Calland (Eds)(2002), Thabo Mbeki's World, London, Zed Books and Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press; Hart, G. (2002), Disabling Globalisation, Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press and Berkeley, University of California Press; Desai, A. (2002), We are the Poors, New York, Monthly Review Press; McDonald D. and J.Pape (Eds)(2002), Cost Recovery and the Crisis of Service Delivery in South Africa, London, Zed Books and Pretoria, HSRC Publications; Duncan, J. (2002), Broadcasting and the National Question, Johannesburg, Freedom of Expression Institute; Bell, T. and D.Ntsebeza (2001), Unfinished Business, London, Verso and Cape Town, RedWorks; Adams, S. (2001), Comrade Minister, New York, Nova Science Publishers; and a second edition of the finest overview of the early transition, namely, Marais, H. (2000), South Africa Limits to Change, London, Zed Books and Cape Town, University of Cape Town Press. See also the important 2001-03 debates between John Saul and SACP intellectuals Jeremy Cronin and Raymond Suttner in the pages of Monthly Review magazine (http://www.monthlyreview.org), and June-July 2004 debates in the Mail & Guardian (http://www.mg.co.za) over whether the independent left is sufficiently rigorous. My favourite websites where you can check out this information on a more frequent basis are: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs (which is my new base as of three weeks ago), http://southafrica.indymedia.org, http://ww.red.org.za and http://www.aidc.org.za. Cheers, Patrick
