Economic crisis unfolds in Africa

As the U.S. Congress and the White House wrap up the political theater surrounding the debate over raising the national debt ceiling, both Europe and Africa are experiencing heightened economic woes that have prompted political struggle. Events in the U.S. have spread concern throughout Europe as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Britain carry out major cuts in public sector services, pensions and education.

The impact of the world economic crisis of capitalist overproduction on the African continent has been revealed through protest actions and social instability.

In Somalia the worst drought in six decades has prompted mass migration and further pressure on the Al-Shabab movement, which controls large sections in the center and south of this nation.

U.S. and European corporate and governmental media outlets have claimed that Al-Shabab has barred major humanitarian aid organizations from entering sections of the country where their forces are dominant. Al-Shabab has responded that the situation involving food deficits in Somalia is being exaggerated in order to open the way for Western intervention there. The country has largely been without an internationally recognized government for two decades.

The Transitional Federal Government is being heavily supported by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which has at least 8,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops in the capital of Mogadishu. Although there has been tremendous migration into neighboring Kenya from Somalia due to the drought, many people are returning to the capital in search of food and shelter.

In West Africa the pro-Western Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking to run for office again amid countrywide protest from youth and workers. On July 23 rival demonstrations took place in the capital of Dakar both for and against Wade seeking another term; the opposition says this would violate the constitution.

There were also demonstrations in Senegal last month against power cuts. Offices of the national electricity company were burned. There are many complaints about poor economic conditions that result in high unemployment, poverty, frequent electricity outages and rising food prices.

A national strike was narrowly averted in the West African state of Nigeria, the continent’s most populous, when the Nigerian Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress reached agreement with the federal government to raise the minimum wage. Although Nigeria is a large oil-producing state, its workers have not benefitted from the revenue generated by petroleum exports.

Unrest and labor activity: From Malawi to South Africa

The Southern African nation of Malawi has been the center of unrest since the week of July 18. On July 25 the Associated Press reported, “Malawian activists who helped organize last week’s protests threatened [July 25] to hold more demonstrations unless the president addresses their grievances.”

Rafiq Hajat, a protest leader, said that President Bingu wa Mutharika should meet the people’s demands by Aug. 16. Demonstrators are focusing on rising food and fuel prices, worsening shortages of foreign exchange and allegations of corruption by government officials, including the president. Activists have presented Mutharika with a petition listing their pressing agenda of economic and political reforms.

Nineteen people have died as a result of the unrest in three cities. President Mutharika firmly opposes the demonstrations, as he reshuffles the military leadership.

Although the military no longer maintains a strong presence in the cities, police are patrolling the streets where shops and businesses were looted and burned.

South Africa has the largest economy on the continent and has the most organized working class. A series of strikes have erupted over the last few weeks in broad sectors of the industrial laborforce, involving workers in fuel, paper and —chemical companies who want higher wages.

On July 24, 150,000 coal miners walked off their jobs at 20 companies in South Africa. The National Union of Mineworkers, the country’s biggest union, along with the United Association of South Africa and Solidarity are demanding wage increases from 12 percent to 14 percent. UASA workers at Xstrata Plc may join the other striking miners by July 28 if their wage demands are not met.

Due to the strike, Anglo American Plc’s thermal coal mining production has ground to a halt. Hulisani Rasivhaga, speaking for the corporation, said that production has “stopped completely at all our operations. We have kept essential services running, such as water monitoring and ventilation.” (Bloomberg, July 25)

Anglo American produced 59 million metric tons of thermal coal during 2010 in South Africa, while Xstrata produced 17.7 tons. South Africa is the fifth largest thermal coal exporter in the world; 66 million tons were shipped out in 2009.

That’s why this strike is so important to South Africa and the whole world.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has pledged its total support to the miners. COSATU states, “These are workers who risk their lives every day, working for long hours in the heat and dust, often in unhealthy and dangerous conditions, to extract the mineral wealth on which our economy is built. Yet they are paid miserably low wages that in no way reflect the contribution their labor makes to the wealth of the country.

“Their employers meanwhile enjoy a lavish lifestyle, with fat salaries and bonuses, created by the sweat and toil of the workers. The NUM is absolutely right to demand a living wage for their workers, especially with the latest increases in the cost of food and electricity. ... The federation calls upon the employers urgently to bring a new offer to the table, but should they fail to do so, they can be sure that their striking workers enjoy the support of the entire trade union movement.” (www.cosatu.org)