28.08.2002

March attacked

On Saturday August 24 South African police attacked the 'Freedom of expression' march in Johannesburg, organised jointly by the Social Movements Indaba (SMI) and the International Forum on Globalisation. At least three marchers were injured and a prominent South African filmmaker, Rehad Desai, arrested. The march was intended as a public statement of protest against the South African government's increasingly brutal repression of those who would dare voice dissent against the corporate agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and government policies that are wreaking such devastation on the poor. Armed with candles, the several hundred marchers from all over South Africa and from various corners of the globe were proceeding from Wits University (in Braamfontein) to the Johannesburg central prison (John Vorster Square), when the police, without warning, attacked them with concussion grenades. In the ensuing melee, a Canadian activist, Karen Coge, was hit by one of the grenades and had to be rushed to hospital, suffering from serious burns. Anti-Privatisation member Dudu Mphenyeke was also taken to hospital with a dislocated knee and at least one other marcher was injured. Several children who had joined the peaceful march were left in a state of trauma. Desai, who was filming the march, was arrested for "obstructing police operations" and hauled off to Hillbrow police station, where he was charged and released on 1,000 rands (£65) bail. Several internationally renowned anti-globalisation activists and intellectuals, including Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, Naomi Klein, Tony Clarke and John Saul, were caught up in the police attack. After the attack, marchers regrouped in the street and faced off against a small army of heavily armed and aggressive police. March leaders attempted to reason with the police to allow the march to proceed, to no avail. The police responded by indicating that they were prepared to forcibly arrest everyone. After a spirited street rally, marchers peacefully dispersed. The events are only further confirmation of the ever narrowing space in the 'new' South Africa for the exercise of the basic constitutional and human rights to freedom of expression and assembly. If not before, it should now be crystal clear that the South African government is hell-bent on smashing legitimate dissent by whatever means they deem appropriate, including attacking peaceful marchers and terrorising children. The ghosts of the South African past are returning with a vengeance. The SMI says again - the South African government is making a serious mistake if it believes that it can bludgeon into submission those who seek to expose the W$$D for the fraud that it is and who oppose government policies against the poor. The freedoms that so many South Africans fought so long for will not be given up because of the arrogance and authoritarianism of a new set of elites. It is time for all those who support such freedoms to stand up and be counted. Silence is the voice of complicity. Dale McKinley