High Noon For The NUNW

THE article ‘Pohamba snubs unions’ (The Namibian, October 4 2010) demonstrates the attitude of government towards the Namibian working class.

The resolution of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) about the blatant corruption at GIPF was a progressive move, but was too much for a government trying to cover up the self-enrichment of the Swapo elite. What this means is that the so-called alliance between Swapo and the NUNW has failed and that the unions have no real influence. It is high noon for the trade unions to break this alliance and to become an independent political voice in the country. The NUNW is naïve to think that the president of a capitalist government will take them seriously. In any case, it is obvious that government has been aware of this massive fraud for several years and has not acted. So, social democrats like Kaaronda should rather organise and mobilise the working class, instead of wasting time running to the president’s office every time. Imagine, a working class leader going to the head of a capitalist government to plead from a position of weakness. Ultimately, Kaaronda, it is all the about the balance of class forces. If the Swapo government could be dismissive towards the modest social-democratic project of the Basic Income Grant, this shows how ultra-conservative its economic outlook is and how much it is under the control of the IMF/World Bank. It is not a people’s government! The supposed alliance between Swapo and the NUNW is shown for the farce that it is. The NUNW has no power and is just following orders from state house. As a left-wing, we should learn some lessons from this snub. We should not confuse a trade union consciousness with an anti-capitalist consciousness. In this era in which trade unions are on the defensive, it is foolhardy to make the unions the primary focus of political activity and think that this would lead to radical social changes. We need a political instrument that is larger than the unions and that would bring urban and rural workers, women and youth, employed and unemployed, all together in one structure.We should realise that the so-called social contract amongst the government, the unions and the private sector could succeed in industrialised countries like Germany and Sweden since their wealth is based on centuries of colonialism and imperialism. In fact, in these industrialised countries the social-democratic tendency is finished, it has capitulated to neo-liberalism a long time ago. (The same, incidentally, has happened to the parliamentary socialists of Europe.) A social contract in Namibia is simply a pipe dream and really means that the unions must subordinate themselves to the demands of the bosses. The government is never neutral and is on the side of the bosses. The Swapo government is in fact highly antagonistic towards the working class of this country.We should recognise that the Kaaronda faction in the trade union movement represents the social-democratic stream in the Namibian working class. Politically speaking, the social democratisation of the workers was meant to block their radicalism. This is why the trade unions talk about a developmental state, that is, the reforming of the capitalist state instead of getting rid of it. The social democratisation of the working class has been detrimental to them. We must challenge the social dynamic of capitalism, not just the policies. What is needed is an anti-capitalist party to get to a socialist Namibia. S McCarthyWalvis Bay