Contents: WHO IS MOSES MAYEKISO? • BUILDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT • BUILDING THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • BUILDING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY • ARREST AND DETENTION • IMPLICATIONS OF THE ALEXANDRA TRIALS • INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: THE KEY TO OUR COMMON STRUGGLE • WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP MOSES MAYEKISO? • WORKERS' CHARTER • The pamphlet says Moses Mayekiso is a black South African worker, a leader in the trade union movement, and a community activist, whose treason trial has become a focal point in the struggle against apartheid; prior to his arrest in June 1986, Moses, 39, lived with his wife, brother and seven children in a one-room shack in the black township of Alexandra. The pamphlet...
Contents: WHO IS MOSES MAYEKISO? • BUILDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT • BUILDING THE TOWNSHIP MOVEMENT • BUILDING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY • ARREST AND DETENTION • IMPLICATIONS OF THE ALEXANDRA TRIALS • INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: THE KEY TO OUR COMMON STRUGGLE • WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP MOSES MAYEKISO? • WORKERS' CHARTER • The pamphlet says Moses Mayekiso is a black South African worker, a leader in the trade union movement, and a community activist, whose treason trial has become a focal point in the struggle against apartheid; prior to his arrest in June 1986, Moses, 39, lived with his wife, brother and seven children in a one-room shack in the black township of Alexandra. The pamphlet says a one- time miner and former autoworker, Moses was elected General Secretary of the Allied Metal Workers Union (MAWU) in 1984; as a trade unionist and community activist, he brings the ideas and experiences of the working class to the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement; his prominence and broad support in the trade-union and township movements reflect the growing desire for a worker-run, socialist alternative to apartheid racism; Moses proposes a program for workers' power which goes beyond the ANC Freedom Charter. The pamphlet says Moses became an organizer for MAWU at Toyota, where he was hired in 1976. In 1979 he was elected a shop steward and a MAWU executive member; he played a crucial role in a series of strikes which forced Toyota to recognize the union; fired for his role in the strikes, Moses became a full-time organizer in Katlehong on the East Rand, where relentless organizing efforts by MAWU activists led to two successive strike waves involving over 40,000 workers and the largest enrollment drive in the union's history; during the same period, MAWU and FOSATU activists worked together to build the budding trade union federation. The pamphlet says soon his release, Moses toured Britain to build international support for a still-ongoing strike against BTR Corp. (British Tire and Rubber) in Natal province, South Africa -- a campaign which achieved the widespread support of British rank-and-file workers. The pamphlet discusses the Alexandra Action Committee (AAC), mass democratic institutions, FOSATU (Federation of South African Trade Unions), COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions), the United Democratic Front (UDF), the class nature of the struggle against apartheid, the Internal Security Act, treason, the trade union movement, and the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU).
