On April 12 and 13,
determined demonstrators took to the streets in Swaziland. These
protests were the most recent in the struggle to dislodge the
absolute monarchy of King Maswati III. Unable to bear the thought of
losing their gilded lifestyle, the king and the tiny elite around him
directed their “security” forces to brutally crack down on any
public protest.
Protests turned into running street
battles, with police using tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons
to disperse demonstrators, mostly in the capital Mbabane and the city
of Manzini. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of activists were arrested by
the regime. Others were kidnapped and driven to remote areas of the
country where they were dumped and left to travel home on foot.
Protesters were also routinely beaten by Swazi police.
While technically “freedom of
association” is legal in Swaziland, the king uses bogus
anti-terrorism laws to prevent manifestations of discontent in any
form. Even prior to the days of protests, the monarchy raided the
offices of unions and pro-democracy organizations and arrested
leaders. It is a true testament to the democratic movement of
Swaziland that these protests took place at all. Almost all of the
top leaders of the movement were imprisoned prior to April 12,
including the entire leadership of the trade union movement and the
head of PUDEMO (People’s United Democratic Movement), the largest
(and currently banned) opposition party.
Mswati presides over a corrupt,
decadent and brutal regime. A large majority, 70 percent, of Swazis
live on less than $1 USD per day, and unemployment stands at 40
percent. Life expectancy is now only approximately 31 years of age;
32.4 percent of the population has HIV/AIDS, and 30 percent of
children are orphaned or in a household with a “critically ill”
parent. If all of that is not enough, 25 percent of the population
lives solely on donated food aid.
Meanwhile, the king’s fortune is
thought to be somewhere around $200 million. The king himself owns 60
percent of the land in the country with most of the rest owned by the
tiny elite gathered around the royal family. Most significant
economic activity is controlled by the clique of royals. The primary
manufacturing industry is textiles, where Mswati happily allows
sweatshop conditions to prevail.
The textiles industry produces goods
aimed to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, an
American “free-trade agreement” that claims to offer African
nations the opportunity to access U.S. markets. In reality, this law
just makes it easier for corporations to viciously exploit labor,
making massive profits on the produced commodities when they are sold
in the United States.
Recently, the king has launched an
attack on public-sector workers in order to bring the Swazi
government into compliance with the necessary conditions for an IMF
loan, which means the state budget must be cut by 5 percent a year.
Workers have had pensions frozen and seen overtime pay cease to be
paid out.
The struggle to end the absolute
monarchy is the first step in putting an end to the miserable living
standards being forced on the Swazi people by a brutal regime. The
struggle of the Swazi people deserves wholehearted support from
revolutionary and progressive forces in the United States.
