Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
Encyclopedia
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town
, South Africa
. It was formed in November 2000 with the aim of fighting eviction
s, water cut-offs and poor health services, obtaining free electricity, securing decent housing, and opposing police brutality
.
The movement is the oldest of the first generation of so-called 'new social movements' to spring up after the end of apartheid and is known for its direct action
style militancy, its refusal of all forms of vanguardism
, including NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations
) authoritarianism
. The movement has publicly refused to work with some local NGOs and insists that the middle class left respect the autonomy and internal democracy of grassroots movements.
The AEC is a founding member of the Poor People's Alliance
and, along with the other members of the alliance, refuses all electoral politics and encourages the development of popular power rather than voting for political parties.
The AEC was able to successfully mobilise against the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the areas where it is strong.
The AEC opposed evictions related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Affiliated movements and committees in the Western Cape:
The movement strongly supported the struggle for the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers
to resist forced removal to the notorious Blikkiesdorp
transit camp and to demand access to decent housing.
No Land! No House! No Vote!
is the name of a campaign by autonomous grassroots movements to boycott elections and reject party politics and vote banking in South Africa. In 2009, the Poor People's Alliance
voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land! No House! No Vote! Banner.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was connected to a large number of evictions in South Africa which many claimed were meant to 'beautify the city'. The WC-AEC campaigned against all evictions caused by the event. The campaign's hotspots included the anti-gentrification issues in Gympie Street and other parts of Woodstock, the national N2 Gateway
housing project and its evictions in Joe Slovo and Delft
, Sea Point evictions, and evictions in Q-Town next to Athlone Stadium.
The movement is committed to opposing xenophobia and has been particularly active in this regard in Gugulethu where it has set up a forum for these issues to be discussed. According to both the media and the local police the forum has had considerable success in reducing xenophobic hostility. However the movement's anti-xenophobic work has cost it some popular support and resulted in an arson attack on one of the movement's leaders.
The movement produces its own media.
, the Landless People's Movement and the Rural Network (Abahlali baseplasini) formed the Poor People's Alliance
. The poor people's alliance refuses electoral politics under the banner 'No Land! No House! No Vote!
'.
in Miami and the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign have both stated that their work is inspired by that of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.
Other Relevant Entries
8 Protest in South Africa
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It was formed in November 2000 with the aim of fighting eviction
Eviction
How you doing???? Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...
s, water cut-offs and poor health services, obtaining free electricity, securing decent housing, and opposing police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
.
The movement is the oldest of the first generation of so-called 'new social movements' to spring up after the end of apartheid and is known for its direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
style militancy, its refusal of all forms of vanguardism
Vanguardism
In the context of revolutionary struggle, vanguardism is a strategy whereby an organization attempts to place itself at the center of the movement, and steer it in a direction consistent with its ideology....
, including NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
) authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
. The movement has publicly refused to work with some local NGOs and insists that the middle class left respect the autonomy and internal democracy of grassroots movements.
The AEC is a founding member of the Poor People's Alliance
Poor People's Alliance
The Poor People's Alliance is a network of radical grassroots movements in South Africa. It was formed in 2008 after the Action Alliance, formed in December 2006, was expanded to include two more organisations....
and, along with the other members of the alliance, refuses all electoral politics and encourages the development of popular power rather than voting for political parties.
The AEC was able to successfully mobilise against the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the areas where it is strong.
The AEC opposed evictions related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Communities
The AEC is currently an umbrella body for over 10 community organisations, crisis committees, and concerned residents movements who have come together to organise and demand their rights to basic services. The organisations that make up the AEC include but are not limited to:- BlikkiesdorpBlikkiesdorpSymphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town, better known by its nickname Blikkiesdorp, is a relocation camp made-up of corrugated iron shacks...
Informal Committee (Deflt) - The Crossroads Anti-Eviction Campaign (NyangaNyanga, Cape TownNyanga is a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Its name in Xhosa means ‘moon’ and it is one of the oldest black townships in Cape Town. It was established as a result of the migrant labor system. In the early fifties black migrants were forced to settle in Nyanga as Langa became too small. ...
