Richard Pithouse

Bio: Richard Pithouse is an academic researcher from Rhodes University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Humanism & Politics. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 23 publications receiving 362 citations. Previous affiliations of Richard Pithouse include University of Natal & University of KwaZulu-Natal.

A Politics of the Poor Shack Dwellers' Struggles in Durban

Abstract: This article, written in response to recent arguments about whether or not shack dwellers can exercise historical agency, outlines the history of shack dwellers' struggles in the South African city of Durban. The sections looking at struggles under colonialism and apartheid and the nature of the post-apartheid deal with regard to housing draw on the extensive literature on these questions. The final section, which gives an outline of the emergence, nature and experience of the shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, is written from a first-hand engagement. The article concludes that in contemporary Durban organized shack dwellers are constituting a major challenge to technocratic conceptions of democracy.

‘But We Were Thousands’: Dispossession, Resistance, Repossession and Repression in Mandela Park

Abstract: This article seeks to give an outline of the key events in the unfolding struggle in Mandela Park, Cape Town, South Africa, against evictions and disconnections from water and electricity. It also seeks to situate this sketch of the emergence and trajectory of these struggles in a broader narrative about the Post-Apartheid State’s turn to neo-liberalism. We argue that, in certain instances, the increased political legitimacy of the State, consequent to the elite transition from apartheid to neo-liberalism, has enabled it to step-up attacks on the poor. Furthermore, we also argue that some of the new movements that have emerged to oppose neo-liberalism mark a new stage in the South African struggles: against the elitism of the ANC tradition, they believe that, in Fanon’s famous phrase, ‘the only magic hands are the hands of the people’. However we caution that, largely as a result of the strains and difficulties of organizing under growing state repression, there is a danger that new forms of authoritarian...

A Progressive Policy without Progressive Politics: Lessons from the failure to implement ‘Breaking New Ground’

Abstract: This article provides a brief overview of post-apartheid housing policy. It argues that, in principle, 'Breaking New Ground' (BNG) was a major advance over the subsidy system but that the failure to implement BNG, which has now been followed by more formal moves away from a rights based and towards a security based approach, lie in the failure to take a properly political approach to the urban crisis. It is suggested that a technocratic approach privileges elite interests and that there could be better results from an explicitly pro-poor political approach - which would include direct support for poor people's organisations to challenge elite interests, including those in the state, and to undertake independent innovation on their own. 'n Progressiewe beleid sonder progressiewe politiek : lesse geleer uit die mislukte implementering van ''Breaking New Ground'' Hierdie artikel verskaf 'n kort oorsig van post-apartheid behuisingsbeleid. Die oorhoofse argument is dat ''Breaking New Ground'' (BNG) in beginsel 'n radikale verbetering van die subsidie sisteem was maar dat die mislukte implementering daarvan - intussen opgevolg deur 'n grondige klemverskuiwing weg van 'n regsbasis in die rigting van 'n sekuriteitsbasis - daaraan te wyte was, dat dit nie 'n deeglik politieke benadering tot stedelike krisis gevolg het nie. Die artikel argumenteer voorts dat 'n tegnokratiese benadering elitistiese voorregte verskans en dat 'n eksplisiet politiese, pro-armoede benadering meer vrugbaar sou wees. So 'n benadering sal, onder andere, menseregorganisasies ondersteun in hulle poging om die verskansing van elitistiese voorregte, veral in die staat, te betwis en hulle sodoende bemagtig om onafhanklike verandering teweeg te bring. Ke leano la tswelopele le hlokang dipolotiki tsa tswelopele : ho ithuta ho hloleheng ho phethahatsa 'ho phunyeletsa' Ditaba tsena di fana ka bonyane diphetho tsa leano la matlo la nako e fetileng ya kgethollo ka mmala. Di hanyetsa ka hore, tsela ena ya ho phunyeletsa e bile katleho e kgolo mokgweng wa dithuso tsa ditjhelete, empa hore ho hloleha ho phethahatsa leano lena la ho phunyeletsa, leo hajwale le latelwang ke ho sutha ka molao katamelong ya motheo ya ditokelo esitana le mabapi le ya tshireletso, ho robetse ho hloleheng ho nka katamelo ya sepolotiki e nepahetseng bothateng bona ba dibaka tsa metse ya ditoropo. Ho entswe tlhahiso ya hore katamelo ya tsa botegniki e fana ka menyetla ho batho ba nang le bohona le hore e ka ba diphetho tse ntlenyana ho hlaha ka lehlakoreng la batho ba ratang katamelo ya sepolotiki ya bafumanehi, e ka boelang ya kenyeletsa le yona tshehetso e otlolohileng ya mekgatlo ya ho phepetsa menyetla ya barui, esitana le bao ba mmusong, le ho nka ketapele motho ka mong.

Struggle Is a School: The Rise of a Shack Dwellers' Movement in Durban, South Africa

Abstract: On November 9, 1993, the African National Congress (ANC) issued a press statement condemning the housing crisis in South Africa as "a matter which falls squarely at the door of the National Party regime and its surrogates." It went on to describe conditions in the informal settlements as "indecent" and announced that Nelson Mandela will be hosting a People's Forum on Saturday morning in Inanda to hear the views of residents in informal settlements….The ANC calls on all people living in informal settlements to make their voices heard! "Your problems are my problems. Your solution is my solution." says President Mandela. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

‘That the tool never possess the man’: taking Fanon's humanism seriously

Abstract: The key argument in this article is that there are three good reasons to take Fanon's humanism seriously. The first is that he took it seriously; the second is that he wrote to wrest humanism from the distortions of racism and colonialism; and the third is that Fanon's humanism is a current in the movement that Michael Hart and Antonio Negri call revolutionary humanism, which they distinguish from reactionary humanism. The second and more subterranean argument is that Fanon's humanism can incite and hone a revitalisation of our thinking and practice of politics in contemporary South Africa.

The Production of Space

Abstract: ‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

Two Treatises of Government.

Abstract: All these premises having, as I think, been clearly made out, it is impossible that the rulers now on earth should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam's private dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but that of beasts, where the strongest carries it, and so lay a foundation for perpetual disorder and mischief, tumult, sedition and rebellion, (things that the followers of that hypothesis so loudly cry out against) must of necessity find out another rise of government, another original of political power, and another way of designing and knowing the persons that have it, than what Sir Robert Filmer hath taught us.