|  Home
Subscribe
Notes From
the Editors
The
‘Left-Wing’ Media?
by Robert W. McChesney
and John Bellamy Foster
After
Neoliberalism?
by William K. Tabb
Reply to
Suttner
by John S. Saul
Raymond Suttner
is Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg.
He is author of Inside Apartheid’s Prison (Natal University and
Ocean Press, 2001) and currently editing the autobiography of Ray Alexander
Simons, a well-known early Communist trade unionist in South Africa. Raymond
Suttner’s e-mail: rsuttner@worldonline.co.za
Books from
Monthly Review Press:
» Behind the
Invasion
of Iraq
by the Research Unit
for Political Economy
» Imperialism
Without Colonies
by Harry Magdoff
» The Clash
of Barbarisms: September 11 and the Making of the New World Disorder
by Gilbert Achcar
» The New Crusade:
America’s War on Terrorism
by Rahul Mahajan
» Fools’
Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO,
and Western Delusions
by Diana Johnstone
RECENT
ESSAYS ON:
» Africa
» Asia
» Europe
» Globalization
» Iraq, U.S. Imperialism,
and War
» Labor and
Working-Class Issues
» Media/
Communications
» 9/11–War on
Terrorism
» Social/Political
Theory
» U.S. Politics/
Economics
|
No doubt, Monthly Review will not want
debate on John Saul’s contributions to continue indefinitely. At the same
time, his recent response to Jeremy Cronin (Monthly Review, December
2002) contains certain allegations about my conduct, which deserve space for a
response.
When he presented his original paper (Monthly Review, January 2001)
in a seminar in Johannesburg, I acted as discussant. Saul claims:
Unfortunately Suttner seemed uninterested in engaging with the
substance of my argument, choosing instead to caricature it and, with three or
four other rather senior [African National Congress (ANC)] and [South African
Communist Party (SACP)] personnel who had come to the seminar, to lend his
voice to an attempt to carry out some kind of ritual humiliation of me.
Fortunately, other South Africans at the well-attended seminar joined in
helping me turn back this verbal assault. But, by the end of the meeting,
nothing like enlightenment had occurred nor had any real airing of alternative
views been encouraged to transpire. As one veteran of South African debate,
long used to being on the receiving end of such tactics, said to me afterwards,
now I knew what it was like to be “panga-packed” by the ANC/SACP (p.
50).
In a footnote Saul explains that “panga” is an African word for
“machete.” This claim is possibly intending to evoke the imagery of
Trotsky’s assassination by Stalinist agents with an ice pick. I have never
heard this expression before. It bears no relation to what happened. Readers
should also know that far from Saul being a victim he was the main actor,
having ample time to present his piece and respond. I had seven minutes and
very limited time to respond to many critics. I never imported any ANC/SACP
figures. I knew of only one such person attending, and I did not agree with all
of the contributions from ANC/SACP people. In one case I was afforded the
opportunity to indicate this.
I hesitated to write this response because of the tone with which Saul has
dealt with my criticism. We all prefer praise, but it is important that our
answer to our critics does not deter others from entering debate. No matter how
famous a person may be, that is an accolade that has to be continually
re-earned through the quality of his or her work, but also I believe by conduct
in engagements with other scholars. The tone and methods Saul has adopted are
not conducive to the type of atmosphere we need. Instead of opening up debate,
it encourages silence.
My fundamental problem with the original piece as a whole is the
disempowering impact it has, the failure to engage with the contested nature of
politics in South Africa, the potential areas of engagement, that have to be
identified and worked on. It is also based on very flimsy data. In his
presentation in Johannesburg, dubbed as a “revisiting” of the
original article, Saul’s only addition was liberal readings from others
praising his work.
The problematic data and interpretation, without qualification and
conditionality, was all drawn on in the service of a message of unfolding
tragedy, unqualified adoption of neoliberalism, and “shifts to the
right.” All of these terms curiously used when John Saul himself says that
labels are deployed by the ANC to silence debate.
Because all developments within the ANC and the country are treated as
unconditional and unqualified, they are consequently not subject to nuances and
internal differentiations and contestations. This confirms the defeatist and
disempowering message, for it is only when things are conditional and qualified
and where data is presented in a nuanced manner, that opportunities for
influencing the course of events open up.
The whole notion of the ANC is treated at the level of leadership and the
membership makes no appearance. It is treated as inert. Yet there are important
developments at the level of the membership of the ANC, with some regional
differences as well as contestations. There are also things happening in the
ANC/SACP/Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) alliance as a whole.
Saul has little recourse to official documents on the websites to see what
these are. He has conducted no interviews.
Primarily he relies on evaluations attributed to others on why the ANC has
“shifted to the right,” and long-range psychoanalysis of the
personality of Thabo Mbeki. I would stand by these statements of
“conditionality” and the need for qualification, even after the
recent ANC conference’s endorsement of many of the policies that Saul
criticizes. This is because developments within the ANC cannot be gleaned
simply by looking at what surfaces in the media.
The notion of “unqualified” adoption of neoliberalism is
contestable on a number of fronts and is not helpful to anyone who wants to
engage or influence a process. The label neoliberalism cannot be applied
without qualification to the ANC, and a government, which simultaneously
pursues conservative macroeconomic policies and extensive state intervention
that has modified the quality of life for very many people. This, despite some
limitations, is especially true regarding provision of electricity, water, and
healthcare in the rural areas.
This has not only improved lives but also had an impact on gender relations,
with women being freed from fetching water and given more opportunity to
participate in public life. Contrary to the dictates of neoliberalism there are
extensive state interventions in a number of other areas, many of which may
have important transformative effects.
Saul notes the emergence of a black bourgeoisie. But he does not provide
analysis of its possible trajectory and the significance of internal
differentiation. It is all at an impressionistic level, quoting others on how
individuals have bought into capitalist life styles. Is this the end of the
matter? Is it not the job of analysis to uncover commonalities, as well as
differences, resulting from differentiations within the emerging bourgeoisie?
Interestingly the Black Economic Empowerment commission of a few years back
indicated some differences with the government over macroeconomic policy,
convergences with COSATU on these issues. Is this not important? Is it not
necessary to highlight the possibility of limited alliances here?
The truth is that, at the meeting Saul refers to, I did raise issues of
substance. For those who are interested, I can send a copy of the brief
intervention. In summary I argued that the gloomy and tragic tone of the
article weighed over the analysis and data that was marshaled and that the data
was drawn from a very limited and often questionable range of sources,
sometimes inaccurate, usually indirect, that is, other peoples’ analysis
of what someone had said or meant and that this was often without nuance.
Unfortunately, Saul’s response, which Monthly Review has printed,
is a barrier to taking this further in a spirit of constructive debate.
|
