Issue 12, Vol 10: 31 May 2013 In this issue:
91st & 10th Anniversary of uFasimba 91st & 10th Anniversary of uFasimba By OJ Fourie The 25th of May 2013 marked the 91st anniversary of the YCLSA, this year also marks the 10th anniversary since the re-launch of the YCLSA. With a decade behind us, since the re-launch of the YCLSA as we know it, the YCLSA has been able to fully establish itself and mature as an organisation that has a national footprint in all provinces and districts. During the past 10 years a solid foundation has been laid to ensure further growth of the YCLSA as a progressive youth movement and for the work that must be done in the 2nd decade that lies ahead. The next 10 years will be providing the YCLSA with new opportunities; opportunities to effect genuine youth development for the poor and working class youth. For example: The YCLSA after 10 years finds itself in an ideal position to influence and direct the Youth Development Agency of government; also the YCLSA finds itself in a position to rejuvenate our ANCYL. One of the keys to have success in the opportunities that will present itself to the YCLSA is for our cadres to have unwavering commitment to the work of the movement. Commitment, of our members, is critical to ensure that we achieve socialism in our lifetime. If the previous generations of cadres were committed as we are committed today; would they have defeated the apartheid regime? Previous generations of cadres were prepared to sacrifice their careers, families and their lives for the revolution. What are we prepared to sacrifice? How deep is our commitment? Sometimes we are not even prepared to sacrifice time to attend a meeting or a programme. What will the future hold if we are not committed to the revolution? Commitment to the revolution is essential in order to defeat poverty, unemployment and inequality. Our commitment must equal and even exceed the commitment showed by the previous generation of cadres. We must create our own history - how will we be remembered come the end of the 2nd decade since the re-launch of the YCLSA? For what will we be remembered? We must be remembered for having taken the YCLSA from strength to strength during the 2nd decade since the re-launch. The following two key sites of struggle will be critical during the next 10 years for the advancement of the revolution: 1. State Power & 2. Battle of Ideas. 1. State Power: Chapter 5 of the South African Road to Socialism deals with "The SACP and State Power". YCLers who are working and deployed to government must make sure that we have a government that works for the people. We must be the first ones to get to the office and the last ones to leave the office. Government is a key site of struggle. Government is a massive machine that has the resources to ensure services are rendered to the people, especially to the poor and the working class. Government also puts into effect policies that have major consequences on society, for example GEAR. The National Development Plan (NDP) is also such an example. Noting the devastating effects of GEAR it is understandable the amount of interest that the NDP has attracted within the alliance, the media and the public at large. We cannot go again the route of GEAR. When a citizen goes to the voting booth, the citizen will decide for which political party to vote. Most citizens' decision is swayed by the quality of services or lack of services that are rendered by the government which will cause them to vote for the party in power or to vote for a party in opposition. In other words, a citizen sees the government as equal to the ruling party. The ineffectiveness of the government to render basic services to communities will result in the electorate voting for the opposition. Therefore we need to ensure that we have a very capable, strong, progressive government in place to ensure the effective and efficient service delivery of government. Government = public service ≠ self-gain! 2. Battle of Ideas: Chapter 9 of the South African Road to Socialism deals with "The Battle of Ideas". I quote the following from chapter 9: "The SACP must build on its long history of progressive publications, and train and develop a cadre to contribute to internal party publications. In additional to our national publications, we should encourage the production of branch and district newsletters dealing with local issues and as means for communist propaganda in the various localities". We must not underestimate the effect that the media has on the public and how the media is effectively used to indoctrinate the public by the imperialists who own the media houses. People's opinions on issues/topics are formed by what they read and see in the media. Unfortunately people are not reading objectively as what they are supposed to, and therefore their opinions are formed by the media. In other words when you read something in the media you accept it as truth because you don't have something to compare it to in order to establish whether it is truth or error. That is how the ruling class ensure that their ideologies are engrained into the masses. In the same manner we must also influence the public with our ideologies. It is our responsibility to ensure that we inform the public of a better way of life than what capitalism can offer. We must always be ready to battle for the revolution on any terrain of struggle whether it is in government, the economy, the work place, the community or the media. The lives of future generations depend on what we do today. Viva the Revolution, Viva! Forward to the next 10 years, forward! OJ Fourie is an YCLSA National Committee Member Sent from my iPhone -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. 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