) - The Delft Integrated Network (Delft)
- The Eastridge Anti-Eviction Campaign (Mitchell’s Plain)
- The Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign (Gugulethu)
- The Hanover Park Anti-Eviction Campaign (Hanover Park)
- The Mandela Park BackyardersMandela Park BackyardersThe Mandela Park Backyarders or just Backyarders is an unfunded Khayelitsha-based South African social movement made up of poor and marginalised residents of Mandela Park that is working for housing rights and against evictions....
(KhayelitshaKhayelitshaKhayelitsha is a partially informal township in Western Cape, South Africa, located on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town. The name is Xhosa for New Home...
) - Newfields Village Community Representative Committee (Hanover Park)
- Nyanga East Anti-Eviction Campaign (Nyanga)
- The Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign (Delft)
- The Woodridge Anti-Eviction Campaign (Mitchell’s Plain)
- Zille-Raine Heights (Parkwood)
Affiliated movements and committees in the Western Cape:
- QQ SectionQQ SectionQQ Section also known as Tambo Park, was founded in 1989 and is an Informal Settlement in the Site B sub-division of Khayelitsha in South Africa.-Structure and location:...
Concerned Residents (KhayelitshaKhayelitshaKhayelitsha is a partially informal township in Western Cape, South Africa, located on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town. The name is Xhosa for New Home...
) - Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape
- Sikhula SonkeSikhula SonkeSikhula Sonke farmworkers union is a Western Cape based independent social movement.Its focus include issues such as labour rights, domestic violence, food insecurity and alcohol abuse...
Women Farmworkers Union - Joe Slovo Liberative Residents (LangaLanga, Cape TownLanga is a suburb found in Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1927 interms of the 1923 Urban Areas Act. Similar to Nyanga, Langa is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and...
) - Hangberg Solution Seekers Association (Hout Bay)
- KTC Concerned Residents Movement (Nyanga)
- Mitchell’s Plain Concerned Hawkers and Traders Association (Mitchell's Plain)
- Gugulethu Informal Traders (Gugulethu)
- Gatesville Informal Traders Association (Athlone)
Coordinators
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is an umbrella structure with an executive committee of a chairperson, a vice chairperson, a secretary, a vice secretary, a treasurer, and five regional coordinators. The current Chairperson of the WC-AEC who was elected in November 2010 is Mncedisi Twalo.Activities
The AEC opposes evictions and water and electricity cut-offs on many different levels. Activities range from legal actions that challenge the constitutionality of evictions, to mass mobilisation and popular education initiatives, to organisation and capacity building programs.Campaigns
Since its inception, the Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC) has called for an end to all evictions and cut-offs of basic services in the Western Cape. In 2001, the AEC achieved a 6-month moratorium on all evictions in the Cape Town Unicity. Even though the DA had declared the moratorium, illegal evictions continued.The movement strongly supported the struggle for the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers
Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers
Symphony Way Informal Settlement is a small community of pavement dwellers that have been living on Symphony Way, a main road in Delft, South Africa, since February 2008...
to resist forced removal to the notorious Blikkiesdorp
Blikkiesdorp
Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town, better known by its nickname Blikkiesdorp, is a relocation camp made-up of corrugated iron shacks...
transit camp and to demand access to decent housing.
No Land! No House! No Vote!
No Land! No House! No Vote!
No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking...
is the name of a campaign by autonomous grassroots movements to boycott elections and reject party politics and vote banking in South Africa. In 2009, the Poor People's Alliance
Poor People's Alliance
The Poor People's Alliance is a network of radical grassroots movements in South Africa. It was formed in 2008 after the Action Alliance, formed in December 2006, was expanded to include two more organisations....
voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land! No House! No Vote! Banner.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was connected to a large number of evictions in South Africa which many claimed were meant to 'beautify the city'. The WC-AEC campaigned against all evictions caused by the event. The campaign's hotspots included the anti-gentrification issues in Gympie Street and other parts of Woodstock, the national N2 Gateway
N2 Gateway
The N2 Gateway Housing Pilot Project is a large housebuilding project under construction in Cape Town, South Africa. It has been labeled by the national government's former Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu as “the biggest housing project ever undertaken by any Government.” Even though it is a joint...
housing project and its evictions in Joe Slovo and Delft
Delft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
, Sea Point evictions, and evictions in Q-Town next to Athlone Stadium.
