Be careful what you ask for*

By Bill Fletcher, Jr.

In a classic episode of Rod Serling’s original Twilight Zone entitled “The Old Man in the Cave,” a small town has survived a nuclear holocaust for 10 years while most of humanity is extinct. They have received sound advice from their leader who receives recommendations from an unseen “Old Man” in a cave.

By Bill Gallegos

Dreaming eyes piercing the velvet dawn/

            Follow the twisted shimmer of coiled wire/

It’s cutting sneer snaking along border walls.

Brown clad shapes wrapped in the dust and spikes of the arroyo/

facing the icy metal of laser-powered contempt.

Headlights burn like desert fire/ glowing beams sweeping

across lands walked by kings./

            Muffled cries of Mixtec children/ gurgle like a drying stream

Searching for ocean’s caress.

By Nnimmo Bassey 

I see the invisible
I hear the inaudible
I feel the intangible

I’m everywhere in no time
Floating on memories of strained futures<
Aloft on lofty hopes 
Sliding on rugged dreams in truncated nights

I see the invisible
I hear the inaudible
I feel the intangible

Ears on the ground we tremble
At the departing footsteps of 
Departed elders at marketplaces

by Nnimmo Bassey 

A time like this demands and permits only sober consideration of where we are coming from, where we are and where we are heading. The world is virtually shut down due to the ravages of a virus. This is no time for grandstanding or for anyone to claim that they have anything under control.

Interestingly, the virus is not a new organism. It has been around.

By Nnimmo Bassey 

Coronavirus, that tiny, invisible organism, has reminded humans that there are things that are not under our control. The virus has attacked the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak. It has largely taught us what equality could mean in an age when humility is not a common commodity. We must do our best to avoid any pandemonium even as towns and large swaths of nations have been locked down and large gatherings are avoided literally like there was a plague.

Statement by the Movement for Social Justice, April 2020

By David Abdulah, Political Leader

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that great fighter for social justice and peace, once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenges and controversy.” That truth applies equally to nations as is does to individuals. This unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, is such a time of challenge and controversy.

WHAT’S THE WORD

By Stephen Faulkner

In this issue of globalafricanworker.com, we introduce a feature called ‘What’s the Word’… Letters from the Class Struggle in South Africa. This column will examine the continuing unfolding of the struggle between the popular movements and the forces of transnational and domestic capital, the latter attempting to put the brakes on the demands for full social transformation.

Dear Companera and Companero,

by William Minter and Imani Countess

By Stephen Faulkner

In this issue of globalafricanworker.com, we introduce a feature called ‘What’s the Word’… Letters from the Class Struggle in South Africa. This column will examine the continuing unfolding of the struggle between the popular movements and the forces of transnational and domestic capital, the latter attempting to put the brakes on the demands for full social transformation.

Dear Companera and Companero,

The South African Federation of Trade Unions – SAFTU warmly welcomes the decision of the Labour Court to suspend the decision of the Department of Labour Registrar to deregister DEMAWUSA.

The register had taken a decision to deregister DEMAWUSA allegedly for not complying with Section 99 and 100 of the LRA regarding the disclosure of certain information as well as for alleged failure not to comply the regulations regarding the need to provide proof that the union conducted a secret ballot prior its members going on a protected strike.