The movement is committed to opposing xenophobia and has been particularly active in this regard in Gugulethu where it has set up a forum for these issues to be discussed. According to both the media and the local police the forum has had considerable success in reducing xenophobic hostility. However the movement's anti-xenophobic work has cost it some popular support and resulted in an arson attack on one of the movement's leaders.
The movement produces its own media.
Poor People's Alliance
In September 2008 the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, together with Abahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
, the Landless People's Movement and the Rural Network (Abahlali baseplasini) formed the Poor People's Alliance
Poor People's Alliance
The Poor People's Alliance is a network of radical grassroots movements in South Africa. It was formed in 2008 after the Action Alliance, formed in December 2006, was expanded to include two more organisations....
. The poor people's alliance refuses electoral politics under the banner 'No Land! No House! No Vote!
No Land! No House! No Vote!
No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking...
'.
Influence
Take Back the LandTake Back the Land
Take Back the Land is an American organisation based in Miami, Florida devoted to blocking evictions, and rehousing homeless people in foreclosed houses. Take Back the Land was formed in October 2006 to build the Umoja Village Shantytown on a plot of unoccupied land to protest gentrification and a...
in Miami and the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign have both stated that their work is inspired by that of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.
See also
Movements- Abahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
- The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh CommitteeBhumi Uchhed Pratirodh CommitteeBhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee is an organisation in West Bengal, India, formed to oppose the set-up of a Special Economic Zone in the rural area of Nandigram. It formed an important role in resisting land-acquisitions in the following Nandigram violence...
in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - The EZLN in MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- Fanmi LavalasFanmi LavalasFanmi Lavalas is a leftist political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1991. Fanmi Lavalas governments supported a policy of "growth with equity" based on Caribbean and Western European social...
in Haiti - The Homeless Workers' MovementHomeless Workers' MovementThe Homeless Workers Movement is a shack-dwellers' movement in Brazil. It originated from the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra in 1997...
in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... - The Landless Peoples MovementLandless Peoples MovementThe Landless People's Movement is an independent social movement in South Africa. It represents rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The LPM boycotts parliamentary elections and has a history of conflict with the African National Congress...
in South Africa - The Landless Workers' MovementLandless Workers' MovementLandless Workers' Movement is a social movement in Brazil; it is the second largest social movement in Latin America with an estimated 1.5 million landless members in 23 out of Brazil's 26 states. The MST states it carries out land reform in a country it sees as mired by unjust land distribution...
in Brazil - The Mandela Park BackyardersMandela Park BackyardersThe Mandela Park Backyarders or just Backyarders is an unfunded Khayelitsha-based South African social movement made up of poor and marginalised residents of Mandela Park that is working for housing rights and against evictions....
in Khayelitsha, Cape Town - Movement for Justice en el BarrioMovement for Justice en el BarrioMovement for Justice in El Barrio/Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio is a community organization based in East Harlem, New York.-Organisational profile:The Movement defines itself as follows:-Background:...
in the United States of America - Narmada Bachao AndolanNarmada Bachao AndolanNarmada Bachao Andolan is social movement consisting of tribal people, adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river, Gujarat, India....
in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - Take Back the LandTake Back the LandTake Back the Land is an American organisation based in Miami, Florida devoted to blocking evictions, and rehousing homeless people in foreclosed houses. Take Back the Land was formed in October 2006 to build the Umoja Village Shantytown on a plot of unoccupied land to protest gentrification and a...
in Miami - War on WantWar on WantWar on Want is an anti-poverty charity based in London, England. It seeks to highlight the needs of poverty-stricken areas around the world and lobbies governments and international agencies to tackle problems as well as raising public awareness of the concerns of developing nations while...
in London
Other Relevant Entries
- The Poor People's World CupPoor People's World CupThe Poor People's World Cup is an event organised by a South African social movement in response to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.The event was created by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign who believe that the World Cup has had a negative impact on poor communities in Cape Town, via...
8 Protest in South Africa
Protest in South Africa
South Africa has been dubbed "the protest capital of the world" and has one of the highest rates of public protest in the world. During the 2004/05 financial year about 6,000 protests were officially recorded, an unknown number of protests went unrecorded, and about 1,000 protests were illegally...
Films and Books
- Kleider, Alexander (Director) and Michel, Daniela (Director). (2009). When the Mountain Meets its Shadow [Documentary]. Germany: DOK-WERK film cooperative.
- No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers (2011)
- Tin Town - Documentary